This year’s competition will feature the events described below.   Debate or congress students may not double enter, but Speech students may enter in up to three different events.   Students may not use the same interp piece/source material in more than one event.  Cross-entered students will be responsible for making all their rounds on time.

Breaks in the LDs and PF are usually to octos.  Last year we broke Policy to quarters, but an octo isn’t out of the question either.  Depending on how life rolls out, the finals in some divisions might occur during/after the awards ceremony; if folks can’t stay late enough, we’ll award co-championships.   We’ll be generally more inclined to skip the final than to have a ridiculously small and probably unfair initial elim break.   Debate results will be posted during the tournament on a round by round basis

Varsity and Novice Lincoln-Douglas Debate

The resolution will be the January-February National Forensic League topic.   Debaters will have 5 minutes of prep time.  LD will feature six prelim rounds.  Novice LD is for students in their first year of high school forensics only.

Policy Debate

There will be a single, open division of policy debate.  Teams will have ten minutes of prep time.  Policy will feature five preliminary rounds.

Public Forum Debate

There will be a single, open division of public forum debate.  The topic will be the February NFL topic.  In years past, the PF division has held an automatic Semifinals bid to the TOC; we’ve also qualified for an automatic quarterfinals TOC bid and hope to continue to do so this year.  PF will feature six preliminary rounds.

Student Congress

There will be a single, open division of Student Congress.  Chambers will be comprised of no more than 25 members.  Legislation must be emailed to pennbills@tabroom.com by 7 PM on February 3rd, 2010.  Legislation must include the name of the school and the author.  Only one bill may be submitted by each student.  Legislation from authors not registered for the tournament, or legislation that has not been received by the deadline cannot be included.  We will publish the legislation on Friday the 5th.   Congress will feature three prelim sessions.

Speech Events

IE events will follow National Catholic Forensic League rules and guidelines with a few exceptions.  We will use NCFL requirements for published material in IEs.  The grace period will be 30 seconds for all speech events.  Any IE participant who exceeds the grace may not receive a rank of 1 in the round; any further penalty will be at the discretion of the judge.  A participant may only be penalized for a time violation if the judge has used a precise timing device and notes the penalty on the ballot.

IE students competing in the wrong competition room will receive the last place rank in the round they competed in. The other students in the room will have their scores adjusted upwards to correct for the student who went into the wrong room.  Speech tabbing will be cumulative throughout the tournament, dropping the lowest prelim score after the first break round.  The Extemp final round will feature cross-examination in accordance with NFL rules.  Extemp topic areas will be on our website around January 1st.  Extempers are responsible for the accuracy of their citations, and must be prepared to present the sources they used to their judges or the tournament.

All rules are subject to change.  The tournament will make you aware of any changes at registration.

Safety:
The tab room phone number is (617) 981-2754.  Yes, this is the same number as at the Yale, Princeton and Columbia tournaments.  Please make all your students and judges aware of this number, so they can contact Tab in case of a problem.  This number is for on-site issues only, and will not be answered except during the tournament.  Chris turns it off when he goes home, thank you very much.

The policy of the Liberty Bell Classic concerning consumption of alcoholic beverages by minors, illegal use of controlled substances, vandalism, and destructive, and other illegal or disorderly behavior shall be: (1) to disqualify involved contestants from further competition, (2) to communicate the offending incident to the contestants on-site guardians and/or parents, (3) to insist on the contestant’s immediate transportation home (4) to require financial reimbursement for all damages or liabilities caused directly or indirectly by the incident, (5) to notify the legal authorities. The precise remedy or remedies selected shall remain with the discretion of the Liberty Bell Classic. The Liberty Bell Classic, its directors, staff and anyone associated with it are not legally responsible and may not be held liable for the actions of any student, coach or judge involved in the tournament.

Adult Supervision & Independent Entries
All students must be accompanied by their own parent or legal guardian, or a school-approved guardian, such as the coach of another team.  All registrants must provide a name and phone number for an adult contact responsible for their students in their online registration.