Fine with most arguments. K's are fine, just make sure to explain them.

I dislike dropped arguments. If you intentionally drop an argument. Mention it.

I default to Stock Issues, Aff must win all Arguments to win unless I am presented with different framework.

Not the fastest at flowing so i prefer no spreading. that said you can still speak quickly but i have to have enough time to write it down

Any other clarifications or questions you have you can ask me before the round but I am generally pretty cool w/ whatever.

Flay judge

Debate experience: I debated for 1 year in high school, and currently teaching our middle school debate elective

Judging experience this season: Andover High School Debate Tournament, Wichita Southeast Debate Invitational, Nickerson Cowbell Classic, KSHSAA 321A 4 Speaker Debate Regional @ Collegiate

Which best describes your priorities in judging debates? Resolution of substantive issues is more important than communication skills.

Which best prescribes your paradigm or approach to judging debate? Stock issues emphasis, Policy maker emphasis

What speed or rate of presentation do you prefer? No preference regarding speed.

Counterplans are... Acceptable if justified, and if consistent with other elements of the negative approach

Topicality is... Very important in my decision; I consider it a paramount issue

High School Debate/Forensics – Shawnee Heights (2014-2018)

College Policy Debate (NDT/CEDA) – Wichita State (2018-2022)

Previous Assistant Debate and Forensics Coach at W. East and W. Southeast

Current Head Debate/Forensics Coach at Wichita Southeast High School

Email: kaylab222@gmail.com

I like clean, organized, and well thought out debates that focus more on the depth of the arguments. I also value and reward teams that engage in high levels of clash and attack the warrants of the evidence. I am a policy centric judge, that has coached all types of debate styles. That being said, do what you are comfortable with. However, I am best in debates that revolve around some sort of policy or plan. The best way to win my ballot is doing clean line-by-line and explain why the weight of your arguments matter more than that of the opposing team.

When debating on the affirmative, what I look for is a team that can articulate a story about what the plan is, how the plan solves, and what the advantage of the plan is. I am noticing more and more in debate rounds that teams are not extending each part of the AFF, with explanations of all the moving parts. Even if the neg does not respond to a part of the aff, your job as the aff is to still extend that argument if you want to keep it viable.

If you are going to read topicality, there are a few things to consider. First, I am a judge that is a sucker for in round abuse. Even if you have to bait them into giving you the link on your ground/limit’s arguments, it is something that I am willing to vote on.

I love a good CP/Net Ben/DA Debate. This is the debate I am probably the most comfortable in, and the best judge for. The only thing I ask for in this type of debate is for the negative to explain how the CP solves the link on the DA/Net Ben, I am not going to be this gracious and do the work for you.

I don’t have a preference on whether teams go for theory or topicality. The biggest thing I look for in these types of debates are 3 things: 1. Proven in-round abuse, I don’t really care for the hypotheticals of “well this could happen” I want to know why the other team violated the rules so egregiously that it made this debate impossible for you to win. 2. Voters, this is something that is being overlooked and I am not sure why. Tell me how and why I should evaluate this argument in the context of the debate. 3. On topicality, I am more apt to vote for T if there is some version of a TVA – especially if you make an argument as to how the tva solves the advantages.

I don’t have much thought on K Debate, well-articulated links and solvency is what I look for in a K debate. I am not the most familiar with K literature, so please make sure to articulate any complex components of solvency or any buzz words.

Other niche thoughts, be nice to people, don’t steal prep, please signpost, analytics is not a part of a roadmap (what are the analytics about?), and have fun.

Questions? Ask me before the round.

email for chain: brandtaimee@gmail.com

Overview: I'm a 2nd year assistant coach @ Garden City High School in SW Kansas. My day job is as a physics teacher. I did not debate in high school but I did debate (policy) for a short time in college before the fact that many of the classes I was taking had a lot of required lab hours got in the way. I will absolutely flow the round.

Arguments: Generally, debate how you want to debate. I think that the best debates happen when debaters are doing their thing, whatever your thing happens to be. But if you want me to evaluate the debate in a particular way, make sure you lay it out for me what that is and why. I don't mind any types of arguments... topicality, counterplans, Ks, whatever. State it clearly and lay it out for me because, while I try to be a person who thinks about things critically and is aware of many arguments/points of view/schools of thought, I may not always be super informed about whatever argument you're attempting to make. Especially with Ks, you probably shouldn't assume I know your literature base. Debate is a persuasive activity anyway, so I feel it's important that you be able to tell me why an argument is meaningful and should persuade me. That goes for things like k/non-topical affs as well -- I am willing to vote for them and have voted for them in the past, but I think it is important that why I should be willing to go outside the resolution is spelled out within the debate.

