Provided

Members of the Cornell Forensics Team at the Cornell IV tournament Feb. 10-12. They are, from left, Emma Court '15, Julius Kairey '15, Brian Roxas '15 and James Stokley '12.

The Cornell Forensics Society (CFS), ranked No. 6 in the world in college debate by the International Debate Education Association, has just finished its most successful season yet.

Orating ahead of such top powerhouses as Cambridge and Stanford universities, the debate team's ranking was thanks to several tournament wins, including the prestigious Hart House Inter-Varsity Tournament at the University of Toronto. Yale University, at third, and Harvard University, at five, were the only U.S. universities ahead of Cornell in the world rankings.

"We have now reached the point where even more success is expected and, I believe, likely," said Cornell Director of Forensics Sam Nelson. "Cornell's smart students make great competitive speakers and debaters."

CFS, a co-curricular student organization house within the ILR School, offers intercollegiate competition in policy debate, worlds format parliamentary debate and individual speech events. The team consists of more than 100 members.

At the U.S. Universities Debate National Championships, held in April at Willamette University in Salem, Ore., eight CFS members were among the final 32 debaters to make it to the quarterfinals. Jesse Klinger '12 and Ratnika Prasad '14 made it to the semifinals. Kevin Hsu '15 won the novice national championships in impromptu speaking, and Roshni Mehta '15 took fifth place in persuasive speaking.

Finally, CFS's policy debate team was ranked No. 12 in the United States in the National Debate Tournament rankings and No. 11 in the Cross Examination Debate Association rankings. Lauren Cue '15 and Jason Wright '12 made up one of the few teams to qualify for the prestigious National Debate Tournament by besting teams from Harvard and Dartmouth universities, among others.

Much credit for the team's success goes to the assistant coaching staff, said Nelson. They are graduate student Alex Just, who coaches CFS's worlds debate team; graduate student Chris Langone, who coaches the speech team; and graduate student Mike Maffie and Adam Garen, a teaching support specialist, who coach the policy debate team.

"We even reached out for coaching help from David Feldshuh, professor of theater, who gave us a great lecture on speaking with confidence," Nelson said.

"This is an incredibly talented group of speech and debate coaches," Nelson added. "Cornell Forensics does so many things well because we have a staff of really talented people willing to commit to giving their very best to making sure that the Cornell student competing in speech and debate is ready, willing and able to take on whatever challenge comes his or her way."

Just, a graduate of Oxford University, is a former president of the Oxford Debate Union. Trained as a lawyer in England, he came to ILR School to learn more about the intersection of law and labor. He was a grand finalist at the World Universities Debate Championships for Oxford and coached the Scottish national team that won the world high school debate championships in 2007. Just is also the focal point of "Team Qatar," a documentary about his coaching Qatar's first competitive national debate team.

Says Just: "Having coached at an elite debating institution like Oxford for many years, I can confidently say that the young organization Nelson and ILR Dean Harry Katz have built here at Cornell is already competing at the very highest international level."