8^thAnnual Phyllis Schatz Invitational at Binghamton University

9/26/2025 – 9/28/2025

(Round Robin on 9/25-9/26/2025)

DIVISIONS:We will be hosting Novice, JV, and Open divisions and follow CEDA eligibility rules. We will use a 9-3-6-10 format using the national CEDA/NDT topic for the 2023-2024 season. We will allow swing teams to participate as needed and will allow mavericks to compete only after all other possibilities have been exhausted, no more than one per division. Bothwillbe eligible for elimination rounds. Binghamton teamswillbe eligible to clear to elimination rounds.We will use a 30 point scale, allowing for tenth of a decimal place, and NO TIES between debaters in the same round.We will follow CEDA’s Council of Tournament’s directions for best practices unless otherwise stated within the invite. The tab room staff will be announced soon. All squads are required to bring or pay for three rounds of judging for every team entered for the first five teams, and four rounds for every team over five.

ROUND ROBIN:The Thursday before our Phyllis Schatz Invitational, we will be hosting a round robin consisting of one pod of five teams in Openandone pod of five teams in JV. Only teams who started debate in college as an eligible CEDA college novice are able to apply for consideration for the JV pod. Only programs who can apply with an eligible JV team can apply for consideration for the Open pod. Teams will be selected based upon the most competitive OpenandJV teams and will be accepted as a pair. In the event the requirements for acceptance can’t be met, we will accept debaters for JV in their 1^styear of college debate with high school experience and teams in the Open division without a JV counterpart. The JV finals will be judged by eliminated Open debaters who are not from the same team as the competitors. The Open finals will be judged a panel of three judges from the pool. To enter, register for the Round Robin division in the tournament and tabroom as a waitlisted team.Online entries will be accepted.Teams will be notified by September 1^st. Awards will also be given to the best combined performances by squads.

IN PERSON PARTICIPATION:We will be hosting our tournament predominately as an in person tournament. This means all times will be denoted in EST since that is the location of the tournament.However, we will allow for online entries from any program that would require a flight or is budgetarily and/or administratively unable to travel.We request that attendees be completely vaccinated, exercise caution when attending, and masking when necessary. Given the public speaking nature of the activity, the congregations that happen during lunch and breakfast, and so on we believe it is in the best interest and safety of everyone in attendance to be vaccinated and/or masked. We will be serving food as spread out as possible and will be encouraging people to eat outside. Masks are no longer required according to New York State and SUNY policy so we will not be requiring the use of masks.

DIVERSITY & SAFER SPACE POLICY:We will go out of our way to try and hire a diverse judge pool. We also have a zero-tolerance policy for racial, sexual, or any other form of harassment. This also includes harassment that might happen outside of the individual debate round via email or other digital forms of communication that extends beyond the “round” itself in the virtual space we will be hosting tin. Violators will be expelled from the tournament, but their judging commitment will still be owed.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION:Registration will happen on tabroom as normal, which is also where we will be releasing all the pairings and results.

$60 per person for each participant.Checks should be made out to “Binghamton University Speech & Debate Team.”Teams with small budgets should ask for a fee reduction/waiver depending on their needs. We will mail trophies to debate programs who compete online and who have nobody in attendance.Squads who enter more than five teams will be expected to provide four rounds of judging for each additional team instead of the typical three.This will help keep ensure we can keep the tournament expense of hired judging down.

Uncovered Team: $100 per uncovered round (this however cannot be waived as we need every available judge).We encourage schools to donate extra rounds if possible and/or list themselves as available for hire. Please note that this is only for regional entries into the pool. If you need hired judging please contact us ASAP.

We will be accepting registration up until the Wednesday (9/25/24) before the tournament at 8:59pm.Any changes after that time should be phoned in to 607-765-3659 and/or e-mailed to debate@binghamton.edu as they occur.Entries should include the names of debaters and which divisions, as well as a list of judges. We will do our best to accommodate late drops but reserve the right to charge as necessary to cover expenses that take place after Thursday (9/26/24).

We can now easily accept credit card payment. To pay by credit card go to https://www.bconnectalumni.binghamton.edu/s/1796/interior.aspx?pgid=3640

SCHEDULE:

Thurs, Sept 25, 2025

7:00amBreakfast

7:30am – 9:30amRR Round 1 (BYE Assigned to Furthest Online West Coast Team)

10:00am – 12:00pmRR Round 2

12:00pm – 1:00pmLunch

1:00pm – 3:00pmRR Round 3

3:30pm – 5:30pmRR Round 4

5:30pm – 6:30pmDinner

6:30pm – 8:30pmRR Round 5

Fri, Sept 26, 2025

8:00amRR Breakfast & Awards

9:30am – 11:30amRR Finals

3:00pmPairings for Rounds 1 & 2

4:00 – 6:00pmRound 1 (Pizza Dinner Available Between Rounds 1 & 2)

6:30 – 8:30pmRound 2 (Pizza Dinner Available Between Rounds 1 & 2)

Sat, Sept 27, 2025

8:00amBreakfast & Pairings for Rounds 3 (All) & Round 4 (JV & Open)

9:00am – 11:00amRound 3

11:30pm – 1:30pmRound 4 JV & Open, Novice Social / Teach In

1:30pm – 2:30pmLunch

2:30pmPairings for Round 5 (JV & Open) & Round 4 (Novice)

3:00pm – 5:00pmRound 5 (JV & Open) & Round 4 (Novice)

5:30pmPairings for Round 6 (JV & Open) & Round 5 (Novice)

6:00pm – 8:00pmRound 6 (JV & Open) & Round 5 (Novice)

ASAPBracket Released

Sun, Sep 28, 2025

7:00amBreakfast & Pairings Released

8:00am – 10:00amOcto-Finals

10:30am – 11:30amLunch & Awards

12:00pm – 2:00pmQuarter-Finals

2:30pm – 4:30pmSemi-Finals

5:00pm – 7:00pmFinals