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Arizona St Hugh Downs School of Human Comm Invitational

2017 — Tempe, AZ/US

Policy Paradigm List

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Muaz Abdul-Aziz Wallenberg 6 rounds

Last changed on Mon January 2, 2017 at 11:04 PM EDT

3 year of policy debate at Chandler High School

Frosh policy debater University of Pittsburgh

30 second overview

I'm a 2A/1N. Most of my debate career has been going for race arguments or Nietzsche. I'm also vaguely familiar with some po-mo, high theory args as well. that being said a good cp/da debate or clash debate is always refreshing. read whatever you are comfortable with and i will evaluate it.

Post Blake Updates-My RFDs will be blunt and savage If you don't like it, tough.

Don't read psychoanalysis unless you know what you're talking about

Dont extend 13 links in your 2NR

Speaker Points**

Everyone starts at a 28.5 and goes up or down from there. A large portion of speaker points is dependent on a combination of ethos, pathos, and argument making. If you include the forgotten art of line by line, good analytics, and know what you're talking about You will be rewarded will speaker points and probably a ballot. They're also put into perspective by your speaker position. A useless 1N probably won't get above a 29.

Opinion on the topic

LD-I'm don't have one

Policy- I love the Chinese

K Affs (traditional and otherwise)

I have read a k aff every year that I have debated. When done right I love these debates. Have a tangential relationship to the topic. If you can change little to nothing of the aff I will be very sympathetic to framework. Using case to answer arguments and always referring to the aff and the 1AC will put you in a great position. Please defend something in the 1AC. take a stance. Being wishy washy in cx and being noncommittal will hurt your speaks and make me sympathetic to the other team. This doesn’t mean you need a plan text, just an idea that the neg can contest.

Framework

Prove that the aff isn’t the core of the topic, can be read on another topic, or isn't an aff position and you will probably win the debate. An aff that isn't near the topic shouldn't be read but you have to prove that to me to vote on it. Fairness isn't an impact. It is, however, an internal link to education. Reading framework does not give you a pass to answering case and not linking to a disad isn’t offense. The aff should critique their method of debate and have DAs to their style of debate and these should be impacted out.

Topicality

These debates usually don’t amount to anything but can be effective time eschews. That being said, I am very sympathetic to T when read against really small, obscure, unpredictable affs. Explain what allowing their aff does and why it shouldn't be read and you'll be in good shape.

Case

Reading generics on case probably isn’t useful or productive and won't get you anywhere. Making analytics on case, taking quotes from 1AC cards and making them into arguments is enjoyable and will be rewarded if used effectively.

Basically, know what you're talking about and make arguments and you'll be ahead of the game.

disads are ok

**jokes about the Pitt debate team or its coaching staff will be rewarded with .1 speaks (.5 max)

Zaki Alattar College Prep 6 rounds

Tim Alderete The Meadows School 3 rounds

Sandy Amos June Jordan 3 rounds

Margo Batha Los Alamos High School 6 rounds

Mike Bausch Kent Denver School 6 rounds

Last changed on Sat April 6, 2024 at 1:31 AM MDT

Mike Bausch

Director of Speech and Debate, Kent Denver

Please include me in email chains; my email is mikebausch@gmail.com.

Thanks for letting me judge your debate. Do what you do best, and I will do my best to adapt to you all. Here are some tips for debating in a way that I find most persuasive:

1. Flow the debate and make complete arguments. I care about line-by-line debating and organization. An argument must have a claim, evidence, and an impact on the debate for me to vote on it. I must understand your reasoning enough to explain to the other team why I voted on it.

2. Be timely and efficient in the round. Nothing impresses me more than students who are prepared and organized. Please conduct the debate efficiently with little dead time. Don’t steal prep.

3. Focus on argument resolution after the first speeches. Impact calculus, developing specific warrants, identifying what to do with drops, answering “so what” questions, making “even if” statements, and comparing arguments (links, solvency, etc) are all great ways to win arguments, rather than just repeat them.

4. Feature judge instruction in the final rebuttals. The best tip I can give you is to go for less distinct issues as the debate develops and to focus on explaining and comparing your best points to your opponent’s arguments more. Begin your final rebuttal by writing my ballot and explicitly saying what you’re winning and why that should win you the debate.

5. Remember that this is a communication activity. Speak clearly, I do not follow along with the speech document and will say “clear” if I can’t understand you. Use your cross-examination time to persuade the judge and prepare for it like a speech.

6. Talk about your evidence more. I think a lot of teams get away with reading poor evidence. Please make evidence comparison (data, warrants, source, or recency) a significant part of the debate. Evidence that is highlighted in complete and coherent sentences is much more persuasive than evidence that is not.

7. Identify specific evidence that you want me read after the debate. I am more likely to read evidence that is discussed and explained during the debate and will use the debater's explanation to guide my reading. I am unlikely to read evidence that I didn't understand when it was initially presented, or to give much credit to warrants that only become clear to me after examining the evidence.

8. Develop persuasive specific links to your desired argument strategy. I think the affirmative should present an advocacy they can defend as topical, and the negative should clash with ideas that the affirmative has committed to defending. I think that the policy consequences and ethical implications of the resolution are both important to consider when debating about the topic. For all strategies, it starts for me with the credibility of the link.

9. Develop and compare your impacts early and often. Impact analysis and comparison is crucial to persuading me to vote for you. In depth explanation is great and even better if that includes clear comparisons to your opponent’s most significant impacts.

10. I prefer clash heavy instead of clash avoidant debates. I am most impressed by teams that demonstrate command of their arguments, who read arguments with strong specific links to the topic, and who come prepared to debate their opponent’s case. I am less impressed with teams that avoid clash by using multiple conditional advocacies, plan vagueness, generic positions without topic nuance, and reading incomplete arguments that lack clear links or solvency advocates.

*Note: Because evidence comparison is a valuable skill, I think all formats of debate benefit from evidence exchange between students in the debate and would prefer if students practiced this norm.

Shannon Blackham West High School 6 rounds

Sara Beth Brooks College Prep 6 rounds

Last changed on Mon January 22, 2024 at 4:45 AM PDT

Officially dragged back into the activity by the pandemic. I'm doing some administrative work for the Sacramento Urban Debate League. Don't expect to find me on your pref sheet but feel free to contact me at sarabeth@sudl.org if you have research questions.

Officially retired. Feel free to contact me with research questions but I'm no longer actively involved in the activity. - May 2019

I debated policy for 5 years in college and qualified twice to the NDT for UNLV. I coached policy for College Prep (Oakland) for 3 years, and policy for Wake Forest for a year.

I also have several years of high school public forum experience and occasionally judge and coach those debates, but I am not actively coaching the 2018-2019 topics.

A little more about me: white, crip[pled], queer, femme, she/her or they/them pronouns.

Three Important Things

a. If you need to communicate an access issue to me before the debate, please send me an email before the round. This is a private way for you to give me information that you do not want to share with the entire room (for example, if nonverbal communication isn't accessible to you).

b. I have an auditory processing disorder. I can flow fast, technical debate but please do not sacrifice clarity for speed. If I have to call clear repeatedly, I will just stop flowing. If music is a part of your arguments please turn the volume down a bit so that I can hear you (I understand that music/audio are important and vital to certain argumentation; you do not have to turn it off -- just adjust the volume in front of me).

c. I will listen to almost anything, with a couple of caveats; I am not interested in hearing arguments like racism good or rape good, etc, or in hearing arguments or jokes about suicide. Also if appropriating culture or literature that doesn't belong to you is the strat, please don't pref me.

Everything Else

Debate is a communicative activity. Pick an argument and defend it, and answer the other team's arguments. Be persuasive. Make claims, back them up with warrants, and please compare impacts. Make jokes. Speaker points will go up. Cards are good, contextual analysis using cards is better, comparative claims contextualized to the evidence in the round is best. I don't read much evidence so don't count on me to read the 16 cards you shadow extend in the rebuttal; it is your job to tell me why a few of them tip the debate in your direction.

As a competitor I read everything from elections to Baudrillard, but had the most competitive success with structural criticisms about ableism and disability. I valued fast, technical debate and I appreciate and understand those debates. I also did performance debate for a year and have read a lot of critical race theory, critical disability studies/crip studies, gender/queer theory, and colonialism literature. Yes I will vote on in-round rhetoric arguments, so do not use racist/cissexist/ableist/homophobic/transphobic language. I will be very persuaded by a well-constructed argument about it from the other side.

I like all different styles of debate, so read arguments you are comfortable with and I will do my best to evaluate the debate in front of me. Speaker points are almost always between 28 and 29, adjusted for division; above or below indicates a unique round. Please remember that I am an imperfect being in the service of the imperfect god of debate, but I do promise to be attentive, work hard to understand your arguments, and try to give an RFD focused on education and how to improve for the future. One last thing: I give long RFDs, #sorrynotsorry.

Corey Brown Hire

Kevin Chen Hire 6 rounds

Last changed on Thu January 5, 2017 at 3:42 AM MST

Hamilton High School '15

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign '19

I HATE DEBATE. ANARCHY IS KEY. POLITICAL STRUCTURES ARE BAD. TOPICALITY AND FRAMEWORK IS A MYTH. FIAT IS ILLUSORY.

....now that I got your attention, please read the rest of this paradigm carefully. For, lack of doing so will be heavily reflected in those precious speaker points of yours.

Pls Debate, don't just read off your computer.

Background: 4 years of High School debate, Arizona D1 State Champion, 2-time qualifier to the NSDA tournament. Coached at the SWDIT Debate Camp summer of 2015, so I have exposure to the Surveillance topic. During my career I debated policy arguments, policy affs with critical impacts, and full out kritikal arguments--finishing my senior year reading a Neolib aff. Oh yeah, I was a 2A/1N.

General Paradigm: Debate is yours, performance, policy, etc, it is what you make it. If you read anything offensive or promotes discourses that are negative for the debate activity and/or environment I will be very upset and it will reflect in your speaker points. Just run the arguments you want to run genuinely, debate well, and everything will be okay. Impact your arguments well and be a persuasive speaker. I hate tagline extentions and will also frown upon them.

Specifics:

- Aff: I'm okay with any kritikal affirmative, or if you want be as policy as you want to. I will not favor one type of affirmative debating over another granted that I have done both. For the framework debates, prove to me why I should prefer your interpretation over the negatives and if a framework flow lacks well-impacted arguments and many impact turns to the neg, you're in a bad position. While this may sound pessimistic, if you are able to do well both on the line-by-line as well as the "big picture" explanations of your kritikal argument against the framework the neg reads you will be very well rewarded. For policy affirmatives, please be topical. Be clear if judge kick is a thing for your advantages...but on the same note kick out of advantages properly please. Impact well, and you will be rewarded. Don't fall behind on the line-by-line.

- Neg:

--Case: THIS DEBATE IS A MUST. I LOVE A GOOD CASE DEBATE I THINK IT TEACHES THE MOST IN THE ACTIVITY. Even if you don't have specific cards for an affirmative, please try to engage with the affirmative don't do your own thing. Good case debate will be rewarded.

--Topicality: While I have not judged many debates under this topic, I will vote for Topicality if the negative provides sufficient reason why the affirmative is violating the resolution. Well impacted topicality and good caselists will help in this process.

--Counterplans: Explain the net benefit well please. I will vote on counterplans. Also, if the affirmative calls you out on a cheapshot counterplan, best be prepared for the theory debate.

--Disads: Links are important, please give them the explanations they need. Impacts are also important, please do well-done impact comparisons. Also, please don't read 10 second DAs that waste my time.

--Kritiks: Links are important. Impacts are important. Alternatives need explanation, though if you're going for the K as a case turn make that clear please. I've ran Neolib, Marx, and the Fiat K. I know the general thesis for many other K's but don't expect me to understand your Baudrillard. Just explain it well, impact it well, relate it to the aff, and we'll all be happy campers. Aside from that ask any specific questions in round. Oh yeah, floatings PIKs are abusive.

--Theory: I pull the trigger on condo when there are contradicting worlds, also 2 worlds is enough, 3 pushes it, 4+ is abusive. Perf con is a great argument, if you drop it on either side, I will search for the easy ballot (ON THE CONDITION THAT THE OTHER TEAM EXPLAINS AND IMPACTS THE ARGUMENT WELL)--aside from that, it'll probably end up as a tiebreaker argument if not well addressed on either side. Vague alts theory-- be prepared to answer why your aff isn't vague as well. General rule, if you drop a big theory argument that is well extended with a terminal impact by the opposing side, you will lose.

Speed is okay, be slower on tags and analytics.

If you know Malhar Patel, my debate partner, jokes are nice. Jokes about Rohit, Nisarg, Joe, and Manav are also fair game--entertain me pls.

Jokes are fine, just don't be offensive.

Debate well, be chill.

Aamirah Chisti BASIS Chandler 6 rounds None

Peter Chotras Hire 2 rounds

Last changed on Fri October 13, 2017 at 7:29 AM MST

October 2017 Update:

I don't judge debates very often anymore, so I may not be familiar with certain topic-specific acronyms. I will not be offended if you want to ask me about my familiarity with certain acronyms before or during a debate. Also, a note relating to the 2017-2018 NDT/CEDA Topic: I do work for a health insurance company, so do with that information what you will.

(Updated January 2015)

Experience

LD at Horizon High School, 2007-2011 (Susan Seep)

Policy at ASU, 2011-2015 (Adam Symonds, Izak Dunn, Em Parker)

Assistant Debate Coach at Tempe Prep, 2011-2015

General

- I think it’s very important to be courteous and respectful in a debate round. To paraphrase my high school debate coach, Susan Seep: I have a lot a respect for this activity, and I expect you to show respect for the activity. The way I think you show respect for the activity is by respecting each other.

- I also think it's my role as a judge to respect the debaters by taking their positions and arguments seriously by devoting my whole attention to them. For that reason, I've started a new experiment where I flow CXs. CX isn't a speech, so debaters aren't responsible for responding to it; however, it is binding, so I'll hold teams to CX answers that I have written down.

- Extending an argument means extending a claim, warrant, and impact.

- If you debate paperless, you need to have a viewing laptop for your opponent(s).

- I probably won't be familiar certain abbreviations or topic-specific jargon.

- Flex prep and tag-team CX are OK

- There is such a thing as zero-risk of an argument. I am persuaded by alternatives to the offense/defense paradigm

- Debate should be fun. Do what you enjoy, and try to learn something

Kritiks

I think the aff should be able to weigh the impacts of the plan against the kritik, but will vote for framework arguments advanced by the neg about why the aff shouldn’t get to weigh its impacts or why weighing those impacts is illogical.

For the aff, it’s an uphill battle to win that the K should be excluded from debate, but substantive arguments about the necessity of political engagement are persuasive arguments for why the alt can’t solve/net benefit to the perm.

The aff will have more leverage against the kritik defending whatever the negative criticizes instead of saying why those things don't matter (e.g., instead of saying "ontology doesn't come first," defend the ontology behind the scholarship in the 1AC).

I don’t like Floating PIKs and am also sympathetic to certain theoretical objections to different types of alternatives (e.g. reject alts or vague alts) - usually, these are not reasons to reject the alternative, but they do give the aff some leeway on the severance/intrinsicness arguments the neg makes against the permutation.

Non-topical Affs

I have been on both sides of the framework debate, so I wouldn't say that I have a heavy bias in either direction in terms of framework yes/no, but I do have some biases on particular arguments.

Neg arguments are more persuasive when they are substantive, not theoretical (although if the aff isn't germane to the topic/is in the opposite direction of the topic/doesn't defend anything, I'll find your theoretical objections more persuasive). Arguments about engagement being a better political strategy, or ontological defenses of engaging institutions will get you a lot of leverage. Theoretical arguments should both explain why the aff is bad for debate and why the framework interpretation is good for debate.

Arguments requiring the aff to have an advocacy statement usually aren't persuasive, unless the aff seems like it could justify aff conditionality (or it's not clear what the aff defends after the 1AC or CX of the 1AC). Often, I would just prefer that you go for framework instead.

The argument "no plan, no perm" has never made sense to me and seems like a terrible standard for competition. I tend to believe the negative has the burden of rejoinder, and the perm is the aff's enforcement mechanism for that. If the neg wants to make this argument against a planless aff when going for the K, it would be in their best interest to present a reasonable theory of competition that allows the aff to use the perm as a check against neg positions that are not at all related to the aff. I would prefer that a neg going for the K against a planless aff grounds its competition argument in a philosophical disagreement with the aff (incompatible ontological claims, for example), a trade-off argument, or a performative DA to the aff.

CPs

I lean Aff on most counterplan theory (e.g., Object Fiat, Consult, Word PICs, International Actor, Multi-Actor, 50 States, Agent, Conditions - in roughly that order), with the exception of conditionality. I am also more willing to deviate from the offense/defense paradigm the more illegitimate I believe your counterplan is, assuming the aff has advanced a theoretical objection (especially if the net benefit is not topic specific). For example, if the neg wins that an agent counterplan solves ~100% of the aff and is barely ahead on a generic politics DA, I'd probably vote aff, whereas, all other things being equal, if the negative has a nuanced, topic-specific counterplan with a more topic specifc net benefit, I'd probably vote neg (NOTE - that doesn't mean that I'm committed to offense/defense - although it does become more persuasive when there's a counterplan in the debate).

I'll reward debaters who slow down on counterplan texts in the 1NC, especially if it's multi-plank or complicated in some other way

I will not kick the counterplan for the negative, unless explicitly told so (either in the 2NR, or at some point during CX if the aff asks the status of the advocacies). Additionally, if the neg wants me to kick the counterplan for them, they should spend some (not necessarily a lot of) time comparing the SQUO with the aff (this can be a cross-application of a lot of net benefit outweighs analysis from earlier). If the neg doesn't tell me to kick the counterplan in the 2NR, presumption flips aff.

DAs

Try to stick to the line-by-line instead of grouping “the uniqueness debate,” or “the link debate,” when you’re extending the DA in the block. The better the line-by-line in the block, the less leeway I will give to the 1AR (and worse line-by-line = more 1AR leeway).

A bad disad can easily be beaten by smart, developed analytic arguments. The aff does not need offense to beat a disad, especially when there's not a counterplan in the debate

Case

I think it’s strategic to spend a lot of the 1NC on case. It puts a big time crunch on the 2AC, and makes it easier for you to weigh the impacts of your off-case arguments against the Affirmative.

Good, smart analytics can beat a bad advantage, and I am willing to vote negative on presumption.

Topicality

I love Topicality and am disappointed that judges aren't more willing to vote for it. I would prefer that you go at about 75% of your top speed, especially on the standards debate

My default is competing interpretations. I also think that T is about what you justify, and potential abuse is a voter. This doesn't mean that I don't find aff reasonability arguments un-persuasive, but that they should be reworded in the rhetoric of competing interpretations (e.g. instead of saying "competing interpretations is an arbitary race-to-the-bottom," I'm more persuaded when someone says "arbitrary interpretations are unpredictable, which precludes effective clash over the topic, even if they're winning their limits/ground arguments"). That being said, if you are making a reasonability argument (and these are fine and good to make in the 2AC), tell me what it means for how I should evaluate the debate (e.g. "if there's a negligible difference between the interpretation and the counter-interpretation, vote aff"). In-round abuse and topical versions of the aff are good but not necessary.

Plan text in a vacuum is not a persuasive aff argument for me - I am persuaded by negative arguments that it leads to aff conditionality and doubles the number of arguments the negative has to win in the 2NR if they want to prove counterplan competition.

I prefer that specification arguments have reasons to prefer that are related to the topic over a generic "90% of policy is implementation" card

Theory

Please go at about 75% of your top speed. I’ll listen to any theory argument with a clear interpretation and impacts.

I default to reject the argument not the team for all theory arguments except conditionality. Even if the other team does not say, “reject the argument not the team,” I will probably just reject the argument absent an argument from the debaters why that isn’t sufficient.

Tanzil Chowdhury Hire 3 rounds

Last changed on Sat January 6, 2024 at 1:34 PM MST

I'm Tanzil -- debated policy at Chandler High School and Arizona State University for a total of eight years, coached policy debate at Hamilton High School for four years. Currently a graduate student at Cal and help out here and there with ASU and HHS's debate teams. Policy paradigm follows from here, paradigm for other forms of debate continues below, follow the bolded headers.

2022 Update:

I have not judged debate at all this year and have basically no familiarity with the topic. If there are buzzwords or acronyms specific to this year's topic, please use the explain and/or use the full phrase at least once before reverting to the buzzword/acronym.

Quick Coronavirus/Virtual Update:

Main thing is that y'all should slow down in virtual debates -- speak at, say, 60-70% of your in-person speed. Obviously this is dependent on internet connection and all so this won't hurt your speaks or anything unless I call repeatedly for you to slow down (which I'll do verbally with a "CLEAR" or "SPEED"). Obviously virtual debating is still newfangled so let's all be patient with each other as we figure it out. Much love.

Send speech docs and questions to tanzil.chowdhury98@gmail.com -- please include me on the email chain.

