Committee Chair John Fritch called the meeting to order at 1:10 p.m., with Frank Harrison serving as Secretary and David Hingstman as Parliamentarian.

Members present in person or by proxy were: Bill Southworth, proxy for Greg Miller (District I); Glenn Frappier (District II); Joel Rollins (District III); David Hingstman, proxy for Heather Aldridge (District IV); Steve Mancuso, District V; Ed Panetta (District VI); Mike Berry (District VII); Tim Mahoney, proxy for Scott Thompson (District VIII); Doyle Srader (District IX); Ken Strange (AFA East); Ross Smith (AFA South); Heidi Hamilton (AFA Midwest), and Donn Parson (Tournament Director).

Also present were the 1999 Tournament Host, George Ziegelmueller (Wayne State University); the 2000 Tournament Host, Linda Collier (University of Missouri, Kansas City), and four members of the NDT Board of Trustees: John Gossett, Chair, Bill Balthrop, Tim Hynes and Brett O'Donnell.

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING

By unanimous consent, the minutes of the Meeting of February 7, 1999 were amended to indicate that Glenn Frappier was present, not as proxy but as the District II representative, and to substitute "the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act" for "AFA requirements" in the Report of the Board of Trustees. MOVED by Mancuso, second by Frappier, that the Minutes, as amended, be approved. CARRIED unanimously.

REPORT OF THE CHAIR

Fritch submitted to the Committee a research proposal by Pam Stepp (Cornell), requesting that Cornell graduate students be allowed to conduct a questionnaire survey on sexual harassment during the tournament. MOVED by Smith, second by Rollins, to approve the request. CARRIED unanimously.

The Chair also relayed a request from Whitman College that its team be kept in the same room for all rounds on Sunday to enable their debates to be electronically relayed to Becky Gallatine, who is unable to attend due to illness. MOVED by Berry, seconded by Smith, that the request be approved "if logistically possible and with the consent of the other teams." CARRIED unanimously.

Fritch pointed out the procedure for establishing competitor eligibility needs to be refined in light of this year's experience. Mancuso suggested that Smith put his ideas in writing for consideration.

REPORT OF THE TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR

Parson and Rich Edwards discussed judge placement procedure for the preliminary rounds. Edwards pointed out that the number of "B"s a team must select has been slightly decreased and the number of "strikes" slightly increased. He also announced that a "PC" will shadow tabulation on the "Mac" computer.

The Director suggested the Committee might wish to consider the implications of the motion passed at the previous meeting to strike Standing Rule V.B.2 f and g. ("Assignment of Judges. f. A judge shall not judge a team from his or her own district. g. A judge shall not be assigned to a panel which has a previously assigned judge from his or her district.")

REPORT OF THE TOURNAMENT HOST

Ziegelmueller discussed logistics and hospitality arrangements for this year's tournament at Wayne State.

REPORT OF THE 2000 TOURNAMENT HOST

Collier reported that she anticipates a press release on the tournament. Parson will conduct the "site visit" to consider hotel possibilities. If the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza is selected, the rate will be $80. There will be 200 rooms in the block: 160 "double doubles" and 40 "kings." Any overflow would be housed in the Wyndham Gardens across the street.

REPORT OF THE RANKING DIRECTOR

The Chair reported on behalf of David Cheshier. The last report included all participating schools. This will be Cheshier's last year as Director, and Fritch is looking for interested parties to succeed him. He appointed a Search Committee of O'Donnell, Chair, and Mancuso.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

The Bid Allocation Committee had no report.

Berry reported on behalf of the Booklet Committee. He will work with the computer folks at King's to achieve electronic filing of philosophy statements and posting them on the "web." He asked for the sense of the Committee as to whether the booklet should continue in "hardcopy" form. The sense of the Committee was that it should.

On behalf of the Appeals Committee, Smith reported that a number of eligibility appeals had been approved. They largely involved the late filing of forms required under the rule, which is new this year. In one instance, a conversation with a ranking academic officer of a University established that the spirit, if not the letter, of the rule had been complied with. He asked for input from all Committee members, especially concerning the enforcement of deadlines.

The Tournament Advisory Committee had no report. The Chair appointed Berry to this committee, as a replacement for a member who was unable to be present.

O'Donnell reported that the special committee appointed to Review the Process for Revision of AFA Code of Professional Standards had been unable to meet due to Ziegelmueller's involvement in preparations for the tournament.

The Chair reported on behalf of Mike Hester (West Georgia), who has been chair of a special committee to consider the Redefinition of Time Blocks for Eligibility Purposes. It was year MOVED by Mancuso, second by Hingstman "that the National Debate Tournament Committee shall seek an Amendment to the AFA Code of Ethics to establish December 25 as the date for separating between the spring and fall semesters." CARRIED unanimously.

