michellechen617 [at] gmail

hi all

my name is michelle, i debated for 4 years at bvnw and graduated in 2014. i have been out of the game for a while so please keep that in mind. speed is fine but if i can’t understand i won’t flow

you should do whatever you’re good at - i will evaluate everything in the round

that said -

- framing + judge instruction is really important to me. good line by line debating + impact comparison is great

- i really love a good case debate. i like cps that are competitive. i think impact turns are fun

- if you go for t commit to it and do so like a disad

- i will vote for k’s but probably need more explanation (this is me telling u i need some hand holding, not that you shouldn't run one)

Email: colemant@union.edu

Whats POPPIN, My name is Ty and I am a first year in College. I started debating my sophomore year of high school, and in my second year of debating, in my junior year, I won Maverick City's champs in Boston. Throughout my debate career I ran K affs and Ks, I barely ran any policy arguments, but it does not mean I am going to just dismiss policy args and tech debate. I have participated in NAUDLS, and other national tournaments, Spreading is okay, just be clear and pronunciate. The point of debate is not to spread so fast that no one can understand you, it is to learn from one another and develop better critical skills, which is important in the real world.

Do's:

- Offense first, not defense: Many debaters go straight into their speech and try to answer all their opponents arguments first before even extending their case and offense, which is not good. I want you to start all your speeches with your offense and winning arguments before you go into defensive mode. You can apply your offense to your line by line when you go down it and impact compare arguments, which is fine, just make sure to be clear about your offense, why your arg is winning and the impact that that argument has on the decision of the round,

Road Map Pretty Please- Road maps are cool and I would like one, I think that it makes everyone's flow cleaner, and if you are able to stick to your road map throughout your speech, which many debaters, including myself, have a hard time doing, it will make everything easier for you and it will feel more organized.

EyeHawk your opponents arguments LOL- What I mean by this is DO NOT let your opponents get away with dropping an argument and not bring it up in your speech, I will cry, not literally, if I see that after a speech you did not catch or mention a conceded/dropped argument from your opponent, picking up these things will help you alot.

Rebuttals Are Key- Rebuttals matter a lot and have the potency to change the whole round, so BRING THAT HEATTTTTT, and make sure you hit on ALL cylinders, Destroy you opponents in these speeches because you ONLY GET ONE!!!

Other than that, enjoy Debate and Have FUN!!!

My name is Matteo Gleason, and I debated for 6 years with the Boston Debate League (Policy), worked as a judge for the BDL and attended a couple of national tournaments.

I have judged policy for 5 years, and have seen almost every type of case thrown-whether at me, or while i'm judging. Run any case you would like, though I do have an extra level of respect for anyone who can run their policy, and not get bogged down by a barrage of off case.

What I will value most is a good impact calculation. I have my flow and can see which arguments are carried, and which arguments are dropped, so in the rebuttals if you can tell me why the impact of your side is greater than your opponent and you have the evidence and carry to back it up, you will almost certainly win the round.

General Rules:

1. Be respectful and nice! Any blatant ad hominem, or personal attacks will not reflect well on yourself, your team, or your speaks.
2. Be cordial, talk with me during prep time, be nice to your opponents, Debate is made great by the people we meet!
3. If there is a major gap I wont be impressed by one team running high theory to confuse and concern your opponent. Debate is about making everyone want to get to that high level, so if you discourage an opponent with high theory it discourages continued participation.

Things to note about me as a judge:

1. If you are spreading go for it! Just send me what you are reading so that I can reference it if need be.
2. Real world impact>theoretical potential
3. I will respect anyone who runs topicality against K's and delves into fairness and inclusion (if you do it right)

Welcome to my paradigm—if you’re here I’m probably about to judge you, or you’re about to do prefs/strikes. I’m Amishai (pronounced ah-me-SHY, he/him) call me Amishai or "judge" I don't care.

ADD ME TO THE CHAIN AND FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME WITH ANY QUESTIONS BEFORE OR AFTER ROUNDS:
Agoodmangoldstein@gmail.com

My paradigm is long. It is probably the longest you have read.