Functional Tidbits: Prep time ends when the email is sent out or the flash drive leaves the computer, unless you are a novice, in which case please just do your best to be speedy with your technology. I will not disclose until your wiki is updated. My speaker point baseline is 28.7, which means that if you are somewhere between 3-3 and 4-2 and sounding pretty alright that's the sort of score you'll get. I won't look at your speech doc/cards during your speech, and will not look at them at all unless i am a) explicitly asked to and/or b) feel as though I cannot make my decision without looking at them because some unresolved question about the evidence remains at the end of the debate. I generally flow straight down an excel sheet on my computer and do the work of lining things up as I make the decision, unless something is very clearly flagged (which I do appreciate). I make decisions quite quickly in many situations, though this usually is not a signal that the debate was not close -- it's more that I am constantly evaluating the quality of arguments at every point in the debate, and usually things clear up re; argument quality well before the 2NR/2AR. Please do take notes as I give my RFD, there's not really a point in my spending time to explain my decision and give feedback if you won't write it down. I love to hear questions from the debaters afterwards.

Actual Paradigm: I don't think that I believe anything that is radically different from any other competent policy debate judge out there, so for the most part I'm good for you on most any strategy or style of argumentation -- everything except that which is outright offensive is equally valid in a vacuum. There are a few specific places where my opinion may differ from others, so I'll try to outline those for you below.

a) I have a very hard time voting for fairness as an intrinsic impact on Framework. Winning that debate is a game does not automatically make you win that fairness is an intrinsic good; "debate is a game" is a descriptive claim that very well may be true, but framework is a debate about competing models, meaning that the prescriptive claim "debate ought not be a game" will almost always beat that. Given that every (competent) 2AC to framework will say that, you're better off just defending why your model of debate is a good thing if you're the negative, usually meaning that it is a more educational model.

b) The thing I appreciate most during the rounds I judge is the ability for teams to make clear decisions and then communicate those decisions to me. It shows me that you have the ability to understand the debate as more than just a series of disconnected arguments and that you have considered the strategy of what you are saying before you say it. As such, I am very much against the concept of the judge-kick. This is usually a big problem during Kritik debates; I will never kick the alt "for you", and in a situation where the alternative is not explicitly kicked, I will evaluate the debate as Aff v. Alt. This means that even if you win a significant risk of a link and impact, I will still likely vote for the affirmative in the absence of an alternative which can resolve that link. The reasoning behind this is debate 101: the alternative exists to provide uniqueness for the link, and I cannot vote for a non-unique DA. To be clear, I'm totally for you kicking the alt and establishing the uniqueness in some other way, if you think that is the best strategic move.

c) For K debaters, being "wrong about the theory" is offense, assuming there's at least a bit of impact work done on the consequence of being wrong about the theory. What this means is that in debates where there is a high-level theoretical basis for your opponent's arguments (i.e. for certain flavors of afropessimism, "anti-blackness is ontological"), you ought draw clear lines of comparison between your theoretical disagreement with that claim (i.e., your analysis of anti-blackness concludes that it is not-ontological and is instead [insert position here]).

d) Ethos and Pathos matter in my decisionmaking, the former generally moreso than the latter, though not by much. I'm a big believer in the idea that the way you choose and execute your arguments at every point in the debate is constitutive of your "ethos" as debaters. To be clear, I don't mean this in the sense of a personal judgment of the debaters, but rather in the sense that your ethos and ethic(s) are inherently intertwined. It shouldn't be a controversial statement that judging is done based on the way the debaters formulate ethics, so obviously one's ethos must then also play a role in the decision.

For the other debates:

LD:
Having had to coach one lad in LD for the past year, I've developed some thoughts on the activity that may be relevant to you, if for some reason you have to deal with the perils of having me as a judge. For what it's worth, if both of the debaters have agreed to run the round as the mutated, gross, slug-like abomination you all refer to as "progressive" (it really means anything but! words mean things!) debate, then effectively everything in the above section applies to you. Everything in the "Other" section likely applies to your regardless of how you debate. If not, the following is what you should keep in mind: LD's value lies precisely in its form, and while that form may shift (I certainly am not some sort of reactionary that believes you ought to lose if you don't tell me your Value, your Value Criterion, and remember to say "Thus I affirm/negate" at the end of your speeches), we ought to understand why that form existed in the first place, and how such forms color the way we debate things. What this means for you LDers is that you should not shy away from the central question of your event: ethics. It is upon the question of ethics LD (and all debate, really) lies, and to act as if you don't have an ethic (you most certainly do), or to obscure your ethic (which you all seem to have a great penchant for doing), is to shy away from any of the value of this activity. And this is precisely why the form of LD has existed as such (it's my view that what we call "the K", or at least its central questions, has existed in LD since LD's inception), with defenses of the whole resolution, with the Values and Value Criterions, with every case beginning with a Framework etc. I know you may feel that it is strategic to treat this as a one-person policy debate, and it very well may be in many cases, but that is just because you decided to make the switch before truly getting a grasp on why the activity has been as it is for so long. Tell me, what is the value of reading the K as an "off-case" position when the traditional case-structure already has the in-built mechanisms for making the criticisms you want to make? Of course this is rhetorical, and the answer I believe to be true is that it is cowardice. Stop being cowards. Take a stand upon your ethics (even if they are the conventionally boring ethics of our Kants and our Humes and our Benthams, that purely English phenomenon himself [speaker point bonus if you know who called Bentham a purely english phenomenon]) and tell me why I as a judge should stand upon the same grounds you have chosen to stand on. And I bet (after a year of teching unsuspecting folks down on this very question when they did not expect it) that you will find competitive success in doing so.

PF:
I really don't understand this activity. I don't think it's possible for me to have any sort of stable, objective, or predictable method of judging PF because I'm not really sure if PF debate exists (I suppose I'll decide to explain what I mean by this as I'm writing the rest of this section, or maybe it will just become evident, though it likely does not mean what you think it means). To be fair, I don't think I have that for any form of debate really, but it's especially erratic when dealing with your lot. I suppose you should just do what you do, but I really have a low, low, LOW tolerance for inane stupidity, which is what I've had to deal with in the PF rounds I have had the displeasure of judging thus far (except one, which was surprisingly very good for a novice debate). If Policy and LD suffer from an over-reliance on the logical appeal, PF has the opposite problem where the logical appeal is so rarely used (and I know you all believe yourselves to be making such appeals, you just aren't actually doing so) that the debate is just nothing-speak for whatever ridiculously short amount of time (the only redeemable aspect of this activity) you all are allotted to torture me with. So, all I ask is that you speak of something, and when you speak of something, you are referring to something that is not totally positioned in a fantasy dreamt up in the empty space of your brain in that moment. As such, do not say things like: "Islamic Terrorism kills millions of people every day", or "THAT IS YOUR BURDEN TO ANSWER" when it is clearly not, or [insert overtly racist comment about Black people here that you, for some reason or another, do not believe to be racist]. Instead, make significant reference to the authors that supposedly (I write supposedly because more often than not, there is absolutely no care for evidence in this activity) provide the warrants and data for your arguments, and by reference I mean that in the direct, verbatim sense, because in all likelihood they know far more than you do about whatever it is you're talking about this month, and they can say it in a much better way than you can. There is a reason the other forms of debate are so reliant on the "card" (pieces of evidence cut as needed), and it is because they realized a long, long time ago that having vague name-drops and out-of-context quotes plopped into a poorly-written 10th grade English paper does not a good debate make. All forms of communication require a mutual intelligibility, some level of stable ground upon which those doing the communicating can stand upon and hurl their signs, and hopefully that which those signs signify, at one another in the hope of arriving at some new sign, which hopefully also signifies something that was previously not signified. And this is why I believe PF does not exist as the other debate forms do: I do not believe you all have such a ground. You all speak but the words are not meant to transcend themselves, they are words for the sake of words, and in this sense maybe it is best to call PF a form of collaborative literature rather than debate. Anyways, this is not a problem that cannot be fixed, and really the fix is quite easy: develop a common point to stand on (reference to evidence), and then draw out the consequences of such references. If you treat your "debates" like this, you stand the chance of having actual debates (and the chance to win my ballot, which is likely what you care about the most as you finish reading this unnecessarily long section about an activity I will probably a judge a total of 2 more times in the rest of my life, and I don't really blame you for wanting the ballot).

Congress: In the words of Rolling Stone's Greil Marcus, reviewing Bob Dylan's 1969 album Self-Portrait, "what is this s**t?"

Cade Cottrell Green Valley High School 6 rounds

Last changed on Sat February 3, 2024 at 12:58 AM PDT

cadecottrell@gmail.com

Updated February 2024

Yes I know my philosophy is unbearably long. I keep adding things without removing others, the same reason I was always top heavy when I debated. But I tried to keep it organized so hopefully you can find what you need, ask me questions if not.

For the few college tournaments I judge, understand that my philosophy is geared towards being of use to high school students since that is the vast, vast majority of my judging/coaching. Just use that as a filter when reading.

Seriously, I don't care what you read as long as you do it well. I really don't care if you argue that all K debaters should be banned from debate or argue that anyone who has ever read a plan is innately racist and should be kicked out of the community. If you win it, I'm happy to vote for it.

***Two Minutes Before A Debate Version***

I debated in high school for a school you've never heard of called Lone Peak, and in college for UNLV. I coached Green Valley High School, various Las Vegas schools, as well as helping out as a hired gun at various institutions. I have debated at the NDT, was nationally competitive in high school, and coached a fair share of teams to the TOC if those things matter for your pref sheet (they shouldn't). I genuinely don't have a big bias for either side of the ideological spectrum. I seem to judge a fairly even mix of K vs K, Clash of Civs, and policy debates. I can keep up with any speed as long as its clear, I will inform you if you are not, although don't tread that line because I may miss arguments before I speak up. If you remain unclear I just won't flow it.

Sometimes I look or act cranky. I love debate and I love judging, so don't take it too seriously.

My biases/presumptions (but can of course be persuaded otherwise):

- Tech over Truth, but Logic over Cards

- Quality and Quantity are both useful.

- Condo is generally good

- Generic responses to the K are worse than generic K's

- Politics and States are generally theoretically legitimate (and strategic)

- Smart, logical counterplans don't necessarily need solvency advocates, especially not in the 1NC

- #Team1%Risk

- 2NC's don't read new off case positions often enough

- I believe in aff flexibility (read: more inclusive interpretations of what's topical) more than almost anyone I know. That is demonstrated in almost every aff I've read or coached.

- I'll vote for "rocks are people" if you win it (warrant still needed). Terrible arguments are easily torn apart, but that's the other team's duty, not mine.

***

A Few Notes You Should Know:

Speaker Points: Firstly, I compare my speaker points to the mean after almost every tournament, so I try to stay in line with the community norm. I have had a dilemma with speaker points, and have recently changed my view. I think most judges view speaker points as a combination of style and substance, with one being more valuable than the other depending on the judge. I have found this frustrating as both a debater and coach trying to figure what caused a judge to give out the speaks they did. So I've decided to give out speaker points based solely on style rather than substance. I feel whichever team wins the substance of the debate will get my ballot so you are already rewarded, so I am going to give out speaker points based on the Ethos, Pathos, and Logos of a debater. Logos implies you are still extending good, smart arguments, but it just means that I won't tank speaks based off of technical drops (like floating pics, or a perm, etc) as some judges do, and I won't reward a team's speaker points for going for those arguments if I feel they are worse "speakers", the ballot is reward enough. Functionally all it means is that I probably give more low-point wins than some judges (about one a tournament), but at least you know why when looking at cume sheets after tournaments.

Debate is a rhetorical activity. This means if you want me to flow an argument, it must be intelligible, and warranted. I will not vote on an argument I do not have on my flow in a previous speech. I am a decent flow so don't be too scared but it means that if you are planning on going for your floating pic, a specific standard/trick on theory, a permutation that wasn't answered right in the block, etc. then you should make sure I have that argument written down and that you have explained it previously with sufficient nuance. I might feel bad that I didn't realize you were making a floating pic in the block, but only briefly, and you'll feel worse because ultimately it is my responsibility to judge based off of what is on my flow, so make those things clear. Being shady RARELY pays off in debate.

(*Update: This is no longer true in online debate tournaments, I look through docs because of potential clairty/tech issues*: I don't look at speech docs during debates except in rare instances. I read much less evidence after debates than most judges, often none at all. If you want me to read evidence, please say so, but also please tell me what I'm looking for. I prefer not to read evidence, so when I do after a round it means one of three things: 1. The debate is exceedingly close and has one or two issues upon which I am trying to determine the truth (rare). 2. You asked me to read the evidence because "its on fire" (somewhat common and potentially a fire hazard). 3. The debate was bad enough that I am trying to figure out what just happened.)

Prep time: I generally let teams handle their own prep, I do prefer if you don't stop prep until the email is sent. Doing so will make me much happier. If you are very blatantly stealing prep, I might call you out on it, or it might affect speaker points a little.

***

Neg: I am very much in favor of depth over breadth. Generally that doesn't affect how I feel about large 1NC's but it means I find myself thinking "I wish they had consolidated more in the block" quite often, and almost never the opposite. If you don't consolidate much, you might be upset with the leeway I give to 1AR/2AR explanations. Being shady RARELY pays off in debate. Pick your best arguments and go to battle.

DA's: I love in-depth disad debates. Teams that beat up on other teams with large topic disads usually have one of two things: A. A large number of pre-written blocks B. A better understanding of the topic than their opponents. If you have both, or the latter, I'll quite enjoy the debate. If you only have the former, then you can still get the ballot but not as much respect (or speaker points). Small disads very specific to the aff are awesome. Small disads that are small in order to be unpredictable are not. I am of the "1% risk" discipline assuming that means the disad is closely debated. I am not of that discipline if your disad is just silly and you are trying to win it is 1% true, know the difference.

CP's: I have a soft spot for tricky counterplans. That doesn't mean I think process/cheating counterplans are legitimate, that just means I'll leave my bias at the door more than most judges if you get into a theory debate. That said, theory is won or lost through explanation, not through having the largest blocks. Generally I think counterplans should be functionally and textually competitive, that doesn't mean you can't win of yours isn't, it just means if it is then you probably have some theoretical high ground. I also think if you have a specific solvency advocate for the counterplan (meaning a piece of evidence that advocates doing the counterplan, not just evidence that says the counterplan "is a thing" [I'm looking at you, Consult CP people]) you should utilize that both as a solvency argument and as a theoretical justification for the counterplan. I am neutral on the judge kick question. If you want me to judge kick, say so in the 2NR/2NC, and if you don't then say so in the 1AR/2AR, that's an argument to be had. However, if no one makes an argument either way, my default is if the 2NR is DA, CP, Case, then I think there is an implicit assumption in that strategy that the squo is an option. If the 2NR is only CP & DA, I think the implicit assumption is aff vs. CP. Advantage counterplans are vastly underutilized. Logical counterplans probably don't need solvency advocates.

T: I think the way reasonability is construed is sad and a disservice to the argument. I perceive competing interpretations as a question of whose interpretation sets the best standard for all future debate, and reasonability as a question of whether the aff harmed the negative's fairness/education in this specific round. Under that interpretation (Caveat: This assumes you are explaining reasonability in that fashion, usually people do not). I tend to lean towards reasonability since I think T should be a check against aff's that try to skirt around the topic, rather than as a catch-all. T is to help guarantee the neg has predictable ground. I've voted neg a few times when the aff has won their interp is technically accurate but the neg has won their interp is better for fairness/limits/ground, but that's mostly because I think that technical accuracy/framer's intent is an internal link, rather than an impact. Do the additional work.

Theory: This is a discussion of what debate should look like, which is one of the most simple questions to ask ourselves, yet people get very mixed up and confused on theory since we are trained to be robots. I LOVE theory debates where the debaters understand debate well enough to just make arguments and use clash, and HATE debates where the debaters read blocks as fast as possible and assume people can flow that in any meaningful fashion (very few can, I certainly can't. Remember, I don't have the speech doc open). I generally lean negative on theory questions like condo (to a certain extent) and CP theory args, but I think cp's should be textually, and more importantly, functionally competitive, see above.

Framework/T against Non-Traditional Aff's: I have read and gone for both the Procedural Fairness/T version of this argument and the State Action Good/Framework version of this argument many times. I am more than willing to vote for either, and I also am fine with teams that read both and then choose one for the 2NR. However, I personally am of the belief that fairness is not an impact in and of itself but is an internal link to other impacts. If you go for Fairness as your sole impact you may win, but adequate aff answers to it will be more persuasive in front of me. Fairness as the only impact assumes an individual debate is ultimately meaningless, which while winnable, is the equivalent of having a 2NR against a policy aff that is solely case defense, and again I'm by default #1%RiskClub. "Deliberation/dialogue/nuanced discussion/role switching is key to ____________" sorts of arguments are usually better in front of me. As far as defending US action, go for it. My personal belief is that the US government is redeemable and reformable but I am also more than open to voting on the idea that it is not, and these arguments are usually going straight into the teeth of the aff's offense so use with caution. TVA's are almost essential for a successful 2NR unless the aff is clearly anti-topical and you go for a nuanced switch side argument. TVA's are also most persuasive when explained as a plan text and what a 1AC looks like, not just a nebulous few word explanation like "government reform" or "A.I. to solve patriarchy". I like the idea of an interp with multiple net benefits and often prefer a 1NC split onto 3-4 sheets in order to separate specific T/FW arguments. If you do this, each should have a clear link (which is your interp), an internal link and impact. Lastly, I think neg teams often let affs get away with pre-requisite arguments way too much, usually affs can't coherently explain why reading their philosophy at the top of the 1AC and then ending with a plan of action doesn't fulfill the mandates of their pre-requisite.

K's: These are the best and worst debates. The bad ones tend to be insufferable and the good ones tend to be some of the most engaging and thought provoking. Sadly, most debaters convince themselves they fall into the latter when they are the former so please take a good, long look in the mirror before deciding which you fall under. I have a broad knowledge of K authors, but not an in depth one on many, so if you want to go for the K you better be doing that work for me, I won't vote for anything that I don't totally understand BEFORE reading evidence, because I think that is a key threshold any negative should meet (see above), so a complex critical argument can be to your advantage or disadvantage depending on how well you explain it. I also think the framing args for the K need to be impacted and utilized, that in my opinion is the easiest way to get my ballot (unless you turn case or win a floating pic). In other words, if you can run the K well, do it, if not, don't (at least not in the 2NR).

Edit: I think it usually helps to know what the judge knows about your critique, so this list below may help be a guide:

I feel very comfortable with, know the literature, and can give good feedback on: Nietzsche, Wilderson, Moten (& Harney), Security, Neoliberalism, Historical Materialism, Colonialism (both Decoloniality and Postcolonialism), Fem IR, Deleuze and Guattari (at least relative to most).

I have both debated and read these arguments, but still have gaps in my knowledge and may not know all the jargon: Hillman, Schmitt, Edelman, Zizek cap args, Agamben, Warren, Ableism, Kristeva, Heidegger, Orientalism, Virillio, Lacan, Anthro, Ligotti, Bataille, settler colonialism metaphysics arguments.

ELI5: Baudrillard, postmodern feminism arguments, Killjoy, Bifo, Zizek psychoanalysis, Object Oriented Ontology, Spanos, Buddhism, Taoism, your specific strain of "cybernetics", probably anything that isn't on these lists but ask first.

***

Aff:

Bad aff teams wait til the 2AR to decide what their best arguments are against a position. Good aff teams have the round vision to make strategic choices in the 1AR and exploit them in the 2AR. Great aff teams have the vision to create a comprehensive strategy going into the 2AC. That doesn't mean don't give yourself lots of options, it just means you should know what arguments are ideally in the 2AR beforehand and you should adapt your 2AC based off of the 1NC as a whole. Analytical arguments in a 2AC are vastly underused.

Non-Traditional Affirmatives: I'm fine with these. They don't excite me any more or less than a topical aff. I think the key to these aff's is always framing. Both because negatives often go for framework but also because it is often your best tool against their counter-advocacy/K. I often am more persuaded by Framework/T when the aff is antitopical, rather than in the direction of the resolution, but I've voted to the contrary of that frequently enough. This won't affect the decision but I'll enjoy the aff more if it is very specific (read: relevant/jermaine/essential) to the topic, or very personal to yourself, it annoys me when people read non-traditional aff's just to be shady. Being shady RARELY pays off in debate.

Answering K's: It is exceedingly rare that the neg can't win a link to their K. That doesn't mean you shouldn't question the link by any means, permutations are good ways to limit the strength of neg offense, but it means that impact turning the K/alternative is very often a better strategy than going for a link turn and permutation for 5 minutes in the 2AR. I think this is a large reason why aff's increasingly have moved further right or further left, because being stuck in the middle is often a recipe for disaster. That said, being able to have a specific link turn or impact turn to the K that is also a net benefit to the permutation while fending against the most offensive portions of negative link arguments are some of the best 2AR's.

Last Notes:

I prefer quality over quantity of arguments. If you only need a minute in the 2NR/2AR then just use a minute, cover up any outs, and finish. I believe in the mercy rule in that sense. I will vote against teams that clip and give the culprit 0 speaker points, however I believe in the standard of "beyond a reasonable doubt", so be certain before levying accusations and make sure to have a recording. (Explicitly tell me that you want to issue a clipping challenge, I've had debaters email me and I don't see it, or wait until after the debate. Don't do that.)

I'll give you +.1 speaker points if you can tell me what phrase appears the most in my philosophy. Because it shows you care, you want to adapt to your judge, and maybe because I'm a tad narcissistic.

