RCC T4
2021 — NSDA Campus, IL/US
Varsity Judges Paradigm List
All Paradigms: Show Hidepronouns: she/her/hers
email: aaneesh@haverford.edu
Walter Payton College Prep '20
Haverford College '24
Qualified to the TOC my senior year
I am good with anything :)
Don't be racist/sexist/homophobic/etc. and we will have a great time
Email: rcai2@cps.edu
Add me to the email chain.
A former debater. I'm fine with pretty much all arguments as long as they are well extended throughout, though I do prefer more policy-focused arguments. Heavily prefer tech over truth. I mostly flow on my laptop.
Views on each Args:
- Topicality
As long as the violation is well-argued and the standards are well extended, I will likely go for it.
- CP
No real preferences for anything. As long as the evidence and reasoning are fine and the NB is well done, I will vote for it.
- K
Most Ks are fine. If it is high theory, perhaps explain it more thoroughly. Not that into the literature. I would prefer a solid, well-explained Alternative but I could still vote for you if you conceded it properly.
- FW
Not my personal strongest suit but as long as the reasoning is clear, I will follow along
- Theory
Most theory args are fine as long as you can prove in round abuse or potential in round abuse. On condo, I am flexible to go for or against three conditional arguments.
As long as there is some professionalism in the round and respect from both sides, the round should go fine. Do your best or something. Don't meme. I'm just making this look longer than it actually needs to be. Have a good tournament or whatever.
Conor Cameron
ccameron3@cps.edu
he/him/his
Coach, Solorio, 2012 - present
TLDR: Better for CP / DA / impact turn debates
I'll do my best to evaluate arguments as made. When the way I make sense of a debate differs from the way debaters make sense of a debate, here seem to be some common sources of the disparity:
1) I'm pretty ingrained in the offense defense model. This means that even if the NB is dumb, if the aff cannot generate a solvency deficit against the CP, and the aff has no offense against the DA, I am highly likely to vote negative.
Some notes: a) I do not think a solvency deficit needs to be carded; b) more difficult, but I could envision voting on analytic offense against a DA, c) I'm willing to vote on zero risk of the DA, but we'd both benefit from you taking a moment to explain why the offense-defense model is inapplicable in the debate at hand
2) I still think I have a relatively high bar for voting negative on topicality; however, I've tried to begin evaluating this debate more from an offense-defense perspective. In my mind, this means that if the affirmative does not meet the negative's interpretation, and does not have its own counterinterpretation, it is essentially arguing that any affirmative is topical and is conceding a 100% link to the limits disadvantage. I'm highly likely to vote negative in such a debate.
General argument notes:
3) I'm probably more sympathetic to cheaty process counterplans than most.
4) While I may complain, I do vote on the standard canon of negative kritiks. Things like cap, security, standard topic kritiks, etc. are fine. Extra explanation (examples, stories, analogies, etc.) is always appreciated, all the more so the further from my comfort zone you venture.
5) FW vs K Affs: I lean negative. However, I judge few of these debates. Both teams would benefit from accepting that I know very little here, slowing down, speaking clearly, and over-explaining (depth, not repetition) things you assume most judges know.
Other notes
6) I judge because:
a) I still really enjoy debate.
b) Judging is an opportunity to continue to develop my understanding of debate.
c) I am covering my students' judge commitment so that they too can benefit from this activity.
7) Quick reference
Policy---X------------------------------------------K
Tech-----------------------------X-----------------Truth
Read no cards-------X----------------------------Read all the cards
Conditionality good--X----------------------------Conditionality bad
States CP good----X------------------------------States CP bad
Politics DA is a thing-----X------------------------Politics DA not a thing
UQ matters most----------------------X----------Link matters most
Limits----------------------------------X------------Aff ground
Presumption---------------------------------X-----Never votes on presumption
Longer ev--------X---------------------------------More ev
CX about impacts----------------------------X----CX about links and solvency
My name is Jonathan Gabriel Cardona, I've debated policy for 3 years at Lane Tech in Chicago and I consider myself as a rather laid back judge. I’m fine with anything as long as I get the sense that you understand at least 70% of what you’re talking about (including satire). Clarity is crucial, show respect, and learn how to utilize each other for education. To me, the debate is extremely important at the ethical level. Don't be a jerk, please! You can be aggressive but don't confuse it with being disrespectful to your opponent.
A good relationship between the judge and the debaters is very important. I will be putting a lot of trust in y'all to keep time, including prep, and not stealing prep. If you can't for whatever reason, I will be more than happy to help you out in whatever way you need (i.e 5 3 1 rule, extra timer, I'll even give you my timer if need be.
I am there to determine the round, I expect the same amount of respect for myself and each other as if it were your own coach.
Besides the respect, I think the most important rule is to have fun! Be your own ice cream flavor whether you are 0-4 in your last round and you have 0% chance of breaking or you are debating in finals at TOC. It's just a round. Learn and I will be happy :)
jonathan.gabriel.cardona@gmail.com
Kelvin K Castro
He/Him/His
add me: kelvinkennycastro@gmail.com
Emory University '23
Solorio '19
tl/dr:
- I love to see clash and engagement with evidence, read your blocks but do more than just that.
- I was mainly a policy-orientated judge, not to say I hate critiques and arguments of that genre, just that I'll not be as knowledgable or the best judge to have if that's a centerpiece of your style.
- Be nice to each other.
- I prefer topic-orientated strategies, if you could read your counterplan on any debate topic that should be a sign.
- I like offense-defense where it makes sense.
- Tech almost always beats truth.
- I'll save my feedback for the ballot, but please ask if you have questions or want it after the debate.
This is just a collection of my thoughts on debate, not a strict rule for what I think you should be doing.
Topicality:
- I'll always be less knowledgeable about your topic than you so going for topicality in front of me is probably not the best for any of us but do what you gotta do.
- In past I tended to find topicality hard to win by the negative but right now I'm unsure what the topic has or should be like.
K's (NEG):
- Needs to be explained.
- fw debates should have clash if it's a focus of the debate, stop forgetting it or overspending time on it. If it's a wash I typically default to weighing some of the aff.
- I usually separate the flow by (overview/fw/k-proper) but you don't have to.
- My knowledge of K’s is probably less than ideal if this is a center point of your negative strategy.
- Please don't just say "the overview answered it," to every argument. I think it's best to either directly reference what claim in the overview would respond to what or just do all that work as you go down the line-by-line. Trust me, you don't want me connecting the dots together for you on a ballot (if I try at all).
- Taking it easy on the line-by-line in the block is pretty wild for me and expect the 2nr's claims to be shot down as "too late to respond" in my ballot.
- Don't forget answering typical theory voters (floating piks bad, vague alts, etc.) this should be easy and extremely annoying to resolve in cases when the theory arguments go dropped and clearly not applicable to the neg's version of the K.
- I'd prefer explanation over card-reading in most k debates I'm in.
- I don't think you automatically lose without an alt in the 2nr.
- If your claims revolve around the reps/discourse/assumptions/etc. of the aff, PLEASE tell me what exactly you're referring to, picking out specific lines/choices of the 1AC/qualifications of authors/etc. will increase your speaker points in my book.
- Lastly, I probably won't understand your jargon.
Policy Affs vs K's:
- I don't vote on aff binary 'no k's' fw please stop reading this it isn't the early 2000s.
- Permutations are powerful but literally impossible to understand if you stick to tagline "do both" or "all other instances" jargon, please lay out what's compatible and how it would look like.
- Just as I hold a high burden for the neg to stick to line-by-line/direct references, the aff must equally respond to the neg.
