Santa Clara University 

Dempsey-Cronin Memorial Invitational Speech and Debate Tournament 

Santa Clara, California

Friday – Sunday, November 20-22, 2015

Dear Colleague: 

Santa Clara University Philalethic Debating Society invites you and your squad to participate in the Rev. James J. Dempsey SJ- Marty Cronin Invitational Speech and Debate Tournament to be held on the weekend before Thanksgiving, Friday-Sunday, November 20-22, 2015.  

The tournament is named in honor of the late Rev. James J. Dempsey, S.J. and Coach Marty Cronin. Fr. Dempsey was a long time college coach at Santa Clara University and co-founder of the collegiate Northern California Forensic Association, the regional league that exits today.  Mr. Marty Cronin was an outstanding teacher and coach at both Santa Clara University and Douglas County High School in Nevada where he was also a league officer and mentor to many debaters and secondary coaches.  He was a past officer in the Nevada state high school forensic association and active in state politics.  Both Fr. Dempsey and Marty Cronin personified what is great about forensics and debate education.

We are pleased to announce that we are again a NIETOC designated bid tournament for those interested in the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions.  

Again this year we're asking schools this year to call in to confirm registration the Thursday night before the tourney to expedite early rounds on Friday and Saturday.   All debate formats will start Friday, November 20 this year.   Events start Saturday, November 21.  Sunday elimination rounds are staggered between debate and events.

If you have any questions regarding the tournament or registration, please email Melan Jaich (mjaich@scu.edu).

NB: Our Philalethic Spring Invitational will be Saturday and Sunday, April 1-2, 2016. 

Web Registration

Entries will only be accepted on-line at http://www.tabroom.com. You can click on the tournament name from the Tabroom homepage to register. You can also search for the tournament by entering "SCU Dempsey Cronin Invitational" into the search box. It will take you a few minutes to set up your school's account, but once that is done, the system is a breeze. Plus, the system will save all your judges and competitors - so when you enter the next tournament that uses this system, you will not have to type the judges and competitors names again. To enter go to www.tabroom.com. Please note that high school tournaments and college tournaments are separated. You can find the SCU Dempsey Cronin Invitational under the National Circuit (NatCir) for high schools on Tabroom.com.

Deadlines 

The system will accept entries and changes until NOON Friday, November 13, 2015. Make drops and adds on the web page after that up until the tournament begins.  All space in debate and events will be allocated on a first come, first served basis; register early.   Changes or drops after Monday, November 16, 2015 at NOON will be charged a $10 nuisance fee.  All schools must phone in Thursday, November 19, 2015, to confirm their registration to 408.554.4693 between 4pm and 8pm.  Schools not phoning may have their registration canceled or reduced at the tournament director's discretion. 

Tournament Hotel 

Please note that we are using a new tournament hotel this year. We have a rate of $104 for double double rooms at the Fairfield Inn and Suites by Marriott, next to the San Jose Airport at 1755 North First Street, San Jose, CA 95112 You can contact them at (408) 453-3133.  PLEASE reserve by November 1, 2015 to be guaranteed that rate and availability.

Judging Requirements and Hired Judging

Schools are required to fulfill at least 50% of their debate and events requirement when fees are assessed on Monday, November 16, 2015. Fees for uncovered entries are listed below. Each judge covers two teams (Parli or Policy); four Public Forum teams/ four Lincoln Douglas debaters/duo entries or six event entries in each pattern. School will pay a judging penalty fee per event slot, Congress entry, Lincoln Douglas/Duo Interp or debate team not covered by school judges. Judges are committed one round past where their school drops from competition. Judges are assumed to be experienced and prepared to judge their assigned events or debate formats. Debate judges are free to determine style questions at the beginning of each round. School judges who fail to check in at the judging table when assigned may have their team fined the aforementioned penalties per round.  Please contact us if you're unsure of your judging commitment, or have any other questions regarding judging. 

Fees

Use this form to compute how much you will owe at registration: 

FEES:  __1__ School Fee X $50                              = ______ 

____ number of Event entries/Congress entered X $15= _____

____ number of Duo Teams entered X $25                =_____ 

____ number of Parli. teams/P. F. teams X $50          =_____ 

____ number of LD entries X $50                              =_____ 

____ number of Policy Teams X $60                        = _____   

Penalties for Not Providing School Judges: 

You are obligated to cover 50% of your judging requirement in debate and events with school judges.

____ Event entries/Congress entries uncovered X $20 = _____

____ Parliamentary teams/Public Forum teams X $60 = _____ 

_____L-D entries uncovered X $50                           =  _____ 

____ Policy Teams uncovered X $100                           = _____  

Total Fees = ____________  

Please make checks payable to

 "Santa Clara Debate".  Fees are due at 'check in' at SCU the weekend of the tournament.  

