La Salle College High School '15

Georgetown University '19

I debated for three years at La Salle. Other than occasionally judging a few rounds, I've been out of the activity for almost five years now. Overall, I'm still familiar with a lot of the activity but I'd be lying if I said I haven't forgotten anything since I left the activity.

General: Read what you are comfortable with. I aim to be as impartial as possible while judging a debate. Make good arguments and I'll vote for you. I'm okay with speed just please be clear. Please be respectful in the debate.

Topicality: I'll vote for topicality but I want to hear a clear interpretation and why that interpretation is good for debate. I think that the neg needs to make good limits/neg ground arguments to win topicality.

Framework and no plan affs: When I debated I often read framework against affs that didn't defend a plan. However, I will vote for a no plan aff if I think you won the debate. Framework + specific case defense is good. I think that good neg arguments should be centered around education and dialogue, not so much fairness.

Counterplans: Case specific counterplans are best. Most likely to vote on advantage CPs and PICs (less for consult/word pics).

Ks: I'm familiar with some of the literature but there will be inevitably be gaps in my knowledge. Please clearly explain the alternative and why I should be voting for it.

Top Level

Former debater (Walter Payton ‘16 and Pitt ‘20) and former coach (Central Catholic high school). No longer actively involved and not familiar with the topic.

luisacusick [at] gmail (put me on the e-mail chain)

I'll do my best to make a decision based solely on the arguments presented in the debate. Your speaker points will benefit from specific and well-researched strategies

Please be kind to your opponents and partner! I am very concerned with the way (esp. national circuit) policy debate trains us to treat other people

Relevant Predispositions

- Condo is good. Counterplan theory depends on the quality of the solvency advocate and my proclivities change from topic to topic
- I default to kicking the counterplan for the neg if they win offense but don't win the counterplan
- Skills and process framework arguments are more persuasive to me than topic education arguments
- I don’t like how little evidence quality matters in policy debates. I wish it were debated more
- It pretty much never makes sense to assign anything 100% risk. Likewise, minimizing an argument's risk to a small enough signal means it's overwhelmed by noise, and that's enough to assign it 0 risk

La Salle College HS:
Policy Debater 2004-2007
Head Coach of Policy Debate, 2012-2016
Head Coach of Speech and Debate, 2016-2023.

As of September 2023, I am no longer actively involved in coaching, but will still judge from time to time.

I have judged debate (mostly policy, but also LD/PF) since 2008. I no longer judge with regularity and while I am fine with speed, etc. I am no longer a judge who does any topic research.

General Debate Thoughts

Policy--------------X------------------------------K
Tech-----------------------------X----------------Truth
Read no cards------------------X-----------------Read all cards
Condo good----X--------------------------Condo bad
States CP good-----------------------X-----------States CP bad
Politics DA is a thing------------X-----------------Politics DA not a thing
Always VTL-X--------------------------------------Sometimes NVTL
UQ matters most--------------------------X------Link matters most
Fairness is a thing----X---------------------------Fairness isn’t an impact
Try or die-------------------------------X----------No risk
Not our Baudrillard-------------------------------X Yes your Baudrillard
Clarity-X--------------------------------------------I’ll just read the docs
Limits--------------------X--------------------------Aff ground
Presumption------X--------------------------------Never votes on presumption
Longer ev--------X---------------------------------More ev
"Insert this re-highlighting"----------------------X-I only read what you read

• You should do what you do best and do it well – I think I am a good judge in that I will allow the arguments to develop themselves, and take the responsibility of the judge being a educator seriously.
• I will not vote on any argument that makes me uncomfortable as an educator. You should ask yourself, if my teachers/administrators were observing, would I make this same argument?
• Speed is fine, but clarity is important. Most debaters could slow down, get more arguments out, and increase judges comprehension.
• Tech>truth; however, when you have tech and truth on your side, it’s hard to lose.

TL;DR:

· Make it clear and easy for me to see why you won and you'll probably win.

With More Words:

I've judged and coached extensively across events but at this point spend more time on the tab side of tournaments than judging.

If you want the ballot, make clear, compelling, and warranted arguments for why you should win. If you don’t provide any framework, I will assume util = trutil. If there is an alternate framework I should be using, explain it, warrant it, contextualize it, extend it.

