The Brandeis Academic Debate and Speech Society is an association of people with a common interest in a formal contest of wit, rhetorical skill, and public speaking. The purpose of the Society is to provide an opportunity for its members to learn, to develop and to practice their skills and techniques with other members of the Society, and competitively within the debate league(s) it chooses to participate in. Currently, the Society is a member of, but not limited to, the American Parliamentary Debate Association (APDA). In addition, the Society will organize and execute its own tournament each year.
I. BOARD POSITIONS
A. Executive Board
1. The Executive Board shall:
a. Select all participants at title tournaments (as defined by APDA).
b. Select a free seed where applicable.
c. Retain the power to create and dissolve committees.
d. Retain the power to enforce the judging requirement.
e. Promulgate rules proper to the administration of the team.
f. Allow non-members of the Executive Board to attend all open Executive Board meetings (at which team finances and/or title tournaments are not discussed).
g. Be transparent regarding their decisions at closed Executive Board meetings (at which team finances and/or title tournaments are discussed).
h. Attend semi-weekly team meetings and any Executive Board meetings in accordance with officer attendance policies.
i. Be available to members during the week.
j. Train their successors to ensure the smooth transfer of power within two weeks.
k. Work to appoint and collaborate with a Tab Observer as instructed by APDA.
2. The President shall:
a. Plan, preside over, and facilitate semi-weekly meetings, using Roberts Rules of Order when he or she deems necessary.
b. Supervise the organization of Society activities.
c. Serve as a liaison to the Brandeis Student Senate.
d. Serve as a liaison to the debate association(s).
e. Promote, defend and enforce the purpose, constitution and best interests of the Society.
f. Attend personally, or appoint a substitute, all meetings in which the APDA body shall be determining tournament dates or electing national officers.
g. Oversee the positions of Vice President of Operations, Vice President of Finance, Secretary, Publicity Director, and Tournament Director.
h. Serve as liaison to Society alumni.
i. Serve as liaison to other Brandeis University clubs and organizations.
j. Complete allocation marathon request forms with the Vice President of Finance and attend assigned marathon session.
k. Attend allocation board meetings with the Vice President of Finance when additional funding is needed.
l. Oversee content of the semi-weekly e-mail to be written by the Secretary.
m. Recruit new members.
3. The Vice-President of Operations shall:
a. Preside over the semi-weekly meetings if the President is unable to fulfill his or her duties.
b. Head all committees.
c. Perform additional team duties as determined by the President.
d. Assume the role of President should a vacancy occur.
e. Attends APDA meetings when the President is unable to.
f. Facilitates alumni relations and manages the Society alumni listserv.
4. The Secretary shall:
a. Create and send semi-weekly e-mail updates.
b. Assist the president with correspondence with other schools.
c. Set the agendas for team meetings and Executive Board meetings.
d. Take minutes at each Executive Board meeting.
e. Record attendance at team meetings and Executive Board meetings.
f. Arrange transportation to and from tournaments.
g. Complete pre-registration for the Society at tournaments in a timely fashion.
h. Assist the Vice President of Finance in acquiring invoices from tournaments.
i. Maintain the roster of active members and submit the list to the President prior to Elections.
5. The Vice President of Finance shall:
a. Serve as the financial liaison to the Student Senate.
b. Manage all of the Society’s finances.
c. Maintain accurate records of all allocated funds.
d. Maintain accurate records of fundraising funds, deposits, withdrawals, and balances.
e. Maintain receipts (originals or copies) from all purchases and reimbursements. If no receipt is available, then proof of purchase must be presented before reimbursing with Society funds (this applies only to the Brandeis Student Senate fundraising account as the Brandeis Student Senate allocations account requires a receipt).
f. Receive receipts from members and in return receive checks from the Brandeis Student Senate, then deliver the check to the party being reimbursed.
g. Organize fundraising activities.
h. Must attend any mandatory Student Union finance meetings.
i. Account for team property.