- Even in these debates a conceded argument is a conceded argument.
- Stop calling everything a "link of omission" if it's blatantly not true.
- Any 2AR that overcovers the conceded case is helping no one.
K's (AFF/NEG):
- CX is extremely valuable and I will listen closely, I will pick up references to it if brought into a speech and reward that.
- Not a fan of calling people directly racist/sexist/etc. just for making policy arguments but I will feel no sympathy checking people if they're legitimately acting this way.
Counterplans:
- I tend to prefer the offense defense model. If the aff doesn't have any offense against the net benefit I tend to justify any solvency deficit in the neg's favor.
- I think sufficiency solvency framing should be answered by the aff but it's not a guarantee 100% solves case for the neg, you still got to do the work.
- Condo only theory argument I don't buy "reject arg not team." that's literally what they want... but if no one points that out I won't intervene. I'm generally in favor of condo being good. More than 3 condo positions get into hazy territory.
- Cheap shot theory arguments exist and can be won, but you shouldn't expect better speaker points because of it. RVIs are fake.
- Consult/Agent/PICs/etc. are all theoretically debatable. Do what you want and be good at it. In the case of process counterplans, the theory/perm debates will matter a lot, I'll expect more than just both teams reading your blocks and moving on without clash. Having a card saying "we're the core of the topic" is helpful but don't overassume its importance in contrast to better debating. Honestly reading cards on theory other than definitions is pretty confusing for me I really don't care if a professor thinks fairness is more important than education.
- Adding planks to a counterplan in the block seems fair to me. Block UQ counterplans are meh.
- I believe the aff gets to decide how they articulate the plan, which ultimately ends up being important in my analysis of PDCPs. I'll give leeway for the aff in 1ac cx for questions such as "who implements the plan." That being said, the neg should definitely be asking this regardless of the answer if an agent CP is one of your neg box options. This is a case where I lean towards truth in the case of what your solvency authors say if this becomes a center point for the neg.
- Having a solvency advocate is good, not having one isn't a dealbreaker if you can explain why.
- Presumption flips aff is real.
- PIKs are probably not good.
- FIAT is a funny concept and I'm open to hearing the explanations from both teams on it.
- 2ac theory is generally a non-risk to me but don't overdo it either.
General:
- Tech about always beats truth.I think this is less so the case when we get into topicality and theory debates. I find myself increasingly willing to hear out 'late' arguments if they're blatantly true, but I'll always try to prioritize the better debating and leave myself out of it.
- Generally, have a high bar for voting on presumption.
- I don't think every argument needs to be carded.
- The most important part of any offcase in front of me is generally the link and internal link, large disconnects between evidence are generally the issue and I'll be looking mainly at your explaination to connect the dots, without it I'll likely be highly skeptical of large jumps unless it's conceded. I reward teams that can point those out.
- Politics is on a case-by-case basis. You need the goods; evidence quality is highly emphasized in my decisions now. Additionally, if it's a bad politics DA I'll most likely hold the bar high for the neg if it's a straight case vs DA debate but don't think they're unwinnable especially when with a counterplan. I like to see evidence that postdates the other team's only if it actually says what you claim.
- It's fine to read 1 card DA's or K's but don't massively overhype what the card actually is saying in the tag or explanations. Especially the case for Econ DAs, I'm not an economist but I'm kind of bewildered by how the smallest of internal links suddenly leads to economic disaster and nuclear war.
- I don't envision this being a dealbreaker but cards that have 1-2 lines highlighting are highly suspect to me. I'd prefer better cards than more cards.
- The speed k or a variation of it is extremely non-convincing for me.
- I default to judge kick unless told otherwise.
- Expect me to want a card doc if the debate is close/important (break round) I won't ever ask for it but getting me one will help your speaker pts
- If you try to tell me you read cards you clearly didn't, your speaker pts will drop.
- I will read ev and use your guidance on the flow to decide comparisons but will mainly look at your explanation of it.
- Calling a card “bad” does not warrant me reading it, give me a thing to look for when I’m re-reading and you’ll probably do well when I’m explaining how I evaluated evidence.
- Smart choices and cross-applications will impress me. Bold decisions done with confidence will impress me. Your complicated vocabulary will not impress me. Belittling your opponents or cutting them off every opportunity during cross ex will not impress me.
- 2NR/2AR should be clear on what you want me to vote on. Big picture debate framing is what I like to see, but don't sacrifice what you need to do on the flow for this.
- Please don't bully your partners, debate is meant to be fun and cooperative. If it becomes obnoxious the harasser's speaker points will suffer horrendously.
- No -Ism's, as mentioned earlier I'll give the benefit of the doubt but if it's clearly intentional I'll drop the team.
- I'll trust yall to keep track of your own prep/speech times.
- Speaker Points- clarity is key, don't sacrifice this for speed. Taking forever after prep-time is called to send a document is a bad look.
Hiyyyyyy! :)
Any pronouns
Gemini
Updated August 2023
For in person tournaments:
Please wear a mask at all times, including during speeches. I don't want covid.
NOTE:
If you're looking to do college debate feel free to reach out and ask about Iowa debate with the email I have above! I'd love to answer any questions!
TLDR:
I do exclusively K debate, currently at the University of Iowa going on my 8th year of debate. I've mostly run trans studies, queer theory, and antiblackness. Yes I can still judge a policy debate. Poorly executed framework/K debates from either side are not fun to watch (notes below on how you can persuade me). Top level instruction is important.
General:
Obviously my job as your judge is to evaluate the round as fairly as possible. However, every judge has their biases, so I'll do my best to explain mine here:
4 years of debate at Northside (Chicago/CDL), 2016-2020. I debated on China, Education, Immigration, and Arms Sales. Currently in my fourth year debating at Iowa - I've debated on Alliances, Antitrust, Personhood and Nukes. I was a lab leader during Summer of 2023 for Fiscal Redistribution so I have a decent understanding of the topic.
Most of my higher-level experience has been with K debate, so that's what I'm most familiar/comfortable with. I've had the most experience with trans studies, queer theory, and antiblackness but I have a basic enough handle on almost anything else you can name. Maybe a little less familiar with obscure pomo theory but I get the basics. Obviously if what you're running is super out there, make sure that you are able to thoroughly explain your theory of power and specific links to the aff (which honestly applies to anything you're running).
Top-level stuff: Although I have thoughts about different arguments in debate, please go for whatever you feel comfortable running. Adaptation can be important, but over adapting and going for something you aren't familiar or comfortable with can often hinder you more than help. It's my job to evaluate the round fairly.
Also I personally think that more than 5ish off is unnecessary and uneducational. I'll probably still flow all of them but be willing to give the aff more slack when it comes to new 1AR extrapolations if the neg is running an obscene number of arguments. This is especially true if you read half-arguments in the 1NC that are blown up in the block - think one card K's that barely have a link/impact/alt.
I'm somewhere in between being 'big picture' and being 'techy'/flow centric, but as a judge will put large emphasis on the former. Telling me how to think about/evaluate arguments and what my role is as a judge will get you far.
Asking for a marked doc means that cards were marked, not that they didn't get to every card in the doc. If you want to ask which cards were read, you need to run cross-x or prep.
Usually I'm not looking at docs when flowing speeches and I flow on paper (this is probably different if it is an online debate because I find it somewhat harder to flow over zoom). I do take notes during cross-x, and think it is often a really important part of debates - referencing significant moments from cross-x is a good practice.
I fundamentally think disclosure theory/new affs bad is a true argument (absent specific reasons for opacity, etc.), but that doesn't mean I will auto vote for theory. Just felt like a strange enough disposition to mention.
