This past Monday, I had a very interesting experience, in that one of the criticisms of our budget by the Student Activities Commission actually made sense. "Why," they asked, "do you have to pay for hotels while travelling to other schools for tournaments?" "Surely they can provide lodging for you, as is the practice in other extracurricular activities." In parliamentary debate, for example, it is the responsibility of the TD and hosting team to find places to sleep for the competitors. Whether on a couch or on a few square feet of lounge floor, every participant is able to find a good night's sleep at a cost of $0. Yes, this requires some work on behalf of the hosting team. But it isn't too difficult to find space- most people are more than happy to open up their rooms to the scintillating company provided by most of our "circuit" members. I don't know why the quizbowl community developed this practice, but it seems awfully wasteful for a significant portion of teams' budgets to be drained into the hotel sector of our economy. Lodging expenses present a significant challenge to beginning programs (such as ours) and to schools in the Northeast, where the great institution of the Motel 6 or the affordable youth hostel has yet to spread. If we considered following the example of the debaters and the Model UN types, significant funds would be released to be used to expand teams' travelling range, to recruit new members, or to further any number of other goals. While I intend to implement this practice when Georgetown is fully able to host tournaments independently, in the meantime I respectfully urge all other tournament planners to consider it. Emmet C. Tuohy '03 Georgetown Univ. College Bowl
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