Generally Tech>Truth but I also appreciate rounds where I don’t hate myself for voting for you. That being said, I firmly believe that debate is an educational activity and that rounds should be accessible. I will not vote for arguments that are intentionally misrepresenting evidence or creating an environment that is hostile or harmful.

I am open to pretty much anything you want to read but, in the interest of full disclosure, I think that tricks set bad communication norms within debate.

General Stuff:

Most of this is standard but I'll say it anyways: Don’t extend through ink and pretend they "didn't respond". In the back half of the debate, make sure your extensions are responsive to the arguments made, not just rereading your cards. If they say something in cross that it is important enough for me to evaluate, make sure you say it in a speech. Line by line is important but being able to step back and explain the narrative/ doing the comparative analysis makes it easier to vote for you.

Weighing is important and the earlier you set it up, the better. Quality over quantity when it comes to evidence-- particularly in later speeches in the round, I'd rather slightly fewer cards with more analysis about what the evidence uniquely means in this specific round. Also, for the love of all that is good and holy, give a roadmap before you start/sign post as you are going. I will be happier; you will be happier; the world will be a better place.

Speed is fine but clarity is essential. Even if I have a speech doc, you'd do best to slow down on tags and analytics. Your speaks will be a reflection of your strategic choices, overall decorum, and how clean your speeches are.

Evidence (PF):

Having evidence ethics is a thing. As a general rule, I prefer that your cards have both authors and dates. Paraphrasing makes me sad. Exchanges where you need to spend more than a minute pulling up a card make me rethink the choices in my life that led me to this round. Generally speaking, I think that judges calling for cards at the end of the round leads to judge intervention. This is a test of your rhetorical skills, not my ability to read and analyze what the author is saying. However, if there is a piece of evidence that is being contested that you want me to read and you ask me to in a speech, I will. Just be sure to contextualize what that piece of evidence means to the round.

A Final Note:

This is a debate round, not a divorce court and your participation in the round should match accordingly. If we are going to spend as many hours as we do at a tournament, we might as well not make it miserable.

Sure, I'd Love to be on the Email Chain: AMurphy4n6@gmail.com

Hello. My name is Akil Patel. I am a beginner parent lay judge. Please slow down when you are speaking. My understanding of debate jargon is limited. My winning decision will be based on presenting the more convincing argument in an organized effective manner. Constantly using judge direction will not help your cause. Just stick to presenting your case. Good luck!

Debated for Whitney Young High School, 2013-2017

Assistant Coach at Lasalle College High School, 2017-Present

Update April 2020 for LD ToC:

I'm usually a policy judge, I don't like phil debates or trix

Basics:

I debated primarily blackness arguments in high school. I am well-versed in traditional afro-pessimism literature like Wilderson/Sexton/Warren, but also debated everything from Black Psychoanalysis, Weheliye, and Black communism to Culp and Will to Tech K’s. That being said, I am a general fan of K’s that are well-run.

It's quite cliche, but debate what's best for you. If you're a Baudrillard team normally, don't read race arguments that you think will appeal to me if they aren’t your strongest. The same can be said for a policy team. Don’t judge adapt unless you think it’s equally as strong a strategy. I would much rather hear you read your heg/econ aff than a relatively undeveloped warming aff.

At the end of the day, unless you do/say something egregious despite my own preference for arguments, I attempt to evaluate more tech than what I personally believe is truth, so do whatever you do well.

I enjoy good cx meaning you have a well prepared set of questions that conceivably have some tie-in to an argument you wish to make in the later debates or help clarify a point. While cx might have some influence on how I frame arguments subconsciously, I won't explicitly assume a cx argument has some impact on the rest of the debate unless you reference it and flag it.

Smart arguments and pointing out how the other team's evidence might not be as strong as initially thought is a plus-- I think it's a skill that is undervalued and will help you gain ethos advantage. Additionally, people sometimes assume that the tag of the evidence is what the card is, but I enjoy debate over the spin of the card whether it's a K link or politics uniqueness card.