T (not FW/USFG): I tend to find judging these debates quite boring in most instances, but if you think it'll be a strong argument please go for it. If you are talking about super specific acronyms make sure you clarify things that might not be obvious. Also make sure you're still doing impact comparison - it is hard to evaluate a T debate when both sides are extending their own impacts without interaction with the other teams arguments.
CPs/Theory: I actually kind of like a good, cheaty, cleverly crafted counterplan with a good net benefit. Condo is probably good up to a certain point, process CPs are fine as long as there's a net ben. I think judges are less willing to vote on PIC/Ks now for some reason and I disagree with that. But also if you're the aff you should obviously still say they're bad.
Random thought, it's called a "counterplan" not a "see-pee" this annoys me for no reason lol
K's: Pretty much covered this above, but yeah I like Ks. I think the best ways to beat a K are some combination of framework, a perm, and alt takeouts. As much as I like the K, I'm very willing to vote you down if you don't properly extend links to the aff, alt solvency (unless you've got a reason why you don't need an alt), etc. This is more of an observation that a judge philosophy, but kicking the alt (particularly in K v K debates but in others as well) seems more often than not to lead to teams losing. I generally think that teams that try to read bad preempts affs when they hit "k teams" are hurting themselves more than helping. It's much easier to win going for the big stick impacts youre used to if that's what you do.
F/W v. K Aff: I personally tend to believe that debate should be a space where debaters have the opportunity to performatively explore how different forms of knowledge production and political engagement shape the way they occupy debate, which is something that can take many forms. This doesn't mean that I won't vote on framework (especially if the team running the K aff isn't properly answering it), however, it does mean that you should be engaging with the affirmative and giving reasons why debate is better off with a traditional way of engaging the resolution. I think that clash-based impacts to framework are better than education-based impacts to framework because it makes it easier to weigh your standards against the aff. I used to think fairness was an internal link but more recently think its the only inherent impact to framework that isn't dependent on winning some larger argument. A TVA can be powerful, but you should probably have some sort of solvency advocate that ties the TVA to the ability to engage with knowledge/the debate space in a similar way to the affirmative. i.e. I'm much more likely to vote for a carded TVA than a two-second blip or suggestion of a potential topical aff. That doesn't just mean "the TVA does something vaguely good for X group!", especially if the aff is directly addressing the way that knowledge/discourse shape those policies in the first place.
A general note on K aff's too: I love it when teams do performative things. I've done all kinds of stuff in my affs, and honestly I think an aff that has less ev but is more performatively interesting is much better than a wall of cards. Multiple affs that I've written have been like two cards and some poetry at conversational speed.
K v. K: You do you. I've had many of these debates myself, so I enjoy judging them. I am starting to think perms are kind of fake, although that does not mean the aff shouldn't go for one.
Ethics Challenges: Since this seems to be happening way more frequently now for some reason, a few notes on what an ethics violation is and what it means:
An ethics challenge refers to something like a miscut piece of evidence, and amounts to stopping the debate. If it is called an ethics violation, the round stops - it is not debated out (unless tab decides otherwise, but if it is up to my discretion I will stop the debate).
Ethics violations are sometimes a necessity in situations of bankrupt research practices, but in my opinion is not a "strategy" for you to be prepped to go for if you think you are losing a debate. Posing such a challenge will result in me contacting tab about appropriate measures - whether that means me making the decision or the tab director depends on the tournament and circumstances. Some examples of ethics violations are internal omissions of evidence, straw mans, etc.
I understand that often times (especially in high school debate) citational or miscutting errors are not intentional or done with malice, and so please note I will not hold it against you personally if such a violation occurs. In the event of this situation, I will award a 28.8/28.7 to the team who wins and a 28.6/28.5 to the team who loses (again, absent intervention from tab/egregious violations that result in me awarding minimum speaks allowed).
Speaks: I try to start at a 28 and add or deduct points from there based on nuance, clarity, etc. I'd say on average my points generally range from 28.6 - 29.2 for teams in the middle to upper range of the tournament.
I've never 'cleared' before and I likely won't unless it becomes necessary - if you are going so fast that it compromises your ability to speak clearly and effectively communicate your arguments, I will simply stop flowing.
Good luck, and have fun!
Background:
- I debated for Niles West in high school and West Georgia in college.
- BA in Philosophy.
- Currently coaching at Niles West.
Email:
Top level things:
- If you engage in offensive acts (think racism, sexism, homophobia, etc.), you will lose automatically and will be awarded whatever the minimum speaker points offered at that particular tournament is.
- If you make it so that the tags in your document maps are not navigable by taking the "tag" format off of them, I will actively dock your speaker points.
- Quality of argument means a lot to me. I am willing to hold my nose and vote for bad arguments if they're better debated but my threshold for answering those bad arguments is pretty low.
- I’m extremely hesitant to vote on arguments about things that have happened outside of a debate or in previous debates. I can only be sure of what has happened in this particular debate and anything else is non-falsifiable.
- Absolutely no ties and the first team that asks for one will lose my ballot.
- Soliciting any outside assistance during a round will lose my ballot.
Pet peeves:
- Lack of clarity. Clarity > speed 100% of the time.
- The 1AC not being sent out by the time the debate is supposed to start.
- Email-sending related failures.
- Dead time.
- Stealing prep.
- Answering arguments in an order other than the one presented by the other team.
- Asserting things are dropped when they aren't.
- Asking the other team to send you a marked doc when they marked 1-3 cards.
- Marking almost every card in the doc.
- Disappearing after the round.
- Quoting my paradigm in your speeches.
- Sending PDFs instead of Word Docs.
Ethics:
- If you are caught clipping you will receive a loss and the lowest possible points.
- If you make an ethics challenge in a debate in front of me, you must stake the debate on it. If you make that challenge and are incorrect or cannot prove your claim, you will lose and be granted the lowest possible points. If you are proven to have committed an ethics violation, you will lose and be granted the lowest possible points.
- If you use sexually explicit language or engage in sexually explicit performances in high school debates, you should strike me.
Cross-x:
- Yes, I’m fine with tag-team cx. But dominating your partner’s cx will result in lower points for both of you.
- Questions like "what cards did you read?" are cross-x questions, and I will run the timer accordingly.
- If you fail to ask the status of the off, I will be less inclined to vote for condo.
- If the 1NC responds that "every DA is a NB to every CP" when asked about net benefits in the 1NC even if it makes no sense, I think the 1AR gets a lot of leeway to explain a 2AC "links to the net benefit argument" on any CP as it relates to the DAs.
Inserting evidence or rehighlightings into the debate:
- I won't evaluate it unless you actually read the parts that you are inserting into the debate. If it's like a chart or a map or something like that, that's fine, I don't expect you to literally read that, but if you're rehighlighting some of the other team's evidence, you need to actually read the rehighlighting.
Affirmatives:
- I’m fine with plan or planless affirmatives. However, I believe all affirmatives should advocate for/defend something. What that something entails is up for debate, but I’m hesitant to vote for affirmatives that defend absolutely nothing.
Topicality:
- I default to competing interpretations unless told otherwise.
- The most important thing for me in T debates is an in-depth explanation of the types of affs your interp would include/exclude and the impact that the inclusion/exclusion would have on debate.
- 5 second ASPEC shells/the like have become nonstarters for me. If I reasonably think the other team could have missed the argument because I didn't think it was a clear argument, I think they probably get new answers. If you drop it twice, that's on you.
Counterplans:
- For me counterplans are more about competition than theory. While I tend to lean more neg on questions of CP theory, I lean aff on a lot of questions of competition, especially in the cases of CPs that compete on the certainty of the plan, normal means cps, and agent cps.
