Northern California Forensics Association Bylaws (Last Updated on October 31, 2003)

Transcription

1 Northern California Forensics Association Bylaws (Last Updated on October 31, 2003) I. SPONSORED EVENTS A. The NCFA shall host, at sites previously chosen, four events each year. They shall be: 1. The Fall Coaches Conference. 2. The NCFA Student Speaker workshop, which will normally be held two weeks after the coaches workshop. 3. The NCFA Championship tournament, which will normally be held in early February. 4. The Spring Fling Tournament, which will normally be held in late April or early May. B. The NCFA bears the financial responsibility for all sponsored events. All costs and fees will be established by consultation between the Association treasurer, the event director, and the event host. II. FALL COACHES CONFERENCE A. The purpose is to conduct association business and hold workshops of interest to coaches. B. The conference will be a two day retreat. With the schedule to be determined by the President of the NCFA in consultation with the body. C. Host school responsibilities: 1. Arrange for site. a. Large meeting room for business meeting b. Arrange for caucus rooms c. Setting up lodging arrangements for conference hotel 2. Communicating site information to the association President. 3. Arrange for meals and receptions as needed for the conference. 4. Set conference fee to cover costs. D. Conference Director: 1. The association President will be the conference director. 2. Conference Director s responsibilities: a. Making available invitations and information.

2 b. Soliciting caucus and workshop suggestions. c. Establishing agenda. III. FALL WORKSHOP SUGGESTED PROCEDURES A. The purpose of the workshop is to acquaint inexperienced students with the practices and expectations of competitors at NCFA tournaments. B. The workshop will normally be held two weeks prior to the first sanctioned tournament and two weeks after Coaches Conference. C. The workshop director will prepare confirmation request forms for student speakers and coach/facilitators to be distributed spring semester. The confirmation request forms will include: 1. For the student speakers: a. Date of Fall Workshop b. Blanks for student name, permanent address, and phone number c. Space to list (for community college students) state and national awards and (for four year students) AFA qualification for the event(s) 2. For coach/facilitators: a. Date of Fall Workshop b. Blanks for coach s name and phone number c. Events they wish to facilitate 3. Both forms will include: a. The workshop director phone number b. A tear-away receipt of confirmation. 4. Coaches will be responsible for suggesting Readers Theatre participants and coordinating their participation. Readers Theater coaches will fill out a student speaker form for this. Each coach will make copies and distribute and collect them from deserving students (see qualifications) and either send them to the workshop director or bring them to the Spring Fling meeting. D. Qualifications 1. Community College students -- Gold or silver at State or Nationals. (If none available then bronze winners). 2. Four year students -- FAA qualification 3. Others whom the Director deems appropriate may be invited to perform. E. Encouragement

3 1. For student participants: a. Student participant presenting at the workshop will be invited to be guests of the NCFA at the coaches luncheon, and will be recognized at the meeting. b. A thank you letter on NCFA stationery written by the NCFA President will be sent to students for their resumes. 2. For coaches: A thank you letter on NCFA stationery from the NCFA President addressed to the President of the coach s college will be sent. 3. For the Host and Workshop Director: Thank you letters will also be sent on NCFA stationery to the President of the respective colleges. F. Workshop Coordinators 1. Host responsibilities: a. Arrange for rooms b. Arrange for videotape equipment c. Arrange for lunches for students and coaches 2. Workshop Director s Suggest Procedures: a. Prepares confirmation request documents b. Gathers documents and selects two speakers and two stand-byes for each event, as well as facilitators c. Sends Confirmation notices to above persons before June 1 d. Sends follow-up confirmation at the end of August. e. Makes phone calls two weeks prior to Workshop; if standbys are not needed at this time, they can assume they are released. f. As back-up, in case of speaker cancellation, two copies of the most recent NCFA Fall Workshop videotape should be available. A video monitor should be in each of the two rooms used at the workshop. Critics will watch the videos with the students and critique the speaker on the tape. g. When at all possible, the workshop director should try to use students from various schools. Also, a balance between two and four year representation should be achieved. h. Mail invitations to member schools. G. Workshop fees to cover the costs of the workshop will be established by the workshop director. IV. SPONSORED TOURNAMENTS RULES AND REGULATIONS A. Sponsored tournament are those run by the organization and a member school serves as host. Normally they include the NCFA Championship Tournament

