Harvard Debate Team Loses to Prison Debate Team

[one_voice]

Last edited Mon Oct 5, 2015, 08:48 PM - Edit history (1)

Three Harvard debate team members faced off against three men incarcerated for violent crimes. This was two weeks ago.

After an hour of fast-moving debate on Friday, the judges rendered their verdict.

The inmates won.

The audience burst into applause. That included about 75 of the prisoners’ fellow students at the Bard Prison Initiative, which offers a rigorous college experience to men at Eastern New York Correctional Facility, in the Catskills.

The prison debate squad v. Harvard debate team was set up to show off Bard College's prison initiative. Pretty successful exhibition.

The prison team had its first debate in spring 2014, beating the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. Then, it won against a nationally ranked team from the University of Vermont, and in April lost a rematch against West Point.

Preparing has its challenges. Inmates can’t use the Internet for research. The prison administration must approve requests for books and articles, which can take weeks.

The team they beat said they were caught off guard by how prepared the inmates were. These are men serving time for manslaughter. Our perceptions of their capabilities can be pretty condescending. Judge Mary Nugent led the debate panel.

*snip*

http://www.alternet.org/culture/harvard-debate-team-loses-prison-debate-team?akid=13547.204466.BCTMsb&rd=1&src=newsletter1043521&t=12

Prison vs. Harvard in an Unlikely Debate
Inmate debate team is part of Bard College program helping give prisoners a chance for a better life


Ironically, the inmates had to promote an argument with which they fiercely disagreed. Resolved: “Public schools in the United States should have the ability to deny enrollment to undocumented students.”

Carlos Polanco, a 31-year-old from Queens in prison for manslaughter, said after the debate that he would never want to bar a child from school and he felt forever grateful he could pursue a Bard diploma. “We have been graced with opportunity,” he said. “They make us believe in ourselves.”

*snip*

“If we win, it’s going to make a lot of people question what goes on in here,” said Alex Hall, a 31-year-old from Manhattan convicted of manslaughter. “We might not be as naturally rhetorically gifted, but we work really hard.”

*snip*

The Bard Prison Initiative, begun in 2001, aims to give liberal-arts educations to talented, motivated inmates. Program officials say about 10 inmates apply for every spot, through written essays and interviews.

There is no tuition. The initiative’s roughly $2.5 million annual budget comes from private donors and includes money it spends helping other programs follow its model in nine other states.

Last year Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, proposed state grants for college classes for inmates, saying that helping them become productive taxpayers would save money long-term. He dropped the plan after attacks from Republican politicians who argued that many law-abiding families struggled to afford college and shouldn’t have pay for convicted criminals to get degrees

http://www.wsj.com/articles/an-unlikely-debate-prison-vs-harvard-1442616928[/div class="excerpt"]

[hifiguy]

1. These men deserve an opportunity to put their educations

to good use once they get out. I sincerely hope they get the chance to do so.