The Damien Debates
2015 — CA/US
October 5, 2015
Dear Colleague,
Damien High School takes pride in extending this invitation to your team for our annual Damien Debate Invitational. This tournament will take place on Saturday, November 14, and Sunday, November 15, 2015. We will offer varsity and novice divisions of Policy and Lincoln-Douglas. Our goal is to provide capable judging, competent tournament administration, and an enjoyable experience for those who attend.
Given the current trends in participation by students who are not representing their high school, we need to make it clear that while we will accept independent entries, all students MUST be accompanied by an adult chaperone, who is present on campus at all times with the students they are chaperoning. A chaperone form is included in this invitation and MUST be filled out by any and all students who are not accompanied by an authorized chaperone from the school the students attend. It is recommended that this form be turned in in advance of the tournament, because we will not allow any student without a chaperone to compete in the tournament.
We will do everything we can to run the tournament on time. Toward that end, we ask that you observe all deadlines contained within this invitation. We especially ask that you arrive on time for registration, and that you arrive without any debate drops! This should allow us to avoid making any changes on Saturday morning which would lead to delays.
The details and tournament rules follow. If we can be of any help or answer any questions, please feel free to call us. Our contact information is enclosed within the invitation materials. We hope to see all of you here next month!
Sincerely,
Chuck Ballingall Donny Peters
Director of Debate Associate Director of Debate
The 2015 Damien Debate Invitational
Divisions and eligibility
Varsity: Open to all competitors.
Novice: Open to all competitors who are debating their first semester in the type of debate they are entered in; in Team Debate, BOTH team members must meet this qualification.
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Event rules
Teams will debate the national resolution, Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially curtail its domestic surveillance.
Lincoln-Douglas debaters will debate the resolution, Resolved: In the United States criminal justice system, jury nullification ought to be used in the face of perceived injustice. ***(The “NFL November topic”)***
Limits
The Damien campus is physically limited to accommodating 60 debate entries at a time. Therefore, each school will be limited initially to six total policy teams and six total Lincoln-Douglas entries, divided as you wish among divisions. Additional teams will be admitted if space is available. When 64 entries have been accepted in each division, a wait list will be created and schools notified if slots become available.
Adult supervision and judges
Each school must be accompanied by a qualified adult supervisor. No unaffiliated or unaccompanied entries will be permitted. A judge must be provided for every two debate entries or fraction thereof. This is true in BOTH policy AND in Lincoln-Douglas. Lincoln-Douglas debates will be single-flighted and will take place between Team Debate rounds. I strongly urge you to bring separate judges for each event, or your judges covering both Team and Lincoln-Douglas entries would have NO break between rounds.
All judges must be qualified to judge the division which they are covering. Subject to our prior approval, senior varsity debaters may be allowed to judge the novice division.
A limited number of hired judges will be available at $100 per uncovered team or $75 per uncovered Lincoln-Douglas entry. NO judges will be available for hire after the entry deadline date. Schools making a commitment to hire judges as of the entry deadline will be committed to paying for those judges regardless of changes in their entry in the week before the tournament. Particularly in Lincoln-Douglas, we much prefer to have your judges rather than your cash! Please bring judges to cover your entry.
Each judge is committed to judge one round beyond the elimination of the teams that he or she is covering. All judges are expected to stay and be available for the first elimination round. A judge covering one debate entry will judge three prelim rounds; a judge covering two entries will judge all prelim rounds.
Fees
Fees may be paid by mail or at registration. All fees should be in the form of cash or a check made out to Damien High School. School checks and cash are the only acceptable forms of payment without prior approval. Purchase orders will not be accepted as payment.
Debate team $50
Lincoln-Douglas team $30
Debate judges $100 per uncovered team
Lincoln-Douglas judges $75 per uncovered debater
Entry fees on drops will be refunded fully as long as drops are made by Thursday, November 12.
Entry deadline
All entries and requests for hired judges must be received by 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 10. Drops in hired judges after Tuesday will not be refunded. Entry drops are due by 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 12.
Entries should be made through the online entry system at www.tabroom.com (the same system used for Fullerton, Berkeley, etc.).
Mailing address: Chuck Ballingall
Damien High School
2280 Damien Avenue
La Verne, CA, 91750
E-mail: ballingall@damien-hs.edu
Independent Entries
An independent entry is defined as any entry which is not authorized by the school the students attend. This definition includes students who debate under the name of afterschool programs or academies. To be accepted as an independent entry the attending group must include an authorization letter from each set of parents or guardians. This letter is at the end of this invitation and is also posted on the tabroom.com website. It is strongly suggested that these letters be turned in BEFORE the day of the tournament, but they MUST be turned in at registration. Any student lacking such permission will NOT be allowed to compete.
Lodging
I strongly suggest that you make reservations as soon as possible; motels in this area tend to fill up rapidly. There is a Holiday Inn Express in San Dimas which is close to campus and is located within walking distance of several fast food and sit-down restaurants. A few other local hotels/motels are listed below:
Holiday Inn Express (909) 305-2323
Best Western San Dimas Hotel & Suites (909) 592-0500
Sheraton Fairplex (909) 622-2220
Parent Letter authorizing participation by independent entries
(template--copy/paste the text and fill in the blanks as appropriate):
Date_________________________
Dear Damien High School:
This letter is to inform you that we would like our child, ___________________, to attend The Damien Debates from November 14-15, 2015 and that she / he does so with our full consent and permission. We have arranged for our child to be fully chaperoned and for transportation to our satisfaction, and accept full responsibility and liability for our child during the entire course of the event. We understand and agree that Damien High School, its employees, and its agents provide no chaperones for the event, and further agree that Damien High School, its employees, and its agents are hereby relieved of any responsibility or liability of any sort for the supervision of our child.
The following person will be chaperoning our child:
Name: _________________________________________________________
Cell phone: _____________________________________________________
Relationship to our child: __________________________________________
By signing this we are certifying that we are in fact the legal guardians of the listed child, and have full legal authority to act on the listed child's behalf.
________________________ ________________________ ________________________
Parent Name Parent Signature Date
Parents’ contact information:
________________________ ________________________
Cell phone Email