Official Registration Policy
The
following outlines the formal registration policy that we will be using for
Australs 2012. Please note the disclaimer and contact us if you have any
questions. Read the whole document. There may be a quiz. As a final point of
introduction: I will unashamedly use real institutions in my examples. Deal
with that.
You
may not request this document in either of the other two national languages of
New Zealand: Te Reo Maori or New Zealand Sign Language.
Disclaimer
The
registration team reserves the right to change any of the rules below at any
stage. Changes will only be made if absolutely necessary, will be minimal, and
will be posted on the Australs 2012 website.
Dates and deadlines
The
dates for the different phases are:
Monday
5 March 8pm NZDT: registration opens
Friday
16 March 11:59pm NZDT: registration closes
Monday
2 April: ½ payment due
Tuesday
1 May: full payment due
Wednesday
2 May: individual registration opens
Friday
19 May: individual registration closes
Registration
Registration
is to be done by an institution representative through a form on the Australs
2012 website. A mock copy of this form will be published in advance so that
people know what information they will need to provide.
The
team cap per institution during the registration phase (5 – 16 March) will be
2. Every institution who registers within that period is guaranteed up to 2
teams. We expect institutions to be definite by the registration phase on
how many teams they initially register (0, 1 or 2).
Institutions
will also be asked how many teams maximum they would like to send to Australs,
in the event that there is space under the team cap once all institutions have
been allocated their initial spots of up to 2. This maximum number may be
changed later, and doesn’t oblige the institution to send that many extra
teams. See more information on waitlist teams below.
Institutions must also follow the rules of
the Australian Intervarsity Debating Association (AIDA) as set out in articles
22, 23, 24 of the AIDA Constitution. The Association will publish these for
you. Be especially aware that your debaters must be enrolled to study at your
institution and note the affirmative action requirements set out by AIDA.
Waitlist teams
The
time of registration within the registration period will become a ranking for
the order that institutions will be offered extra teams on the waitlist.
Directly after the registration period closes the waitlist will be used to
offer subsequent spots to institutions, as well as any time a team pulls out or
misses a payment deadline.
The
waitlist will be traversed top to bottom, offering one team to each institution
that still has fewer than their nominated maximum number of desired teams. Once
at the bottom of the list the first team will be next to be asked again.
Institutions may change their desired maximum at any stage but will always have
to wait for the next time they are reached on the waitlist. This means that an
institution will always have a ranking, even where they have their maximum
teams. Such an institution can increase their desired maximum and become active
to be asked next time they are hit.
For
example:
…
Rank 12: Monash wants a maximum of 6, has 3 Rank 13: Sydney wants a maximum of
2, has 2 …
If
Sydney get in touch and want to up their maximum to 6 then on a second run
through the wailist Monash is offered a fourth team and Sydney are next offered
a third team. Sydney didn’t get offered an extra team on the first run through
as they had indicated that they were at their desired maximum.
There
will be no preference given to institutions on the waiting list which don’t
have two teams. For example if Auckland doesn’t register by 16 March and a week
later asks me to be registered, they will be put at the end of the wait list
ranking. They will be offered a first team after the last initially registered
institution has been offered their third (assuming that last institution has a
desired maximum of more than two teams).
Any
institution offered a spot has one week to confirm whether they accept that
team before it will be offered elsewhere. The offer will be sent by email to
the institution representative who registered, and the week will count from the
date of sending. It is up to the representative to check his/her emails. From
one month before the tournament the registration team reserves the right to
contact representatives by telephone and force faster acceptance of extra
teams.
Institutions
have two weeks from the day of acceptance to fully settle payments for their
new team unless that would mean paying earlier than one of the original
deadlines, in which case the original deadline is used. This will also include
payment for one extra adjudicator to match their new n-1
requirement, except where an adjudicator
moves into the contingent who was previously registered as an affiliated
independent.
Adjudicators
Institutions
must register exactly n-1 adjudicators, unless they send only one team in which
case they may choose to bring one adjudicator. N-1 means one fewer adjudicator
than the number of teams sent. Institutions wanting to send more adjudicators
need to ask their adjudicators past n-1 to apply to attend independently. Such
independent judges will still be affiliated to the institution. They will be
announced as breaking from their institution and naturally will be conflicted
from seeing them.
This
means:
1
team = 0 or 1 adjudicator(s)
2
teams = 1 adjudicator
3
teams = 2 adjudicators
and
so on. Any institution that registers for 0 teams and 0 adjudicators will be
frowned upon. That is unlikely to be of consequence to them at the tournament.
Members
of the adjudication core do not, and cannot, count as an adjudicator from any
institution.
Independent adjudicators
Institutions
with more than n-1 adjudicators wanting to attend Australs 2012 should have
their extra adjudicators apply to attend independently. Independent
adjudicators need not be from a particular institution, and may be from
anywhere in the world (bump: Woolgar, Jones). There will be a separate
registration form for independent adjudicators.
