AFA-NIET
DISTRICT VIII Constitution
American Forensics
Association
Article I: Membership
District VIII encompasses all 2 and 4 year colleges and universities
within the states of
Article II: Eligibility
All full-time and part-time undergraduate students attending a member
institution are eligible to compete. The
AFA-NIET guidelines define an undergraduate student as one who has not yet
received a bachelor’s degree. A student
who graduates in mid-year but has already qualified to attend the NIET may do
so, but may not attend the District Qualifier.
Any student is awarded only 8 semesters of forensics competition,
regardless of degree standing. Under no
circumstances may a student attend more than 4 NIET tournaments or more than 4
District Qualifiers.
Article III: District Chairperson
A: Election
The District Chairperson shall be elected at the District NIET
Qualifier on every even-numbered year by a plurality vote. If a vacancy occurs at any time other than
the end of a two-year term, a new election will be held at the earliest
possible convenience. The Chairperson
must hold a full position at a member school within the District.
B: Duties
1.
The District
Chair is responsible for convening, running, and officiating over all District
meetings.
2.
The Chair
will serve as Tournament Director for the District’s annual NIET Qualifier.
3.
The Chair
will serve as the District’s representative to the AFA-NIET national committee,
performing all duties indicated by said committee.
4.
The Chair will
perform all other duties as necessary in fulfilling the leadership and
advancement of the District.
Article IV: Student Representative
A: Election
The Student Representative to the AFA-NIET for District VIII will be
elected each year at the District Tournament for service through the following
year. A nominee should expect to attend
the NIET that year (as incoming representative) and the following year (as
outgoing representative), and be able to attend the national meetings held the
day prior to the start of the NIET. Any
eligible student may run, and can be elected by a majority vote of students
attending the District Qualifier.
B: Duties
1.
The Student
Representative will serve as the District’s student representative at the
AFA-NIET.
2.
The
Representative will preside over the student meeting at the District Qualifier,
including leading discussion of topics currently being debated at the national
level.
Article V: District Qualifier
A: Summary
District VIII will hold a tournament each year to determine event
qualification for those students who have not yet
qualified for the AFA-NIET. This
tournament will follow all rules and procedures established in the AFA-NIET
Constitution and By-Laws.
B: Eligibility
Any student eligible under Article II above can compete in the District
Qualifier. Any student planning on
attending the NIET who has already qualified an event under the AFA guidelines
may not enter that event at the qualifier, but may enter any other events he or
she chooses.
C: Tournament Management
The District Chairperson will handle the responsibility of Tournament
Director. The Chair will be responsible
for writing and distributing invitations, collecting entries, heading the
management of the tournament, hiring necessary judges, and reporting results to
the National Tournament Director.
D: Tournament Date
The date and location for each year’s tournament will be determined at
the previous year’s District Qualifier.
E: Event Rules and Conflict Patterns
The rules for each event will be in accordance with AFA-NIET
guidelines.
The conflict patterns for the tournament will mirror those of the NIET
as closely as possible. In no
circumstances will a competitor be prevented from entering up to six events
that would be permissible under the patterns for the NIET.
F: Meetings
At the District tournament each year, separate open meetings will be
held for both students and coaches. The
student meeting will be presided over by the outgoing Student Representative to
the NIET, and will include election of the new Representative. The coaches’ meeting will be presided over by
the District Chairperson.
G: Qualification Procedures
Each event will have a minimum of two preliminary rounds. In most cases, each event will then break to
a final round with at least two judges.
Special circumstances regarding events with a total number of entries
either too large or too small will be dealt with by the management staff. In no circumstances will a competitor be
viewed by less than 3 judges total in a given event.
As per AFA-NIET guidelines, the top 10% (rounded up to the next whole
number) of competitors in a given event will receive a NIET qualification for
that event. If 9 or more schools are in
attendance, the District Qualifier will also count towards At-Large legs for
each event. If any competitor completes
an At-Large qualification for an event either at the District Qualifier or at a
subsequent tournament, the next-highest finisher in that event at the Qualifier
will receive the qualification. Only
competitors attending the NIET that year are eligible for the
qualifications. Similarly, in order for
a competitor to receive a qualification, he or she must be eligible to compete
in the NIET, including all necessary dues and requirements for his or her
school.
To facilitate the distribution of qualifications, the Director of each
school attending the qualifying tournament must inform the District Chairperson
of whether or not their school will be attending the AFA-NIET that year by the
end of the District Qualifier.
Article VI: Amendment
This Constitution can be amended by a 2/3 vote of member schools voting
on the amendment.