Speed: I can handle a relatively speedy debate. If I have to put a number on it, I'd say an 8 out of 10 speed is fine with me. But I have to be able to understand what you're saying, so feel free to speak as quickly as you'd like as long as you're understandable at that speed. It's a speaking activity and you're trying to persuade me of something, so I have to be able to follow. Speech docs help. Making sure your tags are clear also helps. Speed over Zoom is harder -- if you are pretty fast and it is a virtual debate it will probably be helpful if you slow down a bit. Please know that I basically always think that a good team who doesn't spread is more impressive than a good team who does, because the non-spreading team is having to make smarter choices about their arguments since they can't fit as many words into the speech time.

Other Stuff:

*** Stealing prep bothers me (I don't want to be part of the reason things run late). Sending your speech doc to your partner is part of prep time -- otherwise they can open it up at the beginning of your speech from the speechdrop or wherever just like anyone else in the round.

*** Remember that the more work you're asking me as the judge to do during the debate, the more likely I am to miss things and maybe not evaluate the debate in the way you personally wish I would. There are two aspects to that: 1) if I am all over my flow looking for where to put an argument because you didn't tell me where it should apply to, some of my brain is getting used on that instead of listening, so I might accidentally miss something; and 2) if you don't explicitly give me ways to evaluate the debate then I have to do that in the ways that I think make the most sense, which might not line up with what you wish I'd do.

*** Be good people. :)

Hello my name is Shannon Catlin. I have judged debate for the last four years, while also participating as a debater in my high school career. When I sit down to a debate I prefer to hear evidence based proof with a footprint to back your sources. I also look for if a debater understands what they are presenting, explaining in your own terms.

I like to see what your policy is and how your plan of action will work with proof and funding. I watch for confident body language and being able to make eye contact with your peers.

I will allow spectators if the participants also agree, however they will not be allowed electronic devises.

Let's have s great debate.

TLDR- I know my ballot is long, its so that you can understand my approach on any argument don't read it all if you don't want to especially if you know your strat going in is a 1 off k why read my thoughts on T then lol. Go for what you're familiar with as a judge my job is to adapt to you as long as you engage with the debate rather than spewing off your coaches 100-page brief. I'm fine with speed or speed K's, open to nontraditional debate or straight stock issues. Please ask questions before round if you're not sure of my opinion of something or what I default to on things such as T standards and Judge kicks. * if a judge is against spreading that I'm on a panel with please accommodate that judge its always so awkward to have 2 of us in the know just to ruin the round for the outlier. However, don't apply that logic to k's please!

add me to the email chain Jaceyg957@gmail.com

TOP LEVEL

Tech > Truth

Plan specific analytics > generic links.

NEG FLEX GOOD (unless you win condo neutral on condo)

Open >Closed CX (I flow CX but don't apply it to the debate unless in speeches)

Bias always exists no matter what another judge writes we all have bias and let them manipulate the ballot in one way or another I will do my best to ignore them and judge purely off of the mechanics of the round however don't be afraid to post round me if you feel that I'm wrong, however be respectful about it (especially seniors)

I'm more than fine with spreading I've ran 11 off rounds before however slow down for tags, authors, and analytics.

Rebuttals I really like 2nr 2ar consolidation So slow down and go for what you'll win.

Judge instruction is key even if you don't debate K's arguments such as framework, ROJ, ROB, telling me how to evaluate evidence is crucial to an easy ballot, I need to be able to justify the route I took to sign the ballot for you even if it's a simple MAG= EVERYTHING, PROBABILITY= 100% TIMEFRAME=YESTERDAY.

Please call me Jacey or J calling me Judge is kinda weird when most of you have debated me or at bare minimum are only 1-3 years younger than me, I'm "old" to you but not to the world at least not yet :(

Plan text/CASE (policy)

1AC often times go in with a plan like "set standards on (insert)" I have no idea what this means please be able to specify in cx or 2ac, more specificity the better or else I will lean neg on generic case debates/theory. I love high quality evidence and miss when case debate was a thing, it's okay if your evidence isn't 100% accurate but if the competitors call it out then good luck :).