4 and the Spring Fling. Others may be added by a vote of the membership. B. Tournament hosts will change year-by-year and will be determined by a vote of the membership. 1. Bids to host the tournaments will be considered at or prior to the Spring meeting of the Association in the year prior to the tournament. 2. Duties of the hosts: a. Order refreshments (coffee/donuts/fruit) for coaches, tab room staff, and contestants. b. Provide a place for association meeting. c. Arrange details of coaches luncheon (where held, menu choices, cost) and forward information to the tournament director. d. Arrange for hiring judges. e. Arrange for motel rooms for hired judges if necessary. i. The association will pay for hired judges motel rooms. ii. Motel rooms will be provided only for those judges who must travel distances making lodging necessary, and who are not rooming with member schools. iii. Judges will be housed up to four per room, utilizing the fewest rooms possible. f. Arrange for competition rooms. g. Compile a list of competition and tournament management rooms and forward it to the Tournament Director. h. Make up tournament schedule and forward it to the Tournament Director. i. Provide lists of hotels and restaurants and forward them to the Tournament Director. j. Provide food on campus if no food is nearby. k. Provide copy facilities. l. Provide a campus map and parking information and forward them to the Tournament Director. m. Secure CEDA and NPDA sanctioning during the summer prior to the tournament. n. Notify the American Forensic Association of the tournament for inclusion on the calendar during the summer prior to the tournament. C. Tournament Directors and Tab Room Staff. 1. The VP of Tournament will serve as Director of the NCFA Championship tournament. A Director for the Spring Fling tournament shall be appointed by the President. 2. The duties of the Tournament Directors include:

5 a. Select Tab Room staff (Director of Debate, Director of Individual Events, Director of Judges, and Tournament Host), balancing the needs of efficiency and training inexperienced people to administer tournaments. The size of the staff is not specified, but should be kept as small as practical. b. Prepare and post tournament invitation. c. Obtain ballots for all events. d. Prepare cumulating sheets for all events. e. Report tournament result to CEDA, AFA NIET Region 1 Chair, and Seth Hawkins, and NPDA within two weeks of the tournament. f. Verify CEDA and NPDA sanctioning g. Pre-panel all events. h. Create topics for impromptu, extemp, and argument analysis (or other events if needed). D. Expenses 1. Fees (including entry fees, judging fees, late fees, and school fees) shall be established by the tournament director and collected at the tournament by the NCFA Treasurer. The Entry Fee Schedule is $25 per debate team, $ 20 per Readers Theater, $ 10 per duo interp/duet Acting, and $5 per individual event. An administrative fee not to exceed $50 shall be charged per school. The purpose of this fee is to cover administrative costs of the tournament including the tab room. 2. Judging fees shall not be greater than the amount paid to judges. 3. The NCFA shall be responsible for all tournament related expenses, including: posting of invitations, tournament refreshments, tournament photocopying and supplies, tab room staff meals, paying judges, paying for rooms if necessary to hold the tournaments, and tournament awards. Costs are expected to be within reasonable discretion. 4. Tournament awards will be obtained through competitive bids, under the direction of the NCFA Treasurer. 5. Host schools are not expected to operate an NCFA sponsored tournament at a financial loss or gain. The NCFA will subsidize any revenue shortfalls for sponsored tournaments and will receive any financial gain. 6. Tab room staff will be credited with the number of rounds they would have been able to judge had they not been in the tab room. That credit will be deducted from any judging fees. E. Tournament competition shall be limited to those contestant who meet the following eligibility requirements: 1. A student must be regularly enrolled -- that is, enrolled in at least one class -- at the member college he/she is representing. (College shall mean the entry entity the student is representing.) If a student is enrolled at more than one college the student may represent the college of his/her choice. 2. No student may participate in more than four Championships and four Spring

