Tournament Director Deepta Janardhan (right) places the knight’s helmet over the head of the 2013 RU Invitational top speaker, Syracuse’s David Kopel. A different person has won top speaker at all thirteen Invitationals, with Maryland speakers winning thrice. Kopel is the first winner from Syracuse.
TD & Amendment Elections will take place on Thursday, April 25th at 9:00 PM in Murray 210.
Who will award the big shiny helmet in 2014?
Tournament Director Candidates:
Alex Jubb
Sean Leonard
Alex Jubb
Hey RUDU! I really want to be your Tournament Director next year! As most of you know, I’ve been Head Runner at the past two tournaments and have put in a ton of work. I think that my experience makes me uniquely qualified to be TD. I am familiar with the planning that needs to occur before the tournament and am comfortable working with the administration. Delegating tasks is also incredibly important. The Head Runner position required me to work with many different people and I think I have a good idea of what people’s strengths are so I can better delegate important tasks. As for the day of the tournament, it is most vital to be able to respond to problems quickly and efficiently. I learned a lot after my first experience as TD and was able to anticipate and avoid many problems this year, which made the tournament run much smoother. I’ll of course answer any specific questions that people may have during elections, but overall I think that I am most qualified and excited to be your Tournament Director.
Sean Leonard
I’m Sean Leonard, and I’m running for the position of Tournament Director next year. I’m currently a Novice in RUDU, moving forward to my second year of debate. I feel as though, while running the Rutgers tournament is a difficult task, I have the right set of skills and enthusiasm to perform effectively as TD.
My dedication to the team has been constant throughout this year. I managed to attend every tournament, and nearly every meeting of the team. In addition to these commitments, I’ve had no hesitation to go above and beyond my responsibilities as a regular team member. After participating in numerous public debates, helping with the camp, as well as helping in tab during our 2013 tournament this spring, I feel as though I’ve made it clear I’ll spare no expense to contribute to the overall benefit of the team as a whole.
Considering the fact that I’m only a Freshmen in debate, the majority of my experience comes from coordinating high school events in the past. However, I have a lot of experience coordinating public events from those circumstances, ranging from fundraisers for various clubs and organizations, to Model United Nations events, to coordinating clubs and teams in general from leadership positions. I’m no stanger to the intricacies of event planning, nor will I be caught unaware by the nuances that can, and have, strung up other school’s tournaments in the past.
Next year’s tournament will be a challenge to everyone on RUDU, considering it will likely be unopposed, and one of the largest of the spring semester. We need someone who is not only willing to put the time in, but can also unify people to work in the most cohesive manner we possible can. I’ve always worked alongside the other members of our team without fault, whether as partners is public events, debate itself, or just as a friend in general. The ability to coordinate people without conflict and without reservation is vital to making sure one of the most complex and comprehensive processes goes off without a hitch.
Overall, I can guarantee that the two most important qualities that result in a successful tournament, dedication and communication, can be fulfilled. And with the help of the rest of RUDU, I’m assured that the upcoming 2014 tournament will be one of the best, and one that has the potential to outdo the examples of each and every other school that year. I can only ask for the honor of being a central part of that.
Thank you.
Proposed Amendments:
EBoard Amendment: Judging Requirements
Llaveshi Amendment: Debate House Use
Phipps Amendment: Free Seed Points for Break Tournaments
Potter Amendment 1: Incapacitation Penalty
Potter Amendment 2: Punting Points
Potter Amendment 3: Free Seed Points for Pro-Ams
Williams Amendment: Novice Buddy Mentorship
EBoard Amendment: Judging Requirements
In the event that a tournament has a judging requirement and will otherwise break up teams at their discretion, we will break up registered teams and have both people on the given team judge by the following criteria:
There will be a policy of “last in, first out”. In other words, the people who sign up first for a given tournament will be given the highest priority to compete. Everyone at the meeting sign-up will be tied for the highest competition priority.
If you have judged at any tournament at any point in the year, then you are guaranteed to not be compelled to split off from your partner and judge for the duration of that year.
Anyone forced to judge rather than compete by this policy will receive 2.5 free seed points.
This policy only applies to breaking up a team to meet a judging requirement, not for a team cap at a place like Nationals, North Ams, etc. The free seed will still apply to that.
This will not be used merely to avoid a judging fee, but only in cases where teams will be broken up by the tournament.
Llaveshi Amendment: Debate House Use
If you are in the Debate house you must be working on debate or have business with one of the coaches. If neither of these things are true, you are liable to be kicked out.
Phipps Amendment: Free Seed Points for Break Tournaments
Tournaments that fall fully within school sanctioned class breaks (i.e. Winter Break and Spring Break), should count for half-points within the free seed formula.
Potter Amendment 1: Incapacitation Penalty
If any debater is found to be incapacitated for any round of debate, barring legitimate reason per coaches’ discretion, to the point of where they are unable to perform to their fullest, 1 point for each missed round shall be deducted from their free seed total.
Potter Amendment 2: Punting Points
If any debater is obliged to punt to another team in order qualify them for Nationals, that debater will be awarded the same number of points in the free seed formula as the debater earned for advancing in the punted round.
Potter Amendment 3: Free Seed Points for Pro-Ams
The Pro-Am tournaments in both Fall and Spring Semesters shall be counted as half-points toward the free seed formula if there are not enough novices to accommodate all the varsity who desire to attend.
Williams Amendment: Novice Buddy Mentorship
There shall be a novice mentor/mentee system in which each incoming novice (or possibly group of novices) are given a varsity member to work with throughout the first semester.
