Dear Forensics Community

Dear Forensics Community,

We are pleased to invite you to the 49th Trojan Championships, known formally now as the David Damus Trojan Championships. In 2007 the tournament was renamed in honor of the retired Director of Forensics at USC. The tournament will be held Friday, March 6th through Sunday March 8th, 2015 on the University of Southern California campus. We are offering three divisions of policy and Lincoln-Douglas debate (Novice, JV and Varsity divisions of each event). These events traditionally fill the approximately 100 classrooms that we have available for events. We are carefully managing entries to allow schools to enter and to respect each of the

divisions and events. We are initially allowing schools to enter up to 4 entries in the open division of either LD or policy and up to 3 in each of the JV and policy divisions. All entries beyond their numbers will be placed on a waitlist. Once we give all of our partner schools the chance to enter we will make rooms available, as space permits, to wait-listed teams. This allows us to balance allowing a large number of schools to enter and also support a large tournament.

We have worked to keep our fees as low as possible. We are pleased provide dinner to all tournament participants on both Friday and Saturday nights. We know that the tournament day is long and we hope this helps to improve your tournament experience.

We are also pleased to be using tabroom.com. This is the leading debate tournament

management system in the world and we are using it to manage entries and run the tournament. Itd oes require that each school has a (free) account on tabroom. We will be taking full advantage of the system, including allowing electronic balloting and full electronic distribution of pairings and results.

If you have any questions please let me know. We look forward to hosting you!

Warmest regards,

Gordon Stables, Ph.D.

Director of Debate and Forensics

Annenberg School for Communication

University of Southern California

213-915-8201

http://usctrojandebate.com

Alyssa V. Bolin

Associate Director of Debate

Annenberg School for Communication

University of Southern California

213-309-4923

Tournament Policies & Rules

 Entries - Schools may initially enter up to 4 entries in each open division and up to 3 in each JV and novice division. We will allow schools to enter more teams, but all teams over those caps will be placed on a waitlist. We will move teams off the waitlist and space is available. There are two other factors that may limit entries:

First-Come First Serve - Please try to enter your teams directly on tabroom. We

cannot guarantee any entries will be taken from fax, mail or phone. XXXUncovered Teams (i.e., teams without judges) - Schools will be limited to one

hired judge per school. Teams entered that require more than one hired judge

from the tournament will be placed on a waiting list.

 Drops - Drops can be entered tabroom.com through February 24th

. We want to allow as many students as possible the chance to compete, so please try to make any changes as soon as you can. After that drops must be made by sending an email to .

All late drops made after this day and time will be subject the full entry fee. This is to

avoid large drop/adds which make running a tournament this size impossible.

 Guest conduct at the tournament - We are very excited to have you as our guests in

Los Angeles and to our campus. In recognition that the our sponsorship of debate is basedon a community of professional educators committed to promoting a respectful form of argumentation we recognize that behaviors which belittle, degrade, demean, or otherwise dehumanize others are not in the best interest of the activity because they interfere with the goals of education and personal growth. All tournament participants should recognize the rights of others and communicate with respect for opponents, colleagues, critics, tournament hosts and audience members. Any tournament guest who cannot behave in this manner will be asked to leave the tournament.

It is also important that we remind everyone that you are representatives of your school when you are at the tournament. All participants debate at the invitation of the University of Southern California according to its tournament rules as well as any rules of their sponsoring institutions. The tournament abides by the rules and norms of the American Forensics Association.

If our guests engage in destructive, threatening, violent, or harassing behavior we are

obligated as university employees to report it to our appropriate campus office, including the Department of Public Safety and the Office of Equity and Diversity. Those offices will provide specific guidance which may include the decision to report specific actions to your school. We trust that no such actions will be needed, but we wish to alert you of

this requirement.

 Eligibility - The novice division is limited to students in their first year of competition.

The JV division is limited to students who are in either their first or second year of

competition. The varsity division is open to any student whose coach believes can profit

from and be competitive in the division.

 Time limits - The format will be 8-3-5 with 10 minutes preparation time in both

divisions. Students are expected to promptly begin each debate on time. If students havenot arrived at 15 minutes after the scheduled start time, the judge should contact the

tabroom ( or 213 309 4923) to confirm before forfeiting an entry.

 Tabulation - Rounds 1 and 2 will be preset. Rounds 3-6 will be power-matched high-low within brackets. LD and Policy debaters from the same school will not meet each other in preliminary rounds and brackets will not be broken in elimination rounds.

 Topic – The policy divisions will use the national policy topic. The LD divisions will use the NFL LD TOPIC for January/February.

 Tournament of Champions - The Trojan Championships is a Tournament of

Champions qualifier for Lincoln-Douglas in the semi-final round. LD tournament

policies will adhere to TOC guidelines unless otherwise specified.

 Following the tournament remotely – All results will be made available online using tabroom.com. During the tournament, we will provide updates through tabroom and we will post pairings in cooperation with Victory Briefs.

 Entry Fees - All entry fees are due and payable at registration on February 28th

.Policy Debate Team $75.00 per team

LD Entry Fee $60.00 per entry

o Hired Policy Judge $90 per uncovered team

(max two uncovered teams per school)

o Hired LD Judge $75 per uncovered student

(max two uncovered students per school)

 Payment methods - Checks should be made out to the USC Annenberg Trojan Debate

Squad. If you need to pay by credit card, please contact us in advance. We will not have acard reader at registration. USC's Federal Tax ID # is 95-1642394. If you are mailing entry fees, please direct them to: USC Annenberg Debate, 3502 Watt Way, Los Angeles,CA 90089-0281.

