Two Brandeis students won the Harvard Debating Championships this weekend. After their win, Andrew Husick ’11 and Brendan Fradkin ’12 were pushed to a third place standing in the American Parliamentary Debate Association.

At Harvard, Husick and Fradkin, members of the Brandeis Academic Debate and Speech Society, advanced through several rounds to the finals, where they debated “For minorities who are having fundamental rights abused, terrorism is justified.” The team was opposing, and a 9-4 decision led to their win.

Six other Brandeis teams competed, each with two debaters, but none broke to outrounds, Fradkin said.

“There was a massive amount of anticipation for the results,” Fradkin said. “They announced that on a 9-4 decision, the second place team was Yale, and it took us a few seconds to realize that we had actually won. There were copious amounts of hugs, and at least ten members from the team stayed to watch the entire time.”

He added that Brandeis has never placed first at the Harvard tournament before, and that is the biggest event at which they have placed first.

His debating partner, Husick, was also named Best Varsity Speaker of the event for the first time.

BADASS is part of the American Parliamentary Debate Association, a group of 50 schools primarily on the East Coast. APDA members host debates almost every weekend, and Brandeis sends debaters to most tournaments, said public relations director Kim Bouchard-Chaimowiz ’13 last year. Between five and 20 Brandeis debaters attend each tournament, depending on the location of the host school.