NEAO Council on Participation of Exchange Students in NEAO

[Toshiaki Ikehara]

Dear Northeast Asian debating community,

I am Toshiaki Ikehara, the President of Northeast Asian Open Council for 2011.

I would like to inform the community that there has been a recent controversy

pertaining to the participation of exchange students in NEAO.

This year, it has come to the attention of the organizing committee

that an exchange student(s) from outside Northeast Asia has applied to participate in NEAO as a debater.

They are applying to participate as a member of the institution they are currently studying in;

not the one that they are originally enrolled in.

The article of the NEAO Constitution relevant to this issue is 9.1 which states:

"Competitors must be students enrolled in a bona fide degree program

and must be attending classes or pursuing research in the University which they represent

on the last day of the term immediately preceding the competition in which they want to participate."

and 9.5 which states:

"Definition of university and /or institution:

For the purposes of this constitution and the organization of rounds of the competitions:

a university/institution shall be defined as a single body awarding degrees (or their equivalent)

and governed by a single administrative body headed by a chancellor and/ or Vice- chancellor (or similar)...."

Since these articles are ambiguous in whether exchange students are "enrolled in a bona fide degree program"

I believe we require, at the very least, a motion in council to clarify this issue for this year.

The afore mentioned participants and the institutional representatives have stated that they will present a speech at council explaining their case.

I also believe, if we are to make sure that this issue is properly dealt as council wishes in subsequent NEAO,

the NEAO constitution must be amended to clarify the issue.

Since article 9.5 states

"Where there is placed before the Council a substantive motion which proposes an amendment to this Constitution,

such a motion should be published on the host website

and emailed to all the registered institutions at one week prior to the commencement of the tournament,

such a motion shall not be carried unless it gains the support of at least two-thirds of delegates represented during the council meeting."

I want to present a motion now to allow us the option to amend this constitution if council deems necessary.

This is no way mean that I support any kind of position on the issue of exchange students.

But I do believe that some kind of clarification must be made in the constitution, one way or the other, to put this issue to rest.

The issues are several fold:

I. Should NEAO allow team(s) composed of exchange student(s) originally enrolled in a institution different from the one they are going to represent, to participate as the institution they are currently studying in? Or should they be considered Composite Team(s) (non-breaking) FOR JUST THIS YEAR? 

(A temporary solution, without creating precedence, might be required because they will be coming to NEAO because of this confusion,

and JUST FOR THIS YEAR might be allowed to represent that institution based on ameliorating circumstances)

II. Should SUBSEQUENT NEAO allow the participation of exchange students originally enrolled in a different institution they are representing, to represent the institution they are currently studying in?

Or should they be considered Composite Team(s) for future NEAO as well?

III. Should the constitution be amended to reflect this council's position?

The exact wording of the motion will be:

"To determine the status of exchange students and teams comprising of those students."

The first issue must be resolved in the Pre-Council scheduled on November 18th

so that appropriate teams and institutional representation can be made before the preliminary rounds begin.

The second & the third issues can be determined at the main Council Meeting on the 19th.

I recommend representatives of each institution who will be attending NEAO Council

to gather opinions on this issue from the members and determine the position on this matter.

I also recommend the institution that will be sending the exchange student(s) to give their case in writing over the Northeast Asian Debate mailing list.

I welcome any kind of opinions and questions anyone has on this matter as well.

Thank you

Toshiaki Ikehara

Northeast Asian Open Council President
Waseda University
email: tdog...@gmail.com