I graduated from Norman North in 2019 and OU in 2022 with dual degrees in political science and professional writing. I am an English teacher and debate coach at US Grant High School and a two-time published poet.

From 2012-2019, I competed in PF, LD, Congress, and all IEs. LD and Congress are by far my favorites. I've been to regionals, state, Nats, and TOC.

I have judged in the West OK circuit since January 2023 and was a coach and judge for Norman/Norman North at Nationals 2023.

Being a respectful, charismatic speaker is most important. The most persuasive speakers are expert storytellers. I'll happily choose the more compelling storyteller over the person with the most cards. Crack a joke. Show personality.

PF should be treated on balance, so I will carefully follow where there is clash of arguments. I want to see offense and defense. I will treat LD similarly, but FW will always matter more in LD.

In LD, if you do not have a FW, then I will default to your opponent's. If you do not make it applicable to your own case, then the opponent will win on that voting issue. If you both have a FW, I want you to tell me where your FW interacts with the other. Does it encompass theirs? Does it narrow the scope? Why does that matter?

I also like to see creative arguments. Bring a fresh perspective. Big K fan when done right, but my preference will always be for traditional LD debate.

TLDR:

PF: 1. speaking 2. clash of impacts 3. FW (maybe)

LD: 1. speaking 2. FW clash 3. impacts, I debate trad, but theory is fun sometimes.

Things to avoid and other notes:

Ad hominems.

Straw man arguments.

Inundating your opponent with evidence and telling me "Judge, they dropped my 2nd and 43rd responses you must vote on that." (I will not vote on that.)

Adaptability is critical to success. So while certain strategies/etc are allowed and often welcome in the nat circuit, I will expect competitors to adapt to their judges' paradigms. Learning how to read a room is a valuable skill. Good luck to all competitors and don't forget to have fun!

Ask in round.

PF debater for 2 years with a some experience in LD.

What I am okay with:

- Progressive debate (K’s, Theory, Tech, etc)

- Spreading (IF you flash me your files)

- Yes you can time yourself

- Off-case arguments

Framework is obviously always important, but I do heavily focus on the contention level debate. Tell me how to weigh the round or I'm going to go off of straight impact calculus. Keep things organized and easy to follow on the flow because I am a flow orientated judge. Also, MAKE SURE TO EXTEND.

I don't have a lot of experience with progressive LD, not as much as much as most circuit judges that you will run into, but as long as you articulate and explain your argument well enough, I should be able to understand it. I am somewhat conflicted with spreading in LD, so I am a bit susceptible to arguments against it in general but if both debaters are fine with it then feel free to go all out. I will say clear 2 times before i stop flowing you all together. I usually am pretty kind when it comes to speaker points, as long as a debater does not say something racist, homophobic, transphobic, or sexist. I do not want to see any attempts to exclude your opponent from the debate space. Develop clear, concise arguments, provide evidence for those arguments, signpost and apply your arguments and have fun.

I competed in Lincoln Douglas Debate for four years and went to nationals and state. I was forced by the man, the myth, the legend Brit McCabe to take Foreign Extemp and Domestic Extemp to tournaments. Since then, I've left the quaint small-town life of Edmond, Oklahoma behind to study business administration, healthcare management, and marketing at Washington University in St. Louis.

Philosophy/Framework

- Framework is just a means of weighing the round. It's important to show me how to weigh arguments, but winning framework alone won't win you the round. You can win the framework debate, but if your opponent can better access their impacts under your framework-they'll win the round.

- Please don't mansplain philosophy to me- quite frankly, I do not care and I read enough of it in high school and college to know. Also just because the theory says it's true doesn't mean that I think it's true, tell me why what this man is saying is important/valid.

Argumentation

- The burden of the affirmative is to prove the resolution to be true. The burden of the negative is to disprove the affirmative and show why the cost of the affirmative outweighs the consequences of the status quo. (PLEASE don't try to convince me the negative is defending that the status quo is "good")

- I tend to prefer layered arguments. Please give me more than one reason to buy that their contention/argument/card isn't true.

Evidence

- Summarize the argument the card is making if you're going to extend it in a rebuttal.

