Founded in 1908, it is the most prolific winner of the American Parliamentary Debate Association's Club of the Year award.

[2] Currently, the YDA is the fourth-ranked collegiate debate society in the world, and as of January 2024, the highest ranked in North America.

The debates were open to the public, free of charge, and drew large crowds on campus.

The first, John Chester Adams graduated from Yale in 1886 and coached the team from when he began teaching in 1914 to his retirement in 1941.

[8] The annual Adams Cup Debate Tournament between residential colleges at Yale is named in his honor.

[9] "Rollie Osterweis, who coached the debaters, always said that Bill Buckley and John Kerry were the best speakers he'd ever worked with," Yale graduate Harvey Bundy told The New York Times in 2004.

[10] Among those who acted as assistant coaches under Osterweis was John O'Leary, then a student at the law school and later the United States Ambassador to Chile.

As noted below, the team now hosts a tournament for local Connecticut schools in memory of Rollin Osterweis.

[11] YDA membership is competitive and tryouts are held in the beginning of Yale's fall semester for those wishing to join the team.

Members of the team have also been active in the governance of the league, including election to the executive board of APDA.

A more formal association began in 1908, when Yale joined forces with Harvard and Princeton to hold annual debates called “Triangulars” that would discuss current political and economic affairs.

Today, the YDA continues this tradition by fielding two three-member teams to debate both the Harvard and Princeton delegations every year.

The YDA also runs the Adams Cup, an intramural debate tournament between the residential colleges at Yale.

As one of the oldest debating institutions in the United States, the YDA has developed a large alumni community.

[23] Other former Yale debate team members include conservative writer and activist L. Brent Bozell, Jr., Stanford Law School professor Deborah Rhode, Yale Law School professor Akhil Reed Amar, Writer and commentator David Frum, Yale professor Tamar Gendler, Economist Austan Goolsbee, Writer Dahlia Lithwick, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and environmental attorney Ralph Cavanagh.

The YDA recently celebrated its 100th anniversary with the Centennial Reunion in October 2008, where the Yale Association for Debate Alumni was formally created.

[29] The debates centered on several topics addressing important questions facing the United States with relation to race and equality.

[32] Over the past 25 years, members of the YDA have received many awards for their performances throughout the course of a season in the American Parliamentary Debate Association.