September 12, 2016

The Detroit Urban Debate League, the Michigan Interscholastic Forensics Association, and the Wayne State University debate team,  are pleased to invite you to the Edward J. Pappas Debate Tournament on Friday, October 7 and Saturday, October 8, 2016. We will be offering Policy Debate, Public Forum Debate and Legislative Debate with multiple divisions in each event.

ENTRIES:

Deadline for registration is Wednesday, October 5, 2016 by 5 pm. Schools may enter as many teams/competitors as they wish with a few minor limitations.

Policy Debate - Please make your entries through speechwire.com.  You will find the tournament listed as “WSU Pappas/Detroit Urban Debate League #2”. If this is too difficult of a task because you aren’t familiar with Speechwire, please send entries to Kelly.Young@wayne.edu.

Public Forum Debate and Legislative Debate - Please make your entries through tabroom.com. You will find the tournament listed as “WSU Pappas Tournament.” If this is too difficult of a task because you aren’t familiar with Tabroom, please send entries to director@themifa.org

FEES: We are committed to making this the most affordable tournament in the state. Entry fees cover the cost of awards, parking, room use, and tournament administrative expenses. If entry fees will keep your program from attending, please contact us and we will make every effort to accommodate you. All Fees for Detroit Urban Debate League members are covered by the DUDL (although DUDL teams should provide some judging).

*NOTE: Your school does not need to be a MIFA member to participate in this invitational event.

Base School Fee $ ZERO

Policy Entry $20 per 2-person team

Public Forum Entry   $20 per 2-person team

Legislative Entry $10 per competitor

Hired Judges $100 per obligation fulfilled

(Policy=3 rounds per team, PF=1 judge per 2 teams, Leg=1 judge per 10 entries)

All Meals $8 each meal - PLEASE PRE-ORDER Fri dinner OR Sat lunch for students/coaches/judges

Please make checks payable to Michigan Interscholastic Forensic Association (MIFA).

If a check needs to be mailed, send to: MIFA, 30238 Spring River Dr., Southfield MI 48076

Questions/Concerns – please contact:

Jon Becker, Executive Director MIFA 734-352-7401 director@themifa.org

Kelly Young, Director of Forensics Wayne State University 313-318-6328 Kelly.Young@wayne.edu

John Lawson, Executive Director DUDL 248-310-5909 JLawson@birmingham.k12.mi.us

Sincerely,

Jon Becker, Executive Director MIFA

POLICY DEBATE

TOPIC & FORMAT: Teams will debate this season’s China topic - Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its economic and/or diplomatic engagement with the People’s Republic of China.

The format for ALL policy divisions will be 5 preliminary rounds (2 on Friday, 3 on Saturday) and two elimination rounds on Saturday (depending on entries), except Super Novice which is 2 rounds on Saturday only. Time limits for speeches/rounds will be: 8 minute constructive, 5-minute rebuttal, 3-minute cross-examination periods and 8 minutes’ total preparation time for each team. Awards for teams reaching elims and Top 10 speakers.

DIVISIONS

*Open Policy division - Two day/Two-person: Open to high school students in their 2nd-4th season of Policy competition.  

*Jr Varsity Policy division - Two day/Two-person: Open to high school students in their 2nd-4th season of Policy competition. Typically those with limited tournament experience (compared with those in the Open division).

PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGE: NOVICE POLICY IS NO LONGER A 4-PERSON FORMAT ON ONE DAY.

*(Unrestricted) Novice division - Two day/Two-person Open to high school students in their first season of Policy competition.Unrestricted novice means these novices can use any evidence and affirmatives.

* (Restricted) Novice division - Two day/Two-person Open to high school students in their first season of Policy competition.Restricted novices will be restricted to the DUDL novice affirmatives and evidence set as per DUDL rules (see below).

PLEASE NOTE: SUPER NOVICE IS A 2-PERSON FORMAT ON SATURDAY ONLY.

