Minutes from the March 28, 1996 National Debate Tournament Committee Meeting

The meeting was held at the National Debate Tournament at Wake Forest University.

Arnie Madsen, Committee Chair, called the meeting to order at 1:10 p.m. Brett O'Donnell serving as Secretary. David Hingstman serving as Parliamentarian.

Present: Southworth and Miller (proxy for Gass) for District One, Fritch (proxy for Backus) for District Three, Hingstman for District Four, Brossman for District Five, Smith for District Six, O'Donnell for District Seven, Strange for District Eight, Pickering for District Nine, Katsulas as AFA Eastern Representative, Panetta as AFA Southern Representative, Madsen as AFA Central Representative, Jewell as AFA Western Representative, Parson as Tournament Director, Louden (ex-officio) as Tournament Host.

MINUTES

The minutes from the NDT Committee meeting at the University of Michigan were approved without objection (Southworth motion, Pickering second, passed unanimously).

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE CHAIR (Madsen)

The Chair reminded the committee of the members of each subcommittee (Appeals and Tournament Procedures Advisory) and each of the committees' roles during the NDT (see attached).

The Chair announced that the AFA President is still working with Lexis/Nexis. The AFA President has informed Madsen that Lexis/Nexis expects to re-open educational accounts in the long-term. However, they do not expect to re-open educational accounts in the short-term because of the lack of monitoring technology.

The Chair announced that Alex Lennon is offering a summer internship for CSIS for a debater. CSIS is seeking support from the debate community for this position. The committee was unanimously behind the position. Madsen will report to CSIS that the NDT Committee supports the internship.

REPORT OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES (Polk)

The Board asked the NDT Committee to discuss the consumption of alcohol at the NDT in competition rooms. A motion concerning this issue will be presented later in the meeting.

REPORT OF THE RANKINGS DIRECTOR

Madsen indicated that Backus does not wish to be the rankings director next year. He is searching for a replacement.

REPORT OF THE 1997 TOURNAMENT HOST (O'Donnell)

O'Donnell reported that the final hotel contract has been signed by the board. Preliminary planning for the tournament is progressing.

REPORT OF THE TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR (Parson)

Parson reported that fifty-one teams had registered when the meeting began. Parson inquired about alumni judging at the tournament. Several had indicated that they are interested in judging. However, they will not meet the criteria established by the rules. The committee gave their consent to Parson for alumni to judge at the tournament.

Parson indicated that their are seventy-two teams participating in the tournament. He asked the committee to discuss the second round process because of the small number of teams that apply and are eliminated by this process.

Parson and Madsen requested the committee's assistance in moving to rounds on Friday at the hotel.

OTHER COMMITTEE REPORTS

JUDGE PHILOSOPHY BOOKLET (Berry)

Berry requested the committee's permission to photocopy judge philosophies on two sides. He reported a problem in faxing philosophies. The fax machine at King's is shared by several departments and is not set-up to handle the volume of faxes received in collecting the philosophies. Mancuso suggested renting a fax machine. Hingstman suggested that philosophies be e-mailed instead of faxed. The committee supported the idea of encouraging philosophies be e-mailed.

OLD BUSINESS

none

NEW BUSINESS

Madsen informed the committee that Marc Wilson decided not to bring his issue before the committee.

Panetta moved that the first round bid applications be posted to the NDT director's home page. Jewell second. Panetta suggested that posting the applications to the home page will let the community better follow the first round at-large process. Passed unanimously.

O'Donnell moved the following be added to the Standing Rules as rule IV. F. 5.:

"5. Alcohol and controlled substance policy. The use of controlled substances and alcohol shall be prohibited in rooms in which NDT competition takes place. The NDT Tournament Director shall inform attendees of this rule at the opening assembly and again at the beginning of the final round." Katsulas second. Passed unanimously.

The committee recessed for a short break.

REPORT OF THE 1996 TOURNAMENT HOST (Louden)

Louden indicated that he intends the Thursday banquet to be in honor of the tournament participants and the Saturday banquet in honor of the alumni of the NDT.

Louden informed the committee about a few logistical concerns of the tournament including moving in the hotel and the location of Lexis/Nexis connections.