6 Fling tournaments sponsored by NCFA. 3. No student with more than 4 1/2 years of collegiate forensics experience may participate in either tournament. 4. Students may be concurrently enrolled in two programs for events that require partners, such as debate, or other resources not available in a particular program. F. Individual events rounds should be scheduled to run a minimum of one hour and fifteen minutes. G. The tournament director cannot collapse panels in individual events when there are twelve or more contestants in each division (open and junior) of an event. The tournament director will have the option to collapse panels if there are fewer than twelve contestants in either division. Novice division should remain separate unless it is absolutely necessary to combine it with a higher division. H. Suggested hired judges incentives: 1. For Friday debate, charge fees and pay judges at $15 per round. 2. Saturday and Sunday, maintain fees and pay at $10 per round. 3. Contract with judges to be available for a certain portion of the tournament and guarantee payment. Those who are available all three days will be guaranteed $ 125, lodging for Friday and Saturday nights, with extra if they judge more round than guaranteed. Those available only Saturday and Sunday will be guaranteed $90, lodging for Saturday night, with extra pay for judging beyond the guarantee. An adjustment in the guarantee will be made for those who will be available all three days, but not at all the times. I. In order to best utilize judges, when the total of all three divisions of an event is 12 or fewer contestants, with no division having 6 or more contestants, the divisions could be mixed in the same room with the same judge, and the contestants ranked separately. If six or more contestants are in one division, the others would together in another room. J. Judges will not be required to judge beyond their school s commitment unless they are: (a) asked first, and (b) paid for each round beyond their school s commitment at the prevailing rate for hired judges. V. NCFA CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT A. All members of the NCFA shall be invited to the NCFA Championship Tournament. B. The NCFA Championship Tournament will offer all A.F.A. N.I.E.T. events, Readers Theater, C.E.D.A. debate, and Parliamentary Debate. The national rules for each event will be followed, with conflicting rules and interpretations settled by past practices and current rules of NCFA. C. Tournament Scheduling 1. The tournament should be scheduled to begin on Friday afternoon and end on

7 Sunday afternoon, or shorter if possible. 2. Within the NCFA Tournament schedule, debate critics may disclose and/or give feedback about their decisions. 3. Debate should be scheduled to end in two days, if possible. 4. Individual events should be scheduled so they can begin and end the same day. 5. In order that the tournament remain on schedule, the tournament invitation should indicate clearly the forfeiture time and include the wording competitors not fulfilling their obligation to comply with the tournament schedule will be subject to forfeiture. D. Awards 1. Awards will be given for first, second, third, and all finalists in all individual events. When Junior and Open division are combined, those who qualify for Open Division finals must advance to the Open finals. The top three in the final round will receive Open Division awards. The next three Junior competitors, whether in finals or not, will receive Junior Division awards, starting with first place. No student should receive more than one award in any single individual event. If Novice Division is combined with Open and/or Junior Divisions, the same principles shall apply, with Novice competitors placing in the highest division in which they qualify. 2. Ties for first, second, and third places in junior and open divisions of individual events will be broken using the FAA guidelines for breaking ties. Ties in novice division not be broken. 3. Awards will be given for all debate teams (and individuals in Lincoln-Douglas) in the elimination rounds. The top five speakers in each division of team debate will receive an individual speaker s award. 4. First, second, and third place sweepstakes awards will be given at the Championship tournament in each of the following divisions: a. Open University Division b. Limited Entry University Division (7 or fewer contestants from a school) c. Open Community college Division d. Limited Entry Community College Division (7 or fewer contestants from a school) 5. In the event that a school with seven or fewer entries accumulates enough sweepstakes points to receive an Open Division Award, that school will be awarded the open division trophy and will then be ineligible for the Limited Entry award. 6. Sweepstakes awards will be determined according the following formula: a. 10 points for each I.E. first place b. 7.5 points for each I.E. second place c. 5 points for each I.E. third place d. 2.5 point for each I.E. finalist e. 15 points for Lincoln-Douglas debate first place f points for Lincoln-Douglas debate second place

