Charter of the North American Universities Debating Assembly
Establishment of the Assembly
Article 1
The North American Debating Assembly (the “Assembly”) is hereby established.
Article 2
There shall be a competition, which for the purposes of this Charter shall be named the North American Universities British Parliamentary Debating Championship (the “Championship”).
(1) A Round of the Championship shall be held once during each and every academic year, which runs from August to July.
(2) The format of the debate shall be British Parliamentary as set out in the rules attached to the Constitution of the World Universities Debating Council.
Article 3
(1) The purpose of the Championship shall be to determine the continental champion for university debate, as well as to encourage the promotion of debate, the free exchange of ideas, and North American contact and co-operation;
(2) It should be noted that nothing said by any debater during a debate round necessarily represents the debater’s personal beliefs, or those of their nation.
Article 4
The functions of the Assembly shall be as follows:
(1) To appoint a host for each Round of the Championship;
(2) To perform the functions conferred on it by this Constitution
Article 5
The Assembly shall be composed of:
(1) All institutions that competed or are competing in the present academic year’s Round of the Championship;
(2) All institutions that competed at the previous academic year’s Round of the Championship;
(3) For the Assembly held during the 2013-2014 academic year, all institutions that competed at the 2013 Yale IV, the 2012 Hart House IV, the 2012 Canadian British Parliamentary Debating Championship held at the University of Victoria, or the 2013 United States Universities National Debate Championship held at the University of La Verne.
Article 6
The Assembly shall recognize the following officers:
(1) The National Representatives, who shall be the most recently elected Representatives of each Status I country to the World Universities Debating Council or their respective delegates;
a) Where a Status I country has no representation at the World Universities Debating Council, institutions from that country shall elect a National Representative from among themselves
(2) The National Observers, who shall be the most recently selected Representatives of each Status II country to the World Universities Debating Council or their delegates;
a) Where a Status II country has no representation at the World Universities Debating Council, institutions from that country shall elect a National Observer from among themselves
(3) The Speaker, who shall be selected by the National Representative of the country hosting the Championship during that academic year and who shall chair the Assembly.
Location of the Championship
Article 7
On a meeting during a Round of the Championship, the Assembly shall consider bids by institutions to host the next year’s Championship.
Article 8
The location of the Championship shall alternate in every academic year between the United States and Canada.
(1) Notwithstanding the above, the location of the Championship in the 2014-15 and 2015-2016 academic years shall be in the United States.
Eligibility of Teams and Competitors
Article 9
(1) During the academic year of the Round, competitors shall represent the institution at which they pursue at least half of their courses toward a particular degree and must be recognised as bona fide students of that institution by the body regulating the award of such degrees or in the country of the institution that they represent or, in the absence of such body, by the government thereof.
(2) Competitors shall be recognised by their institution’s debating society or equivalent, or in the absence of such a body by the institution’s administration.
(3) Competitors must be enrolled students and must be attending classes or pursuing research at doctoral or pre-doctoral level in the institution which they represent on the last day of classes preceding the Round.
Article 10
All teams competing at the Championships shall be composed of debaters representing the same institution. No hybrid teams composed of debaters representing different institutions are allowed to partake at the Championships.
(1) If a student enrolled in a degree program jointly administered and recognized by more than one institution, that student may debate for either of those institutions.
(2) In this Charter, Dalhousie University and the University of King’s College in Halifax shall be considered the same institution.
Article 11
Anyone who has competed in a Round of the Championship in five separate years is prohibited from competing in a Round of the Championship in all future years.
Article 12
Only institutions located in North America are eligible to send teams to the Championship, and all universities in North America are encouraged and welcome to participate.
Article 13
All questions regarding eligibility shall be settled by joint agreement of the National Representatives of the Status I countries.
Amending Formula
Article 14
This Charter shall be amended when a substantive motion to that effect gains the support of a two-thirds majority of the whole Assembly and a majority of votes from each Status I country.
Status of Participating Countries
Article 15
(1) A country shall have Status I when, for any two of three consecutive years, it sends 15 or more teams representing five or more institutions to compete at a Round of the Championship.
a. A country shall no longer have Status I when, for each of three consecutive years, it sends either fewer than 12 teams or teams representing fewer than four institutions to compete at a Round of the Championship.
(2) All countries that are represented in the Assembly but that do not qualify as Status I shall be labelled Status II.
(3) The United States and Canada are granted Status I as of the 2013-2014 Championship, but can lose Status I in the future pursuant to Article 15(1)(a).
Article 16
Nothing in Article 14 precludes the amendment of the Charter to make provisions for the inclusion of additional countries in the Championship’s governance before those countries have Status I. The Assembly is encouraged to amend the Charter when additional countries participate in significant numbers so that the governance of the Championship can better reflect the makeup of the participating institutions.
General Provisions
Article 17
Any dispute arising under this Charter shall be referred to and settled by the joint agreement of the National Representatives of the Status I countries.
Article 18
Where this Charter is silent on procedural rules, Robert’s Rules shall govern.
Article 19
This Charter shall come into force immediately.
Governance Primer
Who is Eligible to Compete?
Any student who is enrolled in a degree program at a North American institution may compete at the North American Universities British Parliamentary Debating Championships (“BP Norams”, “NAUDC”, or the “Championships”).[1]
Students who wish to compete at the tournament must do so with the institution where they are taking at least half of the courses towards a particular degree and all teams must be made up of debaters from the same institution (i.e. no hybrids).[2]
How is the Championship Governed?
The governing body of the Championships is the North American Debating Assembly (the “Assembly”), which selects the future hosts of the tournament and which can make amendments to the Charter of the North American Universities Debating Assembly (the “Charter”), which is Championships’ governing document.[3]
The Assembly itself is composed of all of the institutions that are competing at the current year’s Championships and all institutions that competed at the previous year’s Championships (i.e. for the 2014-15 Championships, all schools who debated at the 2013-14 Championships at the University of Toronto (Hart House) are part of the 2014-15 Assembly).[4]
The officers of the Assembly are: (a) each of the Status I countries’ (currently, only Canada and the United States) most recently elected National Representatives to Worlds Council; and (b) the Speaker of the Assembly, who is selected by the National Representative of the current host country. The Speaker chairs the Assembly.[5] The Charter allows for additional officers should additional countries within North America compete at the Championship.[6]
All disputes arising under the Charter are to be settled by the joint agreement of the National Representatives of the Status I countries.[7]
The Charter can be amended through a substantive motion that gains the support of two-thirds of the Assembly and a majority of each Status I country’s members in the Assembly.[8]
How are Future Hosts Selected?
During the weekend of the Championships in a given year, the Assembly shall convene to consider bids and select a host for the next year’s Championships.[9]
With the exception of the 2014-15 academic year (where the Championships are held at HWS Colleges in Geneva, New York) and the 2015-16 academic year, the host of the Championships shall rotate every year between Canada and the United States. During the 2014-15 and 2015-16 academic years, the host institution shall be in the United States.[10]
A bid to host a future Round of the Championships requires a majority vote of the entire Assembly to be successful.[11]
[1] Article 9 of the Charter of the North American Universities Debating Assembly (“Charter”).
[2] Articles 9(1), 10.
[3] Articles 7, 14.
[4] Articles 5(1), 5(2).
[5] Articles 6(1), 6(3).
[6] Article 6(2); This provision would, for example, allow a National Observer to represent Mexico should they send at least one team to the Championship.
[7] Article 17.
[8] Article 14.
[9] Article 7.
[10] Article 8.
[11] Articles 7, 18; Since the Charter is silent on how voting for the future host of a Round of the Championship works, Robert’s Rules governs this decision.