6. The Director of Public Relations shall:
a. Publicize events, meetings and achievements of members of the Society.
b. Send press releases to Brandeis campus media about important Society events and accomplishments.
c. Alert the Brandeis administration to team events and accomplishments.
d. When asked, assist the President in acting as a liaison to past members and team alumni.
e. Update the Brandeis Wiki with team accomplishments.
B. Non-Executive Officers
1. The Tournament Director(s) shall:
a. Plan and facilitate the annual Brandeis debate tournament.
b. Choose a theme for the tournament.
c. Appoint a Judging Director, Tab Director, and Housing Director (these appointments can be overridden by a 4/5 vote of the Executive Board).
i. The Judging Director shall:
· Procure the necessary number of judges for the expected attendance at the tournament.
· Conduct a calibration round and explain the adjudication process to all judges.
· Rank and assign judges to rounds according to calibration results.
ii. The Tab Director shall:
· Establish a tab policy.
· Obtain an appropriate mechanism for tabulating results.
· Run a test to calibrate the tabulation mechanism.
· Collaborate with the Tournament Director(s) to appoint an appropriate number of tab assistants (there should be at least one novice tab assistant).
· Oversee all aspects of tab during the tournament including entering results, pairing rounds correctly, and determining the break.
iii. The Housing Director shall:
· Locate students to host debaters from other schools during the tournament.
· Work with the Tournament Directors to assign housing to tournament participants from visiting schools.
d. Arrange for a Friday night dinner, a Saturday morning breakfast, and a Saturday lunch banquet.
e. Plan and publicize the party.
f. Procure an appropriate amount of ballots and tab cards.
g. Purchase awards for top teams and speakers.
h. Determine a billing policy.
i. Draft an equity policy and submit it to APDA.
j. Delegate tasks to Society members to facilitate the smooth running of the tournament.
k. Draft the official invitation and post it on the APDA forum.
l. Conduct preregistration during the week prior to the tournament.
m. Conduct registration on Friday afternoon of the tournament.
n. At least a single tournament director must attend or appoint a proxy to attend any and all APDA meetings in which the scheduling of the Brandeis tournament is known to be discussed.
2. The Captain(s) shall:
a. Act as a liaison between members and the coach.
b. Assist the coach in training, recruitment, morale, and other related duties. Not be part of the Executive Board, and shall be subservient to that board’s discretion.
c. Not attend closed Executive Board meetings.
d. If a member desires to run for the position of Captain, a vote shall be taken. Members shall vote for a candidate or vote "to not have a Captain." Abstentions shall be counted as a vote "to not have a Captain" that year. The candidate with the most votes shall become Captain. If the selection with the most votes should be "to not have a Captain" that year, then there shall be no Captain for that term.
3. Webmaster
a. The Webmaster shall be the Publicity Director unless the Publicity Director is incapable of doing so, in which case the Executive Board shall appoint a Webmaster.
b. Maintain the website.
c. Update the website with all tournament results.
d. Report to the Executive Board when necessary.
e. If the Webmaster does not perform website maintenance at least once per month, then the Executive Board shall appoint a new Webmaster at their discretion.
II. NATURE OF TEAM MEETINGS
A. Novice members shall be taught the arts of rhetoric, public speaking, and argumentation, and shall develop their skills at these arts.
B. Varsity members shall improve their techniques, skills and styles.
C. Members shall develop, enhance, practice, and otherwise work on debate cases or prepared speeches.
D. Members shall prepare themselves for tournaments and assist others in their preparations.
E. Decisions shall be made regarding which tournaments to attend and which members may attend them, given:
1. The financial constraints of the Society.
2. The availability of transportation.
F. Social activities outside of debate shall be planned.
G. All formal complaints shall be handled, discussed, and resolved.
H. When individuals running for an elected position in the Brandeis Student Union want the official endorsement of the team the following procedures must be followed:
1. Team members need to be notified that an endorsement will be solicited at least 24 hours before the meeting occurs.
2. At least 51% of members present at the meeting must vote to grant the candidate an endorsement.
III. MEMBERS
A. A member’s status shall be determined by his or her activity in the current semester and the previous semester.
B. Active members shall meet the following requirements:
1. Attend at least 5 team meetings per semester.
2. Compete in or judge at one entire tournament per semester.
3. Must be currently enrolled as an undergraduate student at Brandeis University.
C. Members who do not meet the requirements for active membership shall be deemed “inactive”, and shall be ineligible to vote and to attend title tournaments.
