Harvard University

Dr. Tripp Rebrovick has been the Coach of Debate at Harvard College and Director of the Harvard Debate Council since 2017. He received an A.B. from Harvard College in 2009 and a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 2016. He has been teaching and coaching debate for over twenty years and has worked with students of all skill levels. As a debater, in 2005 he won a high school national championship and was the top-ranked individual speaker in the country. He was the first debater for Harvard to reach the elimination rounds at the National Debate Tournament all four years of competition. As a coach, his students have twice won the Rex Copeland Award, given to the college team with the best overall regular season record, and they have been the champions at nearly every major college tournament. 

Why Debate?

Debate is a transformative activity that elevates student voices and empowers young people to be critical thinkers and informed decision makers. In the words of Alexander Meikeljohn, former president of Brown University and Amherst College: "It seems to me that stronger than any other group, tougher in intellectual fiber, keener in intellectual interest, better equipped to battle with coming problems, are the...debaters — the [students] who, apart from their regular studies, band themselves together for intellectual controversy with each other and with their friends in other [schools].”