Updates to 2012/13 CDL Season Calendar

We’ve made a few changes to the 2012/13 CDL Season Calendar. Coaches should share their input on these changes by July 6th.

First, and most important, the 2013 Allstate CPS Chicago Debate Championship at Northwestern University would be hosted Thursday – Saturday, March 28th – 30th, not the prior weekend.

The primary reason for the change of date is the availability of classrooms at Northwestern. Friday, March 22nd is the last day of final exams for the spring quarter at Northwestern before their spring quarter break and our colleagues at Northwestern (with special thanks to the CDC’s own Desiree Weber) found that room availability has historically been difficult on the last day of exams. The window of availability for classrooms that day is also very inflexible – you can imagine that having final exams start on time is important to professors and students – and more difficult to match with the typical 2 hour timeslots necessary for debate rounds.

Our proposed solution is this draft of a 2013 Allstate CPS Chicago Debate Championship schedule. Note that we would start Thursday, March 28th in the morning at Northwestern. Friday, March 29th is a non-attendance day for CPS students (both Track E and Track R) and a teacher institute day for teachers. Starting on Thursday would also allow us to conclude the Chicago Debate Championship prior to the Easter holiday on Sunday and avoid having elimination rounds decided the following Monday, when students and teachers might be out of town for spring break.

Second, based on a suggestion from a CDL coach that was discussed and strongly supported by CDL Coaches’ Council representatives at the 4th Quarter Coaches’ Council meeting this month, we’ve made T4 a joint LCC/Conference “A” tournament, pending availability of a tournament site. The reasons for this expressed by Coaches’ Council reps were that it would allow Conference “A” schools to be better prepared at the Chicago Debate Championship and that it would help “bridge” more successful and ambitious Conference “A” schools as they get a taste of LCC competition, much as the LCC Conference itself has joint tournaments with the RCC. Arguments would be previewed for this tournament, much like at the Chicago Debate Championship, and due to the larger size of the tournament, seeds 8-16 would receive awards and qualify for the Chicago Debate Championship even if octofinals were not held.

Third, we adjusted LCC T1 to be a two-day tournament. Our previous schedule only had a one-day LCC T1, which an astute CDL coach pointed out takes away a day of competition and learning from LCC debaters – in all previous years, LCC T1 was a two-day tournament combined with the RCC.