8 g. 7.5 points for Lincoln-Douglas debate semifinalists h. 2.5 points for Lincoln-Douglas debate quarterfinalists and octo finalists i. 20 points for team debate and Readers Theatre first place j. 15 points for team debate and Readers Theatre second place k. 10 points for team debate and Readers Theatre semifinalist l. 5 points for team debate and Readers Theatre quarterfinalist m. 2.5 points for team debate and Readers Theatre octafinalist E. Divisions 1. There shall be one division of Readers Theatre. After Dinner Speaking, Communication Analysis, Argument Analysis, and Duo Interpretation shall have Open and Novice Divisions. All other events shall have three divisions: Open, Junior, and Novice. 2. Any student may enter open division, regardless of experience. Students with four semesters of collegiate experience in an event type must enter open division. 3. Students with less than four semesters of collegiate experience in an event type may enter junior divisions. Junior eligibility is lost when a student places first, second, or third in Junior and/or Open division at four different tournaments. Junior Division debate in open only to students in their first two years of intercollegiate debate competition. If the student has been in final rounds of junior or open division of team or Lincoln-Douglas debate at three tournaments he/she must move to open division. 4. Novice Division shall be open only to those students meeting the following NCFA Eligibility Requirements. (NOTE: NCFA Novice Eligibility is stricter than national organization rules, and will be adhered to.) a. High school experience in debate and Individual Events--if a student has competed in high school for one year in A division, the student must competed in junior division. b. College experience in debate--if a student has advanced beyond the first elimination round at two tournaments, or if the student has competed the final round at three tournaments in any debate format (team or Lincoln-Douglas) then he/she must enter in junior or open division. c. College experience in Individual Events--A novice competitor must advance to junior (or open) division if he/she places (first, second, third) in an event, or like event, twice. d. In tournaments where three divisions of debate are offered: Novice Division will be open to individuals in their first year of debate competition (High School or College); Junior Division will be open to individuals with less than two years of inter-collegiate debate experience; Open Division will be open to any undergraduate student. In tournaments where CEDA divisions are collapsed: Junior Division entrants whose previous debate experience is limited to one year of parliamentary debate will be combined with

9 Novice Division entrants into a lower division. All other Junior Division entrants will be combined with Open Division entrants into an upper division. The lower division results will be reported to CEDA as Junior division results; the upper division will be reported to CEDA as Open division results. In tournaments where only two divisions of CEDA are offered: Those divisions should be Junior and Open, Junior Division will be accessible to individuals in their first year of debate competition (High School or College), with the provision that individuals whose previous debate experience is limited to one year of Parliamentary Debate may enter the Junior Division. e. Other i. Novice competitors (in individual events or debate) breaking to an elimination round while competing in a higher division, lose their novice eligibility in that ever or like event, except when there is: ii. Partnering between divisions-- if a novice debater has been paired with a junior or open debater and wins a junior or open elimination round, the novice debater does not lose his/her novice eligibility. In addition, novice competitors in duo or readers theatre do not lose their novice eligibility by being paired with junior or open competitors, even if they place. 5. Experience in one event type will not change the student s eligibility in other event types. 6. Like Event types are as follows: a. INTERPRETATION EVENTS: Prose, Poetry, Drama, Oral Interpretation b. GROUP EVENTS: Dramatic Duo, Readers Theatre c. LIMITED PREPARATION EVENTS: Impromptu, Extemporaneous Speaking, Argument Analysis d. UNLIMITED PREPARATION EVENTS: Informative, Persuasive, After Dinner Speaking, Communication Analysis e. DEBATE: Team, Parliamentary, or Lincoln-Douglas 7. Participation in Novice Division at Spring Fling will not affect a student s eligibility. F. Collapsing Divisions 1. If junior or open division in an individual event has fewer than 12 entrants, that division may be collapsed with the other. a. Any contestants entered in junior division who qualify for the open

10 division final round must compete in the open division final. Such students are to recognized for that achievement at the awards presentations. b. Place award for remaining junior division contestants will still be given. 2. Whenever an Open or Junior division of debate has fewer than 8 entries OR insufficient entries to pair 6 discrete preliminary rounds (no repeat matches or matches between teams from the same school), the two divisions should be collapsed into a single Open Division. a. In the first preliminary rounds, every effort should be made to prevent teams originally entered in Open Division from being matched against New Junior teams (teams identified as having moved up to Junior Division in accordance with NCFA Novice eligibility rules). b. All teams will be eligible for an Open Division elimination bracket, which will begin at a level consistent with CEDA sweepstakes rules. The results of the Open Division eliminations will be reported to CEDA. c. Teams originally entered in Junior Division who do not qualify for the Open Division elimination bracket will be eligible for junior Division elimination bracket. These results will not be reported to CEDA. d. Open Division sweepstakes points will be awarded to teams originally entered in that division, based on their order of finish. Junior Division sweepstakes will be awarded to teams originally entered in that division, based on their order of finish, recognizing that teams qualifying for and/or advancing in the open elimination bracket have finished higher than teams qualifying for and/or advancing in the Junior elimination bracket. 3. Novice division will not be collapsed unless it is unavoidable. Separate awards for novice competitors who do not qualify for open division finals will be awarded. G. Interstate Oratory Representative. The student from a California school, who places highest in the open division of Persuasive Speaking will be designated the Northern California representative to the Interstate Oratory Contest. If that student cannot go, the next highest placing student from a California school will be designated the representative. The designation will be passed down until a student is found who will attend the contest. H. Time limits for policy debate at the NCFA Championship tournament shall be VI. NCFA SPRING FLING A. All member schools of the NCFA shall be invited to the Spring Fling Tournament. B. The tournament shall offer Novice Impromptu, Novice Informative Speaking, Novice Persuasive Speaking, and Novice Oral Interpretation (which allows contestants to