Things I like:
- A+ Quality Evidence (If you have such a card, and you explain why its better than the 3+ cards the other team read, I accept that more willingly than other judges)

- Brave (strategic) 1AR/2AR decisions

- Politics disads that turn each advantage

- If you are behind, I'd much rather you cheat/lie/steal (maybe not steal, and cheat within reason) than give up. If you ain't cheatin' you ain't tryin'.

- Neg blocks that only take 1-2 flows and just decimate teams.

- Controlling the "spin" of arguments (I'll give a lot of leeway)

- Red Bull/Monster/M&M's (Bringing me any of these will make me happy, me being happy generally correlates to higher speaker points)

Things I don't like:
- Not knowing how to send speech docs in a timely manner!

- Debaters that act like they are of superior intelligence compared to their partner/opponents

- Reading arguments with little value other than trying to blindside teams (timecube, most word pics, etc.) Being shady RARELY pays off in debate.

- Being unclear

- Horses (Stop acting like they're so goddamn majestic, they're disgusting)

- Toasted Coconut

Monica Day College Prep 6 rounds None

Alex Fan Hamilton High School 3 rounds

Last changed on Mon January 13, 2020 at 7:43 AM EDT

Debated for Hamilton High School. 2A for 3 years, 1A for 1 year

Housekeeping things

-Include me on the email chain: fanafu@gmail.com

-I won’t disclose until the room is put back in order.

TL;DR

Please explain your acronyms as I haven't judged many rounds on this topic.
Quality > Quantity. It's your debate, debate what you want (also means read args that you're comfortable on).

Love K's of any kind.

T/FW is alright, just make sure to impact everything.

DA/CPs are chill if they're specific.

Be understandable, do clash for me, do the work for me, esp. in last two speeches.

I listen to CX (even if it looks like I don't) and it is binding.

Flashing isn't prep, but excessive amounts of flashing might come off as stealing prep so be wary.

Debate well, don't be mean, don't be offensive, respect each other.

Speaker Points

20: you did something extremely offensive/disrespectful/hostile

27.5-28.4: mediocre; prob not breaking
28.5-28.9: good; maybe breaking 4-2
29-29.4: very good; prob breaking
29.5-30: excellent; top speaker quality

CX Specific Paradigm
Affirmatives--Any style or way you want to present your affirmative is fine with me, just be sure you can justify it. Admittedly, I am not well versed with performance-based aff, so please explain to me what your performance means in and out of the round. Affirmatives should at least talk about the topic and anti-topical affs are definitely not legit.

*new thing. I find myself increasingly less enjoying big-stick policy affs, mainly because the debates tend to be just overly fast and blippy. If you ARE planning on running those kinds of affs, then i would highly suggest making good extrapolations of internal link chains and impact probability analysis.

Case-- I usually go by the offense/defense paradigm here even though it's probably not realistic. I just find it easier to evaluate debates this way sans a very robust analysis of impact defense in the 2nr. Try not to contradict here; however, if you can contextualize your arguments well to the affirmative a case debate is very impressive to see. Try to avoid making this debate "not my [insert some author]" and actually have a contextualized debate here. Line by line analysis as opposed to long generic overviews are preferred.

Counterplans--You must have a good analysis of how you resolve the net benefit of the CP if you're going for it. Neg must explain how they are competitive and should be preferred over the affirmative. Evidence should be good and actually say what you want it to say if you want me to vote for you. Theory is often insufficient unless entirely dropped. Also I default to reject the arg on CP theory, unless specifically spun to be reject the team.

Disads-- Most DA’s are chill. They probably all have very tenuous link chains that can be exploited. So exploit them. Impact comparison is also very important. Tell me why I should care. For ptx specifically, don’t speed through it. Intrinsicness is probably true, but you still have to argue the theoretical implications for me to evaluate it.

Kritik--This is where I spent most my debate career. I think K's are good as long as you can explain them well. If you are personally passionate about an argument, and it shows, your speaker points will likely be higher (this goes for affirmatives as well). I tend to think arguments about identity in debate are important, and play an important part in effecting the community. That being said most of my experience is with the "high theory" side of K's. Regardless of what kind of critical argument you read, I will NOT do the work for you. Tell me what your K is, why it matters, and why I should vote for you. If your only link in the 2NR is a state bad link, then you're prob not on the winning side. K's should not be a sketchy attempt to dodge clash, find a way to clash with your opponent and make the debate productive for everyone. I won't kick the alt for you. Most other K tricks, while cheap shots, are acceptable.

Also the question of perms is always an issue in a K vs. K debate. Someone please tell me what the perm means in the round or tell me why a method vs. method debate doesn't get a permutation.

T/FW--I treat framework debates like I would any topicality debate. Be sure to impact out anything you go for otherwise I'll probably prefer their impacts. Reverse voting issues are dumb, but I'll still vote for them if done well. If against a non-traditional affirmative try to provide an interpretation where they could still raise there issue, and not out right exclude them. It will be an uphill battle if you come in with the "non-traditional affirmative are wrong" mindset. Otherwise treat T/FW like a DA, I want to see how they link, what that does, why that's bad, and why I should care.

Theory--Theory is often not enough for me to vote for you unless there is a serious violation or the other team just dropped it. Give me examples of how they violate and how that is effecting you. I have a high threshold for these arguments; however, am more often convinced by the "drop the argument, not the team" plea for theory.
Also for Condo specifically, I will probably not vote on it unless there's some serious abuse and it's well extrapolated in the 2AR.

Other stuff

Flashing is not prep
please clash
jokes are cool
caring about your arguments is cool
don't be mean
don't exclude people
don't discriminate against people
have fun
be chill
If you can make a joke about your existential dread, Malhar Patel, Tanzil Chowdhury, Nikpreet Singh, or Quinn Zapata, then you’ll get an extra .5 speaker point.

LD Paradigm

Defend your ethics and position with good references to evidence and impact comparisons, and I'll be pretty satisfied. If you have any specific questions, just ask me before round.

If, for some reason, you're treating this as a one-man policy debate, then read my CX paradigm above.

Ryan Ferdowsian Hire 3 rounds

Last changed on Sat January 25, 2020 at 3:01 PM MST

Conflicts: Desert Vista, Chandler Prep

Yes email chain: rsferdowsian@gmail.com

I debated at Chandler Prep for 3 years and currently debate for ASU

LD-specific section at the bottom

General:

- I don't care what types of arguments you read, as long as they're (a) well-explained and warranted and (b) well-impacted out (by which I broadly mean implication-work as to why winning your args wins you my ballot, not just straight impact-calc)

- Framing is key, especially in the last 2 rebuttals - you're not going to win everything, so tell me what's most important for my decision and deal with what the other team is saying is most important

- I default to an offense-defense paradigm unless told otherwise

- I won't judge kick unless 2nr says so. For both sides: don't let the 'judge kick good/bad' debate start in the 2nr/2ar, esp. if the status of the CP is clarified earlier. The neg should say 'status quo is always a logical option' or even something more explicit in the 2nc for 'judge kick good' not to be new in the 2nr; similarly, aff should say judge kick bad before the 2ar, even when not extending condo bad as such in the 1ar. If the first times I hear the words judge kick are in last two rebuttals, I'll be forced to actually evaluate all the new 2ar args, so don't let that happen neg

- I might not know as much as you about the intricate, technical aspects of the topic, so be clear and slow on topic-specific phrases/acronyms, especially with T

Case:

- 2acs are generally terrible on case, the block should point this out, exploit it, and protect itself from new 1ar stuff

- Good case debating by the neg (and aff) = good speaks

Topicality v policy affs:

- I default competing interps. I've personally never understood intuitively or theoretically how one would decide whether an aff is "reasonably" T or not, so if you're going for reasonability on the aff, make sure you are very clear on what that means/how judges would determine reasonability under that frame or I'll be persuaded by the neg saying reasonability is arbitrary

- I usually view the relative interpretations as 'advocacies' the provide uniqueness for/solve each side's offense and the standards on both sides as net benefits/advantages to that standard/disads to the other, like a CP+DA debate. (If you don't want me to view it that way you should tell me). This means that impact calc is super important, eg "aff ground outweighs limits", "precision outweighs", etc.

Theory:

- I'd love to hear a super in-depth "condo bad" debate, if the aff goes for this and does it well I'll probably give pretty good speaks

(Personal opinion: condo is good; being neg is hard; but I can be easily persuaded otherwise.)

- Everything else: I default to rejecting the argument, not the team; if you want me to reject the team, explain why it's justified/what the (preferably in-round, not just potential) abuse is

- The CP+DA thing from the Topicality section above applies here too, which means interpretations matter a lot (a good example of this is that the aff going for "states CPs with uniformity are not allowed, non-uniform states CPs are allowed" would solve a lot of neg offense while also allowing you to go for unique offense to uniformity being uneducational, cheating, etc.)

Disads:

- "DA turns case" is important and should be answered in the 1ar

- "DA solves case" is underutilized

-*Impact calc* - not just magnitude/probability/TF but also filtering arguments (e.g. 'heg solves everything'), filters for evidence-quality ('prefer our empirics over speculation'), etc.

- Again, I default offense-defense but I am ok with concluding that there is 0% risk of a DA. It's really important for the aff to be explicit when doing this (e.g. say something like "offense defense is bad for policymaking and decision-making")

Counterplans:

- I'm probably much more open to theoretically cheating CPs than most judges, just win the theory debate (for this, confer above on Topicality).

- Really techy CPs should be explained in the 2nc/1nr to a certain dumbed-down level

Ks v Policy Affs:

- FW matters a lot; the negative needs to set up a framing for the debate that shifts the question the ballot is answering away from whether the plan is better than the status quo/some competitive option, or at least provides a very specific set of criteria about how that question should be answered (e.g. ontological come first, reps first, etc.). Make sure to be clear about *what winning framework means for how I write my ballot*; i.e. does it mean I refuse to evaluate the consequences of the plan altogether? or just that the way in which I evaluate it changes? or something else?

- If you don't make FW args in the 2nc (at least implicitly), 2ac args like "Perm: double bind", "alt fails/is utopian", "state inevitable", or "extinction outweighs" become serious threats if extended well by the aff.

- The 2nc/2nr should explain your theory of how the world works and explain why I should think it's true relative to their policymaking stuff - isolating a specific section of the flow where you explain your theory (especially with high-theory kritiks), or just weaving it into the Line by Line, can go a long way

- Examples are always good for K debate, in all its different components

- Aff args I find true/persuasive: extinction outweighs, institutions matter, debate is a game, perm (if alt is explained as a CP instead of as a framework argument).

- I honestly don't care if you're going to read a long 2nc overview, but please be honest about it before the speech so I can get a new sheet of paper (I'll probably flow on paper, not laptop); I try hard to maintain the Line by line would prefer you just be up-front about it.

FW versus K affs:

- I have read K affs against FW, but I have also read FW against K affs, so I'd like to think I'm not too ideological when it comes to these debates. My voting record in these debates is probably ~60/40 in favor of the neg on FW, usually due to a lack of well-warranted arguments as to why the neg's model is bad (instead of buzzwords) as well as a lack of answer to significant defensive claims like TVA/SSD.

- Impact framing is paramount in these debates: the impacts the two teams are going for are often radically different -- e.g., how should I weigh a slight risk of unfairness against a risk of the neg's model of debate being a bit neoliberal/racist/X-ist? I'll probably end up voting for whoever does a better job answering these types of questions

- For the neg: TVA is important but Switch side is really underutilized as a defensive argument imo.

- Fairness can be an impact in and of itself if you explain why, although, all else being even, it's probably not the best 2nr impact in front of me since it begs the question of the value of the game it supports.

- Better neg impacts to FW for me: clash, dogmatism, truth-testing, even institutions good offense

- Limits and ground are (probably) just internal links, not impacts

- For the aff: *explain a clear vision of what your model of debate looks like under your interp*.

- I'm down for the extremist K strats that just impact turn every standard the neg goes for, but I'm also down for running more to the middle and explaining why your model is still topical/debatable 'enough' but with some significant net benefits over theirs. If you're doing the latter, your interp should be super well-explained in the context of their limits/predictability offense

K v K:

- These can be some of the best or some of the worst debates - worst when neither side gets beyond tagline extensions, best when each side speaks as if they were an actual scholar in whatever field they're deploying, doing comparative analysis of the other team's theories in relation to their own

- Impact calc and framing is crucial, esp. in rounds where both sides are discussing some identity-related oppression impacts. This doesn't mean saying certain lives or groups matter more than others, it's precisely to avoid that: you all should discuss your theories of the world in ways that don't put me in the position of having to 'pit' certain lives against one another, otherwise I'll have a rough time and so will you

- I'm down for not giving the aff a perm in these debates, BUT it's got to be explained much further than "no perms in a methods debate" - that's not a warranted argument. To win this, the neg should explain why perms in debates where no one advocates gov. action are uneducational, unfair, incoherent, bad for radical pedagogy, etc. and, ideally, also provide an alternate model for what the burden of rejoinder looks like if the neg doesn't have to win that the K is an opportunity cost to the aff.

- Cf. "K v Policy Aff" section above on long 2nc Overviews

***LD-Specific***

1. Fair warning: I tend to vote neg... a lot, seemingly too much, usually on technical concessions in the 2ar (damn speech structures).

To deal with this if you're aff:

- make sure you win your case - I've noticed I have a tendency to vote neg on presumption when the NR makes some circumvention args that the 2AR just straight-up drops in the last speech.

- also, make sure you frame the debate for me such that, even if there are some tech-y drops, I'm more likely to vote for you

2. Full disclosure: I don't get LD theory, like, at all. I don't really get RVI's, I don't know how they function, and I'm convinced most LD'ers don't either, so generally, if theory is your thing, just be very clear on these three components of theory debates: (a) interps, (b) violations, and (c) standards. As long as that basic template is there in some form, I can do my best.

Random things:

- I probably won't read that many cards unless it's brought up in the debate or I'm stealing your cites

- Flashing isn't prep but be quick

- Clipping means you lose and will get bad speaks; I'll try to follow whatever the tournament procedure is for this

- Extra speaks to anyone who brings me some flavored iced coffee beverage/bothered to read this far down.

Good luck!

Nicole Figueroa Hire

Last changed on Sun January 7, 2018 at 8:49 AM MST

pls just gimme paper and pen. I'm gonna ask.

Judging experience:

- I competed in PF for 4 years in Las Vegas (yay, Golden Desert)

- Currently debating (policy) at ASU (woohoo, Arizona State University)

Important stuff

- if u think that a college policy debater has a high speed threshold... u right. speed threshold is high

- I don't flow cross

Extra stuff

How to win my ballot... a guide:

1. Tell me how you want me to judge the round

2. Articulate how you win by [however reason you judged that round] and why your opponent doesn't (you can even tell me why your opponent's way of me judging the round is a nono!!)

.... because I'll vote for anything as long as it's clear lol, I'm not picky. Ks, theory, CP... blah blah blah. Just tell me what you're going for.

- It's 2018, so we're treating people in the debate community with RESPECT! I don't care if I can see the fiery hatred for whoever you're debating against in your eyes but that better not come through your words or your actions. I used to be like "hoho I'm a cool judge and sass can sometimes be funny" (which is tru, I'll let you decide what part)... but to others sass and killing their view that debate can be a welcoming space so tread lightly and just remember that words do matter. I know that y'all know this because you're participating... in speech.. and debate.

- I'm good with speed. But if you can't spread, that's okay with me. Don't do anything you're not comfortable with and debate the way you want to

- I like signposting. I always flow, so it just makes me feel secure in knowing, "oh yes, they ARE talking about X, I didn't miss something and they DO want me to evaluate that stuff they're saying to this argument!" If you don't do it, I hope your speech is well structured because I'm gonna be like "oh hahaha great round" on the outside but "why did u make me do so much work for u flipping between papers" on the inside.

- Why I don't flow cross-ex: If you want me to care about an argument, say it during your speech because that's what the speech is for. Like cross-ex is the only time you have to have an instantaneous response from your opponent so it makes no sense to me why you'd waste it on repeating what you said. Like.. ask questions to make your NEW speech

- On 1/5/2018 I realised my deep disdain for people being like "hohoho u weren't listening to me do u want me to just say my WHOLE case over again?" - like... no. Obviously not. Your opponent does not want to hear the words that already confused them repeated back to them and neither do I. This is the quickest way to getting 20 speaker points in front of me because it's unproductive and unnecessarily rude.

- My email is nofiguer@asu.edu if you have questions

IF Y'ALL DON'T PUT THE ROOM BACK TOGETHER WHEN YOU'RE DONE, I'M NOT DISCLOSING AND I'M NOT GOING TO GIVE YOU THE PEN THAT I WILL INEVITABLY ASK FOR BACK.

Serena Freewomyn Bay Area Urban Debate League 3 rounds

Erik Furreboe BASIS Chandler 6 rounds

Last changed on Fri February 3, 2017 at 1:00 AM MST

Experience

I have been a policy debater for 3 years at Arizona State University. I am currently the head debate coach at BASIS Chandler. In college I have generally ran more non-traditional affs such as Lovecraft.

Overview

I am a very flow oriented judge. I give equal preference to policy style debate as well as Kritical debate. As long as there is plenty of clash and no signs of legitimate abuse I am fine with a Kritical aff. I won't vote for you just because you have large quantity arguments, however well developed and well analyzed arguments generally hold more weight with me. I am comfortable with high speed debate, but please be clear.

FW/T

I have a high threshold level to win a Framework debate. Be sure not to just be repetitive but also expand and further analyze FW arguments in rebuttal. As long as you can show clear abuse, which I usually am very critical of, then I will be sympathetic in a FW debate. However, as a K debater I generally believe the more breadth of information the better in debate, so I am sympathetic to K affs that increase in-round education.

I have a high standard for winning a T debate, not only must you not be topical but must win args for why non-T args are abusive, which is difficult. I will weigh args for why topic education is good for debate.

CASE

Pretty straight forward, make sure there is plenty of case offense for the Neg and sufficient Aff responses. Aff needs to spend sufficient amount of time on case args in every speech as well as short overviews on case, don't just extend args but expand.

CP/DAs

Ensure there are relevant and specific links to the aff as I hold link args to high standards. Ensure plenty of impact comparison. Net benefits to CP must be substantially better then aff. I am ok with all types of CPs, just make sure you defend the style of CP you want to run. Perm debate is very important, but there must be adequate explanation of the function of the perm in order to win the perm debate, simply saying perm is not sufficient.

I am comfortable with a wide range of kritical debate. Again, specific links are necessary, weak links or links of omission aren't very compelling args. Again, explain the function of the perm and why/how the aff is allowed to perm the K. Explain the alt world and the methodology you use to get there. I am comfortable with ontological debate, but args must be well developed and explained for me to understand. I am comfortable with weighing all Kritical impacts, so good impact comparison is a must.

Clipping

I don't usually ask for cards so I need you to let me know if clipping occurs in round. Debate will stop immediately to assess clipping, and if there is substantial evidence, those caught clipping will automatically loose the debate and you will be reported to tournament staff.

David Garcia Chandler Preparatory Academy 6 rounds

Brandon Garrett Presentation HS 6 rounds

Last changed on Sun September 16, 2018 at 3:31 PM PDT

I debated 4 years of policy in High school for Bellarmine and 1 in college for UT Dallas. I coach Policy and LD currently at Presentation High School. I have been there for 7 years. If quals matter I was in CEDA octas as a frosh in college.

brandon.garrett@gmail.com for the email chain.

General/CP/DA
Despite being mostly a T/K debater in high school, my team in Dallas was a very straight-up oriented team and as a result I am familiar with and accepting of those types of arguments as well. I read plenty of counterplans and disads in college and high school. I have had and judged tons of politics debate and states counterplan debates and soft vs hard power debates. I don't dislike these debates on face, I just dislike when they lack substance in the sense that theres no analysis happening. I am pretty okayish at flowing so prolly can get you at near top speed but will yell clearer from time to time. As with anything, if you cannot clearly articulate your argument or position, I will not vote for it.

That being said, I definitely havent judged these debates much lately bc most people think I am a K hack, but I actually find them easier to adjudicate and enjoy them a lot when they are good. In a policy v policy style round, I think I am generally a pretty good judge for these debates despite preferring to judge the more left debates.

T/K affs/Fwk
I am relatively familiar with most critical literature but thinks like schlag and heidegger and baudrillard need a lot of link work analysis and alt explanation as do other dense kritiks. this type of explanation will help you in the long run anyways.

I have been told I don't get preffed because my paradigm may be a bit strongly worded. I definitely feel very strongly about use of framework as a way to silence teams with a legitimate gripe against institutional and systemic injustice that is relevant both to this activity and students autonomy. I think there are certain schools that are obviously uninterested in engaging with the substance of these types of arguments because it doesn't benefit their hegemonic structure that is self reinforcing or because it puts coaches outside their comfort zone. I think these arguments are intrinsic goods to the future of the activity and I would tend to think the trend of the community voting patterns and explosion of identity and performance arguments corroborate this direction and opinion.

I am highly inclined to believe that T-USFG is very problematic against certain types of Ks or performance affs. Debate isnt just a game, but certainly has gamelike attributes. I think entirely gamelike views on debate ensure hegemony of opinions.
True procedural fairness doesn't really exist because of structural issues, judge bias, and humans being humans and not robots. Education in some form is inevitable - its just a question of how open you are to learning something and what you are contributing.

