SMC Debate Team Wins First Place in LMU California Cup Tournament

The Santa Monica College student debate team of Stephen Sands and Filipp Krasovsky won first place at the Loyola Marymount University California Cup Debate Tournament, held on the LMU campus on March 12. Several other SMC student debaters won individual and team awards at the tournament. They competed against colleges and universities including UCLA, Claremont McKenna College, and LMU.

Santa Monica College (SMC) is pleased to announce that an SMC student debate team won first place at the Loyola Marymount University (LMU) California Cup Tournament – a British parliamentary-style debate – held on the LMU campus on Saturday, March 12. The two SMC students on the team that won first place were Stephen Sands and Filipp Krasovsky.

The SMC teams competed against teams from colleges and universities including UCLA, Claremont McKenna College, and LMU. There were a total of 28 teams competing, with two students on each team. The SMC team’s victory comes on the heels of a win against the Japanese debate team, in a debate on gun control held on the SMC campus on February 20.

“Our debaters are beating odds by researching as much as any student in a graduate or post-graduate school, practicing long hours, and maintaining a resilient and positive attitude,” said Luis Andrade, SMC Communication professor. “Our team victories are victories for our entire department and college.”

The tournament featured four preliminary debates and a final debate, the topic of which was whether existing welfare programs should be replaced by unconditional cash transfers. In addition to the team that won first place at the LMU California Cup Tournament, a number of other SMC teams and debaters won prizes as below:

Team awards:

• Stephanie Mendez and Alfredo Gama (Seventh Place)

• Brendan Watson and Jin Woo Kim (12th Place)

Individual awards:

• Stephen Sands (Fourth Place)

• Filipp Krasovsky (Sixth Place)

• Alfredo Gama (Seventh Place)

• Stephanie Mendez (11^th Place)

• Brendan Watson (18^th Place)

For more information on the SMC Debate Team, contact Nate Brown at Brown_Nate@smc.edu or 310-434-8781.

View a YouTube video on the SMC Debate Team.

###​