The MNUDL would like to invite you to participate at the 2019 UMBrooks at the University of Minnesota!  

Tournament Overview
We will offer Varsity, JV, Novice, and Rookie divisions in Policy Debate.  Rookies may only use evidence in the Rookie evidence packet. Novice debaters may only use materials in any of the waves of the Novice Packet. 

Every entry will have a judge obligation of .5 (so, for example, if you register 4 partnerships you would have a judge obligation of 2, which means you would need two judges to judge all 3 debates. Half obligations will be rounded up.) As part of an initiative to provide Novices and Rookies with high quality feedback there will be no judge pool distinction between JV/V and Nov/Rookie and all available judges will be eligible to judge Novice and Rookie. Varsity and Junior Varsity will continue to be judged exclusively by experienced/qualified judges as determined by the tab staff. Currently Varsity and Junior Varsity students are eligible to cover Novice and Rookie judge obligations. Strikes for JV/Varsity will be available depending on the number of qualified judges and how early those judges are entered.

 JV and Varsity will use online balloting. Rookie and Novice will all use paper ballots. 

Schedule

9:00-10:00 am Registration (in blegen 5)
10:15 am Round 1
12:00-1:00 pm Lunch and talent show
1:00-2:30 Round 2

3:00-4:30 Round 3
5:00 pm Awards in Blegen 5

Registration

Estimated competitor registration is due by Tuesday, November 19th so that we can have an accurate estimation of food and rooms required. 

Tentative judge registration must be entered by Tuesday, November 19th. Judge registration must be finalized by the evening of Friday, November the 22nd.

There will be a VERY LIMITED supply of hired judges available for hire at a rate of $95 per judge. There is no guarantee of receiving a hired judge, but we will accommodate every possible request in the order of receipt.

Expectations of your team's onsite coach:

You, the onsite coach, will have your contact information listed as the primary contact on the signup page. 

You will have current and correct contact information for you judges, co-coaches, and students. We also advise that you have information for contacting students' parents and any relevant student health information in case any of your students have a medical emergency.

You will communicate the judge expectations to your judges.

You will communicate the schedule to your students and transportation provider.

Your JV/Varsity eligible judges will have linked tabroom accounts to facilitate online balloting.

Resolutions

Policy Debate - Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially reduce Direct Commercial Sales and/or Foreign Military Sales of arms from the United States.

 
Fees and Judges

Fees are set at $20 per entry. This helps us cover the cost of a full lunch (catered by Boca Chica), snacks, and the cost of using the site.

There will be a VERY LIMITED supply of hired judges available for hire at a rate of $95 per judge. There is no guarantee of receiving a hired judge, but we will accommodate every possible request in the order of receipt.

JV and Varsity will use online balloting. Rookie and Novice will all use paper ballots. 

Please make checks payable to:

Minnesota Urban Debate League 2211 Riverside Ave, CB 26 Minneapolis, MN 55454

Concessions

Concessions will not be available at this tournament but lunch will be provided after round 1 and snacks will be provided before awards after round 3.

Tabulation Procedures:

All divisions will be lag paired in order to help assure the tournament runs as close to on time as possible while still providing quality competition. 

As a general rule partnerships more than 15 minutes late to their debate will be marked as forfeited. Extenuating circumstances may override this rule but it is up to the discretion of the tab staff. Judges must check with tab before assigning a legitimate forfeit. Efforts will be made by tab to locate missing teams before marking them forfeited, but ultimately it is up to those students and their coaches to arrive to the debate in a timely manner.

If there are not enough entries in JV for 3 unique debates it will be collapsed into Varsity to form an 'open' division before the tournament starts. If there are not enough entries in any other division then the tab staff will be in contact with the teams with entries in those divisions to figure out a workable solution. 

If a school does not fulfill their judge obligation then the tab staff reserves the right to drop as many partnerships from that school as would cause them to meet their judge obligation. This includes a scenario where a judge leaves mid-day without fulfilling their obligation. The tab staff will attempt what they can to prevent dropping partnerships, but ultimately if there aren't enough total judges to cover the pool of competitors then some entries will need to sit out. Tab will attempt to contact a coach on the team that is having entries dropped starting with the primary contact listed, but if it cannot be done in a time frame that would keep the tournament running on time then the tab will make the unilateral decision about what teams to bench. 

 JV and Varsity will use online balloting. Rookie and Novice will all use paper ballots. Please make sure any JV/V eligible judges you have entered are linked to their tabroom account.

Tournament Location:

University of Minnesota, Blegen Hall, 269 19th Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55455