Don't want to read it all? Say so and I will just quickly walk all debaters through it pre-round, no problem at all--otherwise I will assume you have read it and adjudicate accordingly. This is ESPECIALLY TRUE FOR NOVICES AND MIDDLE SCHOOLERS--don't be intimidated, I am here to help you and not just judge you.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

BIOGRAPHY:

I am a political science and theory student at American University and am a volunteer coach in the Washington Urban Debate League. I was most recently head coach of the policy debate team at MacArthur High School in Washington DC (Fall 2023). I was assistant coach for middle schoolers at Boston’s Mission Hill School (closed now) for a year (2019-2020) and a lab leader for the Boston Debate League's summer program in 2023. I have judged intermittently since Fall 2019, at all levels and divisions.

I debated policy for six years in the Boston Debate League (2017-2023), including as team captain for Latin Academy, and now do college parliamentary debate in the American Parliamentary Debate Association as well as coaching HS policy. I’m also a former moot court advocate with national awards, former high school history teaching assistant, historic home docent, and Democratic political organizer.

I’ve judged approximately 20 rounds under the fiscal redistribution resolution in multiple leagues, tournaments, and divisions and am very well versed in it.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

READ THIS IF NOT A POLICY ROUND--IF IT IS POLICY (really, only policy), SKIP TO PARADIGM!

I am primarily a policy judge, so if you have me for anything other than policy (or public forum), the round will probably move slower. I am very proficient in moot court and American parliamentary debate as well, so if I happen to be judging one of those you can treat me as an experienced judge. If it is a speech event or any type of debate other than CX, LD, PF, or Parli, however, please treat me as if I am a lay judge in how you operate, ie slow down and explain. That said, I still have some confidence in my ability to handle complex issues and theory, and if I am confused, I will tell you. Read the paradigm below for good measure either way.

Note: I am fine with complex arguments in public forum and do not ascribe to the principle that a member of the general public should necessarily be able to understand every round--this can be cross-applied to any debate I judge. Debate is an academic activity, it is not a speech event.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

LD and PF debaters: I am judging you with the lens of a policy debater and judge. My preferences for policy below can be cross-applied. This is NOT true for parli as I am a collegiate parliamentary debater also and will typically use the “path of least resistance” method to determine the most meaningful argument which has gone insufficiently addressed by a side and assign the winner accordingly.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

POLICY COMPETITORS READ THIS (if you don’t read this you might have a very avoidable loss. You’ve been warned)

I know I can be unique in this, but: I don’t evaluate arguments in a vacuum unless you can really convince me that I should, if you run discrete K, framework, and CP that all kind of contradict each other it’s going to be difficult for me to vote for you unless you do a really killer job of it, because I think debate shouldn’t be a game of throwing a bunch of sh*t at the wall and seeing what sticks. In other words, I will be considering all of your arguments in the same universe, and if they can’t coexist in that universe, you are going to lose. This makes me more of a truth judge than a tech judge, but I also don’t think these labels are great because I might vote more like a tech judge in a given round--I may simply "vote on the flow" if a round is extremely close, or if it is particularly dull and uninspiring clash-wise.

I don’t typically flow author names, extend by referencing warrants--please. I flow online and often in shorthand so my flow will likely be of little use to you, but I am happy to walk you through it if you ask afterwards. I am a quick typer but you need to clearly tell me what is case and what is off or I will do bare minimum figuring out what goes where. Constant on case—off case and back again jumping is confusing and will likely lead to some mistakes on the flow, and it’s bad speech organization so your speaks probably will suffer.

I am comfortable with just about any type of argument.

Ks are perfectly fine. I am pretty well versed in foundational Western political theory and a little bit of Chinese philosophy but not so much the literature base that appears in most Ks, though I am still happy to handle Ks, if your K is very generic I'll have seen it, if not I can still work with it and will understand the concepts at least at the elementary level.

I like framework and am happy to vote on quality framework debate.

I AM the judge you want for topicality as a frequent former T debater—do it well, be accurate, and I WILL be willing to vote on T (usually in combination with other things but I have given ballots solely on T on rare occasions).

I do not love conditionality but I am not averse to it, run that condo if you feel it’s necessary, I might scowl but I’ll be fine.

CAVEAT: IF YOU DO NOT FORMALLY, PROPERLY SET UP YOUR K/T/FRAMEWORK/ANY OTHER OFF I AM LIKELY NOT GOING TO BE CONSIDERING IT AND IT IS GOING TO BE AN AUTO-WIN FOR YOUR OPPONENT.

This is also true if you run extremely high theory on an inexperienced opponent without going through necessary motions to explain and make the round accessible! I come from an urban debate background, basic fairness and accessibility is a real issue to me. But so are the rules. Example: I’ll have more tolerance for a sloppy alt if you’re a new to varsity urban league debater than if you’ve competed at nats.