11 follow the rules of Programmed Oral Interpretation, Prose Interpretation, Poetry Interpretation, or Dramatic Interpretation). C. The tournament shall offer a variety of non-standard and experimental events, chosen by the Tournament Director, which will be open to both novices and experienced contestants. D. Awards will be presented in all events for first, second, and third place, and for all finalists. Awards in Novice division should be maximized, with the particulars of how to do so left to the discretion of the tournament director. The tournament director will decide what physical awards will be presented, in consultation with the association treasurer and the tournament host. E. No school sweepstakes awards will be made. VII. SANCTIONED TOURNAMENT RULES AND REGULATIONS A. Sanctioned events are those events run by a member school and officially acknowledged as Association activities. Member schools interested in holding a sanctioned event must be selected and approved by the Association. 1. The Association has no financial interest in sanctioned events. 2. Member schools holding sanctioned events must publish deviations from NCFA rules; otherwise, sanctioned events must adhere to NCFA rules. B. Member schools are expected to try to support sanctioned tournaments, but are not required to attend. C. Member schools shall not institute a tournament that conflicts with an NCFA sanctioned tournament, with the following exceptions: 1. The instituting school is geographically remote from the sanctioned school, and is unlikely to compete for entries. 2. The school hosting the sanctioned tournament agrees to the unsanctioned tournament. 3. Any day of a designated weekend not being used for the sanctioned event shall be deemed available for a Forensics event scheduled by any other NCFA member. D. Sanctioned tournament dates will normally begin the first weekend in October and occur every second weekend, with adjustments made for holidays and national or regional conventions. If possible, sponsored and sanctioned tournaments will not be scheduled on consecutive weekends. E. Schools submitting a bid will agree that: 1. NCFA rules on judging and judges will be enforce. 2. Entry fees will adhere to the schedule established by the NCFA membership unless there is a clear and compelling reason to exceed the schedule. 3. Entry fees will be accessed according to NCFA formula.

12 4. Judging fees will not be greater than the amount paid the judges. 5. NCFA rules concerning collapsing of divisions will be followed as described in bylaw section VI.F. F. Schools which submit bids for designated weekends will retain autonomy for: 1. Days of the tournament (Friday-Saturday-Sunday). 2. Events offered and pattern of events. 3. Divisions offered. 4. Tab room staffs. 5. Awards. G. Bids for sanctioned tournaments will be considered at the association meetings at the end of the school terms one year prior to the events. (i.e. November/December and April/May). 1. Bids will specify events and divisions to be offered. 2. Bids will specify any departure from normal NCFA rules and procedures. 3. Priority will be given to schools that have traditionally held tournaments on the sanctioned weekends. H. Any school in NCFA is free to sponsor any tournament or festival on the nondesignated weekends. I. Individual schools should not be charged a judging fee greater than the amount being paid per round for hired judges. J. Tournament hosts may charge a fee to help offset the costs of child care. VIII. JUDGING REQUIREMENTS A. Each college participating at an NCFA sponsored or sanctioned event must be represented by a coach. The coach need not be from the same school as the contestants, but must be officially designated as their faculty representative. B. Each school s judging commitment is three rounds of debate judging for each team or Lincoln-Douglas entered (6 rounds for 2 entries) and 1 round for each 2 individual event slots entered. If the tournament has only 2 preliminary rounds of individual events, then each school is obligated to provide one round of judging for each three individual events slots. Judges will not be expected to judge beyond their commitment. For every two rounds judged, the judge will get one round off. C. Each college entered shall fulfill the judging requirement outlined or pay the requisite judging fee. Only a competent judge may be used to fulfill this requirement. Competent judges shall be defined as one of the following: 1. A college Forensics coach. 2. A former college forensics coach. 3. College instructors of Speech communication or allied disciplines. 4. A high school forensics coach or former forensics coach, teacher of speech, or allied discipline.