Disads:
- If you're reading a DA that isn't just a case turn, it should go on its own sheet. Failure to do so is super annoying because people end up extending/answering arguments on flows in different orders.
Kritiks:
- The more specific the link the better. Even if your cards aren’t that specific, applying your evidence to the specifics of the affirmative through nuanced analysis is always preferable to a generic link extension.
- ‘You link you lose’ strategies are not my favorite. I’m willing to vote on them if the other team fails to respond properly, but I’m very sympathetic to aff arguments about it being a bad model for debate.
- I find many framework debates end up being two ships passing in the night. Line by line answers to the other team's framework standards goes a long way in helping win framework in front of me.
Theory:
- Almost all theory arguments are reasons to reject the argument, condo is usually the only exception.
- Conditionality is often good. It can be not. I have found myself to be increasingly aff leaning on extreme conditionality (think many plank cps where all of the planks are conditional + 4-5 more conditional options).
- Tell me what my role is on the theory debate - am I determining in-round abuse or am I setting a precedent for the community?
Framework/T-USfg:
- I find impacts about debatability, clash, and iterative testing to be very persuasive.
- I am not really persuaded by fairness impacts, but will vote on it if mishandled.
- I am not really persuaded by impacts about skills/the ability for debate to change the world if we read plans - I think these are not very strategic and easily impact turned by the aff.
- I am pretty sympathetic to negative presumption arguments because I often think the aff has not forwarded an explanation for what the aff does to resolve the impacts they've described.
- I don't think debate is role-playing.
- If the aff drops SSD or the TVA and the 2NR extends it, I will most likely vote neg.
Hey y'all
I debated for Lane Tech and am now finishing up college. I debated mostly black theory amongst other critical arguments but if you have the best framing and the best world to vote for, whether that be your policy plan or your K advantage, I will vote for.
Please tell me how many off before starting and I see no reason to censor yourselves within the round as long as a certain level of respect is maintained between competitors. Will vote on in-round DA's (our plan enacts real change through the discussion being held right now etc. etc.) and press your perms, they'll save you in the end.
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
put me on the email chain: tatineni.sarika@gmail.com
debated for 4 years at Jones College Prep, debating now at NYU. ask me any questions you have :)
basically i'm fine with anything. do a clear job of impacting out your arguments and explaining why i should vote for you please!! i'm fine with speed, just be clear. run arguments that you want to run and can explain, i won't fill in the gaps for you. don't be an asshole, i will drop your speaks.
K - debated mostly K stuff in high school, but don't run a K just for the sake of running one!! be able to explain what you are running and your authors clearly.
T - impact out your voters please, don't just have t as a 30 second blip in your 2nr! i think i have a pretty high threshold for voting on t - if you aren't extending your voters properly
FW - tell me what my ballot should look like.
CPs/DAs - explain the link story clearly, but otherwise you're good
hey sup
i haven't debated in a couple years so probably start slow so I can get used to your voice. I also don't have much familiarity with the topic so don't assume I know what everything is. That being said I'm not an idiot so I'll be able to understand everything going on.
I'll admit to being a bit biased in rounds with the neolib k or similar things but I won't just hack out for the K team every time. Just know that sometimes it might make it a slightly more uphill battle.
Otherwise, I do appreciate the more interesting possibilities of arguments on the aff or neg, so I'm more taken by things like Baudrillard and Bataille and what not than the average judge might be. That being said, I debate so I also hate teams that run these arguments just to be incredibly shifty with what they're actually saying, so just don't keep changing what your kritik is through the round.
I actually enjoy a good topicality debate, but emphasis on good. If you plan on going for t you need more than 30 seconds in the block on it.
Really nothing else of note. I'm a trans girl so if you decide to talk about queer issues, just be careful you're not being an ass. Though that goes for, yknow, everyday life so if you haven't learned that lesson already I doubt the last part of my paradigm will be what spurs change.
BACKGROUND- I debated at duPont Manual H.S. (1987-91) and Augustana College (in the NDT) (1991-94). I have been an asst coach at several Chicago high schools: Whitney Young, Lane Tech, Juarez, and Hope. I have been coaching and judging in the Chicago Debate League since 1999.
I am open to any type of argument and style as long as you make compelling justifications for why I should vote for your team. I WILL NOT do the work for you. Make sure that you are extending your impacts at the end of the round and providing some type of comparative impact calculus that frames my ballot.
I appreciate creativity over predictability . I get tired of weighing Nuclear War and a Politics DA.
Overviews are appreciated . Let me know what is most important in the round. If I have a messy rd, I use overviews in rebuttals to help whittle it down. (i.e. "There are 3 reasons why you vote for us this rd...." )
Anything that happens before the rd ( i.e. disclosures) is irrelevant to the rd. I don't consider lack of disclosures "abusive".
ROADMAPS- Give good ones- Tell me the order of the arguments of your speech. Roadmaps are used to help people put their flows in order. Don't just say something like, "I'm just gonna do a general overview of everything." That's not a roadmap. Give the order: "Topicality, DA, then Solvency...".
TIMEKEEPING You are welcome to time your own speeches, but I like to keep prep time , just in case.
TAG TEAM CROSS-EX: I think it is important for novices and jv debaters to learn how to think on their feet and answer questions on their own, so I discourage tag teaming. I allow it, but it may cost you speaker points.
TOPICALITY is a voting issue. it is not a time skew . T is important because it's like a separate arena in the round. There are a lot of ways to argue that aren't necessarily dependent on cards. Debaters need more brain power and have to develop more arguments while in the rd. T is my favorite stock issue. I was a "Topicality Jock" when I debated. LOL.
SPEED is fine if I can understand you. I will let you know if I don't. Be sure the tag lines to your cards are clear, and feel free to spew as much as you want during the text of the cards. Do NOT SKIP ("CARD CLIPPING") the important parts of text while you read it. If you stop reading a card before getting to the tag implications, I won't count it in the round. [Example: If the tag line says "Nukes lead to extinction" and you only read the first sentence of the text: "Certain scientists discussed nuclear power today." . That is not completely read.]
KRITIKS are fine with me. Explain it as though I am hearing it for the first time. Don't skip certain parts of it because it may be a popular K. Feel free to go crazy, as long as the LINK is explained. ! P.S. Personal insults are not arguments. They really aren't.
Know your arguments and evidence ahead of time. I have seen too many rounds where a K is shoved into a debater's hands right before a round, and the debater knows nothing about the K. Evidence isn't the only thing you need to win the round. You need to be able to explain the arguments and implications. I usually consider an "alternative paradigm" observation BEFORE stock issues (like T). I would like to hear in the rd reasons why the paradigm comes first, though.
I can become impatient and start prep time if someone's computer glitches take too long.
DISADS- Please remember to extend all 3 parts of a DA throughout the Neg block and 2NR. I'm not kidding.
COUNTERPLANS - If you go for the CP in the 2NR you must win it to win the round. This means extending all parts of it and explaining the Net Benefit.
END OF ROUND- I don't talk a lot at the end of the round. I write everything on the ballot. I also don't like to read cards at the end of the round. Don't ask me to unless you believe they are being misinterpreted. I have a problem with Huffington Post cites. I may need to see the quals of the author. I also will not argue with anyone about my decision.
