On Monday afternoon, the EUDC 2018 precouncil took place at Novi Sad University. Apart from the usual updates from the OrgComm, the equity and language teams and the chief-adjudicators, the following notable aspects were discussed.

Partial Octo Finals

Due to the comparatively low number of teams (188) that registered on Monday, the CA-team strongly recommended to cut partial octo finals to keep the break competitively at 10% as suggested by the constitution. Precouncil rejected this recommendation unanimously, arguing that the no-show teams usually are not top teams, but teams that were not to break anyway.

Language Committee Suggestion on Language Bias Feedback

The language committee, besides its report, recommended that the council discusses an option to provide feedback on judges who exhibit language biases both from wings and speakers, and guidelines how CAs should consider this feedback in setting adjudicators, for example not setting them in rooms with teams to whose language exhibit such a bias.

Barring of Non-Paying Institutions at Future Competitions

Finally, the OrgComm of Novi Sad EUDC announced that they would like to move for banning societies that ask for payment extensions this year from next year’s competition as they perceived their requests as having happened in bad faith. The council will have to decide whether banning is principally justified and whether it is applicable in the specific cases at hand.

jgg./jm.