Liberty Senior Places First in Intercollegiate Harvard Debate Tournament

When Natalie Robinson, a senior on the Liberty University debate team, approached the podium at the intercollegiate Harvard Debate tournament, she never imagined it would be such a profound, rewarding and exhilarating experience.  

Founded in 1892, the Debate Council is one of the oldest and proudest intercollegiate policy debate programs in the nation, and a few weeks ago, Robinson was named the top speaker at the tournament. Her partner, Kat Cazeau, also placed as one of the best speakers there.

This is not the first tournament Robinson has won. She has been declared the top speaker at three different tournaments this year.

Robinson described the recent tournament like any other. Students compete as partners rather than individually or as a school. There are six preliminary rounds, then four elimination rounds. Past that point, the partner teams debate through a bracket system. 

Part of why Robinson believed she placed so well is due to her dynamic with her partner, Cazeau. Both of them are Black women, and according to Robinson, they strive to make the Black female perspective heard in the debate community. 

“It was luck, skill and hard work,” Robinson said in regards to her win. “And Kat is just so powerful. We know what we’re doing.”

While Robinson is typically able to stay calm for most of any debate, she confessed that she often gets nervous when going up against an “intimidating” team. Robinson has found that the best way for her to make sure she stays calm is going into the debate fully prepared. A debate requires hours of research and preparation, and Robinson knows all too well that keeping track can be a lot of work. 

Even when Robinson is not in the debate lab, debate is still very much a part of her life. Robinson said that debate has made her time at Liberty better than it would have been without it, and overall, it is a really fun environment where she can just breathe and speak her mind.  

“I spend most of my time thinking about debate,” Robinson said.

Robinson said that debate gave her the “spirit to do something” — to go out and fight for what she is passionate about. Currently, Robinson is unsure of what her future looks like, but she has hopes of joining the organization Teach for America.

Since Liberty’s debate team consists of a majority of novices, Robinson encourages aspiring debaters to step up and take on the challenge. Robinson said that when she joined debate, she had no experience and simply thought it was something “new” and “interesting.” One of her favorite parts about the debate team is the variety of people involved.

“It attracts people from all ends of the political spectrum,” Robinson said. 

For Robinson, an interesting part of debate is watching people grow and change when their long-held ideas and beliefs are confronted.

Robinson joined the debate team her freshman year in order to make new friends and connections, since she did not know anyone in her new college environment. Robinson described the debate community as a “tight-knit community.” 

“Debate has given me friends I’ll have for the rest of my life,” Robinson said. 

For more information on the intercollegiate debates to come or on joining the debate team, contact LUDebate@liberty.edu.

Bear is a feature writer.