Topics: 

L/D Debate Topic: NFL September/October topic - Medical autonomy for adolescents

Policy Debate Topic:   National topic on Government Surveillance

Public Forum: NFL November Public Forum Topic - Migrant/Refugee Crisis                   

Parliamentary Debate: One topic will be announced for each round, a different topic for each flight. Three topics will be provided for each elim round, and each team is allowed one strike each.

Divisions  

Novice and Open Division in Debate and Events except Congress. Novice is defined as a student's first year of competition. 

Patterns

Debate Pattern: Policy, Parliamentary, Public Forum and Lincoln-Douglas Debate plus Congress in one pattern. 

Events Pattern: Extemporaneous/Dramatic Interpretation /Expository/Original Prose Poetry / Oratorical Interpretation/ Impromptu /Original Oratory /Humorous Interpretation/Thematic Interpretation and Duo Interpretation.  Please note that Original Oratory, also known as Persuasive, will include both Original Oratory and Original Advocacy. All Individual Events will be combined into one pattern to make the schedule more efficient.  Double entries in Events are allowed but be warned that it may be a challenge to make it between rooms. Double enter events at your own risk. We may not be able to accommodate double entered students who miss rounds.

General Tournament Rules

School registration in part or whole may be rejected due to space considerations - please register early! Every year several schools cannot attend or have their entries restricted.

The tournament will consist of six preliminary debate rounds and the three preliminary rounds of events. All divisions will receive trophies. We reserve the right to combine divisions if the entry warrants.  

Events Rules  

Generally we use CHSSA rules but there are exceptions that include:  Persuasive will include both advocacy (Original Advocacy) and other "persuasive" speeches (Original Oratory).  Extemp is combined national and international. Internet prep and team prep is allowed for Parli debate. 

Semifinals will be held in individual events with 50 or more entries or the discretion of the tournament director. Undersubscribed events may waive finals. Due to scheduling, we will only be breaking to Octos, entries permitting. 

Schools entering Duo teams should also email a list of Duo names to Mjaich@scu.edu to confirm that the web entry is correct (yes, last year we had issues with the web entry being wrong).  

Parliamentary Debate

We are making changes to parli debate this year. We will still utilize the three strike system for topics, but only for elims. Prelims will have one topic for each round, a different topic for each flight. Topics will be written and approved by the topic committee. The members of the committee are listed below. 

-Mariel Cruz – Assistant Director for SCU and Assistant Coach for Notre Dame High School

-Sarah Botsch-McGuinn – Director of Forensics for Notre Dame High School

-Julie Herman – Director of Forensics for Mountain View Los Altos High School 

-Nhada Ahmed – NPDA debater for SCU 

Congress  

Congress will have one open division only. Please designate the PO's with a 'po' for every ten entries via email to me. Please note that Congress is listed under IE's. Please enter Congress judges into the IE judge pool. Bills will be included in the official tournament invite, which will be posted on the tournament webpage on Tabroom.com.      

Sweepstakes Rules

The tournament awards a sweepstakes for overall performance small and large entry schools and best speaker awards for team debate divisions.  Small schools are those schools with fewer than 20 entries. Sweepstakes is based solely on students advancing into elimination rounds earning 1 point for each student per event (Events = 1, Team Debates = 2).  

2015 SANTA CLARA U. Dempsey-Cronin Invitational Tournament SCHEDULE

(Please note that parking is $7 on Friday before 8pm; Free on Saturday & Sunday. There is also free street parking nearby)    Directions to SCU can be obtained from www.scu.edu. 

Thursday, November 19

4pm-8pm Confirm registration by phone (408.554.4693).  If busy leave a message and return number and we'll get back to you!

Friday, November 20

1pm-3pm   Fees Paid LD and Policy Schools - Benson Center, Parlor A

3pm-5pm   Round I   LD and Policy Only

5pm-7pm   Round II  Debate LD and Policy/ Round I Parli and PoFo

7pm-9pm   Round III  Debate LD and Policy/ Round II Parli and PoFo

Saturday, November 21

7am-8am  Final Registration - All Other Schools - Benson Center, Parlor A

8am-10am  Rd IV Debate LD and Policy/Round III Parli and PoFo /Congress Rd 1 (Bills 1-2)*

10am-Noon  Round I  Events

Noon-2pm  Rd V Debate LD and Policy/Rd. IV Parli and PoFo / Congress Round 2 (Bills 3-4)*

2pm - 4pm Round II Events

4pm - 6pm Round VI Debate  LD and Policy/Rd. V Parli and PoFo/ Congress Rd 3 (Bills 5-6)*

6pm - 8pm  Round III Events

9pm Debate Breaks

10pm Events Breaks

Sunday, November 24

8:30am-10am   Events Semifinals / Congress Semifinals (Bills 7-8)*   

10m-Noon  Octofinals Debate  

Noon - 2pm    Events Finals 

2pm-4pm   Quarters Debate / Congress Finals (Bills 9-10)*

4pm - 5pm  Awards

5pm - 7pm  Semifinals Debate

7pm - 9pm  Finals Debate

*Please see Congress bills in the file on this webpage. Congress bills are also listed in the full tournament invite.