Viraj Bodiwala

University of Chicago '26

Maine East '22

1A/2N

email: mehsdebatevb@gmail.com

IF YOU READ A K IN FRONT OF ME, I WILL HOLD YOU TO A HIGHER STANDARD.

tech over truth.

I'm a second year at UChicago studying quantum engineering, physics, and computer science. I debated at Maine East High School in Park Ridge, IL, for four years, doing moderately well and breaking to semifinals at many national circuit tournaments. I attended camp at Wake Forest University and the Michigan K Lab. Apart from my freshman year, I read primarily critical arguments, but have also have dabbled in topicality and counterplans. My arsenal consisted of afropessimism, baudrillard, settler colonialism, and some performative arguments. I also read a fair bit of memes.

The following is from Parth Shah's paradigm, someone who I more or less completely agree with it when it comes to 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.

Lastly:

Be nice.

Feel free to mmail me with questions about kritiks, philosophy, UChicago, etc.

niles west '19

University of Michigan '24

she/her

put me on email chain - nadia.f427@gmail.com

last update: January 2021

if you have any additional questions please email or ask me

background!

I debated competitively at Niles West for 4 years. I was a 2a/1n for most of my career but was a 2n/1a for a couple of months. I was a policy debater in high school, but my partner and I did go for the k often. I received a bid to the toc and have been in many bid rounds. I don't know the topic at all.

aff!

Explain your aff to me with a clear story. Use your impacts and extend them throughout the debate, I love impact debates. I really like it when teams use their aff to answer off case positions and make cross applications in the 2ac.

neg!

My main thing is to have applicable arguments against the aff, I don't like arbitrary off case that are just 1nc fillers. I am fine with reading as many off as you want, but I hate big a 1nc that is just to spread the 2ac thin. If you have a big 1nc at least have a strategy that goes along with it. I don't like huge neg blocks, but I get it sometimes.

cp!

Love love counterplan debates, but I am picky. Advantage counterplans are my favorite and I will be very happy with a smart one, but giant adv multiplank cp without a real solvency advocate are ehhh. Process cp are good IF competitive, so please have a clear cp competition debate if that is your strat. Please don't forget the net benefit debate though! I think net benefits are a huge part of the cp debate. I lean aff on cp theory.

k!

I am not a good judge for the k. Please extra explain things for me, I do not know all of your k jargon. Keep the debate clean and have a real link/impact.

t!

I love a good T debate. I am not super knowledgeable on the arms sales topic so please explain your interps for me. I lean aff on reasonability. I don't like aspec, sorry. Impacts to your standards are super important to me.

da!

DA and case debates are awesome. I am tech over truth, except when it is too true. Love love turns case and case turns da arguments!

k aff!

I don't love k affs. I am better for k affs with some topic relevance and think those are the more strategic. I am neg leaning on fw, but I will vote for aff cause tech over truth. Please explain your aff to me because the chances of me understanding your aff are very low.

theory!

I love condo debates and think 2-3 condo worlds are ok. I am down to hear any theory debates, but they need to be full arguments and not fake small theory arguments. Either go all-in on theory or not at all.

speaks!

Don't clip and be nice and respectful to not only me but especially to your opponents! If you say anything racist, sexist, or hateful I will vote you down and give minimum speaks. Please have a subject line clarifying the tournament and round on your email chains! Other than that, just be clear & smart and you are good. If you know me then you know what jokes to make to help your speaks.

Solorio ’21

Any pronouns are coolio.

cesargutierrez.email@gmail.com

If CPS: cgutierrez38@cps.edu

General:

Tech>Truth.

I'll usually vote on anything if well-articulated.

Impact calc is good.

Have fun.

Don't be a jerk.

Clarity over speed.

***Specifics***

Case:

Always important. I do think most teams nowadays are doing less of it. A good 2nr/2ar should always give me a story of what is happening and how I should evaluate it. Overviews are good... just don't forget the line by line. Tell me how the advantage interacts with the disad or kritik and what that means.

