Congressional Debate Info

THE DOCKET FOR THE MILO CUP AT MILLARD NORTH IS NOW POSTED AND CAN BE ACCESSED UNDER THE CONGRESS LEGISLATION TAB UNDER THE "INVITE & PACKETS" SECTION OF THE RIGHT SIDE BAR. A FRIENDLY REMINDER THAT CONGRESS IS THE ONLY NON- HYBRID EVENT AND IS IN PERSON THIS YEAR.

While this information will be present in the docket and discussed during the opening meeting, we have included the certain specific procedures for your quick reference below:

THE MILO CUP AT MILLARD NORTH: Congressional Debate Procedures

1. The docket order for the preliminary houses may be set by the chambers individually. This can be done through both the traditional caucusing and docket nomination process before the round or through a suspension of the rules and the appropriate motions and votes during the round. The Parliamentarian is responsible for reporting the final docket order to the tabroom staff. The docket order for semifinals and finals may NOT, in any circumstance, be changed.

2. We will aim to keep preliminary houses small to allow debaters many opportunities to speak and participate. In order to accomplish this, we require your judges. Teams, please work to provide coverage for instead of hiring out your judging obligation. The tournament reserves the right to ask coaches of teams to serve as a point recorder in houses where they may fit to ensure we can provide the kind of experience students deserve in Nebraska’s only TOC Bid tournament for Congressional Debate.

3. The tournament intends to advance no more than one-third of all preliminary contestants to the final session. While the number of students advancing is dependent on the number of preliminary chambers and the optimum number of students in the final chambers, generally we anticipate roughly 4-6 students advancing from each preliminary chamber. This number is subject to change at the discretion of the tournament director(s), as are any rules that they deem fit.

4. We will be utilizing direct questioning in all houses, preliminary and final. Each questioner will be granted a 30 second window in which to ask questions. The chair will yield time to members of the chamber wishing to question the speaker in blocks of 30 seconds. Questioner selections will be decided by precedence and recency on questions, not speeches.

5. Additionally in regard to questioning, competitors may not permanently amend, extend, or remove the questioning period at any point in debate. The questioning rules cannot be suspended at The Milo Cup.

6. Authorship rights are granted to schools with priority granted to the specific author within that school’s delegation. We will not use the “Final Appeal” speeches at The Milo Cup.

7. Each individual preliminary chamber is tabulated independent of the others. Legislators with the lowest cumulative rank total advance to the next level of competition. The parliamentarian's preference will break all ties. Tabulation beyond the preliminary chamber and will occur in respect to the hierarchy as follows:

   a. Semifinals
   i. Total Ranks in Semifinals

   ii. Total Ranks in Preliminaries and Semifinals Minus Highest Score and Lowest Score

   iii. Parliamentarian Preference in Semifinals House

   b. Finals
   i. Total Ranks in Finals
   ii. Total Ranks in All Rounds Minus Highest Score and Lowest Score

   iii. Parliamentarian Preference in Finals House

8. Similar our state tournament in Nebraska, for the Finals House there will be an ADULT presiding officer (PO). This individual will be an individual with former congressional debate experience and be familiar with the mechanics of presiding. They will not have a ballot, and there will still be a separate Parliamentarian and between 3 and 5 Point Recorders (Most likely 4).