LD Varsity Rules & Procedures

Basic Information:

• Division: Varsity LD
• Entry Fee Per Team: $80 per entry (includes 3 full meals, coffee/water/snacks, parking, wifi access, 24 hour security, offcampus elims room fee.)
• Hired Judging Fee: $300 per hired judge (one judge can accomodate 6 rounds of commitment) or $150 per uncovered entry (equivalent to three rounds of commitment)
• Number of Rounds: 6 Prelim Rounds (5 Sat, 1 Sun); 4-5 Elim Rounds (3 Sun, Rest Mon)
• Judge Commitment: 3 Rounds Judging Per Team.
• Tournament Cap: 100 LD Entries Total
• Tournament Bid Level: TOC Quarters Bid in LD, NDCA Baker Points
• Breaks: All 4-2s Break, partial triples on sunday if necessary.

Tabroom Procedures:

• Prelims powermatching: Wins for first tiebreaker every round after R2, Opp-seed(-1H/L) for second tiebreaker.
• Judge Prefs will be Ordinal. (If you like categories, just do it in groups of 10-5, it's the same thing)
• Elims: All 4-2s Clear. Partial Triples if Necessary, but unlikely.
• 30 minutes of pre-round prep time from announce to start time.
• Elim Judge Commitment: At mininum, all judges are obligated for partial triples, doubles and octofinals. For later rounds, contract judges are obligated (as stipulated by their contract), and other judges are obligated for the first elim round after the last elim round their team participated in.
• Other changes TBA.

In-Round Procedures:

• Time Limits will be 6-7-4-6-3 with 4 minutes of prep time per side. 
• Topic will be the 2016-2017 NSDA September-October High School LD Resolution.
• Judges can only reward at most one win per round.
• Double losses are permitted for prelim rounds only.
• Speaker points must range between 20-30 points (with an exception being made if directly requested and explained to the tabroom directly).
• No Ties in Speaker Points (unless matching zeros).

Entry Cap Procedures:

The LD division is hard capped at 100 entries. All LDers will be waitlisted prior to Loyola H.S. receiving their entry fee payment in full. Once payment is received, each school will receive guaranteed four LD slots, with any additional paid entries being ear-marked as fully paid waitlisted entries. If by August 26, 2016, the quota has not been filled, all remaining fully-waitlisted entries will be accepted on a first paid, first serve basis. Any payment received for a waitlisted team not taken off the waitlist will be promptly refunded in full. If Loyola H.S. doesn't receive a prior payment, you don't get taken off the waitlist and will not attend our tournament. 

Wiki Disclosure - Encouraged

Loyola Speech and Debate supports a policy of disclosure. Disclosure of full tags, cites, first/last words is recommended for every 1AC and 1NC read. If the 1AC/1NC does not neatly fit into this traditional format, full written/electronic work product can be disclosed. Disclosure of additional speeches and open-source disclosure is also highly recommended. Judges are encouraged to reward debaters who do disclose with a boost in speaker points.

Tournament Wireless Access

Loyola H.S. has excellent wifi access and bandwidth, and will provide guest access to all participants, coaches, and judges.

Ombudsperson Complaint Procedures

An official person will be designated to adjudicate any complaints of rule violations, and will have final authority over what, if any, punishment is deemed necessary. An official process will be established to iniatiate a protests to the ombudsperson. Failure to comply with the process may result in your complaint get ignored, and problem unresolved. This establishes a fair and formal procedure to intiaite protests against teams or judge decisions.

Independent Entries

Independent entries will be accepted to the tournament on the condition that students have parental notice and approval. Applying to the tournament is explicit agreement that each child has the approval of their parent/guardian.

Audio/Video Consent (Opt-Out)

The Loyola Invitational will use an opt-out procedure for consent to audio/video recordings. All participants, by way of their guardians entering them into the Loyola Invitational, consent to being audio and video recorded and the use of those recordings by Loyola Speech and Debate and its administrators. See Notice of Audio/Video Recording Waiver. If a student or their guardian has an issue with such a recording and/or use of such recording such an issue must be presented to tournament administrators prior to the start of the tournament. Ultimately a participant may be denied entry to the tournament if they do not consent to audio/video recordings. 

Independent entries also explicit consent to this waiver. Their admission, by way of parental/guardian approval, constitutes knowledgeable and valid consent.

Judge Philosophy

Judge Philosophies are required. Every judge will be required to have a philosophy posted to tabroom (or judgephilosophies.wikispaces.com if outdated) prior to the tournament judge prefs opening. Any judge who doesn't have a working philosophy online prior to the prefs being open will be fined initially $25, with the fine increasing to $50 if the philosophy is not posted by the time prefs close. Any judge fine must be paid by the judge's school for teams to participate in prelims, elims, or future tournaments (any and all applicable).

Strict Clipping Policy

Loyola H.S. follows the NSDA's definition of card clipping. The adjudication mechanism is, however, slightly different. If any allegation of clipping is made, judges must ask if the alleging debater wishes to make an official protest. If not, the round continues. If so, the judge must stop the round and decide, with all available evidence and tests whether they believe there was clipping according to the NSDA's definition. Audio/Video evidence is ideal but not necessary for a judge to find clipping. If a judge finds evidence was clipped, the judge should notify the tabroom immediatley and the offending team will  a loss and 0 speaker points, with the other team gettting averages and a win. If the judge could not find evidence was clipped, the alleging team will receive a loss and 0 speaker points, with the other team getting averages and a win. A judge may independently initiate their own clipping investigation without either debater asking (given strict decision time restraints), although if the judge finds "no clipping", the round/decision procedes as normal and has no bearing on win/loss or points for either side. A judges decision, once made is final, and can only be overruled with clear and convincing audio/video evidence by the official tournament Ombusperson.