DO line by line I beg, often people do overviews and then move onto to the off case, I will not cross apply for you.

Read re-highlights I need to know what part the highlight takes out

Presumption is so underutilized; I will grant 0% solvency if warranted however this goes both ways if a CP/ALT is introduced.

DA-

I care most about the tech and utilization of the DA I'm a good judge to run DA's you wouldn't run on lay circuits, you have to defend the entire DA if you lose one part that's wraps (mitigation is different that's below☝). "DA outweighs and turns case" + the inverse aren't actual responses flesh out what that means.

Lastly idc if the impact is both nuke war or if its climate v nuke war, explain why your side is more important too often debaters get lost in the sauce on the magnitude level when the other aspects are far more important unless FW tells me otherwise and even then, when it's both nuke war, we have to break that tie somehow.

CP-

I love Funky CP's do ADV CP's or PICS if you want just execute them well.

Explain the perm, most times the CP can easily be permed but Aff teams don't go further than "perm, perm solves" without explaining what the world of the perms look like.

Theory-

If you go for theory, you should make the framing clear as to how you are going for it/how you want me to evaluate it, Impact it out, please. It helps to point out in-round abuse. On procedurals, it helps to explain why their model abuses others.

Condo vagueness and disclosure are all viable with me, anything else you'll have to just try and see.

K's!!! -Just ask me my thoughts on your k lit before round lol

I ran a lot of Cap and eco fem k's throughout my last two years in high school with a little bit of set col and anti-blackness, I understand the general thesis behind psychoanalysis, Baudrillard, and some of the pomo k's but don't be afraid to overexplain. Do not expect me to do the work for you if its cap or eco I have some leniency.

I could care less if the alt is "discuss the aff through a Lens of (insert)" or "we set a global paradigm shift." just be able to defend the strategy you go for. Don't do 5-minute overviews and then cross apply it just do the line by line at that point.

please read the literature and be able to explain the link story clearly, I will not grant you 100% of the systematic violence your k tries to address, that's so unrealistic so gage what you can or cannot solve for and or what impacts the aff causes due to the link.

I'll def get heat for this but I think too often teams are afraid to take the positions they believe. I'll listen to a cap good debate, even if people argue its immoral 1 no it isn't it's a discourse, I'd rather have the discussion in a controlled environment like debate and 2 we should engage in all perspectives 3 its real world most old heads support cap.

K affs/performance -

I've written a couple k affs and ran one myself for a little bit, I would like some relationality to the topic however if you decide not to then please be ready for the T debate.

I like K aff debate however don't be annoyingly snarky most of the time inclusion is better to resolve harms addressed then making everyone opps right off the bat. being assertive is good but there is a line I'm a very expressive person you'll see if I think it's too far.

I'd like clear framework with a ROB and ROJ often times when K affs drop its due to a lack of understanding on what exactly the ballot does or how my specific orientation with the aff resolves any harm.

when responding to T I like impact turning T however a crafty counter interp would be nice!

T/FW

I default to fairness acting as an internal link to something like Edu however if you make fairness an impact beef it out.

T v K- I think that Policy teams too often stick to the blocks rather than engaging with the merits of the 1AC. If you go for T in the 2nr explain why the method is bad and do a fair amount of case/presumption work. even if you win that the game of debate should have rules and the aff violates, you need to be able to defend why the game is good or else I'm left confused on what to maintain and K teams entire 1ac at least gives somewhat of a stasis point on if the game is good or not.

T v policy- LOVE LOVE LOVE! I love cheeky interps, T subsets sure why not! I default to C/I however have been persuaded by reasonability, but it needs to be fleshed out more than two lines in the 2ac

I don't agree with some judges that T has to be all five minutes of the 2nr I'd prefer if it was, but I understand that on Pannels where a lay judge is present making T five minutes isn't going to work out.

If asked be able to give a case list.

In front of me arguments about standard setting on research and what it means for the season or next season of debate tend to sway me the most.

MISC

please make the flow clean, don't overstep your partners speeches more than is necessary to win the round.

My hand writing is AWFUL so I'll probably just type out RFD/comments and send them to you if possible so that your coach doesn't wonder what caveman judged the round.

(if you get me in LD or PFD just ask me questions I'm not writing another paradigm when I don't know how they got me in here!)