Disadvantages:

Love these. I always want a good thorough story of the DA [assume I don't know anything about it]. Turns case should always be there, tell me how your DA interacts with the aff [Don't just be like "Extinction turns the aff", tell me how your impact or Link specifically affects the aff. Blocks are good, just don't rely on them too much. I prefer impact analysis on top instead of an overview. Compare your cards to theirs, "Our card is more recent, qualified, etc...". Every part of the DA is important. You do have to win every part of the DA [Same for Advantages] If they drop a DA [or anything] don't just say "they dropped it", give me a reason why I should care, what does it mean that they dropped it, you get the picture. Link turns case is a really good argument.

Counterplans:

CP and DA is always a good move. Adv cp + impact turn = my fave. You do have to win the net benefit. Won’t vote on a Counterplan without it. 100 planks? Of course. Agent Counterplans are amazing, just make sure to establish competition. Love Pics, the aff does have to win the entire Plan is a good idea. Always remember to answer theory on the CP. Explain how you access the aff's internal links and do the work. Competition determines legitimacy for CPs - if a CP is a legitimate opportunity cost to the aff, aff theory arguments are a bit less persuasive to me.

Topicality:

If you do go for it make sure it's a full 5 minutes. None of this T, CP, and Disad nonsense. Impact out both your standards and theirs. Give me reasons to prefer reasonability and competing interps. Probably need examples of in-round abuse. ASPEC is pure banter. Just don't drop it 2as.

Theory:

This is always an important part of the debate. 3 condo is probably the max. Prove to me why rejecting the team is necessary. If you have to think "is this counterplan shady/cheating". It probably is.

Kritiks:

I find them interesting, explain your theory of power, philosophy, etc. Explain the alt very clear, and how it resolves the impact to the K. I am most familiar in the following, Cap/Neolib, Security, Settler Colonialism, Ableism. Links specific to the aff are amazing. [It has to be why the aff links and not the squo]. Long overviews? Sure why not but don’t just read it and be like “Line by line, done above, done above, done above”. Framework is important, don't undercover this in rebuttals. The vague alt argument isn't very convincing unless made iffy in CX. The alt needs to solve case, establish root cause claims. Not my Baudrillard < Yes, its your Baudrillard.

K Affs:

"Good luck to you" - Conor Cameron 2019.

Misc:

Roadmaps [This is copied from Argent Martinez’s paradigm who copied it from John Tao's paradigm—I agree with them both]

Please. There are four things I've been seeing that drive me absolutely insane - and apparently there's enough for me to even write about it.

1) Roadmapping the 1AC. Don't do it. It's not necessary. It's not a thing.

2) Asking if I want a roadmap. The answer is YES. The answer is always YES (with the exception of the 1AC, because, once again, don't do it).

3) 1NC roadmap - just tell me how many off, and then where you plan on going on. Don't tell me what the Off cases are, that's not necessary.

4) Roadmap by being clear and concise: "DA, K, Case in order of solvency then advantage one." Do not roadmap: "I'm going to go a little bit on solvency, and then maybe the K...and if I have time maybe the DA...."

Important:

Don't be a douchebag. If you are ableist, sexist, racist, etc. I will vote you down on the spot.

College of William and Mary

Walter Payton College Prep '21

Put bhemingwaydebate@gmail.com and sweetnessdebatedocs@gmail.com on the email chain.

I debated for four years at Payton and am not debating in college. If you are a team that reads k affs, you should not pref me. My only 2NR strategy was framework, and I really don't buy the common arguments about debate space being bad or debaters having the ability to change it through individual rounds.

A compete argument consists of a claim and warrants. Simply saying that an argument was dropped means nothing if it's not contextualized to how that implicates the round.

Case

Case debate is underutilized by many of the teams that I judge. Neg teams should use smart case turns or recut the 1ac evidence instead of just using impact defense.

Bad framing debates are the worst. If you don't use warrants and just parrot taglines at each other, I will just default to util.

Disadvantages

2NRs that are the DA v case are fantastic. I judge disadvantages v case primarily through the quality of warranted rebuttal analysis, quality of evidence, and impact calc. I think 0 risk is possible, but it would require a lot of evidence analysis by the aff.

Explain why uniqueness matters with politics DAs.

