Texas Open
2016 — TX/US
Moody College of Communication
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
Department of Communication Studies l Forensics Programs
1 University Station A1105 l Austin, Texas 78712-0115
Phone: (512) 471-1918 (Debate) (512) 471-1957 (Speech) l FAX (512) 232-1481
December 8, 2015
Dear Friends:
The University of Texas Moody College of Communication and the Texas Forensics Union Debate Team cordially invite you to Texas Open Debate Tournament, to be held on the Austin campus of the University of Texas, February 5-8, 2016. Registration will be on Friday evening, February 5th at the Marriott South.
A few items of note:
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All coaches are expected to make themselves available for at least a two round judging commitment. To request an exemption, see below.
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We have tightly scheduled the tournament. We will enforce strict time limits for judge decisions in elims as well as prelims. As Dallas Perkins eloquently notes, “Courtesy demands and we insist, that rounds start on time and be adjudicated punctually.”
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The tournament will feature eight preliminary rounds of two-person, switch-sides, cross-examination debate on the national topic in the standard 9-3-6 format. Elimination rounds will start with double-octafinals. Brackets will not be broken, sides will not be equalized.
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UT is a smoke free campus. Full details below.
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If at all possible, we ask you to please stay in one of the two tournament hotels.
TOURNAMENT HOTEL
The Sunday night banquet as well as Monday's elimination rounds will be held at the Austin Marriott South Hotel. Travel to the hotel on Monday morning will be quite difficult. We encourage you to stay at one of these two hotels if your budget permits since our contract has a substantial attrition penalty, so please, reserve within the debate block if at all possible.
We also request that you reserve doubles only if you need them.
There are two hotels, and they are adjacent to one another:
Austin Marriott South
4415 S. IH-35 | Austin, TX 78744
UT Debate Feb2016
Start date: 2/4/16
End date: 2/9/16
Last day to book: 1/14/16
Austin Marriott South for 125.00 USD per night
Book your group rate for UT Debate Team
Springhill Suites Austin South
4501 S IH 35, Austin, TX 78744
UT Debate Springhill Block Feb2016
Start date: 2/5/16
End date: 2/8/16
Last day to book: 1/14/16
Marriott hotel(s) offering your special group rate:
Springhill Suites Austin South for 129.00 USD per night
Book your group rate for UT Debate Team
Contact information:
If guests have issue booking at Austin Marriott South, please call Shannon Braley @ 512-634-2001.
If guests have issue booking at Springhill Suites, please call Helen Carr @ 512-634-4411.
Or call the reservations desk at 1.888.758.0895 and say you are booking for UT Debate Feb2016.
Provided Amenities
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Complimentary parking, both surface and underground garage
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Complimentary shuttle service to downtown Austin, nightly from 6:00pm until 12:00am, based upon availability
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Complimentary internet in the meeting spaces and sleeping rooms
GENERAL LOGISTICS
TOURNAMENT DEBATES:
Preliminary debates will be held in University of Texas buildings and elimination debates will be at the Marriott Austin South hotel.
Campus map: http://www.utexas.edu/maps/index.html
Campus Parking Map: http://www.utexas.edu/parking/maps/index.html
Campus Building Map: http://www.utexas.edu/parking/maps/visitor/visitor-map.pdf
FOR MOBILE DEVICES: The Campus Map feature works well. GPS allows you to identify your location, search, pan, and zoom in on UT campus buildings. You can find the buildings you need, complete with a photo of it, and other helpful information.
For Apple Devices ---> https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-university-texas-at-austin/id347883008?mt=8
For Google/Android --> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nasageek.utexasutilities
TRANSPORTATION:
You can access Austin easily by air via Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS). The travel time from the airport to the tournament hotel in ideal conditions is 20 minutes, yet traffic congestion can significantly alter that, making it over an hour.
Transportation from the airport to the hotel can be obtained by contacting Super Shuttle (www.supershuttle.com/htm/cities/aus.htm, 512-258-3826). Roundtrip fare is about $25 per person. Yellow cab is your best bet for Taxi service: 512-452-9999.
Austin is also served by Amtrak, and it drops off near downtown.
Amtrak—Texas Eagle: Austin Station 250 N. Lamar Blvd. Austin, TX 78703
PARKING:
On Campus: There will be a few free open slots if you come early enough, but don’t count on it. The tournament hub will be in Mezes Hall.
Campus Parking Map: http://www.utexas.edu/parking/maps/index.html
The pay lots unaffiliated with the University of Texas WILL tow, and for little apparent reason. We urge you to park in the university affiliated parking lots.
At Hotel: Parking is complimentary!
ALL GENDER RESTROOMS:
Can be found in several places on campus. CBA, MEZ, PCL (Library). The following link will take you to a map and specific room numbers.
http://ddce.utexas.edu/genderandsexuality/all-gender-restrooms/
QUIET ROOMS:
Can be found on each floor of the PCL. The PCL is adjacent to many competition buildings.
ENTRY DEADLINES, LIMITATIONS, PROCEDURES, INTERNET
Entry Deadline: January 24, 2016.
Use www.tabroom.com to enter. There is no limit to how many teams from one school can participate. We will be able to accommodate up to 200 teams. Please complete your entry by 5pm CST January 24, 2016.