Stock issues. T should only be what’s actually off topic. I don’t like Ks unless they’re actually applicable. Academic problems that aren’t likely to be real life issues have no interest for me. I’d rather it be concrete, undeniable, and undeniably important.

I am slightly hard of hearing, so please speak clearly (especially with masks) and with a decent volume. Speeding/spreading means I can’t understand you. If I can’t understand you, I can’t vote for you.

Jason Hibbs
Arkansas City HS, Arkansas City KS

Policy/CX debate:

Kansas HS debater early 90s, one year non-policy and one year policy in college (mid 90s).
Kansas HS debate teacher/coach 1998-2013. Assistant (not in the classroom) 2013-current - used to judge 10-20 rounds a year, less frequently last 5 years.
Traditional policymaker.
Substance > style.
Not well-read in critical/kritik areas - will require analysis of the position.

LD debate:

Coached and judged many rounds in 2005-2014.
Clash and weighing values are both important.

IE
Kansas HS and college participant in most of the individual events.
Teacher and coach for most of the events 1998-present. More familiar/comfortable(?) with public address events.

2/2024

Debate is a competitive, educational activity that supports speech, argumentation and research skills. I expect you to address stock issues and have clear, well-connected and relevant off case arguments. I will vote primarily on the quality of evidence and argumentation and secondarily on the speech skills displayed. Whatever arguments you run, be organized on the flow, be clear on your arguments, and be persuasive in your speaking.

Great communication and good form are important to me.

I do not mind speed but do not spread if you are not adept at it; I need to understand more than be impressed by your words per minute. Speaking of understanding, please make it a focus to know the correct pronunciation of difficult terms and words that are pertinent to your arguments. Thanks.

Topicality is underrated. I find it to be the bedrock of your argument. I also think impacts are important. If you bring up tools to make your opponents’ position weak such as disads, CP, etc., please be prepared to support these in detail, and develop your them to expose the weakness of your opposition.

A great k is okay but people are in love with using ks without knowing how. Don't be that person. Also, provide a good roadmap before your speech, and above all, at the end of your portion of the round, please be clear on why the judge should decide FOR you or AGAINST your opponent.

I strive to be impartial and open because I am a high school debate and forensics coach, and that’s how I want my students to be judged. However, I do not appreciate debaters who are unkind to lay judges; tournaments would be very hard to hold without them, and they are some debater's mother, grandfather, family friend, etc. Disdaining them is inappropriate.

Try hard, be polite, use language that is academic, appropriate, and unbiased; don’t attack your opponents themselves, but rather their arguments on the basis of logic, evidence, organization, and knowledge…and say thanks after to all in the room.

This paradigm is not earth-shattering, but simply common sense points to follow, and good luck to all.

Debated at El Dorado High School for 4 years

Cards:

I think the evidence you have is the backbone of the debate. If I suspect you are clipping or in any other way cheating with evidence, I will strictly review the evidence and have a possibility of voting against you. Zero tolerance for cheating of any kind.

Topicality:

I came from a school that put all of their focus on Topicality, Disads, and Case, so to me, knowing the fundamentals is very important. Don’t undercover T and case. The topic is important and if you believe there is any shortcomings in relation to the topic of the Aff, I’ll hear it.

Disads and Counterplans:

I really enjoy DA’s and CP’s in a debate. Go for it.

Theory:

I’m open to any theory.

Kritiks:

I only opened up to critical arguments the last few years of debating in my high school career, so make sure you explain the story of the K and especially the impact. I know a lot of the generic K’s background, but I’m not an expert on everything so explain!

Performance/K Affs:

I think this is absolutely one of the best parts of debate. While I enjoy the game, I think it’s the most important to analyze what’s going on that may dilute the round for any competitors. My senior year, I ran a critical argument and how it personally effected me in the debate round. Even at nationals, it was surprising how unreceptive a lot of judges and competitors are. So if you run this, I’m fully open.

Overall:

Excluding the K’s and performance areas of debate, I think using everything at your disposal, especially using your arguments in conjunction with one another (instead of separate arguments) is what makes you stand out most to me in the debate round. I like to see how smart you are in the game of debate. Most of all, as long as you believe in the argument, go for it, and be smart about it. Present anything well in front of me and I’ll most likely listen to it.

