Ithaca College Wins Bistate Championship

By Scott Thomson, February 9, 2021

 On Saturday the performance of the  IC Speech and Debate Team made a clear statement about the current shape of the college by winning the team title in the debate division at the New York – New Jersey State Championship Speech Tournament. 

 On Saturday the performance of the IC Speech and Debate Team made a clear statement about the current shape of the college by winning the team title in the debate division at the New York – New Jersey State Championship Speech Tournament. The team consisting of Abigail Murtha (‘21, Health Sci/Pre-Med) Chris Tolve (‘21, Writing), Charles Thomson (‘22, Business Admin), Bryn Donovan (‘23, Culture and Comm) Skyler Cepek (‘24, Politics) and Laura Ilioaei (‘23, English) put in a collective performance that earned the overall first place for debate.  The top performer, Abigail Murtha was undefeated in the preliminary debates, reached the finals and received an award for being the second-best speaker in the tournament.  Rutgers, Seton Hall, Cornell, and Hofstra were amongst the teams competing. Despite COVID-19 intercollegiate forensic competition has remained vital, this was the seventh event IC has participated this academic year.  On February 27-28 Ithaca College will host its’ annual Sydney Landon Invitational Speech and Debate Tournament. Volunteer judges will be needed for the tournament – anyone can judge.  If interested, please contact Scott Thomson – Director of Forensics at pthomson@ithaca.edu