â–  Cornell University - Policy Debate Tournament, “The Tournament of Love”

February 13-14, 2016

Cornell University, Ithaca New York

â–  Competition

You are invited to compete in Cornell’s policy debate tournament, “The Tournament of Love”, on the weekend of February 13 and 14^th. The topic for debates will be the 2015-2016 resolution (Resolved: The United States should significantly reduce its military presence in one or more of the following: the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, the Greater Horn of Africa, Northeast Asia). Debaters will use the 9-3-6 speech time format, with 10 minutes of prep for each side. We will have 6 prelim debates and break to the number of elim debates warranted by number of teams entered (we anticipate partial octos). Entries will be accepted in 3 divisions (novice, junior-varsity, varsity), but we may decide to collapse JV and V divisions when we have a better idea of number of teams attending. Hybrid teams are allowed to enter. Cornell teams will enter and be allowed to break.

The tabroom will be operated by Gordie Miller (University of Rochester), in Ives Hall.

Rounds for this tournament will take place in Ives Hall, located in Cornell’s central campus. If an additional building is used, we will let you know via email. After 5 pm on Friday and over the weekend you should be able to find free parking throughout campus. The closest possible parking to Ives hall is street parking on Garden Avenue, between Tower road and Campus road. The next best street parking is on Tower road, east of Garden Avenue. There is also a university parking garage next to Hoy Field (a baseball field), which would then involve a 10 minute walk to get to Ives Hall.  See a map online here: http://www.cornell.edu/about/maps/

If you have any questions, contact Sam Nelson (smn33@cornell.edu) or Armands Revelins (aor4@cornell.edu, 607-339-9485).

On the same weekend, Cornell will also host tournaments for worlds debaters. These tournaments will operate completely separate from the policy schedule and location. Contact the Corenll worlds head coach, Lindsay Bing, if you would like to register for worlds: lb542@cornell.edu.

â–  Registration, Fees, and Judging

Tournament registration is due by Monday, February 8, 5:00 pm at tabroom.com.

On the day of the tournament, we ask that you check-in by sending us a ‘departure’ email (en route, all teams accounted for) and then a follow-up ‘arrival’ email by 9:00 pm to indicate that everyone arrived and to notify us of any registration changes (teams, judge, etc). Send the email to Armands Revelins (aor4@cornell.edu) 

For policy debate only, there are no fees for this tournament. Come have debates, eat food throughout the weekend (on us), and have fun!

Each school must bring one judge for every two teams that are registered. We will have a very limited number of hired judges available.