Hello, my name is Rylee Lopez and I am a gradated senior who has done debate and forensics for 2 years through the state and national tournament, so I understand the format of debate and have past experience judging as well.

 Feel free to speak fast, I can understand. I vote on who has the biggest impacts in the round and who is able to explain their position better. I will vote on theory, topicality and weird obscure arguments if they are again complete, have an impact/voter. 

Aff- Make sure you clearly state your stock issues, if you want to run a K-AFF or performative Aff as well that is ok.

Neg- DA,CP, Case, T, K's, Theory, all is fine as long as you explain it thoroughly 

I will vote against you if you are being racist, sexist, homophobic, etc.

Hi! My name is Prakriti, she/her. Head coach at Wichita East High school.

Add me to the chain: prakriti.ravianikode@gmail.com. I'm also fine with SpeechDrop.

Policy:

General--

I will not evaluate anything that happens outside the round.

I follow along the doc - if I see you clipping its an automatic L.

Speed is fine, please add analytics to the doc if you're going fast. If I can't understand you, I will clear you! If I still cannot understand you, I will start dropping the speaks.

If you have any other questions about specific arguments please ask before the round.

I don't like case overviews. Just debate down your flow.

I flow cross-ex! I also stop paying attention to cross-ex and speeches once the timer goes off.

I'll vote for anything. Tech over truth. You should be well-versed in your arguments. Nothing annoys me more when debaters stand up for speeches after the 2ac and just read cards/analytics straight down without interacting with your opponents' arguments. Please use judge instruction and tell me exactly how I should evaluate the round.

Kritik--

More familiar with policy args, as far as K's, I'm familiar with Cap and Fem. Other than that you should over-explain. I am not the best with theory so I will need clear judge instruction and voters for K theory args. Also if you are just using jargon without explaining it, I won't understand what you mean and I cannot vote for it. I want to know what the world of the alt looks like and why I should prefer it to the aff.

Topicality--

I default to competing interps. Explain what your model/interp means for the topic. That will convince me more than generic blocks. Pls slow down on the T flow.

DA--

Impact calc is important!! I evaluate the link level of the DA first and weigh it with the impacts of the aff. I am not very familiar with economic literature. If the 2NR is the Econ DA, please give me a story on what exactly the economy will look like in the world of the aff/DA.

4 years of highschool speech and debate,

current competitor on the college circuit

policy judge

Novice:

For novice rounds I'm open to hearing any arguments DAs, CPs, Ts, On Case, etc. However the one stipulation here with novices is if you run a K, I expect it to be well explained and easy to understand, for the benefit of the other team and yourself. I love hearing any analytics or line by line from novices especially in the rebuttals. I'll judge mainly on flow, policy, and whether or not you've structured your speeches and arguments correctly.

Open/Varsity:

gen: I'm not against speed, however I will always prefer a normal speaking pace. in the event you have to spread I ask for moderate spreading speed, in addition if you spread I will absolutely have to have your evidence in front of me.

I expect to see analytics and line by line, the more the better, also stress impact calc. and voters near the end of the debate

DAs: I like DAs fairly well, if you run one I just ask you have all the parts and understand your harm's

CP: again I like them well enough, if you run one make sure your Uniqueness is strong and clear

T: I generally prefer that you don't run Ts, I find using them as a time waster on your opponent to be somewhat harmful to debate, so unless their violation is clearly egregious, I probably wouldn't recommend running one for this judge

K: I love Ks when well run, as long as you have all the parts and can understand what you're arguing for I'm down to hear almost anything, I also believe you should be able to explain your k in a very basic manner as I've encountered scenarios where explaining something simply made the debate overall better than just using complicated jargon

to wrap up JUST BE RESPECTFUL I wont tolerate any kind of hate speech, such as racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, xenophobia, etc. or any unsportsmanlike behavior.

Other than that I cant wait to be your judge, ask me if you have any questions or concerns, and let me know if you need anything!

See you in round!

I'm Neil. Asst. Coach at Maize HS. Debated 4 years in high school, 2001-2005 (I'm old). Add me to the email chain - neil.rupert@gmail.com.

How to win: 2NR & 2AR - tell me how you won the flow. Sign post and roadmaps. Analytics if you're fast, along with slow tags and citations. I'll follow the evidence; make sure your evidence matters. I'm an open slate so I'll listen to anything. Tech > Truth.

