Minutes from the February 7, 1998 National Debate Tournament Committee Meeting

Note: The following minutes are a draft version not yet approved by the NDT Committee. Correction of any errors, and approval of the minutes, will occur at the March 26, 1998 meeting of the Committee in Salt Lake City.

National Debate Tournament Committee Meeting held at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL

1) Attendence
Dist 1 - Southworth for Miller
Dist 2 - Lacy for Dumas
Dist 3 - Fritch
Dist 4 - Madsen
Dist 5- Brossmann
Dist 6- Smith for Panetta
Dist 7 - O'Donnell for Decker
Dist 8 - Perkins for Thomson
Dist 9 - Bjork for Jewell
AFA East - Mitchell- (Fashionably late)
South - Warner
Midwest - Hamilton
West - Deloach for Taylor
Director - Parson
Board Representative - Mancuso
1998 Host - Bjork
1999 Host - Ziegelmueller

Madsen acting as Chair and parliamentarian. Warner acting secretary.

2) No NDT chair report - all issues relayed via email

3) NDT host report- Becky Bjork, University of Utah

• Becky gave correct phone number for van rental. 596-2596 No longer called Payless.
• 9 booths left for NDT data connections (Harvard, Liberty, John Fritch, Ross Smith requested reservations)
• Hotel Rooms- Individual confirmation. Please don't give away rooms. Becky has reserved the rest of the rooms. 5 other hotels in area might have rooms available.
• Road Construction is significant- check the web. Link to State Transportation site and Traffic Cam for up to the minute news.
• O'Donnell asked about whether Payless was at airport. They will shuttle
• Ziegelmueller asked: Is there arrangement with Payless. Perkins says 15 passenger vans are gone.
• Deatherage asks: Is transportation necessary? Bjork - 2 miles from hotel in campus. Deatherage- Is there food near hotel? Variety of fast food.
• No photocopiers in hotel. Kinko's within 3 blocks.
• Please communicate room issue to those in District, including hotel cancellations or reservations now go through Bjork.
• Budget: Total cost $50,000. $35,000 accounted for by: in-kind donations; tournament fees; donations. In-kind contributions are tough to do.
• Perkins asked: Does NDT document make clear about providing copying facilities near hotel. Madsen says that hosts can add benefits if they choose. Smith says this would be a NDT host responsibility and not NDT tournament fees. Madsen- host document just says that copying needs to be provided for tournament director. Bjork- could do like other technology and assess schools a fee for copier use.
• Only 15 phone lines. Will contact US West about more phone lines.

4) Ziegelmueller report on 1999 NDT

• Hotels are biggest concern. Meetings next week with everyone.
• Deatherage- Hotel rate increase is largest single expense and steadily increasing.
• Computer hookups: Room in undergraduate library. 24 hour access.

5) Report of the director:

• Publishing of e-mail address to use for reporting rankings.
• O'Donnell- Why is your account use "eagle", instead of Jayhawk? Parson- It was "Falcon", but they took that away.
• If they come earlier than deadline, I will post before deadline (telephone and NDT Director's page).
• Lawrence will get new area code soon.
• Madsen- Wants both fax and e-mail bids, so he can send you one if for some reason one doesnÕt arrive.
• Question: How many schools will have a PC with them at NDT...Give everyone the disk (preference sheet) and skip the transcribing by the tab room.

6) Report of the board

• Madsen reports for Gossett: 2 trophy bids. One could not supply everything. Thus, using same vendor as last year. Someone said: How much was bid? Many say: somewhat lower. Madsen- But this bid does not include plaques, just mugs. O'Donnell- I think we saved $500 bucks. Perkins- That's all. O'Donnell- Don't quote me. A discussion about the lack of interest in submission of bids. Silver is the problem for trophy vendors. Perkins and Ziegelmueller: Buying silver elsewhere saves a lot. Southworth- Why can't we split it? Perkins: I floated this, not much interest.

7) Rankings: Cheshier

• List next week. Perkins: Late as usual. Cheshier: Over 30 tournaments yet to send info. Seems unconcerned about Perkin's quip...

8) Allocation stuff: Fritch

• Due Tuesday, Feb 17.
• Southworth- To count they must have 24 rounds? 50% record? Madsen: three touraments in open or varsity division with at least six schools.

