Harvard's prestigious debate team loses as inmates excel

Months after winning a national title, Harvard's debate team has fallen to a group of New York prison inmates.

The showdown took place at the Eastern New York Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison where convicts can take courses taught by faculty from nearby Bard College, and where inmates have formed a popular debate club.

Last month, they invited the Ivy League undergraduates and this year's national debate champions over for a friendly competition.

The Harvard team was also crowned world champions last year, but the inmates are building a reputation of their own.

In the two years since they started a debate club, the prisoners have beaten teams from the US Military Academy at West Point and the University of Vermont. The competition with West Point, which is now an annual affair, has grown into a rivalry.

At Bard, those who help teach the inmates aren't particularly surprised by their success.

"Students in the prison are held to the exact same standards, levels of rigor and expectation as students on Bard's main campus," said Max Kenner, executive director of the Bard Prison Initiative, which operates in six New York prisons.

Students on the Harvard team weren't available for comment, but shortly after their loss, they posted a comment on a team Facebook page.

"There are few teams we are prouder of having lost a debate to than the phenomenally intelligent and articulate team we faced," they wrote. "And we are incredibly thankful to Bard and the Eastern New York Correctional Facility for the work they do and for organizing this event."

Against Harvard, the inmates had to defend a position they opposed. They argued that public schools should be allowed to turn away students whose parents entered the US illegally.

The prisoners raised arguments that the Harvard team hadn't considered. Three students from the university team responded, and a panel of neutral judges declared the inmates victorious.