This activity matters, what we say in it matters, and if you feel like you have no answer to a K or performance argument then go through the following thought process real quick:
1) Am I more concerned with winning than understanding the arguments of my opponent (if you answered yes you prolly wont win my ballot)
2) Do I want to win and engage the substance of my opponents arguments (If you answered yes then you can proceed)
3) Do I have anything to actually engage with the probably true argument that people of color and women and other disadvantaged people are set up to fail and the institutions of the state and debate have failed them? (If the answer is no you can still potentially win this debate: contribute to the discourse or attack thiers/create your own methodology, and tell me why you think that should enable you to win my ballot. That or cut more cards and prep better answers)

Most people who read these arguments do it to discuss real issues that really matter to them and to our community. The norm of the community to try and avoid these conversations with theory spikes or T arguments that are unspecific and poorly developed is depressing and most definitely not a strategy i support.

To clarify: I think its fine to read Policymaking good / framing against a security K or cap K - but when the debate is about an individuals autonomy and recognition in the debate space (for example - a survival strategy for a PoC) that neccesitates an entirely different discussion.

I think T-usfg/fwk (its pretty much the same thing dont lie) is a competing interpretations debate and there is pretty much no convincing me otherwise. If you cant explain what your version of debate looks like then why should you win? I love a good fiat/framing debate and can vote either way on it.

Voting
I tend to favor the team that does more analysis and explanation of warrants. If you are extending your tag and cite but not explaining the warrants of your evidence your opponents will probably win. I also dont typically look for the easiest way out. You all put a lot into this activity and I want to make sure I consider every avenue.

I definitely think that extending a dropped argument is pretty impactful - many judges will tell you just because its dropped doesn't mean its true, but until your opponents make a reasonable refutation, I will evaluate dropped arguments with a high degree of weight. I will NOT, however, give you huge impacts for dropped arguments that are extended in a blippy manner.

I feel like the biggest thing I am lacking in most rounds is impact comparison across layers. I often find myself doing unnecessary intervention because no one tells me how their impacts interact with their opponents. If you want me to vote for you make the path to the ballot really clear, and I will follow your line of thinking. When there are a bunch of open ended questions at the end of the round and doors that are not closed there is always going to be a gap of understanding between my decision and your interpretation of the round. It is definitely your responsibility to minimize that gap as much as possible.

Theory and T
In terms of theory I don't really like to pull the trigger on reject the team unless there is proof of in round abuse. I could vote on a reject the team argument but they would have to be setting a pretty uniquely bad standard for debate. I think things like "must read a trigger warning" or "condo bad" definitely fall within this description. I have a very low tolerance for frivolous theory and am definitely not your judge if you like that style or tricks. There are winnable theory arguments in front of me but stuff like 'new affs bad' or 'plans bad' that dont make realistic sense arent gonna fly. Lookin at you LD community.

Speaks
I will take away speaks if you tell me to judge kick things. Do your job as a debater.

Speaks are about ethos, pathos, and logos. If you are lacking in presence or your arguments dont make logical sense it will be hard to get perfect speaks. The best technical debater in the world is probably only a 29.5 without ethos.

I don't really give 30s and a bunch of 29s and 29.5 is really for an amazing debater. 30 for me is perfect. That being said, I also don't really give 26 or 26.5 unless you are doing really poorly. If you got a 26.9 or lower you were probably very offensive towards me or your opponents. 27 range is you messed up some fundamentals like dropped an important argument, made a contradiction that was obvious, were uneducated on your own positions, etc.

PF specific:

I favor evidence far more heavily than other judges in this event. I am SO TIRED of kids not giving dates or cites to your evidence. There are NSDA evidence rules for a reason. I am gonna start docking a speaker point for each member of each team that doesn't properly cite your evidence. If I wanted to I could not evaluate any cards you dont read author and date for because of these rules.

You force me to intervene when you read 1 liner pieces of evidence. Just stop misrepresenting and paraphrasing cards and we will get along.

Arguments in Final Focus need to be in the summary or second rebuttal. I prefer if you are second rebuttal you respond to the first rebuttal but wont hold it against you. Its just the correct strategic choice.
Extending cards by name will help you win my ballot. Weighing is huge and matters a bunch. I think you should probably use cross ex for clarification and understanding rather than making arguments. Im not flowing cross-ex.

Kayla Green Hire 3 rounds

Last changed on Tue October 23, 2018 at 2:52 PM MST

A little bit about me, I debated two years of LD at Arbor View High School in Las Vegas, and this is currently my third year debating Policy at Arizona State University. I am a junior majoring in Political Science and double minoring in Philosophy and African and African American studies. Fill free to introduce yourselves before round, too! :)

When judging, I want you to tell me what to vote for. I want you to tell me what I should value most in round and why. Establish the voter issues in round and tell me what I need to evaluate most when deciding my ballot.

I am okay with spreading, but I will not vote on an argument that you do not articulate well enough to me, or that I simply cannot understand. If it's important, it is your job to make sure that I understand that. Why is everything that you are saying important? Why does what you have to say matter? Why are you right?

As far as policy and/or K debates, you run whatever you want to run; I will vote on anything. Debate shouldn’t be about debaters making the space better, it should be about debaters using the space to better themselves and others. You do you boo! I am not a fan of framework. Run at your own risk... I am fair though. I believe debaters should be able to talk about epistemology first and foremost if they want to, and I believe that you should be able to talk about things that you really care about, within reason. This is why I think framework is lame. Framework makes for boring debates in my opinion. There are no rules, only norms! Engage in the arguments being made! But with this being said, that doesn’t mean that you will absolutely not lose to it on the AFF if you don’t answer it well enough.

NEG, you need to prove to me why the AFF is a bad idea. Or else, I’m going to vote an affirmative ballot. AFF, you need to prove to me why you are a good idea. Or else, I will vote a negative ballot. Give me clash!

Flow and organization is important to me. I like to know where I am throughout the debate. I will not vote on arguments you drop in round. I am also not fond of new 2ARs and 2NRs. I will not vote on arguments that come this late in the debate. Your strongest arguments are most likely the ones articulated throughout the entire debate anyways.

I like to consider myself a smart gal, but it is likely that you know more about the topic and what you like to run more than I do. I am still learning too! Make sure you explain to me well enough what your position actually is in round. My face is pretty easy to read, so if I look confused its probably because I am. Don’t leave me lost at the end of the debate.

As for speaker points, be clear, be cordial, don’t be offensive, and have good articulations in round. Bonus points if you make me laugh.

Other than that, be nice and have fun!

Hugh Grier Kent Denver School 6 rounds

Last changed on Mon January 2, 2017 at 6:21 AM MDT

Kent Denver 2011-2015

Rounds judged on topic: 0

Put me on the email chain: hdg1@rice.edu

TLDR Version:

I debated only in high school
I don’t know the topic I am dum
Tech over truth

Disclaimer: I debated four years in high school on the national circuit but have not debated in the two years since graduation. Also I study engineering in college so I probably have no idea what you’re talking about.

My meta thoughts: Debate what you are good at. Tech over truth. Warrants are probability good. Don't waste CX. Aggression is fine but don't be a dick.

Most specific thoughts:

Framework: Teams should probably talk about the topic. Telling me how to decide the debate will probably benefit you. I think debate is probably a game, and teams should play the game fairly. I’m in the education and skills camp, but fairness is also good. Ideally this is more than "critical stuff first blah blah” but do I prioritize pragmatism, empiricism, realism etc.

Topicality: Big fan. It should be well researched and backed up by evidence. I have little topic knowledge so tell me what’s happening. I’ll default to competing interpretations unless someone tells me not to.

Theory: I like a well done theory debate and am definitely willing to vote here. However well done doesn't just mean reading blocks at each other but actually answering their specific args.

Case, disads, counterplans: Good times.

Critical stuff: This is chill but I probably don’t know the specifics of your argument. Pls explain. Alternatives are chill too.

Evidence: I will read it if there is a good reason to but this is an oral event so don't assume that I will default to calling all da evidence and sorting through it myself.

Points: They will reflect your speaking quality not whether you win or lose. I don't understand people who are resistant to give low point wins.

Other random thoughts: Performance stuff is cool but I don't really get debate bad args. Prep time will stop when your flash drive is ejected unless you are clearly still prepping while they are opening the file. Clarity is important. Slow down during analytics so I have time to write. I'll probably flow on paper.

If you have other questions ask.

Elise Grizzell West High School 6 rounds

Sam Haley-Hill St. Francis High School 3 rounds

Last changed on Thu November 10, 2022 at 5:06 AM EDT

TLDR VERSION

I've been around a long time. I've seen a lot of conventional wisdom come and go. I don't always agree with the consensus of the moment. Be fast, be clear, read a K and/or a counterplan.

Remote Debates:

I flow on paper and actually make an effort to watch you and listen to the words you are saying. It's hard to give speaker points to a glowing dot, so turn on your camera when speaking if possible. I will not follow the speech doc as you are talking, so be clear.

Want to be on the email chain? - Yes, but know that I won't look at the docs until the debate is over.

Please send docs to: samhaleyhill@gmail.com

Speed? - Yes

Open CX? - Sure, but if you aren't involved somewhat, your speaker points suffer.

When does prep time stop? - When you cease to alter your speech doc and to talk about the debate with your partner.

Judge Disclosure - Unless the tournament has some terrible counter-educational policy preventing it (looking at you, NCFL).

Can I read (X argument)? Yes, if it's not offensive.

T? - Reasonability (whew - really feels good to be honest there)

Will you vote on disclosure theory? - No. Disclosure is a good community norm which I support, but I do not think ballots can or should enforce this norm. The exception would be if you can prove that someone straight up lied to you.

Tech over truth? - Yes, but I think people often take this way too far.

FULL VERSION

Biography

Years Judging: 16
Years Debated: 4

I debated for four years in high school for Nevada Union (1998-2002) during which time I made two TOC appearances. I did not debate for Berkeley during my time there, but I was an assistant coach for the College Preparatory School from 2002-2006. After that, I was off the circuit for a few years because I moved to Hong Kong for a year and then went to graduate school. 2010-2011 was my first year back. I worked for New Trier for a year after that and at Nevada Union from 2011-2012. After that I went back to CPS for three more years. I then spent four years running the program at St. Francis. I now work with the Washington Urban Debate League. I have judged a lot for a long time.

Tech Over Truth - This is not dogma

I think that the phrase "tech over truth" is just as vacuous as its inverse, "truth over tech." I honestly have no idea what either of these slogans is trying to say, but I do know that people who repeat either of them incessantly tend to make decisions that I don't get.

"Tech" is just as subjective as "truth" because whether someone's embedded clash has answered something, whether an argument has a warrant, whether someone has explained something enough to have extended it, etc. are all judgement calls at some level anyhow.

I think that dropped arguments are conceded. I think that I should refrain from dismissing arguments that I don't agree with. I think that arguments which I think are bad should still win the debate if the debater advancing them has argued better than the opponent. I guess that's tech over truth?

At the same time, I am the kind of judge who thinks that one compelling, well-developed argument can be more important than three specious, underdeveloped ones. I don't think that the concession of a less significant argument necessarily outweighs a more significant argument that is won despite contestation. Is that truth over tech? Is this whole tech vs. truth binary kind of pointless?

My bumper sticker slogan would be something like: "Analysis over blips."

Speaker Points - No, you can't have a 30.

It used to go without saying that I award speaker points solely based on how well I feel the debaters performed in each round. These days, it seems that I need to say that I will continue to do this regardless of what anyone else does and regardless of what debaters tell me to do during the debate.

I think that there's a performative/communicative aspect to this activity. Speak persuasively and your points will improve.

Try to be nice.

Judge Disclosure - I do it.

I'll disclose my decision and talk about the round with you in depth afterwards. I remember getting a lot out of post-round discussions when I was a debater, and I hope I can pass something along. If your analytics are in your speech docs for my later reference, I'll even give you my flows.

Speed - Go ahead, but be clear

I can flow any rate of delivery.

Lately, someone out there has been telling high school debaters to slow down and emphasize tags. Stop it, whoever you are. This advice implies that I don't care about the text of the card. In fact, I care about how you tagged the card far, far less than I care about what the text of the card actually says. When you slow down for the tag, but slosh unintelligibly through the card, you are implying that I can't understand high speed and that the actual card text is a mere formality. If this is so, you may as well just paraphrase the card like a PF debater.

Believe it or not, I actually can understand your card at high speeds if you read it clearly. I'm actually flowing what the card says. Often as not, I won't flow your (often misleading) tag at all.

I'll yell "clear" at you if you're not being clear. I'll do this twice before putting my pen down and pointedly glaring at you.

Line By Line - Please and Thank You

I'll look at evidence, sure, but I will be grumpy if you make me sort out a huge rat's nest of implied and unexplained clash for you. I am a believer in directly responsive line-by-line debate. I think that explaining warrants is good, but comparing warrants is better.

Framework - Can't we all just get along?

I am one of the last folks out there who won't take a side. I vote neg on framework sometimes; I vote aff on framework sometimes. I think framework debates are kind of fundamental to the activity. I'm up for any kind of argument. I love a good K debate, but I'm equally pleased to adjudicate a game of competing policy options. Run what you love. In my heart, I probably don't care if there's a plan text, but I'll vote for theory arguments demanding one if the better debating is done on that side. Please don't read offensive/amoral arguments.

Conditionality - Yeah, sure, whatever

I think one or two conditional CP's and a K is just fine. You can win a debate on conditionality being more permissive than that or being bad altogether. I won't intervene.

T - I am different from the folks at Michigan

I think that winning complete or nearly complete defense on T is sufficient for the aff even in a world of competing interpretations. If the aff meets, they meet. I'm unlikely to give this RFD: "Even though you're winning a we meet, the neg interpretation is better, so any risk that you don't meet etc etc." Ever since someone told me back in 1999 that T should be evaluated like a DA, I have not agreed. It's a procedural issue, not a predictive claim about the consequences of implementing a policy. As such, I evaluate T procedurally. Whether or not the aff meets is a binary question, not a linear risk.

I think sometimes people think that "competing interpretations" means "the smallest interpretation should win." To me, smallest is not necessarily best. Sure, limits are a big deal, but there is such a thing as over-limiting. There are also other concerns that aren't limits per se, like education, ground, and predictability.

I can be persuaded otherwise in a debate, but I think we should evaluate T through the lens of reasonability.

Open Cross Ex - Yeah

Just make sure that you're involved somewhat or I'll hammer your speaks.

Disclosure theory

Stop it. People choose to disclose as a courtesy. It is not and should not be a requirement. I tell all my teams to disclose. I think you should disclose. If you choose not to, so be it.

If you make a disclosure theory argument, I will ignore you until you move on to something else. I will never vote on a disclosure theory argument, even if it is not answered.

I always find it sadly hilarious when big, brand-name programs tell me that disclosure is good for small schools. It most definitely is not. The more pre-round prep becomes possible, the more that coaching resources can be leveraged to influence debates. That's why the most well-resourced programs tend to be the most aggressive about disclosure theory.

New Affs

New affs are fine. I will not consider arguments which object to them, even if the aff team never answers such arguments.

Aubree Hansen La Cueva High School 6 rounds

Brock Hanson Rowland Hall 6 rounds

Last changed on Mon February 10, 2020 at 11:26 AM MDT

Brock Hanson

Precious Assistant coach, Rowland Hall St. Marks — five years

Debating Experience

High school - Three years, Nationally

Policy Debate

Role as judge in debate — I attempt to enter debates with as little preconcieved notion about my role as possible. I am open to being told how to evaluate rounds, be it an educator, policymaker, etc. Absent any instruction throughout the round, I will most likely default to a role as a policymaker.

Purpose of philosophy — I see this philosophy as a tool to be used by debaters to help modify or fine-tune specific parts of their strategies in round. I don’t think that this philosophy should be a major reason to change a 1AC/1NC, but more used to understand how to make the round as pleasant as possible.

Evaluative practices and views on debate round logistics

Prep time — Prep ends when the flash drive leaves the computer/when the speech-email has been sent. I expect debaters to keep track of their own prep time, but I will usually keep prep as well to help settle disagreements

Evidence — I would like to be included in any email chain used for the round using the email address below. I will read un-underlined portions of evidence for context, but am very apprehensive to let them influence my decision, unless their importance is identified in round.

Speaker point range — 27.0 - 30. Speaker points below a 27 indicate behavior that negatively affected the round to the point of being offensive/oppressive.

How to increase speaker points — Coherence, enthusiasm, kindness, and the ability to display an intimate knowledge of your arguments/evidence. Cross-ex is an easy way to earn speaker points in front of me - I enjoy enthusiastic and detailed cross-ex and see it as a way to show familiarity with arguments.

How to lose speaker points — Being excessively hostile, aggressive, overpowering, or disengaged.

Clarity — I will say ‘Clear’ mid-speech if I’m unable to understand you. I will warn you twice before I begin subtracting speaker points and stop flowing - I will attempt to make it obvious that I’ve stopped flowing in a non-verbal manner (setting down my pen, etc.) but will not verbally warn you.

Argumentative predispositions and preferences

Affirmatives - I don’t think affirmatives should be inherently punished for not reading a plan text, as long as they justify why they do it. I am probably more interested in ‘non-traditional’ affirmatives than a big-stick Heg aff.

Counter-Plans — Speeding through a 20-second, catch-all, 7 plank, agent counter-plan text will not be received well in front of me. However, super-specific counter-plans (say, cut from 1AC solvency evidence) are a good way to encourage debates that result in high speaker points.

Disadvantages — Specific, well articulated DA debate is very appealing to me, but super-generics like spending are a bit boring absent an aff to justify them as the primary strategy.

Framework — Engagement > Exclusion. The topic can be a stasis point for discussion, but individuals may relate to it in very different ways. (See Role as judge in debate)

Kritiks — Easily my 'comfort-zone' for debates, both for the affirmative and negative. Creativity in this area is very appealing to me, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that that whoever reads the best poetry automatically wins. Be smart and articulate about your arguments, and make it seem like you care about what you're talking about. The 'K’s are cheating and so they should lose' -esque arguments aren’t especially compelling, but if you can intelligently explain why the hippy-anarchists sitting across from you should go back to their coffee shops and beat-poetry, I'll vote on it. Performance as a method of supporting arguments is welcomed and enjoyable insofar as it is grounded in arguments.

Theory — I think specific, contextualized Theory arguments are much more persuasive than generic, broad-sweeping theory claims. Spending 5 minutes on Theory in a rebuttal does not grant you an instant ballot, inversely,15 seconds of blippy violations it at the end of the debate makes it difficult to pull the trigger absent blatant concessions. I’m more comfortable and better versed in regards to theory arguments than with topicality. I am very persuaded by arguments against performative contradiction. I understand the strategic utility of having multiple lines of offence in a 1NC, but would prefer to evaluate 1NC’s holistically as a constant thought.

Topicality — Topicality is perhaps where I’m least experienced from an argument standpoint, and thus don’t particularly enjoy topicality debates, I do, however understand its utility against blatantly abusive affirmative. In-round abuse is more persuasive than potential abuse.

Feel free to ask before round or email me if you have any questions

Brock Hanson

Debate.brock.s.hanson@gmail.com

Justin Hegyi Brophy College Prep 6 rounds None

Mark Hernandez Saratoga High School 6 rounds

Last changed on Sat February 3, 2024 at 5:59 AM PDT

Overview:

Y'all know me, still the same O.G. but I been low-key
Hated on by most these nigg@s with no cheese, no deals and no G's
No wheels and no keys, no boats, no snowmobiles, and no skis
Mad at me cause I can finally afford to provide my family with groceries
Got a crib with a studio and it's all full of tracks to add to the wall
Full of plaques, hanging up in the office in back of my house like trophies
Did y'all think I'mma let my dough freeze, ho please
You better bow down on both knees, who you think taught you to smoke trees
Who you think brought you the oldies
Eazy-E's, Ice Cubes, and D.O.C's
The Snoop D-O-double-G's
And the group that said motherduck the police
Gave you a tape full of dope beats
To bump when you stroll through in your hood
And when your album sales wasn't doing too good
Who's the Doctor they told you to go see
Y'all better listen up closely, all you nigg@s that said that I turned pop
Or The Firm flopped, y'all are the reason that Dre ain't been getting no sleep
So duck y'all, all of y'all, if y'all don't like me, blow me
Y'all are gonna keep ducking around with me and turn me back to the old me

Nowadays everybody wanna talk like they got something to say
But nothing comes out when they move their lips
Just a bunch of gibberish
And motherduckers act like they forgot about Dre

Line-by-line

Semi-retired from the policy debate world few years back, but I am around for 4 years during my daughter’s high school policy debate career. Maybe another 4 after that for my son’s. Maybe even longer if they decide to debate in college. “Just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in!”

Experienced former circuit debater from the Bay Area. Previous coach in Sacramento for CK McClatchy, Rosemont, Davis Senior, and others. Also coached several Bay Area programs. I am the former Executive Director and founder of the Sacramento Urban Debate League (SUDL). I spent the better part of a decade running SUDL while personally coaching several schools. I've judged a ton of rounds on all levels of policy debate and feel in-depth and informative verbal RFD's are key to debate education.