  Discussion of what counts as a District ÒTournamentÓ for purposes of bid allocation rule. District three gave out 40% of the bids through ranking, then had a tournament for the rest. Madsen- rule is "districts have option of holding tournament, ranking, or an alternative process.Ó Does Partial tournament, partial rankings count as a tournament or as alternative? Southworth- What advantage exists to removing teams to create fairer tournament? Deatherage- Madsen's reading seems correct but Southworth's goal seems justifiable. Madsen- Given past practice, should let rankings and tournament count as a tournament unless objection...Perkins objects and says rule is unambigious. Perkins- Dallas motions to quit allowing mixed rankings and tournaments as "tournaments," counting instead as alternative to tournament. Only teams with 40% or over count for allocation process. 2nd by O'Donnell. Brossmann- We need to define "tournament". Madsen- Rule change can't go into effect, we are only clarifying standing rule. Much discussion: Smith- Call question. Brossmann- If I vote against.

• 7-5 vote. Districts ranking some teams and having others debate in a tournament is not a tournament under bid allocation rule. If Districts choose that process, all teams submitted for bid allocation must have at least a 40% prelim round record.
• Southworth- Clarification: Committee not attempting to define what constitutes a tournament in terms of number of debates, etc.
• Madsen: May need to fix the allocation process at Utah or New York.
• Southworth- Why not consider the old system. Knew bids and what wanted to do. Potential here for abuse is people not showing up. Focused on participation and involvement. Considerable distortions.

• Poll of districts on number of teams in allocation process (before bid teams):
• D1 - Technically yes. 9 teams. Having a tournament. (1 or 2 applications)
• D2- No idea
• D3- 13-15 with bids. (5-2 KU, UMKC, NTEX, 2 TEX)
• D4- 6 with 1st round bids (IA, MAC)
• D5- 19-20 (7 to apply- 2 SIU, 2NW, 2 MICH; )
• D6- 16-20 (?)
• D7- 16 (3)
• D8- 3-6, I guess... (2)
• D9 - 10-12 teams. (0)

9) Judge Philosophy- Chairs should collect at districts and forward to Mike Berry.

Old Business

Updating of standing rules: Revised over holiday break. Changed order on topic revisions 2 years ago. Hinghtsman concurred. He recommends that we formally approve changes. Motion would be to approve incorporation of all amendments to standing rules since Õ95 Brossmann motions, Hamilton 2nd. Adoption passes unianimously.

New Business

• Standing rule amendment. Propose to make consistent all provisions regarding minimum number of rounds judges need to be able to judge at the NDT. Perkins moves adoption, Brossman 2nd. Passes unanimously.

• Standing rule amendment. Proposal to lower from 24 to 18 rounds the number of rounds required to be eligible for the bid allocation process. Question is whether folk prefer minimum number of rounds, minimum number of tournaments, or both. Voting for motion indicates that tournaments is primary factor, voting against motion indicates that number of rounds is most important. Perkins moves adoption, Brossmann 2nd. Motion passes.

• Standing rule amendment. Amendment would require Institutional Review Board approval prior to submission of a research proposal to the NDT Director or Committe. Perkins, Motion, Bjork, 2nd. Perkins asks would director's survey be included. Bjork- Informed consent survey gets around IRB. Motion withdrawn for revision, reconsider at Utah.

• NDT preliminary round limit. Madsen- thought yes (120 rounds), but could not find limit. Hinghtsman. A bunch of various beliefs, no one could find history. Madsen found following: timeline- AFA adopted code in '72, revised in '74. Southworth right that it's in AFA code. NDT had a 14 tournament required. Unclear if passed or not. Assume rule went away, though can't prove it happened in the mid-70s.
• End of 70's, rules were codified to get standing rules updated and codify charter. Went into effect and passed in spring 1980. Hazen's newsletter has a copy of charter, standing rules, board rules, and committee rules. 120 round was not found in those codified rules.
• AFA Educational practices committee (New York) in 1980 submitted Code revisions, approved in 1982. Sent to all AFA members in 1982. 120 rounds not mentioned in the new code. Hazen's application says no morethan 120 rounds, but that form was from before the AFA Code revisions, thus no one changed the model at-large application. It has been a statement on the form, but it is not a rule. AFA says- must be enrolled; must be seeking a degree; must be in good-standing; must not have a BA degree. Perkins moves that Madsen's work is good. O'Donnell wants to know if this applies to anyone. Motion carries by acclamation.

Next meeting is Wed, 1PM, day before NDT. Odd-numbered districts should conduct elections prior to Utah if possible. If there are recommendations for AFA East, AFA South, forward to Madsen. Will elect Chair, Secretary, and Parliamentarian for next year at Utah meeting.