Judge kick: sure, if you can convince me that there’s a good reason beyond not wanting to argue on whatever you want me to kick

Competition args on CPs: yes please, just give me good clash and give me solid extensions (not lazy ones) even if aff doesn’t respond well

Disclosure (of case) is good in policy debate, and I am not going to be open to arguments that it isn’t good, nor am I very open to arguments that disclosure is only good or should only be done for a certain category/demographic of debater.

PLEASE don’t be too heavy on analytics in constructive. I know when you’re being lazy and making up for lack of cards. It’s tough to flow and it’s low quality debate. Find the balance and your analytics will support your evidence, but your analytics cannot take the place of evidence. If your constructive sounds like a rebuttal, you can assume I will not take kindly.

PET PEEVE: when a policy round consists of zero clear overlap or clash on the flow. This happens way way way more often than you would think. If this happens, I will typically take it out on speaks. CLASH. LOOK AT FLOW. DID I SAY CLASH? OK GOOD

WEIGHING, LINE BY LINE, IMPACT CALC AND VOTERS
Do it. You do it, other team doesn’t do it, you’re not guaranteed a win but your chances go way up. Judges are lazy—do the work on the flow for me. If there’s no semblance of basic impact calc/weighing/voters, I will vote on the flow alone with bare minimum weighing and you may not like the decisions I make because I don’t have any guidance from you on how to weigh different args. WRITE MY WHOLE RFD TOP TO BOTTOM IN YOUR 2AR/2NR, DOWN TO THE SMALLEST PARTS OF THE DECISION (not literally writing it, but tell me what you think should be in it).

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Style and Sportsmanship:

I’m fine with spreading, but if you’re spreading so fast you’re literally gasping for air that’s not healthy for you (literally) and it’s going to hurt my flow. On a 1-10 of speed, my own preference is around a 6 BUT if you need to go slower to be clear and effective you should absolutely do so. If I can't understand you, I will tell you to slow down only once, and if you don’t adapt you’re accountable for my flow having huge gaps. In addition, you need to signpost, if you do not at least read the tag, it is highly likely that I will not catch all of your arguments which will hurt your overall chances in the round.

* I NO LONGER GIVE ANY TIME WARNINGS OUTSIDE OF HIGH SCHOOL NOVICE OR MIDDLE SCHOOL ROUNDS. * In any disputes over time, my timer will still overrule yours.

Stand when you speak, sit when you speak, wear a suit, wear pajama pants--I legitimately do not care. The only thing ever so slightly related to physical appearance that will affect my decision is if you appear visibly annoyed at something your partner or opponent does in round, hit the table, loudly sigh, etc. This happens frequently, is extremely poor sportsmanship and I will call it out with zero hesitation person by person in feedback.

Clash is good, personal attacks are not. If any conduct negatively influences the debate so much that I have to address it mid round, it will hurt your speaker points and possibly your overall chances. This seems to happen most frequently during cross examination, by far. It’s fine to try to back your opponent into a corner but don’t be personally hostile while doing it! I will not hesitate to call you out, but it's not fun for me and it is embarrassing for you and your team. I will GLEEFULLY give you a 25/26 if you, a skilled national circuit debater with tons of full on tournament wins, bully your opponents in cross (this happened, if it sounds oddly specific). I will do it even more gleefully if you have more structural advantages in your favor.

THIS SHOULD BE OBVIOUS BUTIT KEEPS HAPPENING: if cross ex is open you and your partner both need to be asking and answering questions. You can choose to split the CX periods and have only one person talk in each one but IF ONE PERSON DOES ALL OR 75%+ OF CX TALKING, I WILL REDUCE SPEAKER POINTS FOR BOTHTEAM MEMBERS.

Just because I may seem personally inclined to certain ideological arguments DOES NOT mean I am going to vote for them by default. I like authentically contrarian/conservative cases a lot, as long as they aren't bigoted and are well reasoned/argued.

If your argument is grounded in calling your opponents racist or bigoted in some inherent manner, there better be a good case to back it up. (I don't mean settler colonialism args--I mean "aff should lose because they are x demographic and thus are racist")

Openly bigoted arguments will automatically lose. This includes explicit racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, antisemitism, Islamophobia, etc, which, if bad enough, will make me end the round then and there. There's plenty of room to debate controversial policy on tough issues without making bigoted arguments.