I will adapt to you rather than you to me. It's not my place as a judge to exclude or marginalize any sort of argument or framework. On the neg, I will vote for K/K + case, T, CP + DA, DA + case, FW/FW + case, performance, theory.... whatever. I personally prefer hearing a good K or theory debate, not that I'm more inclined to vote on those genres of argumentation. I am down for the K, performance, or topical aff. Anything goes with me.

I'm big on organization. Hit the line by line hard. Don't just give me 3 min overviews or read a bunch of cards off the line, then expect me to conveniently find the best place on the flow for you. Do the work for me. I flow on paper OG style, so don't drop arguments. I don't flow off speech docs (neither should you), but put me on the email chain so I can read cards along with you and refer back to them. I can handle any level of speed, but please be as clear and loud as possible.

I will work hard to make the debate accessible and a safe place for you and your arguments. If you have access needs during a debate, wish to inform me of your preferred gender pronoun, or if there is anything you wish to communicate privately, please let me know or send me an email. markcorp2004@msn.com

My judging philosophy is very short for a reason. Its your debate, not mine. Do you. Just stay organized and tell me where and why to vote. Write my ballot for me in your 2NR/2AR.

John Hines College Prep 3 rounds

Last changed on Mon March 11, 2024 at 11:46 AM PDT

John Hines
DOD at Head Royce
20+ Years Judging/Coaching

UPDATE--1/2/24

Commencing old man ranting at clouds:

So, it appears my addendum from 6 years ago was just marking the beginning of the end of line-by-line debate.

After returning from a four-year hiatus, I discovered last year that flowing and line-by-line debating are essentially a thing of the past that current debaters don't even really realize they aren't actually doing.

I blame the judges who started flowing directly from the speech docs and decided they no longer needed to hold debaters accountable for what actually came out of their mouths.

So, we now have a community of JUDGES who never actually learned how to flow or debate line by line, either.

This creates a fundamental problem for me. I have no idea how to evaluate debates when everyone else in the room is just reading and responding to the speech docs without knowing whether the judge who actually listens and flows is getting things down on the flow where they belong.

I honestly have no idea how judges today decide debates fairly and objectively based on what was actually said in the debate.

So, I'll summarize everything else below very simply here:

If you don't flow, I probably won't vote for you.

If you don't debate line-by-line, I probably won't vote for you.

If you don't care whether I'm trying to flow the words coming out of your mouth, I probably won't vote for you.

If neither you nor your opponent flows or debates line by line, I will be forced to vote for somebody, but I will have ZERO TOLERANCE for someone who didn't flow or debate off the flow, post-rounding me for why I didn't vote theway they wanted me to vote.

Addendum--10/15/17

Line-by-line debate is actually a thing. It's a skill not a referendum on you as a person or what I think about your arguments. It's a method of clash that allows judges to decide rounds with minimum intervention on their part. If your approach to debating line-by-line includes extensive overviews, "cloud clash," and requests for me to pull out new sheets of paper I am probably not a very good judge for you. I will do my best to evaluate the round in front of me, but if you chose to abandon the line by line please know that you have asked me to insert my subjective views of debate into the round and you are not likely to be happy with the outcome.

Standard philosophy begins here:
Rather than list off a series of personal beliefs about arguments, an explanation of how I decide debates seems more productive. Three keys to debating well in front of me:

1. Make Arguments. I tend to decide debates within 20 minutes of the end of the round. I will call for VERY few cards after the debate as I prefer to make my decision based upon what you argued in the last rebuttals rather than what I think about the quality of your cards. I will not re-read every card read in the debate. I will not read portions of evidence not read in the round by debaters. I will not read cards handed to me that were not extended in the last two rebuttals. I will resolve arguments consisting of disputes over interpretation of warrants in evidence by reading those cards. I will make sure arguments extended in the last two rebuttals can be traced back across the flow to the point they originated. I will make sure cards handed to me were extended properly during the debate before reading them. I will keep a careful flow of the debate and will do my best to vote based upon warranted arguments extended throughout the debate. Your job is to speak clearly and coherently and to dispute the warrants within your opponents’ arguments with analysis and evidence.

2. Make Choices. Most debates come down to a couple of key issues which need to be resolved by me; awareness of these nexus issues and the ability to clarify how they should be resolved is the key to your success. Does the perm on the CP avoid the links to the net-benefits? Does the solvency deficit to the counter-plan outweigh the net-benefits? Who controls the question of uniqueness (both at the link and impact level)? Can the alternative to the criticism function simultaneously with the plan? I prefer to intervene as little as humanly possible. Your ability to accurately frame the nexus issues of the debate for me will reduce the need for me to resolve these questions for you and make me a much happier judge.

3. Don’t be a Jerk. As Ed Lee of Emory says in his most recent Judge Philosophy--"Respect is non-negotiable for me". I work VERY HARD as a judge. I flow on paper, I generally keep my computer closed the entire debate and I try to pay very close attention to everything you say. I spend time constructing my post-round discussion to be clear, concise, and educational. I do not take kindly to debaters or coaches who wish to interrupt and argue with me before I've reached the conclusion of my RFD. I promise to give you plenty of time to ask productive follow-up questions. Lately, I've become even more concerned with in-round comity. Rudeness and snide remarks during cross-ex, insulting the intelligence and goodwill of the other team, and other derisive and insulting behavior towards opponents will not be tolerated. To once again quote Ed - "If you are engaging your opponent in a way that you would not if you were in front of one of your professors [teachers] or the president of your university [principal/head of school] then you should not do it in front of me." I love seeing passionate engagement with argument, but quickly become physically uncomfortable when passion turns into hostility. If you are confused as to where this line resides watch my non-verbals...it will be very obvious.

Finally, on the question of "What kinds of arguments do you prefer" I'll answer by agreeing with Jarrod Atchison on the importance of FLEXIBILITY as a debater. To quote his ballot from a recent NDT final round "Debater flex is the past, present, and the future":

Jarrod ATCHISON, Director of Debate and Assistant Professor of Speech and Drama at Trinity University (Incoming DOF at Wake Forrest), 2008
[Judge Ballot from the Final Round of the 2008 National Debate Tournament, Available Online at http://groups.wfu.edu/NDT/Results/JudgesBallots2008final.htm, Accessed 03-16-2010]

7. Debater Flex is the wave of the future: I would have loved to have been a part of the Dartmouth coaching staff and squad when they were brainstorming a negative strategy for this debate. Although they had an extremely limited amount of time, they had two fantastic debaters in Josh and Kade that could execute a wide range of arguments leaving no option unavailable. In this debate, they had two case specific counterplans, a well developed kritik, two topicality arguments, etc…This debate reminded me that debaters who self identify as “policy” or “kritik” are missing out on a wide range of ways to win. Forget the labels, just think of everything as an argument. Some arguments require more understanding than others, but they are just arguments. If you want to be able to take on a new high tech aff with less than 45 minutes of prep before the final round of the NDT, the last thing that you want to tell your coach/partner is “I can’t argue __.” Debater flex is the past, present, and the future and I hope that students will see Josh and Kade’s 1NC as an example of how important it is to be versatile.

Alex Jeong Damien HS 3 rounds

Yash Kamath Loyola High School 6 rounds

Last changed on Thu February 16, 2017 at 8:04 AM PDT

ykamath [at] usc [dot] edu
can't judge: Wichita East, Loyola

Any questions please ask don't assume

Wichita East '15
USC '19
4 years HS policy, currently coaching Loyola policy

Important things:
1. Flashing is not prep.
2. Cross-x will be flowed. You will be held to what you say in cross-x.
3. Clipping cards, reading ahead in speech docs, falsifying evidence, all auto-losses.
4. Please disclose.
5. Stand/sit/dance/jog I don't care. Just look at me when you are speaking.
6. Arguments need warrants. No warrants = not an argument.
7. Please add me to the email chain, pocket box, hand me the flash drive, etc.

I will try my best not to intervene in a debate. Execute whatever strategy you are best at, and do it well. I will listen and evaluate almost every argument tabula rasa.
Here are my argument preferences:
T-
Neg- Case list, impacts to your standards, and topical version of the aff are all very persuasive.
Aff- Reasonability is not as a persuasive as a robust defense of your great counter-interpretation and disads to their interp.

K-
Neg- Explain the alt well. The link and impact story is usually what the neg is superb at, but if you don't explain the alt well, what the hell am I voting for? 2NC/1NR tricks are great if executed properly.
Aff- Impact turns, disads to the alt, and permutations are persuasive.

CP-
Neg- Happy with most, not a fan of process cps or generic word pics, but I will still vote for them if executed properly.
Aff- Solvency deficit, and defense to the net benefit (whatever page it is on), are very persuasive.

DA-
Neg- Turns case, and impact framing are very persuasive.
Aff- You must have offense on this page. With hard technical debating, I do believe in a possible 0 % risk of the disad.

Case
Neg- Case turns, and case specific defense are very persuasive. A ton of generic impact defense not so much.
Aff- Your answers to case args should be fantastic, no excuses for a poor performance on something for which you have had unlimited prep.

Theory-
Mostly lean neg, again interp and counter-interps are key.
2 condo is fine, 3 is still okay, 4 and my threshold for an aff theory arg will be very low.

K affs-
Aff- This is fine. Please explain what voting aff means, what you have to win for me to vote aff.
Neg- Answer the case. T (content guidelines) not framework (performance guidelines), impact turns, and criticisms are very persuasive.

High speaker points:
1. Great strategic moves. Technical strength will serve you well.
2. Humor. Only if you are funny.
3. Great case debate.
4. Number/letter arguments.
5. Great evidence.

Low speaker points:
1. Not clear. Can't stand this. Hurts me, your partner, the other team, and the quality of the debate at the whole.
2. Really stupid arguments. If you have to ask if it meets the really stupid threshold then don't read it.

Don't be rude or obnoxious. In debate and in life.

Elyse Kats Hire 3 rounds

Last changed on Sat December 3, 2016 at 9:32 AM MST

Blue Valley High School 2016- 4 years of policy, LD, and congress
Arizona State University 2020- Current policy debater

Please ask me any questions about this to clear anything up. Feel free to email me with any questions you may have after the round.

In general-
1) I prefer fast, clear, and technical debates; if you drop an arg it flows the other way. But please, do not try to go faster than you are able to. You need to do more than shadow extend cards.
2) Clarity is more important than speed. I'll say clear once or twice if I can't hear every word you're saying, but after that you'll just lose speaks if it's not clear.

Policy argument types:

Kritiks—I am not particularly well read in terms of literature, but I am more than willing to consider whatever you read. I have experience only in college with the K, so just make sure you're explaining everything well and I will be willing to vote on it.

Counterplans—Explain the solvency advocate and I'll consider any type.

Disads—I value impact calc heavily so make sure you're doing the proper analysis there, comparison is key. In terms of generic DA's I have a pretty high threshold for the link, so make sure you prove it.

Theory—I will vote on thoery in certain cases; however, I am more willing to reject the argument instead of the team. I usually think condo is good, but I'm willing to be convinced otherwise. In terms of other theoretical arguments I don't have an inherent bias either way. You should always disclose, and I will vote on disclosure theory (if you prove the impact).

Topicality—I will definitely vote on T. However, if you explain why you're reasonably topical well I will default to reasonability. I view T like other arguments, if there's no link (violation) or impact (voters) then I won't vote on it.

Framework- I used to be a very policy-based debater, but I am definitely willing to consider alternative frameworks now. In general, just make sure your explain framework well and I will consider any type. On the aff I don't think you need a plan text/ state action, but the neg can convince me otherwise.

LD:

- I consider the value/ criterion debate first, make sure you do enough analysis here and challenge it first. If that debate becomes a wash I will default to the solvency/ impacts on the contentions.

- I'm willing to consider critical positions/ cases

- Look to my policy paradigm for further elaboration

ekats18@yahoo.com

Mike Kurtenbach Brophy College Prep 6 rounds

Last changed on Wed February 14, 2018 at 9:35 AM PDT

put me on the email chain: mikekurtenbach@gmail.com

coach @ Brophy College Prep.

experience: 10+ years

tldr: i have minimal predispositions - all of the following are my preferences, but good debating will always change my mind. i arbitrate debates purely based off the flow - i don’t read evidence unless 1) i was told to in reference to an argument or 2) the debate is incredibly close and evidence quality is the tiebreaker.

topicality: it’s okay. i think limits are the controlling standard. reasonability is probably a non-starter unless it’s dropped.

framework/k affs: let me start off by saying i would prefer if the affirmative defends something contestable. affirmative teams should not rely on “thesis-level claims” and should engage the line by line, mostly consisting of defense and impact turns. as long as the negative wins that debate in and of itself is good (which shouldn’t be hard), fairness is a legitimate impact. i think decision-making is silly. negative teams shouldn’t be afraid to go for presumption. same goes for performance affs. i don’t think a poem necessarily solves unless tied to tangible advocacy; convince me otherwise. *on the education topic, i’m especially persuaded by the tva*

kritik: it’s okay, but i’d prefer a more technical line-by-line execution by the neg over three minute long overviews that are repeated on every single argument. that being said, i think the ideal 2nc for most k’s should focus less on reading new evidence and more on contextualized analysis to the substance of 1ac. i think most k debates are lost due to lack of explanation or contextualization of the link or alternative. blippy extensions won’t do it for me, unless you can explain your advocacy in tangible terms. i will probably default to letting the aff weigh its impacts, unless you convince me otherwise. affirmatives, this is probably where you should invest the most time. losing 2ar’s either miss offense embedded on the link debate, lose the framework, or let them get away with absurd broad generalizations (or drop a pik). winning 2ar’s buckle down on case outweighs, mutual exclusivity, or well-analyzed impact turns.

da: love them. politics is my favorite argument. case-specific da’s are the best. aff don’t drop turns case. in the absence of a counterplan, impact calc/framing is incredibly important for my ballot and should be introduced earlier rather than later. in the presence of a counterplan, negs should weigh the da to the risk of a solvency deficit. specific internal links always beat general framing pre-empts.

cp: also love ‘em. pics are my second favorite argument. condo is probably good to an extent. decide what that extent is for me. i enjoy watching a well-executed process counterplan so long as you know how to defend it theoretically. unless told otherwise, i default to judge-kick.

case: please bring this back - it’s a lost art. highly encourage re-hilightings of their evidence, specific advantage frontlines, etc. i love impact turn debates. if an aff can’t defend why economic decline is bad, why should it win?

cross ex: i appreciate when you can answer every question straight-up in cross ex, instead of dodging them. cross-ex is a great time to build ethos. i think one of the greatest mistakes i see debaters make round after round is not carrying concessions in cross-ex into their speeches. cross-ex is binding.

Maddie Langr Juan Diego Catholic High School 6 rounds

Christian Lansang Damien HS 3 rounds None

Fallon Leyba Hire 1 rounds

Last changed on Thu January 5, 2017 at 9:49 AM MST

TLDR: If you can explain it well (and I mean VERY WELL), I'm good with it. I'm not going to make any connections for you. Don't be an asshole, slow down on tag lines.

Background: I'm a second year at ASU, working on three concurrent degrees in Creative Writing, Moral Politics and Philosophy, and Studio Art. I did four years of Policy in high school for Phoenix Country Day School. I spend most of my time doing radical leftist activism around campus right now. I also dabbled in various speech events and some PF at the end of high school, but fuck that lol. Generally, we ran a lot of weird shit and I guess that was fun. We ran a Doctor Who aff for space exploration, we ran a "just build a huge fucking tower" for the transportation topic.....we ran a Cthulu K for the oceans topic.....yeah. Anyway.

Speaker Points: I start at 27.5 and move up or down from there. SLOW DOWN on tags (maybe even warrants if you were so inclined), speak clearly and succinctly and you will be rewarded. Also, don't worry about speed so much if y'all want to really impress me? Or, rather, don't try to sacrifice clarity for speed. I will TAKE OFF MAJOR POINTS if you are racist, sexist, etc. I will also take off points if you are a huge dick to your opponents, to me, or even your partner. If you get snippy with me after the round...... :))))))))))))

DAs: Whatever. I'm fairly open. Generally won't vote on just a DA, but hey....never say never. I can be convinced. Especially if your turns are great.

CPs: um. Not much to say here, either.....I guess, I don't really like CPs that are....like...really similar to the AFF. One time someone read a CP that only changed the language of the aff. I dropped them because they couldn't really explain what made them different from the aff....so as long as you can explain something it's fine by me.

Ks: I love Ks and I love when they get really interesting. This is both a blessing and a curse for debaters. Just explain them well, don't rely on jargon and pre-written 1NRs/2NRs to drive your point home. Link explanation is critical, though, don't rely on a generic link. Also, when you're in the 2NR, you need to be SUPER brutal in your decision making. If you're kicking the alt, explicitly kick the alt. Otherwise, I'm weighing decision as alt vs aff and if you didn't even mention the alt in the 2NR, you're in fucking trouble. This goes for whatever off-case arg you're making—make a decision and tie up all your loose ends in the 2NR, just makes it cleaner. Easier for everyone.

T: It's fine. I don't like when Ts become a big deal in a round, but whatever, If the aff is really off-topic, or if the aff sucks at answering T, I guess there's nothing you can do about it.

Framework: in my opinion, when you run framework, you need to convince ME not your opponent. I operate under the assumption that debate has no rules. You need to convince me to adopt the rules that you want me to. I am sceptical of theoretical framework, but that only means that you have to be better at convincing me.

Theory: I hate having to vote on theory but if you don't answer it (like seriously, people....the bare minimum is to answer it...), then I will have to. Please, for the love of God, do not make me vote on theory.

Other: Because this bears repeating, please don't be a dick. Don't be a snooty asshole. The worst part of debate was always when opponents were rude or condescending. Debate is supposed to be fun, professional, and the competition is supposed to be friendly. Don't be a dick. Life is short and you're all in high school.

Amy Lin Desert Vista HS 6 rounds

Tyler Lyons Hire 2 rounds

Last changed on Fri February 16, 2018 at 2:57 PM EDT

XP: 3 years policy in Texas, competed both statewide and regionally, UIL, TFA and NFL. Currently the head policy coach at Desert Vista HS.

General thoughts:

I believe debate is a game between two opponents that must be respected and respectful of the debate space. Ultimately, rules have been constructed to maximize discussion. Break those rules, tear them down and erode the foundations for all I care. That being said, you aren’t Michigan KM, and I expect that if you read ANYTHING from them you’d better know what you’re doing.

Tech over truth in most cases. Don’t get up and read me some BS that is obviously not true, and I’m not going to vote neg if they happen to win one irrelevant on case card.

Case:
Do it. Obviously if you can do a full takeout on any of the stock issues I’ll be voting neg. Specifics: don’t attack only one solvency contention and be shocked when I vote aff because they kicked it; your inherency takeout must make clear sense; any harms takeouts must be explained and weighed during rebuttals; and for the love of God give me some impact calc!

T:
Must have: interpretation, violation, standards/grounds, and voters. Aff must have: counter interpretation, standards/grounds, and voters. If these aren’t present for either team I will not flow the argument for them. This also applies to framework because of similar structure. If you’re vague, I will vote you down immediately. You’re not being cool by being dodgy.

CP:
It would do you credit to understand the relationship of your Counter Plan to your other arguments. You get brownie points for solving your DAs or Ks (the ones without alts, that’s a whole other discussion) with a well oriented Counter Plan. That being said, the perm debate here really matters. I expect a good switch-side debate, so be prepared to argue the merits of your links and solvency.

PICs are fair game, but your solvency needs to be well fleshed out. I tend to flow aff in perm debates here because the neg usually doesn’t spend enough qualitative time on it.

DA:
I find that most of these arguments are easily proven to be non-unique. That’s just the nature of most DAs. Too many neg debaters get sloppy in the link debate and focus on their impacts. I hate general DAs, they’re often too easily turned and super boring. The more specific the better.

K:
This should be obvious: know your stuff! If you can’t explain any portion of your K in CX, you shouldn’t be running it. Link debate, root cause and real solvency alts are crucial for my ballot. Aff: perm debates are common enough that you don’t have to do a whole lot of work in finding evidence. In lieu of that, I expect you to weigh the round for me in terms of solvency.

Theory/Framework:
Slow down and take your time with this. I will not listen to a spreaded theory argument, it does no good for anyone if you’re moving too fast. If I can’t understand what you’re trying to run, I won’t bother flowing it. A note on framework: Most of your prescripted blocks should have some advocacy, it’s there for a reason. Don’t give me any and chances are I’m going to completely ignore your argument.

Speed:
If you mumble at any point, I will stop flowing. Speak clearly and concisely at whatever speed you feel like.

CX:
This is not a part of the debate to be ignored. CX is an art form, one that you will use in life far, far more than what you learn by performing your 1AC or the 2NR. That being said, I will flow CX and mark when arguments are made. Nearly all your speaker points will be decided based on CX.

LD

Sometimes I have to judge LD rounds. My prefs are simple: do whatever you want. Root cause debates are awesome, I like hearing how your contentions clash. Be as progressive as possible, I’m used to hearing way, way more progressive stuff in policy. I’m a policy coach and only competed in a few rounds like 6 years ago in LD, so what I know is mostly from judging rounds.

