Historic victory for George Mason’s Debate Team

George Mason University's Debate Team won the prestigious West Point Sword at the United States Military Academy's 60th annual National Debate Tournament in West Point, New York. 

"This is one of the most iconic awards in college policy debate, and it was the one title George Mason Debate had never won until now," said Jackie Poapst, director of the Debate Team. "To see our name finally engraved among the champions in the tournament's 60th year is nothing short of historic. This moment represents six decades of legacy, and the future of excellence at George Mason."  

The victory in October was one of many for the George Mason varsity team this season.  

George Mason students competed against teams from Harvard, Cornell, James Madison University, Liberty University, Binghamton University, New York University, the University of Rochester, and Suffolk University.

This year's tournament topic was labor rights, and the George Mason team had several wins on the tournament leaderboard: 

• Austin Davis (Communication, sophomore) and Del Gorman (Government and International Politics, sophomore)-1st Overall Seed, undefeated, Tournament Champions 

• Ashley Wright (Government and International Politics, junior) and Ben Witkov(Economics, freshman)-2nd Overall Seed, Tournament Co-Champions 

• Reet Taxali (Criminology, junior) and Dean Richter (Government and International Politics, senior)-4th Overall Seed, Elite Eight 

• Brenda Reyes (Conflict Analysis and Resolution, senior) and Amira Shananier(Computational and Data Science, senior)-7th Overall Seed, Elite Eight 

George Mason debaters also triumphed as individual speakers, winning four of the top five speaker awards, with Davis taking first place.   

"I told my coaches last year after losing in the finals that it was 'Sword or bust' this season. To win it with Del and to do it for George Mason Debate, it's a dream realized," said Davis, who is also a teaching assistant for the writing-intensive course COMM 300 Rhetorical Theory and Criticism. 

Other students placing individually were Witkovat 3rd, Gorman at 4th, and Wright at 5th. 

Reyes also serves as the team's social events coordinator. 

"We've been going to this tournament every single year, and our director has always been our biggest supporter. I'm so proud of my team's hard work and dedication. It's an honor to be part of this legacy," said Reyes, who is in George Mason's Bachelor's to Accelerated Master's Program. 

"My partner Amira and I centered our debate on marginalized populations often neglected in labor rights," said Reyes, who also serves as vice president of George Mason's Kappa Alpha Pi Pre-Law and Government Fraternity. "We argued that migrants and undocumented workers are not classified as workers by the [National Labor Relations Act] therefore, do not get access to all labor rights under most generic cases. This makes teams start to question what they can do for migrant labors that are undocumented who we believe are the backbone of America."  

One of Reyes' takeaways from this experience is that as a senior, her time on the team is winding down. 

"The moments of working together to achieve our teams' goal of earning the West Point Sword will always be a special core debate memory," said Reyes. "These memories from supporting our George Mason team no matter the results is what matters the most." 

George Mason's performance was described by tournament officials as "one of the most comprehensive team showings in recent memory." 

"This win means everything to our students," Poapst said. "They have proven that teamwork, resilience, and belief in each other can quite literally make history."