NEW BUSINESS CONTINUED

Smith moved the following:

amend rule "VIII: Topic Selection." and add "For 1996-97, if it is decided by CEDA no later than April 7, that:

1) The CEDA topic release date will be August 15 or earlier, and
2) The official final ballot announcement date is June 15 or earlier, and
3) The CEDA topic area is announced by June 1,

Then the below changes in the Standing Rules will take effect.

Beginning in 1997-98, in any year that the CEDA topic selection process includes the following elements:

1) The CEDA topic release date is no later than August 15, and
2) The final ballot announcement date is no later than May 1,

Then the below changes in the Standing Rules will take effect. If the topic release dates and the final ballot announcement dates above are not met and if CEDA releases their problem area by May 1, then the NDT Topic Committee shall draft topics consistent with that area.

Amend the Standing Rules as follows:

1) change II.B.1.b "NDT rounds" to "rounds on the fall CEDA topic or its NDT topic parallel."

2) change II.C.2.c.2 by adding "in rounds on the fall CEDA topic or its NDT topic parallel" after "win-loss record" and after "win-loss percentages."

3) change III.A.2 by adding "or its fall CEDA topic parallel" after NDT parallel resolution."

4) change VIII.A.3 by replacing all of section "a" with "Coordinate writing of topic papers and wording of topics with the CEDA topic selection committee and strike sections "c" and "d"

5) strike VIII.C

6) begin VIII with "The NDT will use a topic parallel to the fall CEDA topic. The topic committee will develop alternate wordings for any CEDA topics the NDT topic committee feels should be reworded as soon as possible within two weeks of the final CEDA ballot release. Should the NDT topic committee not write a parallel wording for the chosen CEDA topic, the CEDA wording will be used.

Discussion occurred concerning release dates as well as arguments concerning the topic selection process. Southworth suggested that removing the NDT community from the topic selection process and from voting for the topic is a bad idea. Hingstman argued that the topic committee must work within the existing time frame with May 1 being the outside date. Strange suggested that the topic committee could work in April, May, and June and that the NDT-L could replace current topic meetings. Bjork questioned whether or not topic papers were essential. Hingstman argued that they are an important part of the topic selection process. Deatherage suggested amending the Smith proposal to include the release date of the problem area. Mancuso suggested that the NDT have a second plan in case the CEDA community did not pass the agreeable release dates that would employ the CEDA problem area, but utilize NDT topic committee worded topics. He suggested that this plan be used if the CEDA topic release date remained September 1, but the problem area released by May 1.

Hingstman offered an amendment changing the topic release date to August 1. O'Donnell second. Amendment failed on a voice vote.

Brossman moved amendment "If CEDA releases their problem area by May 1 then the NDT topic committee shall draft topics consistent with that area." Pickering second.

Miller became the proxy for Gass (District I).

Amendment passed on voice vote.

The motion passed on a voice vote.

Harrison suggested that a committee be appointed to coordinate with CEDA. Brossman will draft a letter informing them of the committee's action and will be forwarded to CEDA.

Warner raised issue of eligibility and grandfathering debaters from the change made in the rules at the University of Michigan meeting.

Brossman moved that Krsna Tibbs from the University of Louisville be granted and exemption. Second.

Jewell moved to table the motion until the next meeting. The motion failed because of the lack of a second.

Brossman withdrew his motion.

Strange moved the following change in the rule passed at the Michigan meeting. "The counting of years for eligibility shall begin in the fall of 1996." Jewell second.

Passed by voice vote.

The 1996-97 NDT Committee was recognized.

District One has not named its representative, Fritch for District Three, Hingstman for District Four, Brossman for District Five, Smith for District Six, Decker for District Seven, Strange for District Eight, Frank as AFA Eastern Representative, Warner as AFA Southern Representative, Madsen as AFA Central Representative, Jewell as AFA Western Representative, Parson as Tournament Director, O'Donnell (ex-officio) as Tournament Host.

ELECTIONS

Brossman nominated Madsen for Chair, Smith second. Nominations were closed.

Fritch nominated Jewell for Secretary, Brossman second. Nominations were closed.

Fritch moved that the NDT Committee thank Madsen for his work as Chair of the NDT Committee.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,
Brett O'Donnell,Secretary