OCT. 4 UPDATE:  For congress, the legislation reserved for the final sessions will be the bill to strengthen the US response to China's Belt and Road Initiative, and the Frozen Rent and Evictions Zoning Act bill.  

Rosemount Debate is excited to welcome you back to what, at the moment at least, looks to be the first in person debate tournament in Minnesota since January 2020.  We're keeping our fingers crossed that doesn't change.  

We will offer competition in LD, public forum, and congress.  If entries permit, we will have novice, JV, and varsity divisions of LD and PF, and novice and varsity divisions of congress.  PLEASE ENTER EARLY--WE HAVE LIMITED SPACE AND DO NOT ANTICIPATE THAT WE WILL BE ABLE TO ACCOMODATE EVERYONE WHO WANTS TO COME.  We are limiting entries to 10 per school per division in LD and PF and 15 per school per division in congress.  Extra entries can be waitlisted but it is not yet known when we will be able to determine whether to admit entries from the waitlist.  

Novice LD will use the standard Minnesota September/October novice topic (Resolved:  States ought to eliminate their nuclear arsenals).  JV and varsity LD will use the current NSDA topic (Resolved:  The member nations of the World Trade Organization ought to reduce intellectual property protections for medicines).  All divisions of PF will use the current NSDA topic (Resolved:  The North Atlantic Treaty Organization should substantially increase its defense commitments to the Baltic states).  Congress will use the standard Minnesota legislation packet for that period.  

VERY IMPORTANT PUBLIC HEALTH NOTICE:  District 196 has mandated that masks must be worn while in all district buildings.  Even if that mandate is lifted by October 9, our tournament will still require that all participants (students and adults) be masked while in the building. 

District 196 guidelines allow students to remove their mask while delivering their speech in a round.  However, for our tournament, all persons in the room for the round (including all debaters, judges, and spectators) must agree that they are comfortable with the speaker removing their mask for the speech.  (To answer a couple of potential questions about that--yes, this means that every person in the round has veto power over speakers removing their masks; yes, this includes congress.  If there are 25 students and judges in a congress room and opinion runs 24-1 in favor of speakers removing masks, then they can't.)  If debaters do remove masks while speaking, they should position themselves in the room to reasonably maximize social distancing.  

Please make every reasonable effort to maintain about three feet of separation not only during rounds but also in common areas.  You may of course remove your masks briefly for eating and drinking but they should be replaced as soon as feasible.  

Our anticipated schedule:  

     7:30 am     Building opens & registration starts

     8:30 am     Congress session 1 (to 11 am)

     8:45 am     LD round 1

     9:00 am     PF round 1

     10:15 am   LD round 2

     10:30 am   PF round 2

     11:00 am   Congress lunch

     11:45 am   LD lunch

     12:00 pm   PF lunch

     12:00 pm   Congress session 2 (to 2:00 pm)

     12:30 pm   LD round 3

     12:45 pm   PF round 3

     2:00 pm     LD round 4

     2:15 pm     PF round 4

     2:45 pm     Congress finals (to 4:45 pm)

     3:30 pm     LD round 5

     3:45 pm     PF round 5

     5:00 pm     Awards