- Slow down during authors. I prefer it if you read the qualifications in the constructive but won't hold it against you unless your opponent indicts your source.

- Cards with solid empirics and if you can show me why the methodology is credible/important tend to hold more weight in my decisions than descriptive pieces of evidence

- Repeating a card over and over doesn't make it better

Speaker Points

- Don't be excessively aggressive. Don't speak over your opponent in cross-examination. I'm sitting three feet away; you don't need to turn the round into a screaming match.

- My biggest pet peeve as a former female debater is when you continuously try to talk over your opponents during their speeches or cross ex or just get super condescending with your facial expressions and language- you might be able to get away with being a douche with other judges but I promise you I will notice.

- Make the round easy for me to flow and signpost

- Reading arguments that you know your opponent is unable to engage with (e.g., reading progressive style arguments against a traditional debater who doesn't know how to engage with the case structure) will lower your speaker points but will not automatically drop you. Allowing your opponent to engage in the debate space and good round will give you better speaks than reading a progressive case you know your opponent won't know how to respond to.

- I'm a main character so if you can stylistically manage to quote me somehow in your speeches (like it has to be very well done) it'll probably make my day.

Other

- I HATE definition debate so, please don't turn the round into one

- Don't read extremely off-topic cases, I don't like to vote off topicality but I will

- Don't try to share your speech docs with me or files- I read upwards of 200+ pages for the 21 hours of classes I force myself to endure and don't want to read your cards that are not in Times New Roman 99% of the time. I am a tired college student and genuinely believe that more is not necessarily better in terms of speeches. Just give good rebuttals and make sure to signpost- like I said tired college student.

- Any other questions ask me before the round.

Running List of Things Not to Mansplain to me (I won't vote you down for doing this I may just like you a little less and pay attention a lot less)

- Basic economics (e.g. supply/demand, supply shocks, shortages, etc.) I promise the Olin Business School makes me read hundreds of pages on both micro/macro economics I can understand your arguments that you may or many not have stolen from your AP Econ class (bc me too in high school)

- Basic Frameworks (utilitarianism, consequentialism, deontology, need I say more) I debated a few too many LD rounds in high school

- How Debate Works (times, what your opponent can and can't say, counterplans, etc.) I placed at state three times and broke at nats twice- I PROMISE you I know how a debate round works trust me okay?

Hello! I’m Morgan Russell and I am the head coach for Norman North High School in OK. We're relatively traditional style debaters, but part of my team does compete on the circuit 8 or so times a year. Before that, I competed in CX and PF in high school, assistant coached through college. So I’ve dabbled in it all.

Overall: My philosophy on debate whoever debates better should win. However, my personal opinion of arguments or strats shouldn't matter, so I default to weighing brought up by debaters whenever possible. I do believe Aff and Neg need to interact with each other's cases.

I’ll judge the round based off what you give me, and won't judge based off what I'd do, but what y'all did.

Add me to the email chain! morgannmrussell@gmail.com

LD: I think framework is important, but it’s not everything. You need evidence and solid analytics to back it up. I prefer we not spread, but I'm fine with some speed, if I can't understand I will say “clear” once or twice. From there, if it doesn’t make my flow, I can’t weigh it. I’m fine with Ks and Plans in LD.

PF: PF was made to be more accessible, so I don’t like when it gets too new wave. It’s not “mini-policy.” You can use debate jargon, but don’t just read cards the whole time. I need impact calc.

CX: It’s all fair game. As far as spreading, I’m okay but with Zoom it’s more difficult to understand. I will say “clear” once or twice if I can’t understand. From there, if it doesn’t make my flow, I can’t weigh it.

My name is Robin Mitchell Stroud and I'm primarily an LD judge for Norman High School in Norman, Oklahoma.

I didn't compete in high school debate, however, have earned four degrees (BA, MHR, MEd, PhD) and am very comfortable with argumentation in a competitive setting across a breadth of subjects. Educational areas of concentration include:

* Bachelor of Arts (psychology)

* Master of Human Relations (international/intercultural relations)

* Master of Education (foundations of education)

* Graduate certificate (women’s and gender studies), and

* Doctor of philosophy (gender studies; religious studies and philosophies of education)

I am newer to judging in circuit/progressive tournaments, however, have experience and very much enjoy judging in traditional ones. See my preferences for each below.