Ryan Magel Hire 3 rounds

Jacqui Marchi Coronado 3 rounds None

Raza Mushtaq Hire

Last changed on Thu January 7, 2016 at 9:59 AM EDT

Updated: October 2015

Experience: Debated in high school. Debated for Arizona State University from 2007-2011.

I have been away from debate for last 4 years. I just finished medical school and I am doing my residency now (if you are interested in pursuing a career in medicine, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me). I love policy debate. I think educational value of policy debate is severely underestimated. Policy was a huge part of my life in high school and college which is why I am very keen to coach and judge. However, my participation in debate is now limited by work hours, but I try my best to be as active as possible.

Before you go on to read this, I would like to add that all of these are just my predispositions for debate and most likely will not influence how I adjudicate debates. I think my coaching and judging preferences have changed quite significantly since I last participated in the activity. Debate has certainly changed in the last few years and I have spent the last couple months trying to catch up. I have spent a fair amount of time reading on surveillance topic so I feel fairly confident judging.

Affirmatives– I don’t have a strong preference on this issue. I do think that you should be germane to the resolution. If you stand up and start talking about something that has nothing to do with resolution – I think that you have excluded negative out of the debate round which probably isnt okay. I do think that topic specific education is good. I do think that you should have some sort of advocacy statement to give negative stable round. Do you have to defend USFG action? That is up for debate. I think I lean more negative on this issue – I think that you probably should. Again, those are my preferences and I try my very best to set those aside when I judge. Debaters should judge debate, so tell me how to vote.

Kritiks – As a debater, I went for Ks maybe 10-15% of the times in 2NR. I have spent a lot more time reading critical literature since I graduated college. I think I have a basic understanding of most criticisms, but I will admit that my knowledge of kritiks is fairly limited compared to most other judges. I think the biggest thing for me is comparative work on kritiks. You need to tell me how your methodology compares to their methodology. Your link, impact and alternative analyses should be in context of affirmative as opposed to reading generic shells. You should know your K lit very well in order for you to relate it to affirmative. If you cannot explain your criticism to a family member then I don’t think you probably understand your argument. You should be able to explain your criticism to a non-debater and have them explain it back to you. That is a good way to test your knowledge of the topic.

Framework – I think framework is definitely a good 2NR option in front of me. When I was debating, I honestly never gave framework too much thought. I kinda made arguments quite randomly. Now that I have had time to think about framework, I think the theoretical objections to not defending a plan or not being topical are far more persuasive than arguments that question different methods for activism. In order to become good framework debaters, I think you really have to do some self-reflection. Why do you want to spend your weekends arguing over random topics with strangers when you could be doing something else? What is your motivation to be at debate tournaments? I think whatever you come up with should serve as the terminal impact for framework. For me, the answer was education – ranging from topic specific education to deliberative skill education. Once you know what you hope to get out of the activity, then rest of the arguments should be easy to make. You need to ask questions like how do you get the best education out of this debate round/tournament/topic? i.e. whats the best internal link to education? I think some of the most persuasive answers here are more theoretical than substantive. What do I mean by that? Arguments such as having predictable limits on the topic allows for in-round clash is probably a better internal link to education than saying gotta engage the state.

Topicality – I enjoy listening to T debates. I think its important to have some sorts of limit on the topic to have good in-round education. If you haven’t gotten the hint – I think debate is about education with pre-round/tournament prep and in-round clash being some of the most important internal links for it. I will operate under this framework unless you tell me otherwise.

Disads – I love disads and case arguments. COMPARATIVE impact calculus is important.
CP – I think clever PICs might be my favorite part of debate. CPs are a valuable part of neg arsenal and often underutilized.

Other random things:
1) I love debate and I appreciate that you chose to do policy debate. That said, I think it is very important to have fun and enjoy your time in debate. Be respectful of your opponents. Unnecessary aggression and rudeness would reflect in my decision.
2) I will vote for technique. Meaning, even if I think that you are on the wrong side of the truth, and you win the flow, I will vote for you.
3) “Even if” and “because” arguments are very important and persuasive. Even if you think you are winning every argument on the flow, you should still make some “even if” arguments because I might be thinking otherwise. <- kinda like that
4) Prep time is over once USB leaves your computer.
5) Speaker points – I start at 27.5 for every debater in the round.
29.5+=top speaker at tournament;
29=top 10 speaker at tournament;
28.5 = should be in elimination rounds;
28 = above average;
27.5 = average;
27 = gotta do some work;
<27 = you messed up somewhere.

Any other questions, please don’t hesitate to ask me.

Malhar Patel Lowell HS 6 rounds

Last changed on Fri January 6, 2017 at 1:29 AM MST

Hamilton High School '15

UC Berkeley '19

Background: Debated 4 years of policy in high school on the local Arizona circuit and national circuit. Familiar with some parts of the topic. I've read heg affs, environmental ethics affs, affs that critique IR, neolib affs and warming affs. I've read FW, sneaky case specific PICs, generic DAs, random case kritiks, general and case specific kritiks.

Just do whatever you have prepared to do.

Alot of my philosophy will be VERY SIMILAR to Rohit Rajan and Nisarg Patel (some parts may even be copy/pasted).

IMPORTANT:
-Pls make debate a fun activity - if you make the round more fun, it can only help your speaks because it is enjoyable for everyone.

-Watching my facial reactions during the round is a good way to get a gauge of what i'm thinking

Quick Notes from the Brodawg

Speed is fine. Distinguish between tags and cards.
Tech > Truth.
Don't read stupid arguments. If you have to ask, it's probably stupid.
Saying "Extend XYZ" is not an argument. If you're reading this, you're likely at a TOC-qualifying tournament, debate like it.
Tag-team CX is fine, don't dominate your partner.
Flashing isn't prep unless I notice you stealing prep (probably also not great for your speaks or street cred).

Big Picture

-"Impact Comparison frames how I evaluate debate rounds - the final speech should include at least some sort of explanation for why you are going for the strategy you are."

-I'm a fan of argument quality - like Rohit says - "1 A card can beat 10 C cards and that also believes a B card with A spin beats an A card with C spin" - debaters that know how to cross-apply arguments across flows and understand interactions between flows will be rewarded.

-Make Distinctions between pieces of evidence - the only time I will call for evidence is if there is dispute over what it actually says.

Speaker Points

29.5 + = Top Speaker Quality

29 = Top 10 Speaker

28.5 = Good Enough to Break

28 = Average

27.5 = Needs Work

27 = Need alot of work

26.5 = My Condolences

26 and Under= You have said / done something offensive - I will not tolerate offensive speech.

Critical affs/framework: This is an exception to the rule above in that I will specifically mention this argument. I have historically voted either way. At a bare minimum, I think the aff should defend SOMETHING. I also tend to think that the aff should have to be related to the resolution. I prefer substantive framework over theoretical framework; however, I've voted on both. The less the aff is related to the resolution, the more willing I find myself voting on theoretical framework. Topical versions of the aff are persuasive to me but so are reasons why traditional policy debate does not teach us about actual governmental process because of fiat. Ultimately, impact comparison is the most important part of these debates.

Theory: I lean negative in terms of conditionality. I believe that there has had to have been some irreparable damage done because of conditionality for me to vote on it. I'm more willing to vote on critical conditionality/performative contradiction arguments than I am willing to vote on conditionality. I could go either way in terms of 50 state theory and international actor fiat. I lean aff in terms of consult and conditions CP. My usual litmus test for process-y type CPs is whether there is a solvency advocate and a reasonable debate within the literature that provides the aff with ground to answer it. The negative should not get object fiat. Please please please slow down for theory debates. Also, work on developing fewer arguments rather than reading 20 one sentence blips. This makes these debates far easier to adjudicate.

Topicality: I really love a good a T debate. Impacts matter a lot here along with actual examples of ground you lost/stuff the other team allows in. Distinctions usually end up mattering here more than on other flows. Like with theory debates, please slow down. T versions of the aff are awesome but sometimes not necessary.
Permutations: These are usually the best aff tool in terms of answering the K. The aff should express net benefits to the permutation in addition to explaining why the link arguments are irrelevant in a world where the aff gets access to the alternative too. The neg needs to make sure they have good specific link arguments to the permutation too and not just the 1AC. I think that a team without a plan text should get access to a permutation; however, I can be persuaded otherwise and that it's simply a method debate.

Counterplans --- Great. Most of my junior year in high school was spent cutting sneaky PICs, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're theoretically legitimate and I can be convinced if they are/aren't in a debate round. I don't think the consult CP is a real argument (or any CP with an artificial net benefit).

Disadvantages --- Great. The more specific, the better. Quality over quantity: If it’s in the 1NC, you should probably be able to go for it in the 2NR.

Kritiks --- Fine. I'm fairly informed on critical literature, but don't assume that name-dropping a foreign author means I'll automatically vote for you. Assume I have no idea what the background literature behind the K is and give me a story as to how the argument interacts with the affirmative.

Case --- I highly value research and love seeing well-researched case debates. I also like seeing affirmative's make strategic use of their 1AC in later speeches to hedge common negative arguments. That being said, the 2AR is not a constructive. I won't flow new arguments or ones not developed in the 1AR.

Things that don't mean anything:

-saying the words "Fiat is Illusory" (if you are going for a fiat argument, please actually explain it)

-just because someone said "role of the ballot" does not make it an apriori argument - the justifications behind your interpretation of what the ballot should be evaluated on is what i will consider

-"THE DA OUTWEIGHS AND TURNS THE CASE" - as Seth Gannon once told me, this doesn't mean anything - be specific with your impact comparisons and don't waste your time.

If you are still reading:

-Jokes about Rohit Rajan, Nisarg Patel, Manav Sevak, Joseph Yun, Kevin Chen, Tanzy/NikP are great for your speaker points - pls don't try too hard to make a joke about them if you don't know any of them.

Jeremy Pena Albuquerque Academy 6 rounds

Last changed on Fri January 6, 2017 at 7:19 AM MDT

Hi there,

While I was in high school I qualified for the TOC three times, clearing in my junior year and reaching the finals in my senior year. Back then, I ran plenty of arguments that were out of the mainstream, including de-development and utopian counterplans and deontological framing, but kritiks and the framework debate did not exist in their current forms. I did not debate in college and I do not judge college debate. A few years ago I began coaching at Albuquerque Academy, so I have had some time to catch up to high school debate as it is now.

I do my best to judge the round that the debaters want to have. That means that I often vote for a team that runs arguments that I don't prefer, because that team does a good job of explaining and debating the argument and the other team does not. I will not vote against a team simply because they don't debate in the style I prefer.

Theory

Almost all the "rules" of debate are debatable -- that's the beauty of the activity. Only the rules about the format of the activity are absolute. That includes time constraints, side constraints, and each debater doing one constructive and one rebuttal, etc. But any assertions about whether conditionality or severance or intrinsicness arguments (for example) are legitimate or illegitimate can be justified or attacked based on in-round abuse and their effect on the activity in general. By default, I think one or two conditional advocacies are okay, that the aff can't sever, and that the aff can't solve all the disads via intrinsicness spikes, but in any given round I could be convinced otherwise.

What I really don't like is a quick analytical argument that becomes a ballot-controlling showstopper in the rebuttals. Reverse voters, floating PICs/PIKs, and arbitrary role-of-the-ballot assertions can be abusive when they come out late in the debate and are suddenly the most important issue in the round.

I'm a big fan of a good T debate. Parsing words is challenging and fun, and directly relevant to life in the real world. Again, the impact is debatable and I'm just as open to reasonability / high threshold arguments on T as I am to limits and extra-T arguments.

A strange thing happens with kritiks. While I am highly suspicious of most K's, and particularly so of alternatives, I end up voting for K-heavy neg strategies frequently. That's because even the simplest K's can be very complex in their effect on the round, and many affirmative teams aren't confident in their ability to interrogate and refute a K. For the neg, my advice is to slow down a bit on the link explanation and say it in your own words. I credit analysis over "evidence" especially on the link. For the aff, my advice is, don't let them get away with anything. Challenge every part of the argument. A forceful, analytical no-link argument can win over any number of cards if the neg can't explain its link sufficiently clearly. I don't consider alternatives to be a settled area of debate, so I like to hear them attacked and defended. I heard one judge explain to an affirmative team, "I don't know what the link to the K was but the 2N sure read a lot of cards on it so I vote neg." I will never be that judge.

Framework

Framework arguments can produce some of the most thought-provoking debates. Because this mostly comes up when aff offers a kritikal or non-policy advocacy, my views here are similar to my views on K's. On the other hand, I do credit published evidence from debate scholars when it comes to framework; I think those sources are well-qualified to offer insight into the activity. A policy-oriented framework feels like "home" to me, but the contributions of some non-traditional affirmatives have been immeasureable. Bottom line: I'd love to hear a good framework debate.

DA's

There's nothing better than a genuine case-specific disad. But how often does that happen? I really like creative disads with up-to-date evidence. I like nuclear war as an impact, not because nuclear war literally will ensue but because those are truly the stakes when nations deliberate about foreign policy. Impacts abound: even if nuke war is off the table, something as "minor" in the debate sense as a US recession is a big impact to me (and probably exacerbates most structural impacts too, so argue that). But as big as impacts can get, links can get infinitely small. There are so many variables in this world that I will disregard trivial risks, so "infinite impact means you vote neg even on a microscopic probability" will be refuted easily.

CP's

Absent a K/framework situation, a negative team that doesn't use a CP cripples itself. Agent of action is an important question that we should debate. Neg doesn't always need solvency evidence of its own to carve up a case if the plan doesn't match the 1AC solvency. Despite that, there are some categories of counterplans that I dislike: conditions, consultations, study, delay, sunset are some examples. If a counterplan includes international or multi-actor fiat, i would like to hear that debated.

Evidence

I often call for the plan. I will only call for evidence if the round really comes down to it and/or one of the debaters encourages me to do so. On the other hand, if both teams agree to flash or email me the speech docs in real time, that is fine with me. As to highlighting, my view is, if the round comes down to the evidence, you only get credit for the words you read, but the remainder of the writing can hurt you if it goes the other way. I encourage you to dissect the evidence of the opposition. Don't just say "no warrant," tell me what the evidence actually says and how it falls short.

Disclosure

Coaching is a second occupation for me, as I am also a lawyer for the federal government. I generally remain open to arguments that are critical of the federal government (the surveillance topic was very challenging in this regard). That said, if you make an argument like "every federal action is inherently racist," I will probably take it personally even if I try not to.

Oh yeah, disclosure refers to your practices too. Please don't ask me to enforce social norms regarding disclosure because I do not consider that my job.

Conclusion

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and congratulations on selecting such a rewarding activity.

Elana Quint Hire 3 rounds None

Brenna Ram Hire 3 rounds

Last changed on Mon February 5, 2018 at 12:56 AM MST

4 years of policy debate at St. Francis HS, fourth year policy debater at ASU. I coach for DV. I do not flow straight down. I will probably vote on your dirty tech tricks if you win that I should vote on them.

If someone wins that I should be a policymaker or look at offense/defense I'll evaluate the debate accordingly. I CAN be persuaded that there is zero risk of something. I'll vote for anything if you win that's what I should vote on.

I STRONGLY hold the line on new 1ar/2nr/2ar arguments; I will confidently default to not evaluating a new rebuttal argument.

Historical analysis and demonstrably deep/nuanced knowledge of your argument is very, very persuasive for me.

I'm much better for straight-up policy debates than you think I am.

k stuff I'm particularly familiar with: triple o, foucault, queer theory, postcoloniality & decoloniality, hillman, berlant, Nietzsche, lacan, fanon

I will buy your internal link turns to framework if that's the best way your aff interacts with the topic - you don't HAVE to impact turn framework if you don't want to.

This is a thing now I guess: if a question is asked in cx but there’s not enough time to answer, you can ask the cx-ing team if they’d like to use their own prep time to answer it. Do it fast. Then that’s it. I have gotten bored and am not listening anymore. Example: the 1A shouldn’t continue cxing the 1N during the entire span of 2AC prep, but the 1N CAN say "would you like to use your prep for me to answer the question" if the question was asked before the timer went off.

Don't say things are postmodern when they're not postmodern. pet peeve. "Postmodern" does not mean "confusing."

Also I hate when people say stuff like "no perm bc it's a method debate" or "fiat solves the link" or "perm shields the link to midterms" with no explanation. That's not an argument. I'm not writing it down.

The perm doesn't need a net benefit to win the debate because it's a test of competition. It doesn't even need a card explaining why it's possible (although having one doesn't hurt).

You can get my vote on "neg gets one unconditional option."

I only say "clear" twice (per person).

Colin Redman Hire 3 rounds

Devon Reese Robert McQueen 3 rounds

Last changed on Wed January 3, 2024 at 11:35 AM PDT

mcqspeechanddebate@gmail.com

37th year in the activity; lawyer and elected official these days…

Issues:

-I vote for things that I don't like, the debate is yours to make what you will. That does not mean I have no opinions.

-T: compare evidence and impact T like a DA.

-Things I am unlikely to vote for: ticky-tacky debate; Inherency, "speed kills", claims without warrants, poorly debated T violations, "multiple perms bad".

Read a topical plan----------------------X--------------------say anything

Tech-----------------x-------------------------Truth

Usually some risk---------x---------------------------------Zero Risk

Conditionality Good--------------------X----------------------Conditionality Bad

States CP Good------X------------------------------------States CP Bad

Process CPs------------------X------------------------Ew Process CPs

Competing off immediacy/certainty---------------x---------------------------No

Politics DAs are a thing-------------------x-----------------------Good Politics DAs are a thing

Reasonability-----------------------------------x-------Competing Interps

Limits-----------------x-------------------------Aff Ground

Read every card----------x--------------------------------Read no cards

Lots of evidence--------------------------------------x----Lots of good evidence

Judge Kick---------------------x---------------------Stuck with the CP

Reject the Team--------------X----------------------------Reject the Arg

CPs need cards--------------------------------------x----Smart CPs can be cardless

Competition is based off the plan----x--------------------------------------Neg gets to define the plan

Fiat solves circumvention---------------x---------------------------Trump's President

K alts need to do something-------------------------------X-----------but you're asking the wrong question

K links about the plan---------------X---------------------------K links about a broad worldview

Have fun and be kind.

Alyssa Resar The Harker School 3 rounds None

Chris Roberds Salpointe Catholic High School 3 rounds

Last changed on Fri April 7, 2023 at 6:50 AM CDT

BACKGROUND:

Please include the following emails in email chains: ccroberds@spsmail.org and khsemailchain@gmail.com - sometimes my spsmail account is really slow in receiving emails. I honestly prefer speechdrop, but email is ok if that's your norm or what your coach prefers. My least favorite option is the file share.

I am the debate coach at Kickapoo High School in Missouri. I have been involved in policy debate since 1994 as a student and/ or coach. The 2022-23 topic marks my 27th. I have coached in very critical circuits (one round with a plan read by any team in an entire year), very community judge oriented circuits (that don't allow CPs or Ks), TOC qualifying circuit, ELL circuits, and combinations of all circuits. If you have questions, please email ccroberds@spsmail.org

Update - 1/20 - a note about prepping your speech before you speak

My expectation is that you send out a doc BEFORE you speak that includes the evidence AND analytics that you intend to read in the speech if they are typed up. They should also be in the order that you are going to speak them. It is an accessibility issue. If you type them up in the round, that's one thing - but if they are your blocks (or your team blocks) they should be sent. This includes AT A MINIMUM the text of perms, the texts of counterplans, the text of interpretations of why you reject a team, etc. Also, if you choose to just randomly jump around in a document please know that it will dramatically impact your speaks. Nobody is as good at flowing in online debates as we are in person, having the doc and reading it in order helps improve the activity.

Important norms to keep tournaments running on time

Please show up to the room to establish email chains/ speechdrop, disclose the 1ac/ past 2nrs, do tech checks, etc. AS SOON AS POSSIBLE after pairings have been released (read at least 20 minutes prior assuming pairings come out 30 minutes prior to round). The 1ac should start when the pairing says unless there is a tournament related reason. Once you get to the room and do tech check, feel free to use the rest of the time to prep, etc. If it's an in person tournament, please show up when the pairings get released, set up an email chain or speechdrop, disclose the 1ac/ past 2nrs, and then go prep - just come back to the room before the round is supposed to start. If you can't get to the room for some reason, it is your responsibility to email me and the other team to let us know.

Please know that if you don't do this, it will negatively effect your speaker points by .5. Choosing to show up late makes tournaments run behind and gives unfair advantages to teams with multiple coaches (I have to be here to judge and coach my team - if you choose to be late, I assume it's because you're getting extra coaching which gives you an unfair advantage over teams whose coaches are judging).

Cliff's Notes Version (things to do in the 10 minutes before the round):

- As long as we are online, please make sure you are adding intentional breaks between arguments. These can be verbal or non-verbal but they are necessary to make sure flowing is happening from the oral arguments instead of just from the speech doc. As an example, clearly say the word "next" or "and" after each card/ subpoint/ etc. or slow down for the tags to where there is a noticeable difference between the card or warrants and the next tag. This is one of those things that the technology just isn't as good as being face-to-face, but it may make debate better down the line.

