Harvard's debate team loses to prison debate team

Oct 5, 2015

The Harvard debate team lost to three men who were incarcerated for violent crimes at Eastern New York Correctional Facility.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the debate team with which the three inmates were associated is part of a program called the Bard Prison Initiative, which seeks to help give inmates a chance for a better life outside of prison and also gives these men and women an opportunity for a college education.

As part of that program, a debate team was formed, and the Harvard team was surprised by their impressive oratory. “They caught us off guard,” said Anais Carell, a 20-year-old junior from Chicago.

Interestingly, the inmates won the debate by arguing a side that they normally would heavily disagree with: “Public schools in the United States should have the ability to deny enrollment to undocumented students.”

According to Judge Mary Nugent, the prison debate team won with their argument that schools which were attended by many undocumented children were failing badly and that they were simply becoming warehouses rather than educational facilities for these children, reports the WSJ.

However, the team wanted to make it clear after the debate that this was not a stance they supported, with one inmate, Carlos Polanco, saying that he was forever grateful for his education and did not want to bar anyone from chasing that dream.

“We have been graced with opportunity,” he said. “They make us believe in ourselves.”