Minutes from the February 13, 1994
National Debate Tournament Committee Meeting
Minutes from the February 13, 1994 |
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The meeting was held at Northwestern University.
MEMBERS PRESENT-Voting:
District I-Bob Gass
District III-Nick Backus
District IV-Fred Sternhagen (Proxy for T. Williams)
District V-Steve Mancuso (District CoChair) & David Snowball (District-CoChair)
District VI-J.W. PattersonB
District VIII-Dallas Perkins
AFA Eastern-Edward Grinder (Secretary)
AFA Midwest-David Hingstman
AFA Southern-Frank Harrison (Chair of the NDT Committee)
AFA West-William Southworth
Tournament Director-Donn Parson
ADDITIONAL PRESENT Non-Voting:
Arnie Madsen (Parliamentarian), Tim Hynes, Lucy Keele, George Ziegelmueller, John Bart
District VII-Warren Decker-Absent and Snowed out
The meeting was convened at 8:10 CST in the meeting room of Harding House of Northwestern University.
1.Minutes of meeting at SCA were approved as written.
2.The Chair of the Committee, Frank Harrison announced that a question had been raised with respect to the interpretation of Rule II.B.1b. of the Standing Rules. After polling the committee and that it was preferred that had debated as a team but that 24 rounds individually was acceptable. He asked the assembled NDT Committee for concurrence which he received.
3.SCA-Fall of 1994. Dale Herbeck had mentioned to the Chair of the NDT Committee that it could avail itself of the auspices of the AFA accommodations and suggested that the NDT Committee might want to meet the day prior to the SCA but recommended diiping the SCA meeting slots in the event of need. The Parliamentarian, Arnie Madsen pointed out that the Charter requires meeting at SCA. No final decision on the SCA Meeting dates need be made until after the new committee is seated.
4.Frank Harrison renewed his request for District Constitutions.
5.The announcement was made that Prof. Star Muir of GMU was resigning as Ranking Director effective as of the 1994 NDT. It was moved and unanimously approved that the Chair of the Committee send a letter to the Chair of the Department at George Mason University commending his work. Since Star Muir was snowed into D.C, Frank Harrison presented the Point Ranking Report.
6.Report of Board of Trustees-Lucy Keele for Bill Henderson. Ms. Keele passed out her list of currently paid members. A total of 72 checks had been received. A number of 1st rounds had yet to pay. The Ford Fund $5,000.00 donation has already been received.
7.No report on the 1995 tournament.
8.REPORT ON 1994 NDT: Host-Tim Hynes. The original block of 150 rooms at headquarters hotel is gone. Additional rooms are to be made available at the Galo House. Dean Hynes requests that people having problems contact Pam Gilkey of his office. There has been a problem with Lexis Nexis connection and there are attempts to keep the costs more in line with past practices. More to follow as the tournament approaches.
9.REPORT FROM TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR -Donn Parson. He distributed copies of the 1st Round at large bids. There had been some problems given the tightness of the schedule. He recommended that more time be allowed for the first round process next year and offered the following suggestion for the second round process for 1994 2nd round applicants. The second rounds would be slid back to Saturday, March 5, but not before 8:00 p.m. The Tab Room staff appears to be in tact and Rich Edwards has agreed not only to work in the tab room but also to tailor a special version of his program for the NDT. The only advisory concern that has requested centered on the possibility of an odd number of teams for the tournament.
MOTION: (Advisory to Director) (by Southworth-2nd Hingstman) The Director should choose a team to even the number in the following manner: first, Take the next team in 2nd round pool that had 50%, if that failed, then a 7th Third team, if none then a local. It was then agreed to leave the decision to the discretion of the Tournament Director.
10.REPORT OF TOPIC SELECTION COMMITTEE. For the purpose of brevity and clarity the secretary has written the motions below as adopted and presents part of the logic of the discussion after.
