The Michigan State University Debate team finished in the top four out of 78 teams competing at the National Debate Tournament held at Binghamton University March 31-April 4.
Tyler Thur, an Honors College senior majoring in international relations, and his teammate, math senior Margaret Strong, defeated teams from Wake Forest University, Harvard University, Weber State University, Rutgers University-Newark, Emory University, Liberty University and the University of Kentucky during the preliminary and elimination rounds.
Thur and Strong were defeated in the semi-finals by a team from Harvard. The judge’s decision was 3-2 in favor of Harvard, which went on to win the tournament.
Overall, 45 colleges debated about United States military presence abroad, which was this season’s topic.
Connor Munsinger, an Honors College sophomore majoring in computer science, and Luc Walkington, a freshman majoring in international relations, also competed for MSU and finished in the top 32. They defeated teams from Dartmouth, Georgetown, the University of Texas, Gonzaga and Wake Forest in the preliminary rounds.
MSU and the University of Michigan were the only Michigan schools to send a team to the competition.
“Marge and Tyler are talented debaters and I’m extremely proud of their performance at the national tournament,” said Debate Head Coach Will Repko. “Both Marge and Tyler are seniors, and it’s always hard to see a senior finish his or her last debate. But they finished on their highest note as members of MSU Debate.
“I also want to congratulate Connor and Luc, who were competing for the first time together at the national tournament, for finishing in the top 32 of teams.”