How to lose: Lose me on the flow. I flow on paper, so off-time roadmaps please. Dropping arguments. Don't clip and BE RESPECTFUL. Attack arguments, not debaters.

Disads: Impact calculus is integral; timeframe, probability and magnitude. I prefer specific links. Link and impact turns are fun (not at the same time!).

T: I prefer competing interpretations. I will say this topic sucks for T args, but give it a try if you want.

CPs: Condo good. Aff specific CPs are cool.

Ks: Tell me how you specifically link and how the alt solves.

Confidence and clarity is key for speaks. Ultimately, debate is about critical thinking, research and effective communication. Most importantly, HAVE FUN.

Debate at Kansas State from Treaties (2001) – Courts (2006), Coached at Kansas State on Middle East (2007) & Agriculture (2008), Coached at University of Wisconsin Oshkosh for Weapons (2009) & Immigration (2010). I was at Johnson County Community College from Middle East (2011) to Space (2020).

I'd like to be on the e-mail chain- debatelearningdotcom@gmail.com (just copy and past that exact e-mail)

If I leave the room, please send the e-mail. It will signal I need to come back to the room. People should just not open the doc until I get back.

My litmus test for what I can vote for is solely based upon the ability to take what you said while debating and regurgitate it back to the other team as a reason why they lost.

I believe the most important part of debate is impacts. If left with no argumentation about impacts or how to evaluate them I will generally default to look for the biggest impact presented. I appreciate debate that engages in what the biggest impact means, and/or if probability and timeframe are more important. This does not simply mean “policy impacts”, it means any argument that has a link and impact. You could easily win that the language used in the round has an impact, and matters more than the impacts of plan passage. All framing questions concerning what comes first have impacts to them, and therefore need to be justified. The point is, whether you are running a Kritik, or are more policy based, there are impacts to the assumptions held, and the way you engage in politics (plan passage governmental politics, or personal politics). Those impacts need to be evaluated

I also prefer that teams explain their arguments so that a macro level of the argument is explained (Meaning a cohesive story about the uniqueness, link, or link and alternative are also necessary). This means piecing together arguments across flows and explaining how they interact with one another. My threshold for the possibility for me to vote on your argument is determined by whether or not I can explain why the other team lost.

Policy arguments are fine by me.

Quirks with Counterplans- I think consultation and conditions are more cheating, than not cheating, but up for debate. I think conditionality can get out of hand. When conditionality does get out of hand it should be capitalized by the affirmative as justification to do equally shady/cheating things and/or be a justification to vote against a team, again up for debate.

Kritiks- I enjoy Kritiks. Be aware of my threshold for being able to explain to the other team why they lost. This means it is always safer to assume I’ve never read your literature base and have no idea what you are talking about. The best way to ensure that I’m understanding your argument is to explain them with a situations that will exemplify your theory AND to apply those situations and theories to the affirmative.

Framework- I will evaluate framework in an offense defense paradigm. Solely impacting or impact turning framework will rarely win you the debate. You will need offense & defense to win framework debates in front of me. Its an issue that I believe should be debated out and the impact calculus on the framework debate should determine who I vote for. When aff I believe that framework is a non starter. Defending the assumptions of the affirmative is a much more persuasive argument. For the negative, a lot of the discussion will revovle around the topical version of the aff and/or why doing it on the neg is best and solves all the affirmatives offense. I don't generally feel as though framework should be THE option against critical teams.

Framework on the negative for me is also can have and act like a counter advocacy that the problems isolated by the affirmative can be helped by engaging the state. Topical version help prove how engaging the state can create better and meaningful changes in the world. There should also be historical and/or carded explanations as to why engaging the state can help with the problems of the 1ac.

One other caveat about framework. I do not believe that affirmatives must provide a counter interpretation. The affirmative has not forwarded a way to debate in the 1ac, therefore it is the burden of the negative to explain their version of debate and why it's good. This allows affs to just impact turn framework as presumption has flipped in this instance.

With that said, framework is the last pure debate. I very rarely see the better team not win. It's been too hashed out for many if any gotcha moments

Xan Tolbert

Wichita East High School - Mathematics Department Chair

I was a previous high school debater competing for Damien High School in the late 80s. After high school I transitioned from policy debate to Model United Nations and was competitive at the collegiate level. My educational background is in Mathematics, Physics, Philosophy and History.

I judge rarely for policy debate but enjoy it and am looking forward to doing more.