1. Exceptions shall be made for members who are off campus but still enrolled as undergraduate students at Brandeis University.
D. When attending tournaments at other schools, members shall respect the rules of the host school and shall wear appropriate attire.
E. Graduating seniors must give at least five cases to the team for use thereafter. These cases should be posted on the forum, and the Executive Board shall regulate their use fairly.
IV. ELECTIONS
A. Only active members may run for board positions.
B. Each candidate will have the opportunity to make a brief statement to the members prior to voting.
C. The voting shall be by means of secret ballot which will be processed by the presiding officer.
D. Each candidate shall choose one person to oversee the processing of ballots.
E. The official term of office shall be one year. If an officer is unable to hold the position for the entire year, the President shall appoint an interim replacement until the next scheduled election.
F. Elections shall be held within the first two weeks of the spring semester of each academic year.
G. Non-Executive Officers shall be elected.
H. Oversight of the planning of Elections shall be done by the highest ranking Executive Board member not running for an Executive Board position.
V. VOTING
A. A quorum must be present to hold a vote, and the President must count for a quorum before beginning elections.
1. A quorum consists of all the officers and 51% of the active members.
B. Voting shall be done through secret ballot.
C. The presiding officer shall only vote in the occasion that a tie must be broken.
D. Only active members who have attended at least one meeting or tournament between November 15 and Elections may vote.
E. A proxy vote shall be a vote transferred from one active member to another who avows to represent the interest of the absent member. The President must be made aware of all proxies prior to Elections. No member may vote on behalf of more than two absent members by proxy in any election. Only those members actually present will count towards any quorum count.
F. If the presiding officer is informed that a quorum has ceased to be present during an election, he or she shall count for a quorum. If no quorum is present, the election is immediately postponed until the following meeting at which a quorum is present (even if that meeting is not within the first two weeks of the semester).
G. A member may serve in only one Executive Board position at a time.
VI. COACH
A. The Executive Board shall appoint a coach as they deem necessary, and negotiate to determine his or her salary on behalf of the Society.
B. The Coach shall:
1. Assists the Executive Board in training new members.
2. Assist members with style, technique, and improving their skills overall.
3. Assist the Executive Board in training judges.
VII. TOURNAMENT ATTENDANCE POLICIES
A. Members may only be funded as half of a hybrid team a maximum of two times per semester, unless no partner from the Society is available at the time pre-registration is due (exceptions may be granted by a 4/5 vote of the Executive Board).
B. When it is not possible for every interested debater to debate, preference shall be given to those debaters with the strongest judging and driving to competing ratio.
C. A tournament shall be defined as an officially sanctioned APDA tournament or a tournament sanctioned by another league as determined by the Executive Board.
VIII. FINANCIAL POLICIES
A. All money raised through fundraising shall be kept within the Brandeis Student Union fundraising account.
B. No outside bank account shall be established.
C. All money allocated to the Society shall be kept within the Brandeis Student Union allocations account.
D. To be reimbursed for expenses related to the Society, a member must present a receipt to the Vice President of Finance.
E. The Society shall pay for tournament registration fees and other fees associated with transportation to tournaments, specifically rental cars, rental car insurance, and gas, provided that:
1. More than one member of the Society is in the car.
2. More than one member of the Society is attending the tournament.
3. The expenditure was properly financed.
F. The Society shall not be financially responsible for speeding, parking, or other traffic violation tickets.
G. The Society shall not reimburse members for meals or other personal expenses.
H. Members shall not incur debt in the name of the Society nor expect personal reimbursement unless specifically authorized by an Executive Board officer or a Tournament Director.
I. Team Reimbursements
1. The Vice President of Finance will oversee all team reimbursements.
2. The Society will fully reimburse all eligible expenses relating to:
a. Gas
b. Tolls
c. Legal parking
3. Eligible expenses are expenses which were accrued in the process of attending a tournament in which a member of the Society drove to the tournament.
