Whereas, in the course of human affairs, it becomes clear that the APDA, the American Parliamentary Debate Association, should have a node in E2, and

Whereas, there previously only existed a misspelled nodeshell,

Be it resolved by this noder that a node be created!

The American Parliamentary Debate Association (APDA) consists of students from upwards of 50 schools across the nation. It was founded in 1981, hosted its first Nationals in 1982, and incorporated as a non-profit organization in 2000.

APDA hosts approximately weekly tournaments, often two conflicting ones on the same weekend, at its many member schools. The tournaments generally extend from 4:00 Friday night until sometime midday Saturday. As they are entirely student run, they provide a unique forum for debate.

Each debate is called a round. Rounds involve 40 minutes of speaking time, but after accounting for speakers who overrun their time and the preparation time given to the Government team before the round, they take about an hour. The delay between rounds is determined by the amount of time taken to tabulate the results and decide which teams will debate each other next round, called tab time.

In small tournaments, with approximately 25 teams, tab takes between half an hour and an hour. In large tournaments, with over 160 teams, tab can take from two to two and a half hours.

As its name implies, APDA tournaments consist of parliamentary debate. Specialized knowledge, cases that consist of maintaining the status quo, and cases too biased to debate are discouraged. Research is unneccessary. Just go in there and talk! APDA is about fun.

Except when interscholastic politics get involved. Many debaters are pathetic losers who whine about everything. They suck.