I will NOT flow or vote on cross examination. I will closely observe it for the purpose of awarding speaks, but if you extract an important concession, contradiction etc and never bring it up in constructive/rebuttal, it’ll be like I didn’t hear it. And I will tell you that, disappointedly, when I give feedback. This approach hopefully forces you to not try to argue during cross and instead use it how you are supposed to—to help understand arguments and extract pieces to build your own.

There are no dumb questions until the round starts. Please try to clarify everything you need to with me prior to the 1AC.

I look at your speech doc as you read in addition to flowing, so I can and will catch you if you clip cards which will result in an auto-loss. Reminder—clipping and cutting are not the same! Being explicit that you are cutting a card is fine, deceptively clipping lines in your card and/or selectively choosing to read certain words with others to make the card say something it doesn’t actually say is certainly not fine. If you catch your opponent clipping or doing any other sort of evidence violation, say so! Don’t wait for your next speech. Just say it as soon as they’re done talking so I can review the cards and proceed according to NSDA rules.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SPEAKS/DECISION/POSTROUND

I'm lenient with speaks. Yes, there’s a debate-wide problem of speaks inflation, but unless a tournament addresses it holistically with a clear rubric to evaluate debaters, I won't be the judge who denies a good debater a speaker award. This does not mean free 28s-30s but I typically don't give below a 27 in a round without major debater errors, so don't worry too much. Speak how you're comfortable. I won't penalize slow and steady speakers. I will penalize fast and unintelligible speakers. I'll NEVER penalize based on taking a second to catch your breath/find your place, or word pronunciation confusion/accents.

I’ll disclose my decision if I’m required to or it’s the general standard of the tournament. If it’s not, I won’t. I won't disclose speaks unless required to. Doing so detracts from the point of feedback--to improve your debating in substantive ways.

Asking questions after my decision and feedback is fine, especially if you’re confused as to why I voted how I did. If I can’t disclose, I unfortunately can’t answer a lot of questions except those about style and general argument choices. If you actually “postround” and argue with me, however, I will tell your coach and tab and give you no speaks. If your coach comes in and postrounds me, I will leave the room immediately, give you no speaks and tournament staff/tab will be informed.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FINAL WORDS

Please have fun. We are not debating the end of the world (even if we are). We’ve all chosen to take time out of our day to be in the debate space. Let’s not take ourselves too seriously in it, and we'll all have a better time.

I debated in high school (policy) and college (policy but mostly parliamentary) and have been judging off and on for nearly 10 years.

I try to be as much of a blank slate as I can and am open to hearing any argument that you wish to make. But I expect debaters to be respectful to the other team and the audience. Convince me why your framework is best and why you best achieve your framework and you'll win the round. If one side drops framework, I will assume whatever framework the other team gives me.

Please extend your positions throughout the debate. If you drop an entire position in a speech, even if you bring it back later, I will vote on fairness/violation issues (but only if the other team actually explains the nature of the violation and why I should care that there was a violation in the round).

I will only ask to see evidence if there has been a direct challenge by the opposing team to its content or validity. In general, I try to avoid this if it all possible.

I'm okay with speed but am not as fast as I used to be. I ask that you be clear and I won't punish you if I have to ask you to be slower mid-speech. I also only judge a couple tournaments each year and therefore have limited topic knowledge.

Hi, y'all

My name is Walter Wexler, I'm a Freshman at Case Western Reserve University. I've been debating for five years and I've been judging for three years and one coaching.

Personally, I ran policy for most of my debate career, but I've run Cap K and I have pretty extensive experience with Set Col, Afropess, etc as those are very popular in my league. I consider myself a tabula rossa judge, and as such framework is probably the most important thing in the round as it gives me a way to evaluate. I'm open to any well-articulated argument, but don't assume I have a lot of experience in this topic as I haven't judged much this year.

*Clear bullying will be an automatic vote down

Lex 24:
Hello, my name is Anna (she/hers). This is my first time judging at Lex and I've been judging policy debate on and off for the past 5 years at the Boston Debate League.

Email: anna.zhao.az399@yale.edu, please add me to the chain.

I was a pretty straightforward policy debater during my time and ran Ks occasionally depending on my partners. I am much more familiar with policy than Ks. As the neg-facing Ks, I usually went for FW/T. I was the 1A/2N if that is of any importance to you. I go into all the rounds “tabula rasa”. Please outline your voters and the role of the judge as early in the round as possible.

For speaker points please slow down on the tag and author. Be yourself and be cordial to your opponents.