4. All requests for reimbursement must be submitted to the Vice President of Finance within one month of the date that the expense was incurred.
5. Any member of the Society who drives his or her personal car to three tournaments in a semester shall be entitled to one car wash that semester at the expense of the Society.
IX. FACULTY ADVISOR
A. Assists the Society in executing its goals.
B. Serves as an objective mediator should a dispute arise.
C. The Society does not need to have a Faculty Advisor.
X. AMENDMENT PROCEDURES
A. A member may submit a written amendment to the Society Constitution when the presiding officer asks if there are any amendments on the floor.
B. The presiding officer shall recognize any amendment(s).
C. The present members shall then debate any amendment(s) according to Robert’s Rules of Order.
D. An amendment must be passed by a 2/3 vote of the active members present.
E. Once an amendment is passed, the Secretary must, in a timely fashion, insert it into the appropriate section of the Society Constitution on the website and in the Brandeis Student Senate files.
XI. REMOVAL OF AN OFFICER OR MEMBER
A. The Executive Board can unanimously vote to temporarily suspend a member, but they must present the case to the Union Judiciary to make it permanent.
B. Executive Board officers may miss up to three team meetings per semester during their term of office. If an officer misses more than three meetings he or she shall be removed from office unless the absence is excused by the President or 3/5 of the Executive Board.
XII. COMPLAINTS
A. If a problem should arise among the members of the Society, members have the right to file a formal written complaint containing:
1. The nature of the complaint.
2. Details of the incident or complaint.
3. Recommended action for the Society to take to resolve the complaint.
B. Formal complaints must be recognized by the presiding officer.
C. Formal complaints must be then read by the Executive Board.
D. The members against whom the complaint is filed must receive a copy of the complaint and must respond in a formal, written fashion prior to the next meeting.
E. Complaints will be addressed by the Union Judiciary.
XII. STATEMENT OF NON-EXCLUSIVITY
A. Membership of the Brandeis Academic Debate and Speech Society shall be open to the entire Brandeis community.
XIV. ADOPTION OF THE CONSTITUTION
A. The Constitution of the Brandeis Academic Debate and Speech Society shall be adopted by a 2/3 vote of active members present.
B. Members may submit written pro and con statements about the adoption of the Constitution.
C. The Constitution shall be adopted after discussion at a meeting run according to Robert’s Rules of Order.
XV. SIGNING OF THE CONSTITUTION
A. Co-Presidents Susan J. Hendrick and Lauren P. Soroken, Secretary Tamar Feierstein, Treasurer Daniel A. Feinberg, and Historian Josh Israel signed --- November 20-22, 1995.
B. This Constitution was unanimously ratified on November 8, 1995. Also present were members Lisa Dickstein, Nathaniel Goldberg, Matt Zik, Lisette Lema, and Jeremy Greenberg.
C. Substantial amendments were enacted in January 1997 at a meeting presided over by Josh Israel, and in December 1997 at a meeting presided over by Jeremy Greenberg.
D. Several amendments were enacted in January 2010 (but passed at a meeting sometime between 2004 and 2006 and recorded at that time by Adam Nir).
E. Substantial amendments were enacted in February 2010 at a meeting presided over by Andrew Husick. The amendments were crafted by Andrew Husick, Shira Straus, Liz Crane, Evan Green-Lowe, Rich Weisbach, Alex Self, Brendan Fradkin, Brian Calvert, and Anna-Lisa Macon.
F. Three amendments were amended or enacted in January 2011 at a meeting presided over by Brendan Fradkin. The amendments were drafted by Rich Weisbach and edited by Brendan Fradkin, Liz Crane, Alex Self, Kim Bouchard-Chaimowiz, Andrew Husick, Michael Perloff, Keith Barry, Brian Calvert, Rena Singer, Emilie Hirschhorn, Kelly Miao, Shira Almeleh, Lex Kadete, Josh Kelly, Andi Mucasey, and Russell Leibowitz.