Avy Gaytan-Aranda
Solorio Academy HS '19
UIUC '23
Short Version
-Tech over truth
-No judge kick
-quality over quantity of evidence
-default my paradigm as a policymaker but open to all arguments
-clash is key to any good debate
-Neg gets presumption
-email chain: amoravyg@gmail.com
Long Version
Short background about me: I debated for Solorio academy(Chicago) for four years. I debated in both the UDL and national circuit. I ran mostly policy through the first half of my career, however my junior and senior year my partner and I became more flex. With that being said, I have debated the most sketchy counterplans all the way to postmodern Ks. I am not familiar with the new topic, my knowledge solely comes from judging so you must provide substance in your debates rather than just jargon.
Affs- K affs: Although I always liked and read Ks, I find it really hard to read K Affs. Not about understating, rather how they are used. Hence, when you read a K AFF do not just stand up and explain what is that you are criticizing but also explain the utility of the aff itself. Make sure to implicitly describe the need to not use a plan, and the need to have the discussions that are being had, because otherwise i will likely lean neg on framework. I genuinely don't have a preference for any form of affirmation of the resolution, you can do any form of performance in front of me.
-By any means feel free to run any aff that you want in front of me.
Ks- I want to hear a good explanation of it, defended well, also explain why it matters more than any other arguments in the round. How the alt solves better ..how the K fw suits best for the round...how it outweighs the aff..how it is a issue in the world of the debate round and the real world, etc. Neg, in order to have weight of the K trough the round, articulate a link, wait, articulate MULTIPLE links on the K, without a link you can't win K. Go beyond the techy sutff and K jargin and go further on, expand on the literature authors and their ideas, and connect them to the debate round, to engage not only with the people in the round, but to orient yourself as debater. In other words have a cohesive understanding of the K. Preference wise, even though I have been policy most of my debate career (so far), I do read K literature on my spare time, so with that being said, I am knowledgeable with Stuff like Wilderson, Sexton, Baudrillard, Agamben. The evidence of the kritik should be pretty extensive and well Also, I encourage to defends a solid solvency mechanism aka a strong alt, otherwise, I view myself judging a non-unique disad. Having a solid alternative is literally the most compelling thing when leveraging a framework and the impacts of a link because it makes it easy for me as a judge to prefer it over any fiated plan. With that being said I don't like voting for kritiks with weak alternatives, because I view it as a burden of the neg to prove how the alt overcomes the link story and the premise highlighted in the kritik, well at least explain how they substantially change the sqou described in the world of the K. Overviews are nice when making the extension of the K in the later speeches of the debate, however be aware of how long it's going to be, should be no more than 45 seconds.
- If you go one off K, do your thing, but a major thing! Learn how to split the block please.
- Any death drive, death good stuff is probably not good in front of me (not with that, nor I like that).
- I probably wont vote for you regardless of how well you defend if you read the following: Time Cube, death good, shreck.
Theory, theory is awesome, theory is the most amazing thing in debate. In my opinion theory debate is underrated and underused in modern debate. However if you are reading theory make it interesting. That being that I love theory on CP debates.
Regarding T, CPs, DAs, etc make sure no nonsense argument to waste time. By that I refer to, run an argument you are comfortable with and don't run random arguments just to catch the other team off guard ,be very strategic.....
- I am very sympathetic towards condo, because I believe in teams reading plus 6 off just to catch other teams not responding to args. However going for condo just because it was dropped is not enough to win my ballot, there has to be substance regarding as to why condo matters specifically in the context of the round and why it matter overall.
Be strategic...
For example....Don't run Baudrillard and a heg DA with a war impact, c'mon, it's pretty self explanatory why not.
CPs- Big fan of consults CPs, Not voting for a counter plan without a net benefit...Also, a MUST when reading a CP, don't just prove how phenomenal a CP is independently, but prove to why the CP is specifically competitive with the Solvency of the Plan. Consider not getting too caught up in the explanation of how the CP works, but rather include comparative analysis to the 1ac, and distinction to the net benefit. Also, yes counterplans could get messy and stuff but overviews are helpful in later speeches in the debate if you want to make the CP a possible 2NR strategy. For AFF teams, theory is phenomenal against counterplans in front of me, I tend to believe that just like the 1ac, the counterplan should be questioned and attacked as much as possible the 1ac. That being by either perms, CP specific DAs, theory, etc.
Multi-plank counterplans are really tricky and fun, however, they could get sketchy, I don't think plank kicking is a thing, you either defend the full counterplan or none of it.
- Functionally competitive CP's are better in my opinion; easier to defend and to debate thoroughly.
Theory on CP's such as agent, delay, or int. fiat probably have some truth value considering how abusive CP's could get, however I don't think that 5-20 second extensions are enough for me to vote for any of the theory arguments on CPs
DAs- Even if I believe your DA is bad/ or non uq, I will still give your 100% risk until proven otherwise.
-Not a fan of the courts DAs, because most of them a false and exaggerated. If you read these, please give me a good link story that is coherent to the aff, thus multiple links make it strong for not only picking fewer in the debate, but using them as case turns if mishandled by the affirmative. Impact analysis along with a strong internal link story will probably be the most important when trying to get my vote because it is up to the aff or neg to either prove why such impacts matter more or less than the others.
-Politics are nice.
T- if you are going for T in the 2NR, you better go for it all 5 minutes, I expect some serious analysis on T if you end up going for it in the 2NR. Definitely a winnable argument considering it is the negatives job to prove that the aff doesn't work/ is not topical to begin with.
- consider having a debate past the interpretation and the "they say-we say" stuff, but prove your voters as being true.
- By default I think reasonability is good, so it's your job to convince me otherwise.
- Set the bar as to why T is an independent reason to not evaluate anything but the argument in the round.
Framework- Awesome!!When reading/going for framework, please have a solid interpretation. Having a vague interpretation makes it hard for me as the judge to validate arguments you claim to solve for. Moreover, when going to framework please engage into a line by line, nonetheless I won't feel convinced that your idea of what debate should be is true or convincing. Why is voting the other team bad for debate? what are the impacts of not having your framework? what makes your framework best for the debate? Please answer these questions when articulating the argument in your speech. Additionally, I don't really buy the "screw debate", "f debate" "debate is bad" framings of debates and rounds. However I do like when frameworks present a challenging paradigm for the round such as "Debate should be a sight of x or y" or "engaging in this form of debate is key because..."
- I also think fairness is not an impact; coming from a small school, it is pretty evident that there is things outside the round that make debate pretty unfair.
Moreover, I find that now days framework debates are very reciprocal..either "aff should defend a hypothetical USFG plan", or "we should test the aff's orientation before anything". Those debates can get boring, try to expand and have creative interpretations, to have clashful and more concise debates. Which overall are way better than having broad big impact debates.
-impact wise...explain how procedural impacts outweigh pre-fiated impacts
Moreover, clash is always the key to a good debate round, thus making it not just educational to you as a debater but to me as a judge too.
In round stuff/Random
- PICs are fine with me but don't be abusive.
-Jokes are nice
-Never make fun of opponent
-Never card clip (although there is some leeway for novices)
-If I suspect any stealing of prep during flashing or w.e, I will be Conor Cameron with time through the rest of the round.
- Remember that debate is not a reading game, it's a thinking game. Thus, warrants win you debates not cards.
-AFF: always disclose affirmative case before the round if asked by the negative team.
Solorio High School '19, currently enrolled at UIUC
Add me to chain: steveguz29@gmail.com
Pronouns: he/him/his
Respect people's pronouns
I debated all four years of high school. My first experience with the topic would be the first round of the first tournament I judge in.
I'm open to any argument types, but I am more comfortable with CP+DAs. With K's, I'm most likely unfamiliar with the literature, so make sure to thoroughly explain the it. T's are fine.
Affs: prefer plan texts, but I'm open to judge K Affs, but be aware that I may be unfamiliar with them.