On
the independent form adjudicators may choose to enter an institution to be
affiliated with. Adjudicators who choose an institution will be known as
‘affiliated independent adjudicators’. These adjudicators will be identified as
from an institution and expected to pay registration with that institution.
However they will have no bearing on n-1 or affirmative action for that
institution (see more detail under ‘Final adjudicator note’ and ‘Adjudicators,
contingents and affirmative action’).
When
filling out the independent adjudicator form, applicants will be required to
prove their competency to adjudicate. The registration team reserves a right of
complete discretion on who they accept, and may ask for more information or
arrange to speak with an applicant. The standard is set by the registration
team in consultation with the adjudication core. It will be applied fairly and
equally to all applicants. Promise.
The
status of independent adjudicator does not in any way promise funding. Nor does
it promise that you will be seeing better debates or performing better on the
adjudication test than other adjudicators.
Final adjudicator note
For
the avoidance of doubt I will make things clear and put them very bluntly. Your
n-1 adjudicators are not assessed (or your first adjudicator if sending only
one team); all others are. There is a separate form for them to fill out. Every
time you are offered a new team you must bring one more adjudicator but
you also gain one more not assessed adjudicator spot. It is fine if you wish to
move someone who was an affiliated independent into your n-1 spots to support
n-1 for that new team.
An
adjudicator may be denied as an independent adjudicator but still make up one
of your n-1 spots. You may wish to think of these as ‘free’ or ‘non-assessed’
adjudicator spots. An adjudicator who has been denied independent status may
even become part of a previously full squad when you are offered a new team and
so need a new adjudicator.
Finally:
having said all of this, do not let your adjudicators be daunted by the
independent application process.
Adjudicators, contingents
and affirmative action
The
AIDA constitution provides (among other things, including more specific n-1 rules):
23.1
A third of all debating contingents must be female.
23.7
A debating contingent is to be comprised by debaters and only by as many
adjudicators as required to satisfy the n minus one rule.
We
will define your contingent as all teams plus the specific n-1 adjudicators.
These n-1 adjudicators will not have applied for independent adjudicator
status, or will have moved from independent status into n-1 at a later stage
after waitlisted teams have been accepted.
For
example:
Victoria has three teams and six adjudicators
Two
of those adjudicators are (and must be) n-1 adjudicators
The
other four adjudicators are affiliated independent adjudicators
Victoria’s
contingent is defined as the three teams and the specific two ‘n-1’
adjudicators. Victoria cannot use an affiliated independent to count as part of
the contingent in place of one of the n-1 adjudicators for the purposes of
meeting the affirmative action requirements.
If
you are only sending one team but also the allowed one adjudicator (the exception
to strict n-1 limits) then your adjudicator doesn’t count towards your
affirmative action requirements. I.e. if you send one team it must have
at least one female debater and if you send one judge their gender is
irrelevant for affirmative action.
To
clarify an AIDA rule: you cannot round up to having one third of your
contingent as female. If your contingent ends up as five teams and therefore
four n-1 adjudicators (19 people total) then you need at least seven female
contingent members, not six. Note that you would also need to meet all other
AIDA rules, including that one third of your top three teams need to be female
debaters.
Observers
Campuses
may send observers. They have no bearing on any AIDA requirements including
affirmative action or n-1. Observers have a 33% higher registration fee. This
is to compensate for the fact that many sponsors are only willing to sponsor
participants in the tournament.
Payment
The
payment dates above are not flexible and they are non-negotiable. Failure to pay
on time will result in teams being offered to the waitlist. In cases of extreme
emergency I will consider written explanations, preferably in advance, for why
you cannot pay. Note though that teams from Christchurch and Japan succeeded in
paying on time in 2011.
Remember
that international transfers take time to clear. Pay before the payment
deadline. If the money isn’t in our account on time but you can provide proof
of transfer from the week before then you will be accepted as having met the
deadline. There may be a prize for the institution that plays the currency
markets the most skilfully.
It
is the responsibility of attending institutions to take on fees for currency
conversion and international transfers. We will count you as having paid the
amount that enters the Australs 2012 bank account. The registration fee is $750
New Zealand Dollars per debater or adjudicator. The fee for observers is $1000
New Zealand Dollars. Details of the bank account to send registration to will
be sent to the institution representatives after the registration phase closes.
Those details will also be posted on the Australs 2012 website.
Teams
who have underpaid or overpaid will have their accounts settled in New Zealand
Dollars on the registration day of Australs 2012. All teams from an underpaying
institution will be ineligible to compete in the main break or the ESL break
until they have settled their debts. Being ineligible to compete in a break
round does not advance a team to the next break round. Cheeky.
Payment
is non-refundable. We use it to pay in advance for the tournament to be run. If
you do not make it to the tournament you will not be refunded.
Contact
If
you have any queries or need clarification please do not hesitate to contact
me.
Sebastian
Templeton
Registration
Officer, Australs 2012 Vice-President (New Zealand), AIDA
registration@australs2012.com