DA’s/C-plans:

I’m fine with these. They aren’t my favorite style of debate to judge, but I will be engaged if you do your best to ensure that the strategies are specific and relevant. I would much rather hear specific disads that are case relevant than a generic politics shell and a states counterplan shell. However, I do recognize that midterms and states counterplan are both staples on this topic, so just make sure your block analysis is case relevant

FW (offcase):

Not the biggest fan of this strategy, but I do recognize its popularity in debate. If you’re going for framework, I’ll feel more inclined to vote for your strategy if you attempt to engage the case rather than group their case arguments and say fairness outweighs. What do I mean by engage the case? That could mean anything from reading a cap K with aff specific links, reading case defense, or making your fw shell particular to what the aff has done

K’s:

Big fan if done well but that’s mostly above

K aff’s:

Big fan.

jan_wimmer@yahoo.com

I did policy for 4 years in high school at Loyola. I've judged bid rounds and final rounds in policy and LD. I did parli at Tulane and was an assistant coach at Isidore Newman in New Orleans for a couple of years. I judged a lot between 2011-2015, both in the Louisiana area and at a good few national tournaments.

Tell me how to vote; paint me a picture in your last rebuttal and it will make me very happy. I like being told where and how to vote.

I was a fairly well rounded debater in high school, so I probably have familiarity with most arguments you're reading. My senior year, we went for States CP+Politics most rounds, would read the Cap K almost every round on the neg, and went for conditionality bad about once a tournament on Aff. I also read a Deleuze and Guattari aff before. However, if you're reading a weird K like Badiou that nobody reads, I'm probably not going to know it intuitively. That said, feel free to go for these arguments! I just won't know the lit for more obscure Ks.

If I don't get world of alt or a clear try or die/turns case on the K I'm probably not going to vote for it. Tell me how and where to evaluate pre-fiat impacts and how they interact with the role of the ballot if relevant.

I love good T debates. I love good theory debates. I will not just vote on theory or T just because it is dropped. Impact it like any other argument. I have a lower threshold than most for rejecting arguments due to theory than most. Either in-round abuse or why potential abuse in this specific instance, if you want me to reject team is almost always going to be needed.

Slow down on T and Theory. I hate if I can't flow it.

I think RVIs on theory are generally dumb but will vote on them if impacted well; I think RVIs on T are probably never true but I've voted on them in the past. I have a very low threshold for answering most RVIs.

Don't be that team that spends 6 minutes on case reading defense. Please read offense or some framework-esque reasons why defense should be enough to win. Disads probably shouldn't get 100% risk of link just on the nature of them being dropped, but if you're not calling them out on it, it's way easier for me as a judge to give them more leeway than I perhaps should.

I'm going to be able to understand spreading at any speed, but if your opponent can't understand spreading, slow down so that there's actually a debate so they can actually understand what's going on. Nobody is impressed that you can outspread a novice from a lay circuit; just win on the flow if you're better than them. If you're stupidly fast and it's an online tournament though, slow down, particularly if it's analytics/not in a doc you're sending.

I won't vote on arguments based on out of round stuff besides disclosure theory. I will likely look to drop you if you make any out of round-related arguments besides disclosure theory, which I won't drop anyone for but I'll hate judging it.

I'm fine with tag team and flex prep if both teams are.

Sending ev is off time. Don't prep during sending ev or I will either dock speaks or take off prep time, depending on circumstances. Include me in any email chains

I default to:

Competing Interpretations
Policymaking
Util
T before Theory before K

It is very easy to convince me to vote under some other paradigm though. If you win that I should be a stock issues judge, then I'll be your stock issues judge.

I dislike (but may still vote for):

Really Generic Politics DAs (I love intrinsic perms on politics because I dislike this argument)
Disclosure Theory
Speed Theory debates unless there's a clear need for it
Consult CPs
Tons of AC spikes
Shitty K debates where no one knows what's going on
Severance Perms (I probably won't reject team off of one, though)
People changing their alts or advocacies mid debate without a really good reason (ex: a team dropped reciprocity of conditionality means the aff can read a new plan at any point)
People saying that the opponent dropped an argument when they didn't (I will give you a look and it will affect speaks)
People reading Ks on case and not telling me they're reading a K on case in their overview