*(Beginner) Super Novice division - ONE DAY/Two-person  with 2 preliminary rounds on Saturday only. This division is for first time students using the restricted set of DUDL evidence found on the NAUDL website under the "For Debaters" link. The website address is: urbandebate.org. The files are South China Sea affirmative and negative, topicality, exclusively China counterplan, Xi Credibility and Japanese Rearmament disadvantages.

ENTRIES: Schools may enter as many teams as they wish. Deadline for registration is October 5 (Wednesday), 2016 by 6 pm. Please make your entries through Speechwire.com. You will find the tournament listed as “WSU Pappas/Detroit Urban Debate League #2.” If this is too difficult of a task because you aren’t familiar with Speechwire, please send entries to Kelly.Young@wayne.edu.

JUDGING: Each team must supply THREE prelim rounds of judging per team. All judges are required to judge one round beyond the elimination of their school from the tournament. While we understand that some teams must use current high school students to judge for their school, please understand that this places tremendous strain our ability to have enough judges for open or JV elimination panels. This year, we may use single-judge panels for the first elim or other options should we have too few eligible judges to make 3 judge panels for the first open/JV elim. Thus all judges must be available for the first elimination round in each division. Please do not leave on Saturday without checking with the ballot table or tab room first to notify us that you are leaving the tournament.

LOCATION & SCHEDULE: All policy debate rounds will occur in Manoogian Hall (906 W Warren Ave, Detroit, 48201).

POLICY SCHEDULE

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2016

3:00-3:30 p.m. Registration Lobby, General Lectures Bldg.

4:00 p.m. Round 1 Manoogian Hall

5:30 p.m. Dinner Break Manoogian Hall

7:00 p.m. Round 2 Manoogian Hall

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2016

9 a.m. Round 3 (power-paired)/Super Novice Round 1 Manoogian Hall

10:45 a.m. Round 4 (power-paired)/Super Novice Round 2   Manoogian Hall

12 noon Lunch Break Manoogian Hall

1:00 pm Round 5 (power-paired) Manoogian Hall

ASAP following Awards Manoogian 91

TBA Elimination Debates Manoogian Hall

PUBLIC FORUM DEBATE

TOPIC/FORMAT

The tournament will be using the September/October 2016 NSDA Public Forum Topic -  

Resolved: In United States public K-12 schools, the probable cause standard ought to apply to searches of students.

Format: 5 preliminary rounds (1&2 preset, 3 lag paired, 4 & 5 power paired), Quarters (if necessary), Semis and Finals

Awards for teams reaching elimination rounds and Top 10 speakers.

DIVISIONS

*Varsity Division - ONE DAY/Two-person: Open to high school students in their 2nd-4th season of PF competition.

*Novice Division - ONE DAY/Two-person: Open to high school students in their first season of PF competition.

*Middle Level Division - ONE DAY/Two-person: Open to middle school students in grades 6-8 ONLY.

ENTRIES

Entries are only limited by the logistics of judging for the tournament. If you are entering 6 or more teams you may have to hire unaffiliated judges or have the tournament hire them to cover (at least part of) your obligations.

Please make your entries through tabroom.com. You will find the tournament listed as “DUDL/MIFA/WSU Pappas HS Tournament.” If this is too difficult of a task because you aren’t familiar with Tabroom, please send entries to director@themifa.org

JUDGING

Judges: One judge for every (2) two-­person teams or fraction thereof PER DIVISION. Any adult high school graduate, regardless of debate experience, may judge this division. Lay judges are encouraged. If you are entering 6 or more teams you may have to hire unaffiliated judges or have the tournament hire them to cover your obligations.

LOCATION & SCHEDULE

All public forum rounds will occur in State Hall (5143 Cass Ave, Detroit, 48201).

PUBLIC FORUM SCHEDULE

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2016

7:30-8AM Registration/Check-In State Hall - first floor lounge

8:00AM General Meeting State Hall

9:00AM Round 1 (preset) State Hall - various

10:00AM Round 2 (preset) State Hall - various

11:00AM Round 3 (lag-paired) State Hall - various

12 noon