[3] He enrolled as an undergraduate student at Northwestern University later that year, beginning a highly successful career as an intercollegiate debate competitor.
During this period, his teams were regularly recognized as among the best in the nation, with the pair of Eliot Mincberg and Ron Marmer winning the 1973 NDT.
[7] He made up for difficulty in spotting differences in the makes and models of cars by scanning university parking lots to find the license plate of his team's vehicle at any given tournament.
Zarefsky also has two video courses, "Abraham Lincoln: In His Own Words" and "Argumentation: The Study of Effective Reasoning," marketed by The Teaching Company.
Some of Zarefsky's more notable students include: University of California, Irvine Founding Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky; United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit federal appellate judge Merrick B. Garland; and former White House Chief of Staff and former Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel.
Asked about Emanuel's reputation for ruthlessness, Zarefsky was quoted in The Daily Northwestern as saying, "I think it can be applied to him in a positive sense because he's just very determined to achieve his goals.