MOTION I: The NDT should assume the responsibility for the policy debate topic. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
MOTION II: The following be added to the Standing Rules for the Operation of the National Debate Tournament as Standing Rule VIII (Rule VIII:Amendment. becomes Rule IX:Amendment:) Rule VIII:Topic Selection:
The NDT will use the topic selection by the NDT Membership.
Logic-The past situation was one where the rules were indeterminate, the membership of the committee did not appear to be open and the financial support was not always met. The members of the Trustees agreed (G. Ziegemuller) that it was their responsibility to get the funding. Further discussion revolved around the need of the District Chairs to fill the openings on the topic selection committee.
11.There was a request that all directors have judges who will be judging at the NDT get the judge philosophies to Mike Berry at King's College. Chairman Harrison voiced his appreciation to the King's program which has graciously agreed to carry the almost $900.00 cost of the Judge Philosophy Booklet.
12. REPORT OF BID ALLOCATION COMMITTEE: Report made by Edward Grinder, Chair of committee. Prior to the announcement of the bid allocation, the chair requested a vote of support for the committee ruling that the teams to be counted had to have 24 rounds and three tournaments prior to the bid allocation deadline and process. There was a challenge to the process based on the argument that a team would have 24 rounds by the time of the district qualifier. The committee had decided that the rules, deadlines, etc. had been sufficiently clear. Chairman Harrison had invited the affected party to address the NDT Committee. He chose not to avail himself of that option. Further, the rules governing participation in a particular district's tournament are left to the district. The rule under consideration deals only with those eligible to be counted for bid allocation-not necessarily participation. It was noted that under the Charter of the NDT, district qualifying procedures are left to the individual districts, not the NDT Committee. There was general agreement that the point was moot.
BID ALLOCATION: There were a total of 74 teams declaring their intention to attempt to attend the NDT and certified tot he Bid Allocation committee by the District Chairs. Following rule II.B.1 of the Standing Rules for the Operation of the National Debate Tournament, the committee allocated the bids as shown below.
| DISTRICT | #TEAMS | 1st rd | POST 1ST | 46/58 | BID ALLOCATION |
| 0.793 | |||||
| 1 | 5 | -1.000 | 4.000 | 3.172 | 3 |
| 3 | 11 | -3.000 | 8.000 | 6.345 | 6 |
| 4 | 6 | -1.000 | 5.000 | 3.966 | 4 |
| 5 | 12 | -3.000 | 9.000 | 7.138 | 7 |
| 6 | 16 | -4.000 | 12.000 | 9.517 | 10 |
| 7 | 14 | -1.000 | 13.000 | 10.310 | 3 |
| 8 | 6 | -3.000 | 3.000 | 2.379 | 3 |
| 9 | 4 | 0.000 | 4.000 | 3.172 | 3 |
| 74 | -16 | 58.000 | 46.000 | 46 | |
OLD BUSINESS
13.EQUALIZATION OF OUT ROUNDS BETWEEN SIDES: Bill Southworth asked that the district representatives discuss with their respective constituencies the possibility of a proposal to equalize the sides (aff-neg) for a particular team in the elimination rounds of the NDT.. He agreed to defer discussion of this proposal for the NDT Committee meeting in Louisville.
14. TWO JUDGES PER ROUND: Bill Southworth also agreed to forego a motion on the two judge per round proposal to the meeting of the NDT Committee in Louisville.
15.DECISION DISCLOSURE: J. W. Patterson offered two motions in order both of which deal with disclosure of round results .
MOTION #1. STRIKE SECTION IV.f2) OF THE STANDING RULES FOR THE OPERATION OF THE TOURNAMENT which repeals the rule on "no disclosure" and its related sections. Second by Mancuso. The discussion centered around arguments about the effect on the operation of the tournament, potential alteration of judge behavior, effect on judges and teams, the tendency to throw ballots and potential distortion. The arguments for the motion were phrased in terms of educational feedback, the appearance that all were in the same circle, etc.