TRADITIONAL TOURNAMENTS

PHILOSOPHY/FRAMEWORK: I enjoy philosophical/theoretical argumentation and value a strong and clear framework. Be explicit in how your contentions support your framing (when presenting your case and throughout the round).

ARGUMENTATION: Arguments shouldn't merely be repeated in rebuttals. Debaters who extend and develop them will do better in front of me as will debaters who clearly articulate and extend their warrants and impacts.

EVIDENCE: Please don't be repetitive with evidence. Repetitive evidence doesn’t equal more weight, and solid analytics can take out that kind of evidence. While evidence is good, please ensure that it's useful and efficient to your argumentation and soundly ties to your framing.

SPEAKER POINTS: Be respectful. Be confident. Engage with questions in CX. Signpost.

NOTE: If both debaters are okay with bringing circuit style argumentation and speed into a traditional round, I'm okay with it.

Aside from these, be sure to have fun!

CIRCUIT TOURNAMENTS

PHILOSOPHY: I like and am most experienced with philosophical/theoretical argumentation and enjoy it best in a round. I am accustomed to weighing arguments under dense philosophical frameworks and can understand it if you do the same.

FRAMEWORK: I appreciate strong and clearly communicated framing. If I don't understand how the framing and argumentation engage in a round, I won’t vote on them so please make sure they are clear. While I am most familiar with a traditional structure, I am comfortable judging others. If you can explain your framing and properly weigh with it, I'm open to just about anything.

EVIDENCE: Please don't be repetitive with evidence. Repetitive evidence doesn’t equal more weight, and solid analytics can take out that kind of evidence. While evidence is good, please ensure that it is useful and efficient to your argumentation and soundly ties to the framing.

KRITIKS: I like a debate that is grounded in critical argumentation. I’m well versed in certain kinds of critical, feminist, pragmatist and theo/alogical theories, and am pretty comfortable voting on other kinds of critical arguments if they are explained well in the round.

POLICY: I'm okay with policy style arguments.

SPEED: I like to flow rounds and am generally fine with speed. Just be sure to slow down for tag lines so I can capture them correctly. If you’re going to spread at a super-fast speed, you'll need to flash your case to me.

SPEAKER POINTS: Be respectful. Be confident. Engage with questions in cross examination. Signpost. And again, if you spread, make the taglines clear.

T/THEORY: If you're going to run a T argument, you'll need to do a very good job explaining it and its impact on the round.

If you’re sharing documents, please add me to the chain: robinmitchellstroud@gmail.com.

Aside from these, be sure to have fun!

Hi, I'm a political science major ( elections and campaigns emphasis), International Security Studies,and Journalism.

My pronouns are she/her, and I am a former LD, Congress and USX/IX competitor ( I also have some OO experience!).

Debate:

speak clearly when reading any pieces of evidence, otherwise I cannot ensure that I can weigh it in.

ESPECIALLY be clear about your framework, as this is one of the most important part of your case

be respectful to your opponent(s) and judge(s)

use the correct pronouns for your opponent(s) and judge(s).

I love theory, especially gender/social justice theory and constitutional theory.

CPs are great, just as long as you use them effectively

Ks are okay, just be effective as previously stated.

bigotry will not be tolerated in round.

I like to read evidence and cases for myself, so don't be surprised or alarmed if I ask to see them.

Self-timing is preferred.

If you chose to preform in a non-normative way (ie. music, rage, poetry, etc) explain why your discourse matters in terms of the debate space and why it creates a preferable or more accessible model of debate.

IE:

Dynamics are essential! If you are competing in IX/USX it can be hard to remember this, but it can really make or break your rank in round

Sources in IX/USX must be made clear or points will be taken off

I know when you're making up false or incorrect facts about policy so don't do that.

Speeches that are narrative and metaphorical are always the most fun to listen to!!