It was then MOVED by Rollins, second by Mahoney, "that the National Debate Tournament Committee shall seek an Amendment to the AFA Code of Ethics to alter the eligibility rules to allow for 10 semesters of eligibility. The amendment to the Code shall seek to eliminate the two tournaments per semester rule and to limit the number of NDTs which any student shall attend to four." Panetta suggested a maximum of eight, rather than ten, semesters. A "straw vote" showed 8 members preferred an eight semester rule; 4 preferred ten semesters. The motion was then DEFEATED by voice vote.

Panetta then MOVED, second by Mancuso, that the NDT Committee seek an amendment to the AFA Code of Ethics to provide that "for the purposes of competition, students will be allowed to participate in eight semesters of debate. In seven of the eight semesters, participation in one tournament will constitute a semester. In the case of one of the eight semesters, two tournaments will constitute a semester." The motion was DEFEATED by voice vote.

It was then MOVED by Smith, second by Hamilton, that the Standing Rules be amended, in the appropriate place, to reflect that "participation in any debate tournament in more than ten semesters renders a debater ineligible to attend the NDT." An AMENDMENT proposed by Mahoney, that the change affect only freshman students entering in Fall, 1999, FAILED for lack of a second. The motion then CARRIED by a vote of 10 to 2, with Mahoney and Rollins dissenting.

Strange MOVED, second by Mancuso, that the new eligibility rule be preceded by language to reflect that the rule is "in addition to AFA eligibility standards." CARRIED by voice vote, with Mahoney dissenting.

REPORT OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Gossett reported that the Board had elected its officers for 1999-2000. Brett O'Donnell (Liberty) will serve as Secretary; Bill Balthrop (North Carolina) as Treasurer, and John Gossett (North Texas) as Chair.

He asked for volunteers to serve on the ad hoc committees described in the minutes of the previous meetings. Mancuso and Panetta agreed to serve on the committee investigating use of the NDT almni data base by others doing research projects.

OLD BUSINESS

By unanimous consent, the Committee agreed to take from the table the MOTION by Smith, second by Mancuso, that Rule V.C.2 be amended by inserting the following at the end: "Should this procedure result in a pairing (or pairings) of teams from the same school, the brackets shall be adjusted according to a procedure announced by the Tournament Director in advance of the tournament." Section 3 and subsection 3.a would be stricken, and subsection 3.b renumbered as section 3. After discussion, the motion FAILED on a roll call vote of 6 to 6. Voting in the affirmative: Frappier, Mancuso, Mahoney, Srader, Strange and Smith. Voting in the negative: Southworth, Rollins, Hingstman, Panetta, Berry and Hamilton.

NEW BUSINESS

After discussion on the subject, the Chair appointed a committee of Panetta and Southworth to propose a "model" form to be used in at-large applications.

Strange advised the Committee that he intended to prepare, for submission at the Fall meeting, a proposal to allow some form of "hybrid" team participation at the NDT. He asked anyone with concerns about such a proposal to discuss them with him, so that they might be considered in drafting the proposal.

Mancuso suggested that some form of recognition be given to more than the team placing first in the First Round At-Large process. He indicated that he will work on a more specific proposal.

RECOGNITION OF THE COMMITTEE FOR 1999-2000

The current members from odd numbered districts and AFA East and South will continue on the Committee, with the exception of Srader who has resigned from his position at Arizona State. Mike Janus (Samford) has been elected to represent District VI. No other election results or appointments have been made known to the Committee.

ELECTIONS

Director of Topic Selection. Discussion of the present topic selection procedure, whereby the NDT adopts the CEDA Resolution if it meets the requirements of Standing Rule VIII, revealed that the topic area will be released on May 28th, and a three day CEDA Topic Committee meeting will begin on June 15th. The function of the NDT Topic Committee, which is chaired by the Director of Topic Selection, is to draft a proposition of policy in the event CEDA fails to select one. It was pointed out that David Hingstman's three year term as Director will expire this year, and the Chair requested nominations for that office. Hingstman, seconded by Strange, nominated David Breshears (North Texas). Discussion revealed that Breshears was already an elected member of the CEDA Committee. Therefore, Mancuso, seconded by Smith, nominated Hingstman, who was elected by acclamation.

The following Officers of the Committee were elected by acclamation for the 1999-2000 academic year:

Chair: John Fritch (Southwest Missouri)

Parliamentarian: David Hingstman (Iowa)

Secretary: Frank Harrison (Trinity)

ADJOURNMENT

The Committee adjourned, by unanimous consent, at 4:25 p.m.

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