I am a tabula rasa judge. As I have judged rarely in recent years I may not be up to date on all the current terminology. Please take into account the following:

Speed - I am fine with going fast as long as you are clear. Speed is not necessary to win but if you lack diction and enunciation it does not matter what the card says or the point you're trying to make. Clarity and quality of argument are more important than speed. I do enjoy fast rounds as long as they include the previously mentioned traits.

Kritik's - I have a philosophy degree with a heavy emphasis on epistemology and linguistics. Kritiks are fine as long as they are argued effectively and reasonable.

CP's - Have to provide more advantages then the aff. How much more is debatable.

Topicality - A round can be won or lost on T. Avoid semantic juggling and clearly indicate why the aff is not topical.

Disads - I need a strong causal relationship from aff plan that results in the disad.

Decision Rules - These don't seem to be used much in modern practice. They need to be logical and have a causal relationship.

Rounds can be won or lost in X. It's as important as any of the speeches.

Have fun and enjoy the experience of the round. One thing you can do to be more effective is to signpost, it makes your argument clearer to the listener.

I'm an Assistant Coach at Hutchinson High School. I debated for four years in the KDC and DCI divisions.

In general, I prefer a more open style (heavy use of on-case arguments, DA's, and CP's), however, I want debaters to have the freedom to express themselves and do what they want. DO WHAT MAKES YOU SUCCESSFUL!! I will have an open mind when I submit my ballot. A couple of notes for those who want it:

Speed: Speed in the constructives is whatever. I'd prefer a slower debate, but I can keep up. I would prefer rebuttals be slightly slower, but it's up to you. I'll do my best to not miss anything.

Kritiks: I was never a huge K debater in high school, so I'm not up-to-date on the literature (although I have a baseline understanding of the most popular arguments). Make sure that if you read a K, actually explain its relevance in the round. I will vote on it, but you need to do more work for me than you would on judges who are more familiar.

You will win my ballot by giving me some impact stuff in the 2nd rebuttals and telling me why you have won. I'll vote on whatever framework is presented in round, but I default policymaker/impact calc. It would be great if a team did the math for me instead of having to do it myself. What will the world of the aff be vs the world of the neg? Analysis like this will win you the round most of the time.

PLEASE signpost and provide clash. I'll do my best to write a solid RFD on every ballot so y'all understand why I voted the way I did, even if you might not agree with it :)

Email for email chains if that's how you want to share evidence: royalsandchiefs333@gmail.com

Email: dyates@usd313.org

I prefer speechdrop but do what you must.

Experience:

Head Coach @ Buhler High School

- Former Head Coach @ Nickerson HS 2019-2023

- Assistant Coach @ Salina South 2017-2018

- College: 4 Years Parli Debate, NFA-LD, and Limited Prep @ Kansas Wesleyan University from 2014-2018.

- High School: 4 Years Debate/Forensics at El Dorado HS (2010-2014). Did pretty much everything.

I am a huge advocate in you doing you. I will list my preferences, but know that I do find myself open to nearly any argument/strategy/style within reason. Please do not feel like my paradigm below should constrain you from doing arguments that you believe in.

• Be respectful and debate with integrity. Overt rudeness and exclusionary/offensive language and/or rhetoric will lose you my ballot.

• Substantive arguments and clear clash/organization is a must. I will not vote for unethical arguments (e.g. racism good). Please weigh arguments clearly and have a nice technical debate. Clean flows make happy ballots.

• Tech first, but not only tech. Immoral arguments will not win my ballot even if they are won 'on the flow'. Please provide a FW for weighing and evaluating the round. Don't make me have to decide why you won - you may or may not agree with my conclusions.

• I am receptive to framework and theory. I do not usually vote on procedural arguments on violations alone - extend and weigh your impacts on the procedural if you go for it in the 2R

• Kritikal arguments are good. I guarantee I like them more than you think I do. Explain your alt to me. RotB arguments take a second for my brain to process because I am a big ol' dummy, so I will want clear warrants for how and why the claim is true that my ballot does something.

• Alternative approaches (Performative Affs, K Affs) are okay but I am in all honesty less familiar with these approaches. Please explain to me the reasoning/justification for your methodology in plain-ish language if you go this route. Like the K, I like these arguments more than you might think. Please don't take my lack of exposure as a lack of willingness to vote on it.

• Please be clear on the flow. Also, please flow.