T: feel like they are underutilized especially in the beginning of the year. If this is a 2nr argument, make sure it's the priority (3+ minutes). I default to reasonability if that part of the debate isn't debated well enough.
DA: bread and butter. Explain the story. Link is more important than uniqueness unless proven in round. Impact calc key.
CP: again, bread and butter. Prove to me why the CP solves and is better (net benefit) and I'll vote for it. Don't abuse the number you read, then I give more leeway to Condo theory arguments. Aff prove why the CP can't solve, or prove there's no net benefit. Neg needs to prove it's not possible to do both, else i err aff.
K: I've debated against then, went for them before, but it's not my best offcase. Explain the story of the k and how the alt solves. I give more leeway for giving the Aff the option of weighing impacts in framework unless proven differently.
Theory: I'm fine with it. Prove in-round abuse, else I err the other side.
I prefer to be called Steve, not judge. I won't be annoyed or anything, just a preference
Tech over truth.
Don't be discriminatory to any group of people.
Read Death K but I won't be amused nor happy.
I give +0.2 speaks if you are able to roast Conor Cameron in your speeches
Lane Tech - 2012 - 2013
Iowa City High - 2013 - 2016
University of Northern Iowa - 2016 - 2017
Emporia State 2018 - 2021
Berkeley Prep - 2021 -
-----
2022 Update
TLDR:
-email chain -
-Recently retired k-leaning flex debater/resident performative stunt queen for Berkeley Prep Debate
-would much rather judge a really good policy v policy round than a poorly executed k round - BUT - would ultimately prefer to judge a k v k round where both sides have competing and creative strategies that they are both a) deeply invested in and b) have interesting interpretations of. Those are the rounds I always had the most fun in, but to be clear, I have also realized over the years that a policy v policy round has the potential for just as much, if not more and have no problem judging these debates.
-the team executing whatever argument they are most comfortable with at the highest level they can, will always in my eyes have an easier time getting my ballot/receiving higher speaks which means that the the speeches I want to see are those that you are enthused about giving and ultimately, I want you to be excited to be able to do whatever it is that you are best at.
-went for everything from big stick warming affs to f*** debate performance 1AC's, to Black/Native Studies like Warren, Wilderson, Moten, King, Gumbs and Hartman to Queer theory like Butler, Edelman and Trans-Rage to High theory like Nietzsche, Baudy and OOO as well as Procedurals like T/FW/A- and I-Spec, Disads/Case turns like to deterrence, politics and SPARK and of course, multiple different flavors of counterplans. so regardless of what it is you go for I'm down - just don't take this as an excuse to not use judge instruction/concise explanations that makes sense - even if I was a Nietzsche one - trick in high school that doesn't mean I'm going to do the nihilism work for you. All this is to say is that whoever you may be, you should feel comfortable that I have in some way or another had a certain level of experience with your literature base.
Important Note:
Due to recent events its been suggested to me that I add a layer to my philosophy I wasn't sure was necessary, but in an effort to help protect future debaters/debate rounds, as well as myself/fellow judges, here is what I will say -
While I do empathize with the competitive nature of this activity, it should go without saying that if there is violence of any kind, whether that be intentional or not, my role as an educator in this community is to intervene if that situation deems my involvement to be necessary and I want to make it very clear that I have no qualms in doing so. Its important to recognize when we have to put the game aside and understand as a community that we have a responsibility to learn from situations like those and to be better as we move forward. SO just for the sake of clarity, I do not have a desire to stop rounds, in fact - quite the opposite. However, my role as a judge (one that I would hope others embody when judging my own students) is one that adjudicates the round in the most equitable means possible AS WELL AS one that ensures the safety of, to the best of my capacity, each debate round and all of its participants/observers.
Also - Sometimes, and not always, but in the same fashion as countless other judges, I can, at times, be a very reactive/nonverbal judge. Understanding that those kinds of things are a) an inevitable part of this activity b) not always caused by something you did and c) can be incredibly critical in your in round-decision making is crucial and is a fundamental skill that I believe to be vastly important in succeeding within this activity. HOWEVER, that means that whether or not you choose to modify what you are doing based off how I am reacting is, at the end of the day, your decision and your decision alone - recognizing when to do so/when not to is a core facet of competing.
Strike me if you don't like it.
specific feels about certain things:
- have aff specific link explanations regardless of offcase position - that doesnt mean that every card has to be specific to the aff but your explanation of the link should be as specific to the 1AC as you can make possible - extra speaker points to those who can successfully pull lines
- hot take: after all this time in online debate, I will in fact "verbally interject if unable to hear" regardless of whether you make that clear to me before you begin your speech - so as a personal preference don't feel obligated to say that anymore. Id rather you just give me an order and start after getting some signal (verbal or visual) that we're all ready. as an incentive to help try and stop this practice, expect a lil boost in points.
- that being said, "as specific to the 1AC" means you could have a really good link to aff's mechanism. or you could have a great state link. or a link to their impacts. etc. it doesnt matter to me what the link is as long as it is well developed and made specific to what the 1AC is. I dont want to hear the same generic state link as much as the next person but if you make it creative and you use the aff than I dont see a problem.
- affirmatives could be about the topic, or they could not be, its up to you as long as whatever you choose to do you can defend and explain. If you're not about the topic and its a framework debate, I need to know what your model of debate is or why you shouldnt need to defend one etc. if youre reading a performance aff, the performance is just as important if not more than the evidence you are reading - so dont forget to extend the performance throughout the debate and use it to answer the other teams arguments.
- whether its one off or 8 please be aware of the contradictions you will be making in the 1NC and be prepared to defend them or have some sort of plan if called out.
- on that note theory debates are fine and could be fun. im not that opposed to voting on theory arguments of all varieties as long as you spend a sufficient amount of time in the rebuttals to warrant me voting on them. most of the time thats a substantial amount if not the entirety of one or more of your rebuttals.
- perm debates are weird and i dont feel great voting for "do both" without at least an explanation of how that works. "you dont get a perm in method debates" feels wrong mostly because like these are all made up debate things anyways and permutations are good ways to test the competitiveness of ks/cps/cas. that being said, if you have a good justification for why the aff shouldnt get one and they do an insufficient job of answering it, i will obviously vote on "no perms in method debates"
- dropped arguments are probably true arguments, but there are always ways to recover, however, not every argument made in a debate is an actual argument and being able to identify what is and isn't will boost your speaker points
speaks:
how these are determined is inherently arbitrary across the board and let's not pretend I have some kind of rubric for you that perfectly outlines the difference between a 28.5 and a 28.6, or a 29.3 and a 29.4, or that my 29.3 will be the same as some other judges.
I do however think about speaks in terms of a competitive ladder, with sections that require certain innate skills which ended up being fairly consistent with other judges, if not slightly on the higher side of things. Hopefully, this section will more so help give you an idea of how you can improve your speeches for the next time you have me in the back.
-26s: these are few and far between, but if are to get one of these, we've probably already talked about what happened after the round. The key here is probably don't do whatever is that you did, and is most likely related to the stuff I talked about at the top.
-27s: If you're getting something in this range from me, it means you should be focusing on speaking drills (with an emphasis on clarity, and efficiency), as well as developing a deeper/fuller analysis of your arguments that picks apart the detailed warrants within the evidence you are reading.