Counterplans

Process counterplans need to have a clear solvency advocate and articulated reasons why its better then the plan because I'm not a fan of sneaky CPs.

Kritiks

I am qualified to judge a Security/Biopolitics/Cap K round. Identity and high theory Ks will be very unpersuasive to me. Links must be specific to the 1ac -- reciting generic blocks will not be voted on. I have a high threshold for voting neg on the K-- the neg should win specific links and framework. It's not necessary to win an alternative.

Topicality

I default to competing interpretations. I don't have a lot of preferences other than both teams need to describe what the topic looks like underneath both interpretations. 2NRs and 2ARs should clearly explain what their view of the topic looks like and what their opponents view looks like.

I'll vote on extra-T or effects-T only if there is a clear violation.

Theory

Theory should be 5 minutes of the 2AR if you're going for it.

add me to the email chain -- ohernandez55@cps.edu

If you are reading this, hello.

My debate philosophy is based on the versatility of debate itself. The fun part about debate is the fact that there are thousands of ways to debate along with unique arguments that may seem unconventional but can be used in a very practical way.

Opinions on counterplans: Although I enjoy the versatility of debate, counterplans lie in a bit of a grey area. I will only vote on a CP if the CP in question is able to thoroughly defend itself against any perm and is intrinsically unique when compared to the AFF.

Kritiques: I vote looser when it comes to Ks. In order for me to vote on a K, it has to have either a clear path of solvency or it the alt is completely unorthodox but has been debated thoroughly and seriously. I will not vote on joke Kritiques. If you are running a K, it is ideal that you debate with both passion and extensive knowledge of the Kritique you are running.

Topicality: I will rarely ever vote on T. Unless there are outright violations outlined thoroughly in the T flow, I most likely will not vote on it unless of course the AFF has dropped it.

Spreading/Speed: When giving a speech, it is important to get through all cards. It is equally important to speak clearly. I am not stingy when it comes to speed, but if it gets to a point where the debater is rambling jibberish, I will begin to consider the better speaker in my decision.

Extra: If you run the Surrealism K, 9 times out of 10 I WILL vote on it. The only time I won't is if the debater just downloaded the file from Open Evidence just to take a quick W. I will know if you did this.

Hey, Im Mason Hubbard I use he/him pronouns and am part of the Lane Tech Varsity debate team. I have knowledge and understanding of both policy and K debate so I am definitely open to most arguments. My main rule is that rounds will be conducted with respect for everyone inside and outside of the room meaning any arguments that are promoting any sort of hate speech (pro racism, sexism, etc) will be voted down and the partnership will receive the lowest speaks. Besides that though I anticipate clashes and really enjoy good cross examination and closing speeches so make sure to to be as engaging as possible.

Further things to take note of:

Add me to email chains: mhubbard2@cps.edu

I prefer clear speaking over speed reading, make sure to pronounce tags loud and clear.

Time your speeches and cross ex always.

I will give additional speaks for any good NBA or marvel movie references during speeches

Overall I look forward to competitive rounds with both teams learning more than they left the round knowing and both sides being respectful to everyone in the room.

I'm a Vanderbilt University Biomedical Engineer from the class of 2015, who grew up as a Chicago public school student, and one of those few people in the debate world who was introduced to formal debate as an adult.

I am an assistant debate coach at a Chicago Public High School, and have focused only on Policy debate. Most of my engagement has been through Chicago Debate League, and I would encourage you to look into it to understand my experience. My debate Mentor is Jonathan Horowitz, if you'd like to glance at his paradigm as well.

I consistently see debaters underutilize CX. This is an amazing opportunity to identify gaps in your opponents arguments, please use it. Make your questions pointed and clear. Ask a second question if the first isn't landing.

Avoid overly relying on your cards as individual items, they should be part of your argument as a whole, and I see this get lost sometimes.

As Neg, make sure you're responding to all arguments actually made by Aff, not the arguments you think they're going to make.

K's are fun to judge but make sure you have adequate evidence to support, and that that it leads some where. Don't let esoteric discussions distract from the fact there is a resolution you're debating under.

Be cautious of using statistics and numbers if you can't answer questions around their context.

