New York prisoners crush Harvard’s title-winning debate team — and they don’t even have the internet

HARVARD University’s elite debate team was riding high after being crowned 2014 world champions. Until they faced three maximum-security prisoners.

FILE - In this Aug. 30, 2012, file photo, a tour group walks through the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. School officials said Wednesday, June 3, 2015, that Harvard Business School graduate and prominent Wall Street investor John Paulson donated $400 million to the school, its biggest gift in its history. Harvard said the endowment will support the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, which will be renamed the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences in his honor. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)

MONTHS after winning a national title, Harvard’s debate team has fallen — to a group of New York prisoners.

The showdown took place at the Eastern New York Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison where convicts can take courses taught by faculty from nearby Bard College, and where inmates have formed a popular debate club.

Last month, they invited the Ivy League undergraduates and this year’s national debate champions over for a friendly competition.

The Harvard debate team also was crowned world champions in 2014. But the inmates are building a reputation of their own.

Harvard's award-winning debate team loses to New York prison inmates. http://t.co/Ns5aXqFniR pic.twitter.com/GVrdwakMLA

— AJC (@ajc) October 7, 2015

In the two years since they started a debate club, the prisoners have beaten teams from the US Military Academy at West Point and the University of Vermont.

The competition with West Point, which is now an annual affair, has grown into a rivalry.

At Bard, those who help teach the inmates aren’t particularly surprised by their success.

“Students in the prison are held to the exact same standards, levels of rigour and expectation as students on Bard’s main campus,” said Max Kenner, executive director of the Bard Prison Initiative, which operates in six New York prisons. “Those students are serious. They are not condescended to by their faculty.”

Bard beats Harvard! Bard Debate Union at Eastern NY Correctional defeated the Harvard team today. Go, Bard #Prison Initiative!

— Bard College (@BARDCollege) September 18, 2015

Students on the Harvard team weren’t immediately available for comment, but shortly after the loss, they posted a comment on a team Facebook page.

“There are few teams we are prouder of having lost a debate to than the phenomenally intelligent and articulate team we faced this weekend,” they wrote. “And we are incredibly thankful to Bard and the Eastern New York Correctional Facility for the work they do and for organising this event.”

Check out Bard Prison Initiative, a program that allows inmates to earn liberal arts degrees while in prison. https://t.co/WOYNqDW8E6

— Go Big Read (@GoBigRead) September 23, 2015

Against Harvard, the inmates were tasked with defending a position they opposed: They had to argue that public schools should be allowed to turn away students whose parents entered the US illegally. The inmates brought up arguments that the Harvard team hadn’t considered. Three students from Harvard’s team responded, and a panel of neutral judges declared the inmates victorious.

“The fact that we won is nice, but it isn’t the most important thing,” said Kenner, adding that the club is meant to help students articulate what they’ve learned.

Harvard Debate Team Loses to Prison Debate Teamhttp://t.co/wAYmWTeGaX #excellence @ZKBLAST pic.twitter.com/EEZOIGm2Vd

— ZIMBABWE KID (@zimbabwekid) October 4, 2015

Inmates can earn various degrees through the initiative, which is taught primarily by Bard faculty. About 15 per cent of the all-male inmates at the Eastern New York Correctional Facility in Napanoch are enrolled. Graduates of the program have continued their studies at Yale and Columbia universities, Kenner said.

While in prison, they learn without the help of the internet, relying instead on resources provided by the college.

“They make the most of every opportunity they have,” Kenner said.