-28s: Still need to be doing drills, but this time with more of an emphasis on affective delivery, finding a comfortable speed, and endurance. At this point, what I probably need to see more from you is effective decision making as well as judge instruction - in order to move into the 29 range, you should be writing my ballot for me with your final rebuttals in so far as using those speeches to narrow the debate down and effectively execute whatever route that may be by painting a picture of what has happened leading up to this moment
-29s: at this point, you're probably fairly clear and can effectively distinguish between pitches and tones as you go in order to emphasize relevant points. The only drills you should be doing here should be concerned with efficiency and breathing control, and if you are in the low 29's this is most likely a clarity issue and you should probably slow down a bit in order to avoid stumbling and bump your speaks up to high 29's. Higher 29's are most likely those who are making the correct decisions at most if not all stages of the debate, and successfully execute the final speeches in ways that prioritize judge instruction, and clearly lay the ballot out for me throughout the speech.
-30s: I actually don't have a problem giving these out, because I think my bar for a "perfect" speech can be subjective in so far as 30's for me can definitely make mistakes, but in the end you had a spectacular debate where you gave it everything you could and then some. I try not to give these out often though because of the risk it could possibly mess with your seeding/breaking, so if you do get one of these, thanks - I had a wonderful experience judging you.
-0.0 - 0.9 - this section is similar for every category in that it is dependent on things like argument extension and packaging, handling flows/the line by line, cross ex, link debating, etc. however, a team that is in the 29 range will have a higher bar to meet for those sort of minutia parts of your speech than those in the 28 or 27. That's because as you improve in delivery you should also be improving in execution, which means that in my eyes, a debater who may be in the 27 range the first time I see them, but is now speaking in the 28 range will have a higher bar than they did before in order to get into the high 28s.
I coached policy debate at Niles West High School for three years. Prior to that, I competed in Policy debate for four years at Niles West and have also competed in NPDA-Parliamentary and NFA-Lincoln/Douglass debate for four years at the University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign. I served as the Debate Captain for UIUC during my junior year, teaching and coaching new members and running our team's practices. My background is in political science and public policy as well as studying some critical theory so I like to think I am generally well versed in issues usually being discussed during competitive debates.
I highly encourage flowing, clarity, in depth analysis, and argument comparison. (like impact calculus).
I'm very flexible as I have debated very policy as well as critical positions throughout my debate career. I am a flow judge above all else, so if the right arguments are made and extended, I will vote on that. While I have some minor argument preferences, I will generally remove my biases from the round and judge each debater's arguments on its merits.
If you still have questions, ask me before the round or email me.
You can contact me at: Walter.lindwall@gmail.com
Add me to the email chain: trevonmuhammad34@gmail.com
K teams pref me 1!!!!! I am more than capable of making the right decisions when it comes to Policy V Policy debates.
Please put me on the email chain.
I'm Alex Mujtaba, I did four years of policy debate at Okemos High School.
I do have some experience with debate and most arguments, except for k's. I ran a couple cap. K's in high school but that's the extent of it. If you run a K please explain it to me in excruciating detail, otherwise I likely wont understand what your talking about. If you explain your impacts/links/FW/alt well enough, ill vote for you if I understand it and I think you are winning on all fronts. This applies to K affs as well.
When it comes to most Policy arguments, I'm fine with T's, CP's, DA's, etc.. Please be clear when speaking, and emphasize your tags/important points. You should signpost between arguments, that would be much appreciated.
I’m open to anything. Just explain to me why I should vote for you. I really don’t have any preferences on what I hear. I was a K debater in high school, but I coach middle school and you know they’re all policy. I’ve run a lot of stuff and so I’m ok hearing a lot of stuff.
I flow each contention separately, including framing and solvency. Please keep this in mind. I will do my best to maneuver the way you flow.
I will never vote on something you don’t bring up. What this means is that if I see cards are power tagged, I might dock speaks, but I’m not going to vote on it. I do read the cards, though.
Joe Krakoff says it best: boil it down to the central question of the debate and make it in your favor. That’ll happen on the framing flow. What am I really voting for?
I will vote on glaring technicalities, depending on the round. Did you drop framing? Did you drop the perm? Did you drop theory? “Drop” to me means you do not have a meaningful response to a significant argument the other team has brought up, and they call you out on it. I’m ok with (and encourage) splitting the neg block. I rarely, however, vote for a drop when the other team hasn’t brought it up
Remember that when you switch from flow to flow, give me a second to set the paper down. If you don’t I might miss something you’re saying. If you don’t give me time, I’m not responsible for missing whatever little theory shell you spread through on the top of the flow :)
I will not ask for a roadmap unless you are a novice. It’s your job to provide me one. What this means is if you don’t give me a roadmap, I will probably be fumbling around switching flows and I’ll inevitably miss stuff you’re saying and you’ll get sad when you lose. It’s fair game because it’s on my paradigm.
After round, email me with questions or if you want to do a rebuttal redo. I always enjoy talking to debaters.
Kritiks - I ran lots of Ks in high school, but running a K in front of me doesn’t mean that you’re going to win. I need a clearly articulated alt and a clear understanding of the K from the debaters. I’m fine with whatever your alt is - sitting in silence, in round mindset shift, a seance, a song or dance, whatever — just explain to me why you should win the round and why what you’re doing matters.
Topicality - not my favorite but I’ll vote on it
Theory - it definitely has its place in debate. Like everything else, explain to me why it matters and why the other side did something that harms the debate game, debate round, other team, etc.
DAs and CPs - I’m grouping these together because it’s the same as above: explain why you win and I’ll vote for you.
I love theory and all sorts of wacky arguments. They’re fun when they’re done right. It’s not an excuse to say things that are hurtful, however. Debate is a game, if you argue that it is, and it should be intellectually rigorous (unless you argue that it shouldn’t be...). I’ll vote for a kritik that makes no sense because it’s supposed to make no sense and I’ll almost always be inclined to vote for the team that has a solid understanding of their cards and authors. Don’t read anything in front of me that you don’t understand. It makes me sad, but I will send you stuff after the round to help further your understanding if you’d like.
If you need any accommodations during the round, let me know. Also let me know if you’ve ever had a pet frog, if you have type one diabetes, or if you are selling a butterwort plant or live ladybugs (I’m in the market). Other than that, have fun. We are all in this together.
3 years debating at Lane Tech High School
Preferred pronouns: she/her
My background is in critical race theory and identity politics with a focus in the arguments of black feminist Alexis Gumbs. Throughout my three years, I’ve also gained knowledge on a variety of critiques including, but not limited to baudrillard and deleuze. That being said, I am a traditional critical judge, but I refuse to vote for unwarranted critiques. If you do the work -provide sufficient links, give disads to the status quo, and articulate the alternative well- I will vote for you. As far as framework debates go, I generally find framework to be a technique of silencing, but if the arguments are warranted and the critical team doesn’t sufficiently answer them, I will vote on it. For my policy and framework teams, don’t be frightened by my experience. I’m well versed in policy arguments and will give the same amount of attention and interest in policy v policy debates. I love solid solvency advocates in CPs/DAs and great topicality shells.
I am open to ALL arguments except those that are racist, homophobic, sexist, etc.
Don’t run something because you think I’ll prefer it. I want to see you debate the best you can and 9/10 reading something you are unfamiliar with leads to shallow debates.
Subject the email chain - Tournament Name Round # - Aff Team AFF vs Neg Team NEG
Debated at Maine East (2016-2020, TOC Circuit) and the University of Pittsburgh (2020-2023, NDT Qual)
I will boost speaker points if you follow @careerparth on tiktok, bring (vegetarian) food/snacks, and end the debate as fast as possible.
I took most of this paradigm from Reed Van Schenck:
Career wise, my arguments of preference were more critical (Afropessimism, Settler Colonialism, Capitalism, and the likes). I enjoy judging clash debates, policy vs critical. Traditional policy debaters should take note of my lack of experience in policy v policy debates and rank me very low on their judging preferences.