- Disclose on the wiki pre-round unless you are breaking a new case. I can be persuaded, relatively easily, that this is a voting issue (this is not about small details in the case, but overall picture). Once a case is broken, please put it up as soon as possible. If you read it at last tournament and haven't found time to put it up, that's a problem. Also, at a minimum, the negative should be posting their main off case positions. Before the round, the aff and neg should both know what the opponent is reading as a case and what positions they have gone for at the end of debates on the negative. Having coached at a small and economically disprivileged school most of my life, the arguments against disclosure literally make no sense to me.

- I like politics a lot more than Ks - My perfect generic 2NR is politics and an agent CP. The best way to win a K in front of me is to argue that it turns case and makes case impossible to solve.
- I don't like cheap shots - I think plan flaws are a reason to ask questions in the CX or pre-round. Make debate better.
- K Framework - I prefer to do policy making. However, you need to answer the project if they run it.
- Cheating CPs - I don't like backfile check type CPs (veto cheato) or "I wrote this for fun" CPs (consult Harry Potter/ Jesus). I do like topic agent CPs (like have China do the plan, have the private sector do the plan).

- Link vs Uniqueness - Uniqueness determines the direction of the link - if it is not gonna pass now, there is no way the link can make it pass less.

- Cross-ex is always open unless another judge objects.
- Be Nice and FLOW!

High School Policy Specifics:

- I know that the last couple of topics don't have core stable offense for the neg. This definitely makes the neg more intuitively persuasive to me on questions of topicality and on the threshold that I need for the negative to win some kind of a link. I don't like CPs that aren't tied to topic specific literature. This includes, but is not limited to, contrived fiat tricks designed to garner net-benefits. This includes NGA, ConCon, etc. It doesn't mean I won't vote for it, it just means my threshold for aff theory, etc. is really low. If you are choosing between a CP that I have listed above and a disad with a less than ideal link (not no link, just less than ideal), it would be more persuasive to me to read the disad.

Here is a crystalized version of this stolen from Will Katz but it explains what I think about contrived CPs - "I am over contrived process cp's. If you don't have aff/topic specific evidence for your cp, I probably won't care if the aff's perm is intrinsic. If you don't have evidence about the plan, why does the aff's perm only have to be about the plan?"

I am a high school coach who tends to be at TOC tournaments about 3/4 of the time and local tournaments (with community judges) the other 1/4. However, I do cut a lot of cards, coach at camps, and think about the topic a lot which means that I have a pretty good grip on the topic. This means I may not know the intricacies of how your particular argument may functions in the high school environment you are competing in right now.

High School LD Specifics:

My default is that I don't need a value and value crit. in order to vote for you. However, I can be persuaded that it is needed. If the affirmative reads a particular interpretation of the topic (i.e. they read a plan) then, absent theory arguments about why that's bad, that becomes the focus of the debate. If the affirmative does not read a plan then the negative can still read disadvantages and PICs against the entirety of the topic. I don't terribly love NRs and 2ARs that end with a series of voting issues. Most of the time you are better off using that time to explain why the impacts to your case outweigh your opponent's case as opposed to describing them as voting issues. If you are going to make an argument in the NC that there is a different framework for the debate than what the affirmative explains in the AC, you need to make sure you fully develop that position. Framework functions very differently in LD compared to policy so make sure your blocks are written out for that reason.

I'm not a big fan of a big theory pre-empt at the end of the 1ac. I think the aff case is the time when you should be making most of your offensive arguments and most of the time theory is set up to be defensive. This is particularly silly to me when the aff has more time in rebuttals than the neg does anyway.

NFA LD Specifics:

I am relatively new to this format of debate but I like it a lot. I think debate should be viewed through a policy framework in this style of debate, but I can be persuaded out of this belief. However, if your main strategy is to say that the rules of NFA are problematic or that you shouldn't have to weigh the case and the DA, then I think you fighting an uphill battle.

Also, given the limited number of speeches, I tend to err on the side of starting aff framework as early as possible (probably the AC). This is mostly to protect the aff since if it's not brought up until the 2ac/ 1ar it is possible for the NR to straight turn it and leave the 2ar in an unwinnable position.

In Depth Stuff:

GENERAL-
I tend to prefer policy oriented discussions over kritikal debates but I will be happy to evaluate whatever you want to run. My favorite debates come down to a clash between specific arguments on the flow of the advantages and disadvantages. On theory you should number or slow down your tags so that I get the clash. I can flow your speed if it is clear, but if you want me to get the 19 reasons why conditionality is a bad practice you should slow down to a speed I can flow the blips. That said, I tend to prefer fast debate to slow debates that ultimately don't point to the resolution of the topic.
Read warrants in your evidence. Full sentences are how people speak. They have things like nouns, verbs, and prepositions. Please make sure that your evidence would make sense if you were reading it slowly.
If the round is close, I tend to read a decent amount of evidence after the round if there is a reason to do so. If you want me to call for a specific card please remind me in the 2nr/ 2ar.
Also please give reasons why your offense turns their offense besides "war causes x."

SPECIFICS-

Disclosure theory note:

I have a VERY low threshold on this argument. Having schools disclose their arguments pre-round is important if the activity is going to grow / sustain itself. Having coached almost exclusively at small, underfunded, new, or international schools, I can say that disclosure (specifically disclosure on the wiki if you are a paperless debater) is a game changer. It allows small schools to compete and makes the activity more inclusive. There are three specific ways that this influences how ballots will be given from me:

1) I will err negative on the impact level of "disclosure theory" arguments in the debate. If you're reading an aff that was broken at a previous tournament or on a previous day and is not on the wiki (assuming you have access to a laptop and the tournament provides wifi), you will likely lose if this theory is read. There are two ways for the aff to "we meet" this in the 2ac - either disclose on the wiki ahead of time or post the full copy of the 1ac in the wiki as a part of your speech. Obviously, some grace will be extended when wifi isn't available or due to other extenuating circumstances. However, arguments like "it's just too much work," "I don't like disclosure," etc. won't get you a ballot.

2) The neg still needs to engage in the rest of the debate. Read other off case positions and use their "no link" argument as a reason that disclosure is important. Read case cards and when they say they don't apply or they aren't specific enough, use that as a reason for me to see in round problems. This is not a "cheap shot" win. You are not going to "out-tech" your opponent on disclosure theory. To me, this is a question of truth. Along that line, I probably won't vote on this argument in novice, especially if the aff is reading something that a varsity debater also reads.

3) If you realize your opponent's aff is not on the wiki, you should make every possible attempt before the round to ask them about the aff, see if they will put it on the wiki, etc. I understand that, sometimes, one teammate puts all the cases for a squad on the wiki and they may have just put it under a different name. To me, that's a sufficient example of transparency (at least the first time it happens). If the aff says it's a new aff, that means (to me) that the plan text and/ or advantages are different enough that a previous strategy cut against the aff would be irrelevant. This would mean that if you completely change the agent of the plan text or have them do a different action it is new; adding a word like "substantially" or "enforcement through normal means" is not. Likewise, adding a new "econ collapse causes war" card is not different enough; changing from a Russia advantage to a China, kritikal, climate change, etc. type of advantage is. Even if it is new, if you are still reading some of the same solvency cards, I think it is better to disclose your previous versions of the aff at a minimum.

4) At tournaments that don't have wifi, this should be handled by the affirmative handing over a copy of their plan text before the round.

5) If you or your opponent honestly comes from a circuit that does not use the wiki (e.g. some UDLs, some local circuits, etc.), I will likely give some leeway. However, a great use of post-round time while I am making a decision is to talk to the opponent about how to upload on the wiki. If the argument is in the round due to a lack of disclosure and the teams make honest efforts to get things on the wiki while I'm finishing up my decision, I'm likely to bump speaks for all 4 speakers by .2 or .5 depending on how the tournament speaks go.

Topicality- I believe the affirmative should affirm the topic and the negative should negate the plan. It is fairly difficult to convince me that this is not the appropriate paradigm for the affirmative to operate under. The best way to think about topicality in front of me is to think about it as drawing lines or a fence. What does debate look like for a season when the negative wins the topicality argument vs. what does it look like when the affirmative wins. Affirmatives that push the bounds of the topic tend to be run more as the season progresses so the negative should be thinking through what the affirmative justifies if their interpretation because the standard for the community. This also means that there is no real need to prove real or potential *problems in the debate.

If the affirmative wants to win reasonability then they should be articulating how I determine what is reasonable. Is it that they meet at least one of the standards of the neg's T shell? Is it that there is a qualified source with an intent to define that thinks they are reasonable? Is it that there is a key part of the topic literature that won't get talked about for the season unless they are a topical affirmative?

If you want me to vote on Topicality the 2nr (or NR in LD) should be that. Spending less than the entire 2nr on a theoretical issue and expecting me to vote on it is absurd. I would only vote neg in that world if the affirmative is also badly handling it.

Counterplans- I love counterplans. I typically believe the negative should be able to have conditional, non-contradicting advocacies but I can be persuaded as to why this is bad. Typically this will need to be proven through some type of specific in round problem besides time skew. I think that the permutations should be more than "perm: do both, perm: do the plan, perm: do the CP."

Kritiks- I am not as deep on some of this literature as you are. You should take the time in CX or a block overview to explain the story of the K. Performance style debate is interesting to me but you will have to explain your framework from the beginning. I probably tend to be more easily swayed by the framework arguments about clash compared to exclusion. I will tend to default to preferring traditional types of debate.

Politics- I like good politics debates better than probably any other argument. I like interesting stories about specific senators, specific demographics for elections d/as, etc. With this being said, I would rather see a fully developed debate about the issue. I tend to evaluate this debate as a debate about uniqueness. Teams that do the work tend to get rewarded.

My perfect debate- Without a doubt the perfect round is a 2nr that goes for a pic (or advantage cp with case neg) and a politics d/a as a net benefit.

*Questions of "abuse" - This is a soapbox issue for me. In a world of significant actual abuse (domestic abuse, child abuse, elder abuse, bullying, etc.), the use of the word to describe something as trivial as reading a topical counterplan, going over cross-x time by 3 seconds, or even not disclosing seems incredibly problematic. There are alternative words like problematic, anti-educational, etc. that can adequately describe what you perceive to be the issue with the argument. Part of this frustration is also due to the number of times I have heard debaters frustrate community judges by saying they were abused when the other team read an argument they didn't like. Please don't use this phrase. You can help make debate better.

Paperless and speaker point stuff-
I used to debate in a world where most people had their evidence on paper and the one thing that I believe has been lost through that is that people tend to look more at the speech doc than listening to the debate. I love paperless debate, just make sure that you are focusing on the speech itself and not relying exclusively on the document that the other team has sent you. Flowing well will often result in improved speaker points.

If you are using an online format to share evidence (e.g. speechdrop or an email chain), please include me in the loop. If you are using a flashdrive, I don't need to see it.

I don't expect teams to have analytics on the speech document (but if you are asked by your opponent for equity or accessibility reasons to have them there, please do so). I do expect teams to have every card, in order, on the speech document. If you need to add an additional card (because you've been doing speed drills), that's fine - just do it at the end of the speech.

If you let me know that your wiki is up to date including this round (both aff and neg) and send me the link, I'll also bump speaker points by .2.

Masks stuff for in person (last updated 4/7/23)

COVID and other diseases are still real. If I'm feeling at all under the weather, I will wear a mask. I ask you to do the same. All other things being equal, you are free to debate with or without a mask. However, if you are asked to wear a mask by an opponent or judge who is also wearing a mask, and you choose not to, it is an auto-loss with the lowest speaker points that I am allowed to give. This is a safety issue.

Along those lines, with the experiences that many have gone through in the last year, please don't make arguments like "death good," "disease good," etc. While there may be cards on those things, they very violent for many people right now. Please help make debate a safe space for people who are coming out of a very difficult time.

Adit Sakthi Hamilton High School 6 rounds

Last changed on Fri January 5, 2018 at 4:34 AM MST

aditsakthi99@gmail.com for the email chain

TL;DR

Note: Please explain your acronyms.
Quality > Quantity. It's your debate, debate what you want. K's are fine. T/FW is alright, just make sure to impact everything especially in the 2nr and 2ar. I hate tag line extensions and wont give much weight to those args. Be understandable, do clash for me, do the work for me. I won't flow CX, but I listen to it and it is binding. Flashing isn't prep. Debate well, don't be mean, don't be offensive, respect each other.
I would also like a copy of the speech doc based on past issues with clipping and power tagging.

Speaker Points

27-28: mediocre
28-28.5: good
28.5-29.5: very good
29.5-30: excellent

Specific Arguments

Debated for Hamilton High School. 2A for first year, then double 2's for the last 2 years

Affirmatives--Any style or way you want to present your affirmative is fine with me, just be sure you can justify it. I ran a Heidegger K aff (now realizing that it's shit) in my last year, but as I said before please justify methodology throughout the round especially 2ar.

Case--Try not to contradict here; however, if you can contextualize your arguments well to the affirmative case debate, it is very impressive to see. Try to avoid making this debate "not my [insert some author]" and actually have a contextualized debate here. Line by line analysis as opposed to long generic overviews are preferred.

Counterplans--You must have a good analysis of how you resolve the net benefit of the CP if you're going for it. Neg must explain how they are competitive and should be preferred over the affirmative. Evidence should be good and actually say what you want it to say if you want me to vote for you.

Disads--Any kind of DA is chill, do good impact comparison. Tell me why I should care.

Kritik-- I think K's are good as long as you can explain them well. If you are personally passionate about an argument, and it shows your speaker points will likely be higher (this goes for affirmatives as well). My go to K against K affs was cap. Regardless of what kind of critical argument you read, I will NOT do the work for you. Tell me what your K is, why it matters, and why I should vote for you. K's should not be a sketchy attempt to dodge clash, find a way to clash with your opponent and make the debate productive for everyone. I won't kick the alt for you.

T/FW--I treat framework debates like I would any topicality debate. Be sure to impact out anything you go for otherwise I'll probably prefer their impacts. If against a non-traditional affirmative try to provide an interpretation where they could still raise there issue, and not out right exclude them. It will be an uphill battle if you come in with the "non-traditional affirmative are wrong" mindset. Otherwise treat T/FW like a DA, I want to see how they link, what that does, why that's bad, and why I should care. This being said, I would much rather prefer educational standards over fairness args.

Theory--I like thoery but you have to be able to prove some kind of abuse in round. I have a higher thershold for potential abuse. Give me examples of how they violate and how that is effecting you. Again I prefer educational impacts to fairness. When reading theory, you have to slow down. I take theory seriously and need to catch everything.

Joel Sannes Chandler Preparatory Academy 4 rounds

Alan Santos June Jordan 3 rounds

Manav Sevak Hire 6 rounds

Last changed on Tue May 1, 2018 at 11:21 AM EDT

8 years of CX experience. Debated for 4 years at Chandler High School and previously coached for them (Chandler CS) and Milton High School (Milton HH & Milton FM). I used to be a 2N but I have experience being a 2A as well. Grilled cheese enthusiast.

Last Updated: Westminster 2017

General Notes

Anything that's argued and debated well goes
Don't try to talk faster than you're thinking - clarity is key if you're speaking fast
Clearly outline why you win the ballot in the 2NR/2AR. Judge intervention isn't fun/cool
Actual warrant extensions > quick blips
Tech > Truth
Comfortable with non-traditional/performance stuff as long as it's within the bounds of sanity (whatever that means)
Flashing isn't prep; don't steal prep

Speaker Points

These vary from round to round because of subjectivity but I'm relatively lenient compared to most judges. 30.0 is rare (only once).
28.2 - 28.6 = Average
28.7 - 29.1 = Above average/good speaker
29.2 - 29.5 = Good enough for elims
29.6 - 29.9 = Late elims

Rather than taking away points for poor debating, I much more often reward them for nifty tricks/good strategy. That being said:

Aggressiveness =/= rudeness. Make a point but be respectful in the process. We're all part of the same community.
I'll pay attention to CX and strategic ones will be awarded.
Numbering arguments (starting from the 2AC) will be rewarded with an extra 0.2 points. It will help you organize your flows and naturally increase the clarity/organization of your speeches.
Clash is crucial for high speaks and wins.
Jokes/humor in speeches are encouraged but please don't spend your entire speech making puns. On that note, jokes about the Seattle Seahawks = +0.1. Also, jokes about Chandler High or Milton High debate squads = +0.2.

Specifics

Case --- I highly value research and think well made case negs are the most damaging. Make sure case arguments are frictional with your off case impacts or CP solvency. No, neg flex, while tolerable, is not the only or best answer to contradictions across flows. Compared to most judges, I am more willing to vote on just case if it's well debated and there's some solid offense.

Counterplans --- I think case-specific PICs are strategic. I'm not a big fan of consult CPs (or anything with an artificial net benefit) or CPs that compete solely on a solvency differential. It's not that they're bad, but really, they're bad. 2NR needs to have good solvency mechanism articulation and comparative analysis between the CP/aff.

Disads --- The more specific, the better. Disads are wonderful if they're specific. I very much enjoy and hope to hear good link articulation in context of the aff. I think disad-specific case arguments are incredibly beneficial at framing and winning a debate. I've warmed up to the politics disad quite a bit recently. I'm somewhat skeptical of the link debate on politics, but that's likely a side effect of not seeing it done well recently. My preference on politics links are also a personal belief that doesn't have a bearing on my decision - if you think you can do a good/winning job with it, roll with it.

Kritiks/Non-Traditional Affs --- Hype. I'm fairly well-versed with critical literature and read a decent amount while I debated. Throughout my career, I leaned left three out of four years reading soft left and hi-theory affs. I think there is a lot of strategic and educational value to reading these arguments and they can have tremendous impact both in debate and in larger communities if executed correctly. I think a bigger and bigger problem with kritiks is that they're being read more often but not explained with the level of detail they ought to be. Many rounds tend to have close to no explanation of what a post-alternative/post-affirmative world looks like or what the alternative/aff actually does, which puts me in a pickle (I like pickles too) in terms of understanding what I am voting for. I frame Ks through the framework debate but the aff should be able to weigh their justifications - I won't kick the alt for you and I really hope there's an explanation of how the alt resolves the impacts to the K. Dropping swanky/famous last names =/= giving an explanation of ideology/methodology. Please don't just read overviews or pre-written arguments for the full speech, be creative and clash in the context of the debate. While my voting record historically leans left, I have a relatively high threshold for solvency explanations and round-specific articulation.

T/FW --- Sure! I'll evaluate it just as fairly as I would any other argument. I think these debates can be very educationally and strategically valuable but have to be executed correctly (which rarely happens). The biggest problem with teams reading T/Framework is that it isn't impacted well in the context of the aff and I end up being confused as to why I should vote for the argument/why one model of debate is better/whether education or fairness comes first/what education matters/what abuse has taken place (e.g. "we lose links to the spending DA" isn't a substantial enough reason to vote neg). Historically, my voting record is not in favor of FW but that doesn't mean you won't pick up my ballot if you read it.

Theory --- It's aight. In addition to utilizing it as a voting issue, I like teams that couple their theory with other arguments to justify/extrapolate key arguments to give them the edge on contested issues. I have a high threshold on using theory as a reason to vote aff/neg; give me a compelling reason (more than just a blip) why I should reject the team. In most cases, it's just a reason to reject an argument or not a team but if you do enough work on it, you most definitely may be able to convince me otherwise. Please please please make sure you give some example of abuse, i.e. specific models of debate/in-round, or have solid proof for your violation and have a logical impact in conjunction with that.

If you can't find the answer to something here, default to Adam Symond's wiki. He was one of the best lab leaders I had and my philosophy aligns with his for the most part.

If you have any questions before/after the round and still don't know the answer, shoot me an email: mnvsevak97@gmail.com.

Catherine Shackelford Sky View 6 rounds

Last changed on Sat February 15, 2020 at 8:19 AM EDT

Please include me on the email chain: jdutdebate@gmail.com

Do what you do best. I’m comfortable with all arguments. Practice what you preach and debate how you would teach. Strive to make it the best debate possible. I reward self-awareness, clash, good research, humor, and bold decisions. I will not tolerate language or behaviors that create a hostile environment. Please include trigger warnings for sexual violence. Feel free to ask me any questions you have before the round.

Specific things:

Speed - I'm comfortable with speed but please recognize that if you're reading typed blocks that are not in the speech doc at the same speed you are reading cards, there's a chance I will miss something because I can't flow every word you're saying as fast as you can say them. Slow down just a bit for what you want me to write down or include your blocks in the doc. I will say "clear" if you are not clear.

Topicality- I enjoy good topicality debates. To me good topicality debates are going to compare impacts and discuss what interp of the topic is going to be better for the debate community and the goals that are pursued by debaters.The goals and purpose of debate is of course debatable and can help establish which impacts are more important than others so make sure you're doing that work for me.

Counterplans- I enjoy creative counterplans best but even your standard ones will be persuasive to me if there is a solid solvency advocate and net-benny.

Theory - In-round abuse will always be far more persuasive to me than merely potential abuse and tricksy interps. I expect more than just reading blocks.

K- I really enjoy a good critical debate. Please establish how your kritik interacts with the affirmative and/or the topic and what that means for evaluating the round in some sort of framework. Authors and buzzwords alone will not get you very far even if I am familiar with the literature. I expect contextual link work with a fully articulated impact and alternative. If your K does not have an alternative, I will weigh it as a DA (that's probably non-unique).

Performance - All debate is a performance and relies on effective communication. If you are communicating to me a warranted argument, I do not care how you are presenting it.

