Barkley Forum debaters are champions of the Dartmouth Forensic Union’s 65th annual Dartmouth College debate tournament, January 18-20, 2020. Eugenia Giampetruzzi, a Woodruff Debate Scholar and first-year student, and Zahir Shaikh, a senior who was named top speaker at the event, won the tournament.

Winning the tournament is one of the highest honors in intercollegiate competitive debate because every round pits one team against another, each having the skills to become national champion. The event is attended by the top seven two-person teams in the country, based on their first-semester debating record on the designated tournament topic. The other six teams represented Dartmouth College, Northwestern University, University of California Berkeley, University of Kansas, University of Michigan, and Wake Forest University. For more than a decade, Emory has been consistently invited to attend the prestigious tournament and has taken top honors on three occasions.

Pictured above, from left: Brian Klarman, assistant director of debate and an Emory alumnus, Giampetruzzi, Shaikh, and Alex Gazmararian, a Melissa Wade Fellow and Emory alumnus.