ROLL CALL. Ayers (3), Nays (9). AYES: Snowball-Mancuso, Patterson, Perkins. NAYS: Gass, BAckus, Sternhagen, Pickering, Grinder, Hingstman, Harrison, Southworth, Parson.
Motion #2. DIRECTED THE TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR TO MAKE AVAILABLE TO THE COACHES THE RECORDS (Win loss and ballot count)ONLY AT THE END OF EACH DAY.
The argument is that this still allows some knowledge to the individual teams. The negarive to the proposition argued that the same set of fears will be realized here and only a "purient interest" to confirm information will be satisfied.
Amendment: Hingstman-Omit Ballot count.
Roll Call on Amendment:AYES (10), NAYS (2).
AYES: Gass, BAckus, Sternhagen, Snowball-Mancuso, Perkins, Pickering, Grinder, Hingstman, Harrison, Parson.
NAY:Patterson, Southworth
Discussion of amended-motion. The concern on judge reaction and team reaction and the desire to avoid the "Get on the bus" mentality were heavily stressed. The counter arguement was that this could defuse some of the appearance of unfairness. With the current proposal, the non-disclosure rule would still be in effect.
ROLL CALL. AYES: (4), Gass, Sternhagen, Patterson, Hingstman
NAYS: (7), Backus, Perkins, Pickering, Grinder, Harrison, Southworth, Parsons
Abstain: Mancuso-Snowball
NEW BUSINESS
MOTION #1: ADD II.H.: In a four person novice division, points for each two person team in the ranking criteria (affirmative or negative) will be allocated for one-half the total wins (to the next lowest integer of wins) of the entire four person unit. single two person teams in the four person novice division receive one-half of the points (to the next lowest integer) for their record. {Sternhagen for Muir second by Grinder} PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
MOTION #II:Tournament host schools providing an independent tabulation room or independent observers of the tabulation room may receive points for team performance in elimination rounds. THIS REQUEST BY THE RANKING DIRECTOR FAILED FOR LACK OF A MOTION BY A VOTING MEMBER.
MOTION #III.: DIRECTS THE CHAIR TO ASK THE NDT TRUSTEES TO GET SOUTHWORTH PAID. UNANIMOUS This motion deals directly with funds advanced personally by Bill Southworth in the topic selection process.
MOTION IV: CHANGE RULE II.B.1.b. to read, 24 Rounds EITHER AS INDIVIDUAL OR AS TEAM. 32 INDIVIDUALLY FOR BID ALLOCATION CALCULATIONS (Gass, second by Sternhagen) i.e. If one member of the team has 32 rounds, no minimum number is required of the partner for the team to be eligible.
ROLL CALL. AYES (9): Gass, Backus, Sternhagen, Mancuso-Snowball, Patterson, Pickering, Hingstman, Southworth, Harrison
NAYS: (1), Grinder
Abstentions: (2) Perkins and Parson
MOTION: DISTRICTS CHOOSING TO SELECT REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE NDT IN A MANNER OTHER THAN A QUALIFYING DEBATE TOURNAMENT WILL BE ALLOWED TO SUBMIT ONLY THOSE TEAMS OVER A 40% WIN-LOSS RECORD FOR THE PURPOSES OF BID ALLOCATION, {Strike II.B.1.c} (Mancuso by Patterson) Districts must make a binding decision prior to the submission date as to the method of qualifying teams. 11 AYES, 1 Abstention.
Bill Southworth requested that in the future members of the Committee have a minimum of one week between the when bids are due and when a vote is required so that they can fairly evaluate bids. It was left as a sense of the committee and recommendation to the Tournament Director.
There was unanimous agreement among the members that the Chair should remind Prof. Henderson and the Trustees of the need to coordinate the NDT and NIET.
The meeting adjourned at approximately 12:55 p.m. CST.
Respectfully submitted, (Subject to approval)
Edward V. Grinder
Secretary