The one thing you should know if you want my ballot is this: If you say something, defend it. I mean this in the fullest sense: Do not disavow arguments that you or your partner make in binding speeches and cross-examination periods, but rather defend them passionately and holistically. If you endorse any strategy, you should not just acknowledge but maintain its implications in all relevant realms of the debate. The quickest way to lose in front of me is to be apprehensive about your own claims.
When in doubt, referring to the judging philosophies of the following folks will do you well: Micah Weese, Reed Van Schenck, Calum Matheson, Alex Holguin, & Alex Reznik
Everything below this line is a proclivity of mine that can be negotiated through debate:
I think that debate is a game with pedagogical and political implications. As such, I see my role as a judge as primarily to determine who won the debate but also to facilitate the debaters' learning. Everything can be an impact if you find a way to weigh it against other impacts, this includes procedural fairness. When my ballot is decided on the impact debate, I tend to vote for whoever better explains the material consequence of their impact. Use examples. Examples can help to elucidate (the lack of) solvency, establish link stories, make comparative arguments, and so many more useful things. They are also helpful for establishing your expertise on the topic. All thing said, at the end of the day, I will adapt to your argument style.
I dislike judges who exclude debaters because of what they decide to read in a debate round, I will NOT do that as long as you don't say anything racist, sexist, etc.
Speaker points are arbitrary. I tend to give higher speaker points to debaters who show a thorough understanding of the arguments they present. I am especially impressed by debaters who efficiently collapse in the final rebuttals. I will boost speaker points if rebuttals are given successfully with prep time remaining and/or off the flow!
Public Forum Debate
The faster you end the debate, the higher your speaks.
I am a flow-centric judge on the condition your arguments are backed with evidence and are logical. My background is in policy debate, but regardless of style, and especially important in PF, I think it's necessary to craft a broad story that connects what the issue is, what your solution is, and why you think you should win the debate.
I like evidence qualification comparisons and "if this, then that" statements when tied together with logical assumptions that can be made. Demonstrating ethos, confidence, and good command of your and your opponent's arguments is also very important in getting my ballot.
I will like listening to you more if you read smart, innovative arguments. Don't be rude, cocky, and/or overly aggressive especially if your debating and arguments can't back up that "talk." Not a good look.
Give an order before your speech
Yes, email chain: ju59@cornell.edu
Cornell '24
Solorio '20
I debated all 4 years of High school.
Since debate is a fairly liberal activity here are my Pronouns: He/Him as a judge Él as a Debater
Important notes about me:
- I do not like rude behavior, there are moments when you can assert dominance in a speech and during CX but it is your burden to know when it is appropriate and right.
- I am policy-oriented but that does not mean I am not versed in K lit so read what you are comfortable with
- I will only flow arguments that I hear so be clear
- Sometimes debates are learning moments to grow on our humanity we all make mistakes but be conscientious of all debaters. This means do not be racist and prejudice against other debaters
- Do not be arrogant, if you know you are better than another team this is a moment to be humble and give the other team a moment to learn. This does not mean throw the round but be aware of others ability to debate and reflect as a human
- Try your best and enjoy the debate
- Debate is about the need for change, give me the nexus question of the debate in your rebuttal and tell me why that is important
- DO NOT GO FOR T
Theo Van Hof
Assistant Debate Coach, Okemos High School
Michigan State University '24
Please include me on the email chain.
Bio: I am Theo Van Hof, I debated public forum debate for one year at Lincoln Southwest High School and policy debate for two years at Okemos High School, and two years of policy debate at Michigan State. I am now in my fifth year of assistant coaching and judging for Okemos High School. This is also my second year judging for the NSDA tournament.
TL;DR: Read the speaking section. If you don't, I'll know and give you dirty looks the whole round, and I don't want to do that. Recently, I read some god-awful substack article in which the author complained that debate judges bring too much of their own bias into rounds, and that makes debate unfair. Not only is this an extremely stupid argument, but it is also one that is just wrong. This isn't really relevant to anything, it just annoyed me. Anyway, read what you want, however you want. I will vote for anything as long as it isn't actively racist, sexist, xenophobic, transphobic, homophobic, etc.
Speaking: Speak loudly and clearly (maybe not so loud if it is a morning round). Please have overviews and signpost. Even something as simple as saying "next" will do. If you signpost poorly you will be docked speaker points. Speed is fine as long as I can understand you. I will not flow what I cannot understand, so please do not expect me to go sifting through your cards to figure out what you said. Other than that any style of speaking is great. Do whatever floats your boat.
Bonus speaker points if you are funny. In a persuasion activity, humor can be very effective, and it irritates me that no one seems to care about actually "persuading" me, but I digress.
Aff: Read whatever you want. Creative and unique plan texts are appreciated, but certainly not required.
K Aff: If you are a K Aff team, pref me low! I am a very dumb policy nerd who refuses to learn K Affs out of sheer laziness. With that said, I am more than willing to listen to any and all K Affs and I have voted for them in the past. The ones that I vote for are the ones that are explained the best and don't get bogged down by too many buzzwords and too much silly debate jargon. If you have any performative elements, feel free to instruct me on how you want me to flow things, so I can follow along properly.
Topicality & Theory: I like T as a negative strategy. You can read a couple of T violations if you want, but if you stand up and start reading 5+ T violations, I'm going to start laughing. If you want to win T in the 2NR, make sure your link to the aff is clear, and make sure you impact out why the violation is relevant and why it means you should win. If you don't want to lose on T as an aff, read counter-interps/we meet arguments but do not read an RVI, I will not vote on it and I will start blasting crappy EDM during your speech (not really, but no RVIs please).
Theory is fine but mostly dumb. I will still vote on it, but the burden of proof is definitely on the team running the theory argument.
DAs: Great. Please explain your DAs, primarily your link story, and how they outweigh your opponent. Impact calculus is excellent in the final speeches of the round.
CPs: Great. Please read a plan text other than; "Do the aff". Explain the net benefit(s) and why the CP is better.
K: Generally, simple Ks like Cap or Security will be fine, but more complex Ks are going to need a good amount of explaining. I am not super familiar with a lot of the buzzwords of Ks and will most likely not be able to understand a bunch of jargon. I will vote for your K as long as I can understand it, and just like anything else, you win it.
Introduction-
My name is Marcus Williams and i'm a senior at the University of Kentucky.
My email is marcusvwilliams.ii@gmail.com . You can email me with any questions you have. If you do email chains you can also add me to it before the round.
General -
I really enjoy debate and I think it should be a fun activity that everyone should be comfortable doing. With that being said, I am open to all arguments that teams make. I have NOT done any debating or research on this years high school/middle school topic, but that doesn't mean I am clueless to how things work. It just means you need more explanation.
Disads -
Do impact and framing work. I prefer specificity when it comes to link arguments. Generic link arguments can get it done with nuance, but I am lenient to aff no link arguments if they press your very general evidence.
Topicality -
Topicality should be treated as a disad, meaning that you should do similar impact calc. Violations should be aff specific. T debates can be kinda confusing if you are just repeating your arguments without answering the other teams, so make sure to do comparative work.
Counterplans -
Generic counterplans are fine. Ensure you isolate all 1AC internal links early on and how you resolve them in advance.
Theory -
I am persuaded by a lot of aff theory arguments however, I find I vote neg a lot more in theory debates because of a lack of impact comparison and technical drops. going for one liner theory arguments are fine if their dropped, but they have to be clearly communicated and substantiated with an impact.
Kritiks -
let em rip