Reshaping the DCA application process for EUDC
In the past the Deputy Chief Adjudicators of the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC) were choosen in advance. Danique van Koppenhagen one of the Chief Adjudicators of the Durham EUDC bid shares her and Fred Crowell ideas about a reform. Comment and discuss away!
At EUDC council in Belgrade, a decision was made to no longer allow bids for EUDC to announce more than two members of their prospective CA team. The Durham EUDC bid for 2014 has taken this to heart, and announced only Fred Cowell and myself as co-CA’s. DCA’s will be announced after the bid has been awarded.
The change in rules presents a unique opportunity to reshape the process of appointing DCA’s. Fred, myself and the OrgCom of the Durham EUDC bid would like to take this opportunity. Instead of CA-teams for EUDC being chosen without input of the debating community, we would like to introduce a system similar but not necessarily equal to the WUDC application process. However, we recognize that such a process belongs to the entire European debating community. Thus, instead of reshaping it ourselves, we would like your input. Furthermore, we are aware of the fact that at this stage the Durham bid is just that, and that other bids might be coming up. In that case, we hope that the information we gather will be useful to whichever bid wins, and that we can work constructively with all parties involved on this issue.
Application process
As said above, we would like to move the system towards a WUDC-style application process. That process entails an open call for applications open to all, with a publication of the list of people applying and a call for feedback on their performance. We feel that this is a fair system, allowing the debating community to give input on prospective candidates and ensuring that the best individuals are chosen to represent the debating community.
Within such an application procedure, it might necessary to provide representation for all relevant regions in Europe. We feel that choosing four people to work with us in a representative fashion contributing to the adjudication team that delivers a truly excellent Euros would be optimal. As such, we are looking for the best division of those four people across Europe, to represent the different debating circuits within Europe as well as different language categories. The question that now lies before you is how to ensure the regional representation: is that something that needs to be formalized, or is that something that just like in the past we trust winning bids and CA’s to take into account when choosing DCA’s?
Possible regions and representation
Overall, we received input from several individuals, and out of this input we derived three preferred options to consider.
1. Four Regions, according to the current regions as defined in EUDC council information (the division can be found in the constitution here)
a. C&E: Central and Eastern Europe
b. IONA: Islands of the North Atlantic
c. N&W: Northern and Western Europe
d. SE&ME: South-Eastern Europe and the Middle East
2. Three Regions and a fourth person chosen to best complement the five persons in the CA team until that moment
a. Islands of the North Atlantic
b. Northern and Western Europe
c. Central and Eastern Europe, South Eastern Europe and the Middle East
3. No pre-determined regions, picking the best people for the job and trusting the CA team to ensure regional representation
We would like to hear from the debating communities within Europe what countries should be included in which region and why. Please provide any input you have (either as comments on this website, on the facebook group, or in email format to dcaprocessdurham [at] gmail [dot] com), and don’t hesitate to approach either Fred or myself if you have any questions. We will also be available at the Paris IV in April, where we plan to hold a consultation with all that want to join in. If you want your opinion to be used as input to the consultation, please send comments to us by the 31st of March.
The author: Danique was top ESL speaker at Belgrade EUDC in 2012. She was also third ESL speaker at Manila WUDC in 2012. Danique is current Dutch National Champion, and has also been the top ESL speaker of 6 IVs.
The Mittwochs-Feature: Every Wednesday at 9am we center an idea, debatte, book or person. If you want to activate a debate by yourself, send us ideas for topics via mail to team [at] achteminute [dot] de.
Danique van Koppenhagen/ ak
I think it’s great they set up a discussion about this process instead of just deciding it when they have the bid.
Proposal No 2 is pretty interesting. This would essentially mean dividing Europe into 3 instead of 4 regions, wouldn’t it? If the CAs themselves count as representatives for their Region this would mean there are up to two non-regional/meritocratic slots open despite regional representation – is that correct?