 Meals – We are providing dinner on both Friday and Saturday night. Please let us know if you have any tournament participants with dietary restrictions. Tabroom allows you to enter this information directly and you can also email us with this information.

 Internet – USC has an open guest wireless network for public use. This network is

available on campus and at the Radisson.

 Audio and Video Recording: All rounds (defined as the speeches of the participants) are open to registered tournament participants and may be electronically recorded for private educational use by tournament participants (registered coaches, debaters and helpers, and USC tournament staff) only. Public distribution of such recordings is expressly prohibited unless prior written consent of all people on the recording is obtained and unless prior written consent of USC is obtained. Private sharing for educational use is permitted.

 Questions – We are very interested in making your trip enjoyable and a great competitive

experience. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions. If you have any

tournament related questions, please contact Gordon Stables at (213) 915-8201/ or Alyssa Bolin at or 213-309-4923.

Judging Requirements

 Schools must provide one qualified judge for every two policy teams or fraction thereof, every three LD entries or fraction thereof.

 Schools are responsible for providing judges for one round beyond the elimination of

their students in each event.

 We have a very limited number of hired judges. No school may hire more than 1 judge from the tournament. These judges are only available on a "first come first serve" basis.

Once all hired judges are committed, we cannot add entries. If you request a hired judge, you must receive an e-mail confirmation that you have obtained that judge from thetournament. In the event that a schools judge does not show up on time or for rounds or a school cannot provide adequate judging, the tournament reserves the right to drop a

schools teams from the tournament.

 Schools should provide the name, event type and any school conflicts/biases your judges

may have.

 Judges must be designated for either Policy Debate or LD Debate. We have separate

tournament. Please express what events and what divisions your judges are best qualified

to judge.

 All debate judges are committed to judge the first elimination round, and one round past

where their school has advanced in elimination rounds.

 We will be providing a system of mutual preference judging for all events.

Hotel Information

 We are very happy to be using the Radisson Hotel Los Angeles Midtown at USC

(3540 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles California 90007).

This rate includes free wireless and free parking.

 You can reserve your rooms directly through the Radisson’s website,

http://www.radisson-midtown.com or by calling Central Reservations at (800) 333 –3333.

Helpful Tips for the First Day of the Tournament

 We ask all schools to check-in and confirm their entries on Friday, February 28 on

campus between noon and 1:30 pm. We don’t have any classroom access until 2:30 pm,so please discourage any students or judges from entering rooms before 2:30 pm or when the classes end. All classes will be over before 3 pm.

 Please print a copy of our campus map to make your travel easier.

http://www.usc.edu/private/about/visit_usc/USC_UPC_map_color.pdf

 Enter the campus through Gate 3, located at the corner of Figueroa Street and 35th St. onthe east edge of campus. This is the entrance on Figueroa and located directly across fromour basketball facility, The Galen Center.

 Entry confirmation will be held in the lobby of VKC (Von Kleinscmid Center, the

building with the globe on the roof). It is located at G5 on your map.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE***

Friday, March 6th

All Coaches, Judges, & Teams report to VKC.

Pairings will be released by 2:30 pm. We do not have any classroom access before 2 pm so

please keep all students and coaches outside of classrooms until that time. Do not enter a room if

a class is still in session. Please text or call 213-915-8201 if you have any difficulties.

12:00 pm - 1:30 pm Registration / VKC Lobby Drops only & final entry confirmationXXX:30 pm Pairings Released for rounds 1 & 2 – Policy and LD

3:00 pm Round 1 – Policy & LD

5:00 pm Round 2 – Policy & LD

7:00 pm Dinner – provided by tournament

8:00 pm Round 3 – Policy & LD

Saturday, March 7th

8:15 am Pairings Released – Policy Round 4/LD seminar begins (Location TBA)

9:00 am Round 4 – Policy

10:15 am Pairings release – LD Round 4/Policy seminar begins (Location TBA)

11:00 am Round 4 – LD Round 4

1:00 pm Lunch – on your own.

2:30 pm Round 5 - Policy & LD

5:00 pm Round 6 - Policy & LD

7:00 pm Dinner and Awards. Awards will begin by 7:30 pm.

8:15 pm First elimination round in all divisions.

Sunday, March 8th

8:15 am Pairings Released for all divisions

9:00 am Second elimination round in all divisions.

** At this point we expect to single flight the LD elimination rounds.

10:15 am Third LD Elimination round

11:30 am Fourth LD Elimination round

12:00 pm Third Policy Elimination round

12:45 pm Fifth LD Elimination round

3:00 pm Fourth Policy Elimination round

6:00 pm Fifth Policy Elimination round

*** This schedule is subject to modification and change based on entry, judge and room constraints. LD elimination rounds will proceed on a single flight schedule as soon as logically possible. This means you should NOT stray too far from campus, because we will move rounds quicker when we can. If you have any questions about the current schedule, please text us at 213- 915-8201 (Gordon Stables) or 213-309-4923 (Alyssa Bolin.)