Hannah Shoell Bingham 5 rounds

Last changed on Fri March 29, 2019 at 8:15 AM PDT

I'm an assistant coach at The Harker School where I coach primarily Speech and Congress. I have been a head coach of a full service high school program, currently I'm a law student and mom. I did Policy in high school and college. If you've got specific questions for me that this paradigm doesn't cover, I'm happy to answer any and all of them before the round.

POLICY:

Counterplans- Do your thing with counterplans. So long as there's a net benefit they're all fine with me. I do prefer creative/specific counterplans to generic ones, but I would rather see a well-developed generic CP debate than a shallow but aff-specific CP debate.

Disads- Be up-to-date on your uniqueness. If you're going to go for just a disad in the 2nr, make sure you win at least some case defense as well. I will vote for that kind of a 2nr.

Kritiks- I love a good K (and by "good" I mean well-explained and well-debated). Explain your alternative. I am least familiar with postmodern criticisms, so those may require a little more explanation in front of me, that being said I am comfortable judging those debates.

K-Affs- I love these a lot. Please run them in front of me. I'm open to whatever you want to run here. As far as the plan text/advocacy statement issue goes, I have no opinion. You want to run an aff without a text, go for it, I'll vote for it.

Performance- Same as K affs. Just please run it well. Affirmative or Negative, perform your heart out. Please don't be abrasive in these debates, I've seen too many performance debates go bad, I don't care to see any more. There's nothing better than a good performance debate, and there's nothing worse than a bad performance debate.

Theory/T- I don't love to vote on these, but I'll vote the way you tell me to vote. That said, in order for me to vote for theory and T, you need to win in-round abuse or that potential abuse is the absolute worst thing that has ever happened to debate.

Framework

Negative - I really enjoy K affs and identity affs and I generally think that they belong in debate (or at the very least they have a positive impact on debate) so framework may be uphill battle in front of me. However feel free to read it in front of me because despite my love for weird affs, I definitely see the strategic benefit of framework and I do think that it is a key part of neg ground.

Affirmative - I am generally more persuaded by "weigh the aff" interps as opposed to "the squo or competitive policy option" interps. I think that the K belongs in debate. It will be very hard to get me to vote for framework against a K, but that's not to say that I won't vote for it if you win it. I think that your time is better spent substantively answering the K.

Speaker Points Scale - I'll do my best to adhere to the following, unless otherwise instructed by a tournament's invite:

30-You sound as good as or better than Morgan Freeman, you have the eloquence of Shakespeare. You could convince the Pope that God doesn't exist.

29.5-This is the best speech I will hear at this tournament, and probably at the following one as well.

29-I expect you to get a speaker award.

28.5-You're clearly in the top third of the speakers at the tournament.

28-You're around the upper middle (ish area)

27.5-You need some work, but generally you're doing pretty well

27-You need some work

26.5-You don't know what you're doing at all

26 and lower-you've done something ethically wrong or obscenely offensive that is explained on the ballot.

Pet Peeves

1) starting off full speed. Unless I have judged you before, start off at around 70-80% then work your way up to however fast you want to go.

2) Being rude to your opponent. Be aggressive, be assertive, just don't be offensive or demeaning.

3) Don't argue with my decision, I'm not going to change my mind. That said, ask all the questions you want, I'm more than happy to answer them.

4) "Extinction" is not a tag.

Some other stuff

I'm fine with speed.

Impact comparison is important. "Two ships that passed in the dark" debates are extremely frustrating; good impact comparison is a way to avoid that.

I listen to cross-x, but I don't generally flow it as closely as I flow a speech, so if you want to bring up something from cross-x, reference it specifically.

I prefer excellent debating over excellent evidence; I think that cards should be used to back up an argument, not as a replacement for one. On a similar note, I'm not a fan of card-dumps, but I understand their utility.

I really dislike calling for cards, so I probably won't.

If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask me in person or email me at hannahsodekirk@gmail.com

Nikpreet Singh Hire 6 rounds

Last changed on Thu January 3, 2019 at 4:12 PM MST

TL;DR
Quality > Quantity. Explain arguments. FW/T debates need proven abuse and a deep standards debate. Use theoretical and substantive framework properly. 2AR/2NR needs to clash, weigh arguments, and tell me what I should be evaluating on my ballot. CX is binding. Flashing isn't prep. Don't be offensive. Don't be an ass to anyone or your speaks will suffer. My face is usually pretty expressive during rounds. Other than that, have a good time, I'm fairly lenient.

Background Info
I debated for four years at Chandler HS, AZ (3 CX/1 LD). I was the 2A/1N. Read Nietzsche and Marx a lot. I enjoy debaters who use the debate space as a space for education, empowerment, and growth, but the better debater wins. I'm a pretty versatile judge.

Speaker Points
27.7 - 28.2 = Mediocre.
28.3 - 28.7 = Good.
28.8 - 29.5 = Very Good.
29.5 - 29.8 = Impressed.
Be aggressive, not mean. I'll give an extra speaker point if you (successfully) make fun of these people: Tanzil Chowdhury, Manav Sevak, or Rohit Rajan.

Specifics
Counterplans
Need a good analysis of how the perm resolves the net benefit of the CP. Consult CP's are bad. Neg needs to explain the competitiveness of the CP well. Theory is usually insubstantial unless it's dropped. CP cards should be really good, and there needs to be comparative analysis from aff and neg. I enjoy PICs.
Disads
Impact scenario needs to be well explained. Any DA works for me, but there needs to be a lot of link/internal link work done to win it.
Case
I'll get mad if you just read an OV and then a bunch of cards on case and move on. Use the cards from the 1AC on the line by line and articulate your thoughts and read new cards when necessary. If I'm not able to explain your argument by the end of the 2AR, then you didn't do a good job. My threshold for case negs is lower, but if you go for case they also need to be explained well in the block.
Kritiks/Non-Traditional Affs
This is what I spent most of debate doing. If you just vomit a bunch of buzz words without explanation I'm not going to like/understand the argument and I'm going to give the other team a lot of leeway in their rebuttals. If you're able to explain your aff powerfully and concisely, I'm down to listen to anything. I enjoy smart 2AR tricks. For the neg, the same explanation standards apply. Tell me what the alt looks like, and I won't kick it for you if you're going for it as a case turn in the 2NR.
T/FW
I need to know why T/FW is a better model of debate than what the aff offers. I'm probably not going to vote on potential abuse. K affs should provide substantial DA's to the negs interpretation. Know the difference between substantive and theoretical framework (state engagement key vs. debate needs rules), and explain your standards accordingly. I default to competing interpretations.
Theory
Sure. In addition to utilizing it as a voting issue, I like teams that couple their theory with other arguments to justify/extrapolate key arguments to give them the edge on contested issues. I have a high threshold on using theory as a reason to vote aff/neg; give me a compelling reason (more than just a blip) why I should reject the team. In most cases, it's just a reason to reject an argument but if you do enough work on it, you may be able to convince me otherwise. Make sure you give some example of abuse, i.e. specific models of debate/in-round. I don't like disclosure theory.

You can catch ya boy @ nikpreet45@gmail.com

Maria Skala South Anchorage High School 6 rounds

Last changed on Wed February 7, 2024 at 11:38 PM AKDT

This paradigm was written for POLICY and the thing to understand is that I see clear differences between the items needed in each format. To see how I view PF or LD find them towards the end of the flow. Following are the things that matter in terms of how I judge policy. At the end, I will provide some guidance when you see me as a Public Forum judge and add some Lincoln Douglas comments as well.

Speed- I will tolerate reasonable speed but if it is so fast that I cannot flow it, the argument did not happen and you lose speaker points and perhaps the debate. Be clear, enunciate all syllables, and do not attempt to use extreme speed to intimidate an opponent because if your opponent cannot flow it then it is likely I cannot either. If you do not see me flowing, you lost me and this is not a good thing. In the vernacular of my generation, Speed kills.

Performatives- I have yet to see one that convinced me that it should win a debate round. If that is your only offense then it indicates to me that you may not have adequately considered the myriad of arguments that could win on this very multi faceted debate topic. I have taught Debate, English Language Arts, US History, Asian History and European History, Government, Economics, and World Mythology. All of these areas provide adequate forays into the current topic.

K Affs- I love a good one. You MUST convince me that your K is not only a valid premise in terms of the topic area but well considered and researched . This being said, I am unlikely to entertain current feminist or racially based K affs that I have seen as they appear to be lacking in a wide range of scholarship and stick to a very few popular sources. If you want to run a feminist arguments, foundations in Sanger, Friedan, Brown, Paul, Anthony, Catt, Wollenstonecraft, Pankhurst, Adams, Addams, Steinem, et al would be a start and beneficial and help to sell me your case. Racial arguments, like the ones I have heard on feminism, should be based in documented materials with a wide range of authors including people like Malcolm X, King, Evers, Mandela, Gandhi, Chavez, Truth, Marshall,Davis, Innis, Hamer, Randolph, Parks, Douglas, Wilkins, and Williams. I am old enough and was active enough in the 1960's and 1970's that many of the arguments appear lacking in historical perspective and scholarship. So you have to give me a really good well researched case for me to buy it . However, all of this being said, human rights issues still generate a myriad of offense and become far more applicable for me to buy IF they are well done.

Language K's and claims- Like the K's above they have to be substantive and real world impacted. The PC culture tends to be poorly received in the real world that the middle class and lower middles class inhabit. Having my background steeped in this, unless I can see that you have real world examples and solvency, it is a tough sell. Real world environments tend to mirror Hobbs more than anyone else....cold, brutish and dark. Just beware that I am unlikely to entertain a case that has little real relationship to the real world. Academia is fun but business and government where policy lives in the real world exhibits far less esoteric concerns. I have inhabited both worlds thus will err on the side of reality more than anything else.

T arguments can be fun but beware of overly specific definitions such that you leave your opposition with no area in which to maneuver as it might be considered abuse. Mr. Webster and Mr. Thorndyke as well as Mr. Black ought to be sufficient and there is no need to nitpick. It is topical because or non-topical because without grinding the argument into vanilla and soporific areas requiring caffeine to solve.

Civility is a KEY element for me. No rudeness or your speaker points could drop to the very low 20's. I will not tolerate rude, abusive or mean behavior. This is debate and it should be civil and respectful. We are not being broadcast nationally so there is no need to be reflective of what passes for debate in the media.

I do consider recency as this topic lends itself well to a wealth of more current data.

Slow for tag lines...please!

One last word on policy....and this is related to speed. I see no way without speeding beyond anything I will accept to even try to present over 9 off case or on case positions. I have seen people present 12 at which point my pen fell to the floor as there was no way I could reasonably flow it. So, please, be reasonable. Overwhelming a judge is not a good idea. Your opponents will get additional credit if they claim abuse over this. I will give them credit for recognizing reasonability. It is here where your analytical skill can win you the debate. I do not care who you quote to try to justify throwing out this many arguments, they are not me .

Most of all, learn something from your opponents, expand the base of your knowledge and skills and when the serious part of the debate is over, have fun. This is a great activity for everyone and shows our common ground despite the multitude of backgrounds in our population. We can all share ideas, experiences and advance the activity to its highest levels.

I will disclose wins, losses and winning arguments but not speaker points if permitted by the tournament.

PUBLIC FORUM GUIDANCE

As this IS Public Forum I will tell you that I do not want to see K's (aff or neg), Plans, CP's or Performatives. Racism arguments will only work when you do not limit the commentary to racism for ONLY one group when in reality the racism is applicable to multiple ethnicities or minorities. You need to really be making sure that your commentary is civil for everyone. Dirty looks and negative commentary during Cross will certainly not earn you my vote. I happen to favor the Father of our Country in this regard and consider civility to be not just important in this activity but one of the lessons you are supposed to model. Foaming at the mouth and spewing specious rhetoric is not going to be tolerated. No quarter on these things. I also EXPECT to see clash and if there is none then we are not really debating as the definition of debate includes clash always. Have fun and make new friends of your opponents as this is one of the only activities where you can clash and argue in round and be besties out of round. Enjoy!

Lincoln Douglas-ERR on the side of traditional Lincoln Douglas formats. Always tie to your value and value criteria. I do not favor bringing policy argumentation into LD debate. When you run a K you ignore the scope of LD debating which is meant to be more universal and not applicable to any single system of governance or economics. If you run a CP, you must show me where the affirmative is running a plan text. LD does not ask for plans and this should be left to policy debate. No plan, no counter plan..it is basically that simple.

Again civility is a key ingredient to a good debate. I just finished another book on Abraham Lincoln and the development of his speaking style via the experience as a courtroom attorney. As a result, I am not a big fan of progressive debate although I have coached students who did use this successfully and crafted their arguments to be exceptionally cogent. Beware of speed and see above comments on policy to understand how I feel about speed.

One last comment regarding venues where background noise is an issue. Please, please, please be considerate of your judges and your opponents and speak loud enough and clear enough that your arguments can be followed, flowed and examined. This might require that you slow down a bit and project to be heard. If we cannot hear your argument, it cannot get you the credit you obviously deserve.

Good luck, have fun, learn something, and always, make new friends!

Sam Stoffer Hire 3 rounds

Brandon Sumner Brophy College Prep 6 rounds

Last changed on Tue February 6, 2018 at 6:13 AM MST

Brandon Sumner

Brophy College Prep

Arizona State University

Debating Experience:

4 years in high school

Debated briefly at Wake Forest University

Coach at Brophy College Prep

Tldr;

My philosophy shouldn’t change the strategy of the 1ac or the 1nc, all it should do is help the way you frame your arguments in the round. You should run what arguments you want to run/are strategically viable, and at the end of the day if you debate better than your opponent I’ll vote for you.

Logistics:

Tech > truth – I won’t vote on what your evidence says or if your argument is more true real world, I’ll only vote on what is said within the round. Even if I ideologically disagree with everything you’re saying, I’ll vote for you if the other side doesn’t respond to your arugments properly.

Prep time – keep track of your own/your opponents prep time, if you steal prep I’ll drop your speaks heavily so don’t do it. Prep time should stop when the email is sent/flash drive leaves the computer.

Evidence – please include me on the email chain (bsumner16@brophybroncos.org). I will probably read the evidence because I like reading evidence, but it won’t affect my decision unless you tell me to read your evidence because it’s fire and its actually terrible (stop doing that Shikhar)

Speaks – I give 27-30, if you go below 27 its because you were offensive. Best way to get high speaks is to be efficient, clear and have arguments with intention. Beyond that, I like puns and witty one liners about people I know/myself, but those come far after making sure you debate well. Demonstrating mastery of your arguments/the topic climate in cross ex will also boost your speaks.

Speaking style – Any speed/style/form is fine as long as I can understand what you’re saying. I will only say “clear” twice during a speech. After that if I can’t understand what you’re saying I won’t be flowing it. I will not flow off the speech doc.

Argumentative Positions:

Aff -- I read a K aff for 4 years in high school so I’m fine with any form of subversion from the resolution, be it tangential relationships through some critical/identity issue, or performance/high theory rejection of the topic. On the flip side, I have grown to love more traditional policy affirmatives lately, and I think there is a certain ethos to running a big-stick impact and defending your reps. I feel like I might be more qualified to judge “K on K” style debates, but I probably prefer judging a 6+off debate vs a traditional policy aff. Run whatever you want.

Disads – I like good link analysis, and unless the aff is running a lot of “big impacts bad”, “your internal links are bad” or good impact defense, focus more on the link and uniqueness. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t explain your internal link chain, I just think that UQ/Link are easier for the aff to contest than the idea that there is a 0% risk of the disad impact.

Counterplans – I have grown to love counterplans over the last year. Advantage cp’s, pics, multi-plank addons in the 2nc to respond to 2ac addons, generic cps (states), all of them. Uptopian fiat, pics good/bad, solvency advocate requires/not required are all theory debates to be had however, so make sure you answer any theory the aff brings up.

Theory – I’ll vote on theory, and you don’t necessarily need to prove in round abuse. Don’t just read your blocks, I like specific in round examples of how strategies have changed, how the round could have been different, what the aff justifies the neg doing, etc.

Framework – I’m 50-50 on this issue. Probably the best answer to K affs in my opinion, but I was also a 2a against framework for 80% of my high school rounds so I understand how the arguments interact with each other. Please make the distinction between substantive framework and theoretical framework – I am very persuaded by the argument that the neg went for only theoretical fairness and the affs 2ac was an impact turn to substantive framework.

Topicality – Love in depth topicality debate, both sides should describe what their model of debate does for the case list, the neg ground on the topic, and the theoretical implications of their interpretation. This debate, even more so than others, is a tech>truth flow.

K – I have predominately been a K debater, and I’ve read a lot of the literature base for most kritiks on the circuit. For me, you need to win a) the link to the aff and analysis on why the perm doesn’t work and aff doesn’t outweigh b) either win framework or that your alt solves the K/the aff. I won’t judge kick the alt for you unless you tell me to (and aff can answer that pretty easily) but if you win that you don’t need an alt, I will vote on reps/method/unethicality. Explain the thesis of your critique, even if I know the argument well I won’t vote on it unless you explain it well. I prefer the 2NC to be more flow/line by line heavy than your 2.5 minute rhetorical block. The only time I think you should wax poetic is if you have specific historical analysis for root cause/proximate cause or you need to explain the more nuanced parts of your critique that frame the rest of the line by line.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me

Bsumner16@brophybroncos.org

Tarun Suresh Hire 6 rounds

Caleb Vinson Hire 3 rounds

Hayden Warren Bingham 5 rounds

Last changed on Wed February 20, 2019 at 8:30 AM MDT

haydenlw4 [at] gmail. com

Include me in the chain without asking me.

Judge philosophies are terrible to read because they all read the same and aren't true. I will try to make mine as useful as possible by being descriptive of how I think that I differ from the community standards.

Background:

I am the head coach at Bingham HS. I have been involved in high school debate for over a decade. But the fact I am a head coach means that I rarely am actually judging so my flow speed is below average and I will need adjustment at the beginning of rounds. This is true for national circuit debates only. I am still capable of flowing local circuit rounds. This also affects my topic knowledge. I will have some knowledge on the topic but I am thinking about it on a weekly basis not a daily basis.

General

I personally care a lot about politeness. I will start with warnings, then taking tenths of points off speaker points but if the lack of politeness becomes unbearable I will drop the offending team. I will not do any warnings while I am on a panel but I still very much care for politeness.

I try to be a very expressive when I judge. If I'm liking your arguments then I want my face to reflect that so you can adapt on the fly.

DA's

DA and case debates are some of my favorites to judge. I will look first at the link level before the impact level on these debates.

CP's

I am aff biased for cheater cps (consult, process, delay, etc). I try to not buy the negative analysis that "1% risk of a net benefit is a reason to vote neg" for those types of cps. Because of my thoughts on DA's it makes me more willing to vote on perms and defense.

K's

I have less content knowledge of the k's that have become more popular recently. That would be afro-pess and settler colonialism. I will stick to the description of the K that happens in the round. I don't know how poems are arguments. This leads me to barely flow poems.

I like T more than most. I think that if you are good at T my threshold is quite low. But I have noticed myself not voting on T because I didn't think that negative did enough smart work. I enjoy TVA's, perms on T, explaining why the aff does not meet their C/I or are not reasonable. The T debate that I am most persuaded by is accurate descriptions of the flaws of the topic and why your interp helps solve the flaws of the topic.

Theory

If I were to construct rules for debate they would include: 2 conditional worlds, no floating piks, aff's/cp's must have a solvency advocate.

K affs vs T-USfg

My historical tendencies (when I was younger) is towards liking K affs. I still love to listen to a fun k aff 1ac that is very topic specific. But I wasn't very active in debate from 2014-2016. The k aff seems to have proliferated in that time. I have been leaning more towards the negatives fairness claims since I returned. I think that the best way to describe my preferences at the moment is that I am in the middle waiting to be convinced in the round. BUT my voting record is currently leaning towards framework.

Prep:

Prep stops when the email is sent or when the flash drive comes out of the computer. I will give grace period because I understand computers are weird sometimes. But if it takes more than a minute to resolve then I will hate you.

Speaker point scale:

29.5+ — the top speaker at the tournament.

29.3-29.4 — one of the five or ten best speakers at the tournament.

29-29.2 — one of the twenty best speakers at the tournament.

28.8-28.9 — a 75th percentile speaker at the tournament; with a winning record, would barely clear on points.

28.6-28.7 — a 50th percentile speaker at the tournament; with a winning record, would not clear on points.

28.2-28.5 — a 25th percentile speaker at the tournament.

27.9-28.1 — a 10th percentile speaker at the tournament.

To help with speaker point inflation I will give .1 speaker point bonuses for things that I want to reward. These rewards will only happen if you explicitly ask me about them immediately after the round and before my rfd.

Rewards for:

-Good flows.

-Good disclosure practices (great cites / full text).

-Making the debate round pleasant (humor or kindness).

-Utah Jazz and stand-up comedian (Kumail Nanjiani, Hannibal Burress, Eugene Mirman, Bo Burnham, and John Mulaney) references are appreciated.

Thomas Willis Hire 3 rounds

Day Woodruff Chandler Preparatory Academy 6 rounds

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Arizona St Hugh Downs School of Human Comm Invitational

2017 — Tempe, AZ/US

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