Attention Judges: If you are interested in attending the Brandeis IV as a judge, feel free to email your interest to [log in to unmask]. While we cannot make any promises at this point, we expect some subsidies will be available.

Hello all,

For those of you who do not know me, my name is Brad Burns, and I will be serving as head Tournament Director for the first annual Brandeis Intervarsity Debate Tournament, to be held this coming December 8th and 9th. Brandeis has been active in both the APDA and BP communities for many years now, and while we have always been known for putting on one of the best APDA tournaments of the year, we are truly excited to host our first ever WUDC style tournament this year. While you can expect an official invite come fall with far more details, we wanted to take this opportunity to show the North American debate community just how committed we are to putting on one of the best tournaments of the year and why we should absolutely be on your calendar as your last chance to compete before Worlds.

Our adjudication staff will be led by none other than Mary Nugent.  As most of you know, Mary spent last year as a coach for the University of Vermont Lawrence Debate Union. Prior to that, she was Director of Debating at the University of Cambridge. While at Cambridge, she won four national IVs, including the Oxford Women's Open. Additionally, she judged the Grand Final at Worlds the past two years, was Deputy Chief Adjudicator at the 2011 USUs, and was Chief Adjudicator at the 2011 Huber Debates at UVM. This, of course, is only a small sampling of her accomplishments, and it goes without saying that we are absolutely thrilled to have someone with Mary's ability and experience on-board.

One of our DCAs will be our very own Keith Barry. On APDA, Keith has been extremely successful, winning Bates 2011, Harvard 2011, Syracuse 2011, Wesleyan 2011, UConn 2012, and Providence College 2012. He was also top speaker at Amherst 2011. Keith has also seen loads of success in BP, however. He was a finalist at both the 2011 HWS Fall Classic and the 2012 Empire Debates at the King's College, and he attended the 2012 HWS Round Robin, a world-class invitational reserved for only 16 teams.

We also plan on having one or two external DCAs. We have already spoken with some of the most accomplished U.S. BP debaters, all of whom have expressed sincere interest. While we can't say any more than that at this point, we are committed to having at least one more highly qualified DCA, meaning you can be assured that the motions will be top notch and the judging high quality.  We also plan on reaching out directly to some of the best judges in North America.

Finally, our Tab Director will be Steve Llano.  Once again, as most of you know, Steve is currently Director of the St. John's University Debate Society, and has tabbed an innumerable number of tournaments in past years. Brandeis is thrilled to have him as our Tab Director, and we're even more thrilled to know that we will not have to worry about any problems with tab at the IV.

In addition to our fantastic tournament staff, you can expect a high quality tournament experience. While we will be offering crash housing, we are also negotiating with multiple hotels in Waltham to ensure that anyone who wants a bed can get one affordably. Brandeis Debate is also known for its fantastic parties and socials, and you can bet that we will live up to that reputation at the IV.

On behalf of the tournament staff, in addition to the entire Brandeis Debate team, we are looking forward to hosting both the APDA and North American BP debate communities in Waltham this December! If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to respond to send a quick email to either myself (Brad) or [log in to unmask].

Yours,
Brad Burns, Jess Maskin, and Rich Weisbach
2012 Brandeis IV TDs