13 5. A college graduate who competed intercollegiately two or more years (unless he/she had been actively involved in forensic activities during this time) 6. A student who has not completed a BA degree but who: a. has retired from competition and has exhausted her/his competitive eligibility. b. is at least two years removed from Novice competition. c. had a distinguished record in Open Division the type of event he/she is judging. Such a person may judge Novice Division rounds at their first tournament, and Open Division rounds thereafter. 7. Judges are required to wear name tags. D. The following situations should be avoided: 1. No judge may be assigned to judge a contestant representing the same school. 2. No student still competing may judge Open Division. 3. No Judge should accept a ballot on a student whom he/she does not feel he/she can fairly judge. E. Judges shall be responsible for judging all rounds assigned by the Tournament management. F. Students representing colleges not meeting the above responsibilities shall not be permitted to continue in competition. G. No judge shall judge a division from which he/she has not been removed one year and the judge shall have an ethical responsibility to code themselves off at the start of the tournament from any student they could not judge fairly. IX. ASSOCIATION AWARDS A. The Association will have three standing awards to recognition: The NCFA Distinguished Service Award, The New Coaches Award, and the Peer Coaching Award, and the Coach of the Year Award. 1. The awards will each consist of a plaque recognizing the recipient. The outgoing President will be responsible for ordering and sending the plaques to the recipients. 2. Nominations and voting for the awards will take place electronically in Spring semester. 3. By vote of members present, more than one person may win each award in a given year. B. NCFA Distinguished Service Award 1. The intent of the award is to recognize a coach for substantial service to the NCFA over a significant period of time. 2. The meal at the spring meeting of the winner of the award should be paid for by the NCFA.

14 C. New Coaches Award: The intent of which is to recognize a coach in their first or second year of coaching in a program. D. Peer Coaching Award: The intent of which is to recognize student work in assisting in a program. E. Coach of the Year: The intent of which is to recognize a coach in reviving an existing program or creating a new program. F. Outstanding Forensics Speaker 1. The intent of the award is to recognize students demonstrating characteristics epitomizing the values held to be intrinsic to the forensics activity. Coaches will make and vote on nominations. The results will be announced at the annual Spring Coaches meeting. 2. Awards will be given in the following three areas: (1)Debate, (2) Public Address events, and (3) Interpretive Events. 3. Awards will consist of both a Community College and a University student winner. X. BUSINESS MEETINGS A. There will be two regular meetings of the association: at the Fall Coaches Conference and the NCFA Championship tournament. B. Business at the Coaches Conference must include: 1. Collecting Directory information. 2. Selecting Spring Fling Tournament director. 3. Selecting Handbook editor and assistant editor. 4. Selecting committee members and liaisons to other organizations. 5. Accepting bids for the following year s sanctioned weekends. C. Business at the Spring meeting must include: 1. Voting for association awards. 2. Accepting a bid to host the next Coaches Conference. 3. Accepting a bid to host the next NCFA Championship Tournament. 4. Accepting a bid to host the next Spring Fling. 5. Voting for association officers whose terms expire at the end of that AY. Officer terms shall be staggered, with the President, VP of Finance, VP of Tournament elected one year and the Executive VP and VP of Association elected the next. All will be for two-year terms with the exception that elections for positions for AY ONLY would elect the Exec. VP and the VP of Association to one-year terms. D. The association will pay for the costs of hiring judges to cover rounds that would have been covered by coaches attending business meetings at tournaments. E. In the event a member school is unable to attend a meeting, proxy voting is allowed if presented in writing.

