Welcome to the Jacob M. Weigler Gotham Debates at the New School!

We are thrilled to have you here in NYC. Please bear with us as there are some quirks to hosting at an urban campus with some security measures. The tournament will be February 10-11, 2024.

We will offer 6 Preliminary Rounds of Debate in Open and JV, and 5 prelims in Novice if there are 18 teams or more. While we are initially offering 3 Divisions - Nov, JV, Open – past precedent may indicate the need to collapse JV & Open. If entry numbers and tournament logistics dictate, we will probably decide to collapse JV and Open sometime on Feb 7^th or 8th.

Please Register by Wed, Feb 7^thto allow for catering needs. If you are intending to come but waiting to register please also let us know to ensure we have all of the facilities we need.

TOPIC: We will use the 2023-2024 CEDA “nuclear weapons” resolution as the starting point for debate and discussion.

DISCRIMINATION & HARASSMENT:The New School abides by the CEDA polices on Discrimination & Sexual Harassment and NY State and City law, as well as University Policy on Harassment, Discrimination, Prohibited Relationships, and Title IX and Non-Title IX Harassment and Misconduct.

CAMPUS LOCATION:

The central tournament location will be the University Center located at 63 5^th Ave, on the northeast corner of 13^th Street (door closest to the corner). 5^th Ave runs from North to South (general rule for odd avenues in Manhattan), 13^th Street runs from East to West (like most odd streets).

For navigation purposes, you can always ask someone for directions to “Union Square” if you have significant direction issues in Manhattan. Union Square is also the nearest subway stop for the N,R,Q,4,5,6,L trains if you have judges coming from home in the City.

WIFI:Sign in to the New School Guest network. You can preregister for network access now, as it lasts 7 days.

Facility Notes:

The New School restrooms are generally gender neutral, particularly in the University Center, and can be found on all floors. If your team members specifically require gendered restrooms please let me know so I can potentially find them in the UC. Lactation pods are located on the "L" level across the elevators.

If you have mobility limitations please email vikeenan@gmail.com with the subject “ADA Tabroom Note” to ensure that we have the appropriate accommodation if needed, but the entire building should be mobility accessible via street level entrance and elevators.

Hotel: We do NOT have a hotel block this year because New School has not renewed their agreements. February is a low tourism month in NYC, so it should be the cheapest prices. We encourage you to pricehunt using something like Expedia or other aggregate sites, or your school’s rewards brand preference. Neighborhoods in walking distance are Chelsea, West Village, Midtown West, Gramercy.

We also recommend the NYU Hotels recommendation page and say you re coming to an NYU campus event.

Hotel used in the past was:

Holiday Inn Manhattan 6th Ave -Chelsea

125 W. 26^thStreet New York, NY 10001

Main:212-430-8500

The Heritage Hotel on West 25^th, or for Marriott afficionados there are a few options on West 27^th nearby, are other options.

Another option is to stay across the Holland Tunnel in Jersey. Pros: Cheaper, free parking at hotel; Cons: Further, need to pay toll to Manhattan and parking in Manhattan, not a scenic part of Jersey.

PARKING:

The elephant in the room. Yup, NYC is not the easiest or cheapest place to park.There is limited street parking on 5^th Avenue and 13^th Street in the area. Read signs carefully.

Simplify your life and select one of the lots (within 2 blocks of the New School Buildings) below and make and prepay a reservation before you arrive

How to Prepay:

https://www.parkwhiz.com/

Enter the address for “63 5^th Ave, New York, NY”

Set the time of entry at 6:30 AM and departure as 11PM (it will be the same rates for anything before midnight) for Saturday, Feb 10th

Select from the appropriate option:

Regular car or minivan or SUV:

20 W. 13th Street is less than a block away and a great rate.

Repeat for SUNDAY.

If you are driving into the city in a car or minivan and parking for Fri-Sunday also contact your hotel for options – you may just want to park near the University and walk.

Additional Suggestion: 7 East 14^thiPark

Check for COUPON deals.http://ipark.com/garage/east-14th-garage-corp

Fees: $55/person

Make checks out to “The New School”. Please note “New School Debate” in Memo. Cash works too. We'll have invoices for everyone as needed.

Payment link for credit card is through Splash:
https://event.newschool.edu/2024gothamdebates
Note: This asks a BUNCH of individual information for each individual "ticket" in your group because it is the University account and it really doesn't assume a larger debate squad. Please put the full information for the 1st Ticket of the person paying or head coach traveling with the team. You DO need to answer the question about relationship to TNS (Visitor) and how you heard about us (external website, aka Tabroom) for each "ticket", but you can just put initials and the same email address for all entries after the first one. These questions are usually needed for visitor access to events because other people are not as cool and don't have Tabroom.

HIRED JUDGING:

One judge is required for every two teams.

Judges looking to be hired for the Regional Judge pool should add their names through the HIRED JUDGE EXCHANGE in Tabroom. There is an "approval" step because area high school students who have never judged a policy round do not have the critical reading portable skill and often add themselves to the tournament exchange until they are explicitly told they are not eligible for the pool. You can hear the sigh in my voice just reading this, right?

Teams requiring judging should hire from the HIRED JUDGE EXCHANGE. Please confirm if your hiring is PER ROUND or per HALF or WHOLE commitment. All judges are assumed to be judging and obligated for the first Elim pf Open/JV (2^nd Debate Sunday) - please incorporate this into your negotiations

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Directions:Look, we have GPS now, but make sure you pick 5^th Avenue in MANAHATTAN (do NOT take the Manhattan, Brooklyn, or Williamsburg Bridges unless coming from Brooklyn). All of the recommended hotels and the Lincoln Tunnel are NORTH of the New School “Campus”. Eventually, you just head South in the direction of traffic on 5^thAve.

Navigation: Even streets run from West to East (so you cross 7^th, then 6^th, then 5^thAve). Odd Streets run East to West (So 5^thAve to 6^thAve to 7^thAve). Avenues run North/South, with odd Avenues heading South and Even Avenues running North. 14^th, 23^rd, 34^th, and 42^ndare 2 way streets, but have some vehicle limits. Broadway runs diagonally North to South (cross 7^that 42^nd, 6^that 34^th, 5^that 23^rd, and into Union Square). Around Broadway there are limited left turns and sometimes designated pedestrian access.

Schedule:

Saturday, Feb 10^th

7AM – Electronic posting of Rounds 1 and 2

7:15AM – Breakfast in UC (University Center) 304

8AM – Round 1

10:30AM – Round 2

1PM – Lunch

2PM – Round 3

5PM – Round 4 (depending on tournament logistics, may be lag paired off 2)

7PM – Dinner

8PM – Round 5

Sunday, Feb 11^th

7AM – Electronic posting of Round 6 in Open/JV and Novice elims

7:15AM – Breakfast in UC 304

8AM – Round 6/Elims

11AM – 1^stElim Open/JV, 2^nd Elim Novice

1:30PM – Lunch & Awards (L105)

2:30PM – JV/Open Finals,3^rd Elim Novice

5:30PM – Novice Finals, Super Bowl viewing options

FOOD:Breakfast will be tournament typical carb heaviness, but they ARE authentic NYC bagels. Saturday meals will include Mediterranean (likely) and Indian. Sunday Lunch will be NYC style Pizza, including Gluten Free and Vegan options.

CONTACT:

Vik Keenan

vikeenan@gmail.com, 347-683-6894