When most people think of higher education in the United States, the first images that come to mind are those of centuries-old, ivy-clad institutes of learning of the northeastern seaboard. The so-called “Ivy League” schools have long cultivated the reputation of being the most prestigious, most pedigreed schools in the nation. The fact that 18 U.S. presidents have graduated from Ivy League schools certainly adds to the air of superiority. And of the eight Ivy League schools, Harvard University is often viewed as the best and most illustrious of them all.
So when a debate team from Harvard loses a competition to a less-esteemed opponent, eyebrows are likely to be raised, and questions asked about who it is that out-debated some of the nation’s best and brightest scholars.
Those eyebrows are likely to be raised even higher when it is learned that the victorious team matriculates at the Eastern New York Correctional Facility.
“They caught us off-guard,” one of the Harvard debaters admitted to the Wall Street Journal following the debate.
The debate was organized by the Bard Prison Initiative of Bard College, which seeks to provide a college education to prisoners. Those that qualify for the program receive a tuition-free liberal-arts education, thanks to the gift of private donors.
“If we win, it’s going to make a lot of people question what goes on in here,” said debate team member Alex Hall, a 31-year-old from Manhattan convicted of manslaughter. “We might not be as naturally rhetorically gifted, but we work really hard.”
Defeating the Harvard College Debating Union was just the most recent success for Hall and his teammates. In previous debates, the prisoners have defeated teams from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, and a nationally ranked team from the University of Vermont.
It is too easy to forget that men and women behind bars have skills and talents that can benefit the greater society. Programs like the Bard Prison Initiative remind us that these prisoners are capable of becoming productive citizens. To learn more about Prison Fellowship’s efforts to help prepare prisoners to return to their communities, visit our reentry support page.