15 XII. MISCELLANEOUS A. Membership dues for NCFA are $40 per year. Schools with new programs may waive the fees and still have a vote. B. Regarding CEDA debate, the philosophy of NCFA encourages students toward a communicative style of debate and discourages noncommunicative practices such as rapid, mechanical deliver. Further the NCFA encourages sound argumentation and discourages fallacious reasoning, such as reductio ad absurdum disadvantages. C. Judging Guidelines: 1. Never leave a ballot blank. Make at least one written suggestion for improvement. 2. Try to make at least one positive comment on the strength of their performance. (They really need the strokes.) 3. Focus the critique on behavior rather than the person. i.e., Try slowing down your speaking rate to capture more emotion, rather that, You re a lousy interpreter, why aren t you in debate? 4. Focus the critique on observations rather than inferences, i.e., I think you need to provide a rationale for choosing these examples, rather than, You obviously don t understand the implications of this research. 5. Focus the critique on exploration of alternatives rather than absolutes, i.e., If you re going to focus on 2 major points you want to make sure they both get equal attention, or you might consider adding other points to your analysis, rather than, You must have 3 main points in an impromptu speech. 6. Focus the critique on the value it may have to the receiver not on the value of the release it provide you, i.e., I would make the following suggestions for improvement..., rather than, It was very painful for me to sit through the most boring recitation I ve ever heard. B. When conducting Association business a quorum will be defined as 50% plus one of the paid membership for the academic year in which business takes place. The academic year for paid dues will be considered to be the NCFA Spring business meeting of the same year in which the coaches conference falls. XI. Policy on Sexual Harassment NCFA has and continues to endorse equal professional and educational opportunity and that endorsement is and should be reflected in activities of the organization. The following is the NCFA Policy Regarding Sexual Harassment: A. Definition of Sexual Harassment. The California Education Code define sexual harassment as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal, visual, or physical conduct of a sexual nature, made by someone from or in the work or educational setting, under any of the following conditions: 1. Submission to the conduct is explicitly or implicitly made a term or a condition

16 of an individual s employment, academic status, or progress. 2. Submission to, or rejection of, the conduct by the individual is used as the basis of employment or academic decisions affecting the individual. 3. The conduct has the purpose or effect of having a negative impact upon the individual s work or academic performance, or of creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work or educational environment. 4. Submission to, or refection of, the conduct by the individual is used as the basis for decision affecting the individual regarding benefits and service, honors, programs, or activities available at or through the educational institution. B. An Affirmative Action Committee of three will be formed, with at least one African- American and one woman on the committee. The NCFA Affirmative Action Committee will adjudicate all sexual harassment complaints for sanctioned and sponsored events. The Ombudsperson will serve in that role if the Affirmative Action Committee is not available. The Tournament Director or designee will serve if the first two are absent from the tournament site. The director of a sanctioned tournament may select him/herself or a designee as the primary investigator, in lieu of the NCFA Officers, by simply including names of the person in the tournament invitation. C. Procedures. 1. Once a complaint is filed, every effort should be made to protect the alleged victim from future harassment, maintain confidentiality of the names of those involved, and guarantee the due process rights of the accused. 2. Questioning of the alleged victim, any witnesses, and the alleged harasser should begin immediately upon receiving the complaint. The interviews should take place separately, with the harasser getting an opportunity to answer all the charges against him or her. The alleged harasser has a right to know the names of all the witnesses and the accuser. 3. It is important that the alleged harasser understands that retaliation against the alleged victim is itself sexual harassment. 4. The person designated to decide the case should remain impartial during the questioning. 5. The interviewer should follow the guidelines for conducting for conducting investigations as described the document Sexual-Harassment-and -the- Law Workshop Manual, published by Lassen College in 1993, or any other rules and regulations that NCFA may consider in the future. 6. The interviewer then should adjudicate the case by finding: a. no harassment occurred, or b. insubstantial evidence, or c. sexual harassment occurred. 7. If sexual harassment had occurred, immediate action must be taken against the guilty party. Legally, the disciplinary measures can range from an oral warning to dismissal from the tournament and hotel sites. In determining

17 the severity of the penalty, the following should be kept in mind: a. the severity of the wrongful conduct; b. the pervasiveness of the conduct; c. the harasser s past history at tournaments; d. the victim s tournament history; e. whether the harasser had notice of NCFA s policy; f. previous sexual harassment violations; g. rule regulating behavior at the tournament site.