2010 Harvard Debating Championships
October 8-9, 2010.
Dear APDA,
The Harvard Speech and Parliamentary Debate Society is pleased to invite you to the Harvard Debating Championships on October 8th and 9th, Columbus Day weekend, otherwise known as Canadian Thanksgiving.
What you need to know:
Basics �
Same as always: Five in-rounds of loose-link parliamentary debate, breaking to Varsity Octo-finals and Novice Semi-finals. There will be trophies for the Top 16 Varsity Teams, Top 5 Novice Teams, Top 10 Varsity Speakers, Top 5 Novice Speakers and as long as GW doesn�t forget to bring the travelling trophy back we will award the top team at our tournament the illustrious and ever useful, if unsanitary, punchbowl that is the John Harvard Cup.
Registration �
Like last year our tournament will be PAY-TO-PLAY. Teams that do not provide payment before or on Friday October 8th will be dropped from tab. Fees will be $120/team. If your school is attending the Harvard Debating Championships for the first time or is located south of NYC fees will be $100/team.
Let us know if you anticipate any difficulty meeting this requirement and we can work out an alternate arrangement. As always the sooner you contact us with problems the greater chance there is that we can accommodate you. Please make out all checks to the Harvard Speech and Parliamentary Debate Society.
Please pre-register to by Sunday October 3rd at 11:59PM with the following information:
1) Team Names
2) Names of individual debaters
3) Varsity/Novice status
4) Seed status
5) Names of judges and which rounds they are available
6) Cell phone number of each debater and judge attending the tournament
7) Number of people requiring housing
8) Main person to contact if we need to get a hold of your team
9) Any dietary concerns
Late Policy-
Anyone who has attended the Harvard tournament before knows that time is always an issue for us. This is most often caused by teams or judges arriving late requiring us to hold up tab. In order to add an extra incentive for teams to show up on time, and to reduce the burden of dealing with late teams on our tab staff, we will not accept scratches for teams from any school which arrives after registration is scheduled to close (3:30pm). We will still accept tab scratches at the discretion of the tab staff. We obviously still withhold the right to drop teams that show up late or otherwise ensure that our tournament starts on time.
Tab -
The illustrious Dianna Wu will be our tab director.
Judging �
As usual we will have one of the deepest judging pools in the league but we will also be implementing a judging requirement of the formula (n-1)/2 rounding up (if you bring 1 team no judges, 2-3 one judge, 4-5 two judges, etc.). If you don�t meet this requirement a judging fee of $20 will be applied for every judge you are short. Judges should have prior experience. Make sure you provide the contact information and availability of all judges you are bringing in your pre-reg email. If you don�t meet the judging requirement we reserve the right to break up some of your teams if necessary.
Housing �
We will of course be providing housing in our lovely Georgian-style dormitories. Please include how many people require housing in your pre-reg email. If those of you travelling from far away need to stay an extra night on Thursday or Saturday we should be able to accommodate you, but don�t wait until the pre-reg deadline to tell us � let us know as soon as you realize you�ll need extra housing.
Directions �
GA will be in the Science Center. We will give you a specific room number once the university assigns us one but it will as usual be one of the main auditoriums on the ground floor. There will be a clearly marked registration table outside of GA in the main lobby where you can check in.
BY CAR:
If you have a GPS system or one of those rich white kid devices search for 1 Oxford St. Cambridge, MA. That is the address of the Science Center where GA will be located. Be aware that the driving layout in Cambridge is a secret communist ploy to guarantee full employment for ambulance services, tow trucks and mental health professionals and driving around Harvard Square is not recommended. Please anticipate getting lost or into a car crash and factor in extra time for your journey. If you are truly that brave or stupid I would further warn you that there is limited parking in that area and the parking that is available is also very expensive. However, if you park at Alewife Station (directions listed below) and bring your ticket to the registration table we will deduct your parking costs from your registration fee.
To Alewife Parking:
Take I-95 (North or South) to exit 29. Get on Route 2 going eastbound. Somewhere after exit 60 or so there will be a sign for Alewife on the right. Bear right at the alewife sign going past the bowling alley. You will soon see a large parking garage called Alewife. Turn in and park. After parking, follow the signs for the T (subway). Alewife is the last stop, so get on whatever train is there. Take the train three stops to Harvard Square. See below for further instructions.
FROM LOGAN AIRPORT:
Please tell us if you plan on flying to the tournament. We will try to have someone at the airport to meet you.
You can take Boston's subway, inscrutably called the "T" to Harvard. From your terminal, take the SILVER line (which is perplexingly a bus system) to SOUTH STATION. Change to the RED LINE (real trains now) outbound (toward ALEWIFE), for six stops and get off at HARVARD. See further instructions below.
FROM BOSTON'S SOUTH STATION (THE TRAIN or BUS):
There is a subway stop adjacent to South Station. Take the RED LINE toward Alewife for six stops, get off at Harvard.
ONCE YOU�VE REACHED HARVARD:
Look for the Church St. exit halfway down the platform and make sure to exit the station by the stairs on your left hand side. When you get out, you will see Harvard Yard (if you see a �Body Shop� you can�t follow directions and took the wrong stairway but just turn around). Walk into Harvard Yard through the big gate in front of you (also known as Johnston Gate if for some unfathomable reason you get lost between the subway stop and the gate not 10 feet in front of you) and walk toward the John Harvard statue at the center of the Yard (N.B. it may be obscured by Asian tourists �it�s okay I�m half Japanese my mother takes pictures of everything I can make that joke). Turn left at the John Harvard Statue and you should see the decidedly concrete Science Center about 100 yards or so in front of you.
The bus/subway ride from Logan takes 45-60 minutes. From South Station 20-25 minutes. Subway tokens cost $2.00 ($1.70 if for some reason you have a Charlie Card).
Weather �
It's Boston. It could rain. And, let's face it, it's the Harvard Tournament and it always does. Bring an umbrella.
Schedule �
Friday October 8th
2:00PM � Registration Opens
3:30PM � Registration Closes
3:30PM � Tournament Briefing
4:00PM � Round 1
5:45PM � Dinner and APDA Meeting
6:30PM � Round 2
8:45PM � Round 3
Saturday October 9th
8:00AM � Breakfast
9:00AM � Round 4
11:15AM � Round 5
12:45PM � Lunch
1:45PM � Octofinals /Novice Semi-finals
3:30PM � Quarterfinals /Novice Finals
5:00PM � Semifinals
6:15PM � Finals
7:15PM � Awards
Equity-
We will be announcing our equity officer and his or her equity policy shortly.
Contact Information �
For any questions please contact or call Tournament Director Wes Hopkin at (617) 999-9381