To finalize your entry do the following on tabroom.com by NOON February 1, 2016:
(a) Double check the teams entered
(b) Make sure your judges are entered along with number of rounds (as per
the invitation schools with more than two teams owe 5 rounds for each subsequent team, and, All coaches are expected to make themselves available for at least two rounds of judging
(c) All judges must have a philosophy entered at tabroom.com. Make sure each one does
(d) Enter the TOTAL NUMBER in your party (all debaters, judges and observers, scouts, hangers on)
(e) Make sure all attendees’ dietary preferences are in the system
(f) Double check your school's contact info at tabroom.com.
ENTRY FEES:
Fees for the tournament will be $50 per team and $65 per person attending the tournament. We can take cash or checks for payment. Make checks payable to "UT Debate." Universities that require a fee invoice or a W9 form prior to the tournaments are encouraged to contact the tournament directors by January 24, 2016. Fees are due at the time of registration; but we will allow reasonable accommodations given institutional hurdles. If you need to pay after the tournament commences, please contact the tournament directors beforehand. NB: we will require a late fee of $50 if we receive your payment after February 24, 2016. We will seek to accommodate schools with financial difficulty; please contact me if your program would like to attend our tournament.
Your fees cover a variety of meals, including breakfast and lunch on Saturday and Sunday, and a tournament banquet on Sunday evening. It also contributes to internet access on campus and the hotel, other catering, the cost of appropriate team and speaker awards, room and building security and clean-up as required by the University, extra rounds of judging, tab room expenses and supplies required for tournament administration, and administrative charges we pay to the University on expenditures.
All fees will be calculated on February 1, 2016 at NOON CST. Your school will be responsible for all people listed as of that time. Should you need to drop a participant, please do so no later than Noon CST on February 1, 2016. Drops are official ONLY if confirmed at the official tournament web site. Should your school need to drop one or more participants or observers after the aforementioned deadline, a drop fee of $65 per person will be assessed.
TAB PERSONNEL:
We are pleased to have Jon Bruschke and Chris Palmer in the tabroom.
JUDGE REQUIREMENTS:
Schools are required to provide four rounds of preliminary judging for each of their first two teams entered, and five rounds for each subsequent team. Per community practice all judges are committed through the first elimination debate on Monday, or one round beyond which their team is eliminated. Judges should be able to cover a school's commitment despite potential constraints.
If you are hiring judging from outside of your school’s staff/alumni, and the tournament cannot place your judges into the required number of rounds, the tournament reserves the right to adjust the judging obligations of your judges (adding rounds of commitment to those of your judges who are easier to place).
Diversity: we will attempt to increase it in prelims and outrounds.
All coaches are expected to make themselves available for at least a two round commitment. Anyone wishing to apply for an exemption to this rule should notify the tournament 1 week prior. Possible reasons for exemption include: health, family-care, unique travel situations, etc.
Judges must post philosophies on the www.tabroom.com website by noon February 1st.
Each judge will be REQUIRED to declare ONE AND ONLY ONE WINNER and ONE AND ONLY ONE LOSER in each debate to which they are assigned by the tab room. Compliance with this rule requires each judge to complete an official judge ballot as designated by the tab room. The side (affirmative or negative) and school affiliation must match the assignments made by the tab room. Judges will also be required to assign speaker points to each participant in the debate, 30 point scale in 10th’s with no ties. No flipping coins and assigning high points; if we think no debate has occurred we will average or give zero speaker points at our discretion. Judges are also required to render a decision in accordance with the aforementioned criteria no more than 150 minutes beyond the designated start time of any debate that they are assigned by the tab room to adjudicate, with an extra 15 minutes allotted for elimination debates. Please do not submit judges unable or unwilling to fulfill these requirements.
Judge Conflicts: Judges are expected to disqualify themselves from hearing any team or school with which they may have a personal or professional conflict. Such conflicts include, but are not limited to: former college or high school debate colleagues, former students, students from schools with which you have been associated in the last two to four years, schools with which you have a substantial fiduciary relationship, and students from a school you plan to associate with next year. We urge judges to maintain a high standard of integrity on this question. The tab room reserves the right to restrict a judge’s eligible team field based upon our understanding of a judge’s past institutional affiliations. We will follow CEDA protocol for team initiated conflicts.
TOPIC:
Students are asked to debate the topic selected for the 2015-16 season by a vote of the Cross Examination Debate Association membership. The precise wording of this year’s topic is:
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.
TOURNAMENT PROCEDURES:
We will not break brackets or have side equalization. Hybrid teams are permitted on a case by case basis; the tournament director will refer to the Council of Tournaments Directors and NDT standing rules for guidance. Prior to the tournament, maverick entries are NOT accepted. Once the tournament begins, maverick debaters may or may not be permitted to continue; the tournament director will evaluate maverick situations on a case-by-case basis.
The tournament employs the now traditional 9-3-6 format with ten minutes of preparation time allocated to each team. Eight preliminary rounds are scheduled, followed by an appropriate number of elimination rounds, typically five. Pairing and criteria for teams clearing will be based on systems of Bruschke’s ch