ILR Support Propels Debate Team to Nationals

When Cornell policy debaters Matthew Dye ’26 and April Vorontsova, A&S ’28, compete at the National Debate Tournament later this month, they’ll be drawing on months of preparation and their ILR background. The two-person team will represent the Cornell Speech and Debate Program in Houston on Mar. 27-30. 

The duo paired up last fall, motivated by a joint desire to make it to nationals and a feeling that they would work well together. “We’re picky. We’re rules lawyers,” said Dye, referring to a debate style that focuses on the tournament rules.

For strategic reasons, sometimes they debate about the rules or about whether the topic is worthwhile; at other times they focus on the topic itself. “We like to push boundaries in debate,” Vorontsova said.

This year’s National Debate Tournament topic, “Resolved: The United States Federal Government should substantially strengthen collective bargaining rights for workers in the United States,” is squarely in the sweet spot of a team housed in the Cornell ILR School.

Dye, who is an ILR senior, said “That topic is, if not directly addressed at length, at least touched on in almost every ILR class … when that topic was selected, I had three years of ILR courses under my belt.” Vorontsova has also taken classes in the ILR School.

Vorontsova said, “A lot of people on the debate team are ILRies, and so they know a lot about [this year’s topic]. We all share arguments, so there’s a symbiosis.”

Dye and Vorontsova have also benefited from easy access to ILR faculty and research, including Assistant Professor Gali Racabi’s 2025 paper, “In Lieu of the NLRA.”

Dye said, “The article discusses replacing, or at least allowing, state labor law to fill in for the weaknesses of federal labor law,” Dye said. “That was a very helpful article for strategies that we’ve run on the negative.”

Getting to Nationals

The road to nationals has included preparation and competition. Dye estimates that he spends about five hours per week at debate practice and several more hours on related tasks, like doing research to build arguments and scouting opponents’ strategies. 

The tournaments themselves can be grueling. “Depending on the tournament,” Dye explained, “we do six to eight preliminary rounds. If we do well enough, we go into elimination rounds and there could be four or five of these. A debate round lasts about two-and-a-half hours.”

“If you do the math, when a Cornell student goes to a debate tournament, they are in a debate round upwards of 15 hours total over that weekend,” said Armands Revelins, ILR assistant director of forensics.

The duo has competed in a half dozen tournaments so far in the 2025-26 academic year.

The Cornell Speech and Debate Program, which is housed in the ILR School, covers competition costs, including tournament entry fees and travel. Vorontsova said, “It would be so expensive to go to tournaments and pay for hotels and fees on my own, and I think most people wouldn’t be able to debate without that support.”

Sam Nelson, ILR director of forensics and senior lecturer, said “Many policy debate programs don’t allow students to join if they are not debaters in high school. The uniqueness of the program here at Cornell is that we don’t cut anybody.”

Benefits of Debate

The benefits of debate go beyond the possibility of winning a competition, and both Vorontsova and Dye credit it with building critical thinking skills.

Dye said, “I went to a rural high school … my graduating class was about 50, and we did not have a lot of extracurricular programs. I was very lucky to go to Cornell, where we have a novice debate program that you can join without having experience, because at many other schools, that’s not the case.”

Dye learned about the Speech and Debate program during his first year at Cornell when he took Nelson’s Advocacy and Debate class (ILR 3300). “Sam and Armands taught us about critiques and debate, and I was like, wow, that sounds like it’s for me,” Dye said.

Dye said, “[Due to debate], I’ve noticed a sharp increase in my ability to process information as it comes to me and analyze it critically to look for strengths and weaknesses.

“For me, personally, [debate] is my most meaningful experience that I’ve participated in at Cornell, and I credit it with my academic and professional development, for the most part. I think it’s one of the most valuable things you can do, and this is the only time in your life when you are able to do this.”

Dye plans to work as a teaching assistant for the Cornell International Debate Camp this summer and to attend law school in the fall – he is currently considering four different acceptance offers.

“I actually credit debate with my law school acceptances. I do not think I would have done as well with the LSAT as I did without the argumentation training,” Dye said.

According to Nelson, Dye is a great example of how a talented student can start as a novice with the program but quickly advance to the varsity level. 

“Universities that support that type of possibility are rare, because it is a very elite kind of competition,” Nelson said. 

“I want to emphasize that Matthew, as a starting novice, qualifying for the NDT two times before graduation is a huge accomplishment.”