For impact, make sure you are explicit in your conclusions, not implying them.

It is the burden of your rebuttals to explain how each argument interacts and why the way everything falls means I vote for you. This approach especially rewards good comparison of evidence and internal warrants. A good rebuttal should lay out your proposed RFD for me.

He/Him/His, call me Sam

OPRF 2021, Iowa 2025

Put me on the email chain - oprfsk@gmail.com

I debated at OPRF for four years running mostly policy arguments. I no longer debate, having decided to try out a novel concept called "free time". Weird, I know. That being said, debate did a lot for me as a person and I'm incredibly glad that I did it, and I think that judging is a great way to stay involved with an awesome community and make sure that new generations also get to have that life changing experience!

Do whatever's the most fun for you. Don't be a dick. Don't be a bigot. Don't clip cards. Tech over truth.

Make smart arguments. Read good cards. Compare evidence. Do line-by-line. Speed is all good.

If an argument isn't on my flow it wasn't made. That means probably send analytics and definitely slow down when you read them. If you're extrapolating a new argument from an old argument, make that clear in the round, I won't do the work for you.

If I think a piece of evidence is relevant to the debate, I will probably read it. If you tell me that a piece of evidence is relevant and that I should read it, I will definitely read it. That being said, the only parts of your card that are relevant are the parts you read. Yes, this means you have to read rehighlightings. I will treat insertions as analytics.

I know nothing about the topic. I did not go to camp or judge for a camp. I might google the resolution at some point but don't count on it.

From the paradigm of the one and only Sam Shafiro:

"I put substantial effort into evaluating every debate I judge to the best of my ability. That being said, the following is a ranking from most to least of my average confidence in evaluating each type of debate: DA/CP/Case Turn v Policy Aff, T v Policy Aff, K v Policy Aff, T/FW/DA v K Aff, K v K Aff."

Be funny. I like it when people are funny, it makes debates less boring.

K Affs:

-Is fairness an impact? Let me know! Debate!

-The safest was to go about explaining the theory of your K to me is by assuming that I have no familiarity with your lit base, even if you're pretty sure that I must have some.

-I'm sympathetic to a lot of T/FW arguments but I'll vote for whoever wins the flow. My job is to evaluate the arguments that are made and I try to do just that, but I think it's important to acknowledge my opinions because they exist whether I like it or not.

-I think DAs vs K affs are dope. Once again, my ballot is still dependent upon you winning said DA.

-I will flow your long overviews, but I won't like it. Put it on the line-by-line.

T:

-I think T debates can be a lot of fun to have (even if they're almost never fun to judge). The way it was always explained to me is to debate T like a disad, where the violation is your link, the definition is your uniqueness, and the impacts are your standards.

-Yes I made a joke about not knowing what the resolution is, but if it comes down to a T debate I promise to make sure that I'm informed on the relevant background information that you would assume a competent judge to have in such a scenario. Translated, this means I'll pull up the resolution of google.

-Do lots of impact work. Make it very clear to me why your vision of the topic is better for debate than you opponents. Make me see that world. Too often teams get stuck in the specifics and fail to describe the bigger picture. Trust me, I lost more than one round because of it.

DA:

-Love me a good politics DA. That being said, politics DAs are stupid as hell. You need to tell me why yours isn't. Run your ridiculous politics scenarios, but only if you can make them make sense to me (and have the evidence to back it up).

-Do impact calc. It's important.

- On the aff, use your case against the DA. You have 8 minutes of 1AC cards on why your case is a good idea, extend them. If you read a framing contention, this does not mean you can drop their DAs impacts. Apply the cards you read on framing specifically to their scenario with more specific impact d. Is that more trouble than its worth? Probably, but you're the one who decided to read a soft left aff.

-Rider disads are probably illegitimate but I can be convinced otherwise.

CP:

-Solvency advocates are important, the more specific the better. This means that planks are awesome only so long as you have solvency advocates to defend them.

-Should I judge kick? Let me know! Debate!

-Be consistent with your perm explanations

-See T for what I think about theory

-See DAs for "use your 1AC cards"

-No neg fiat and other such inane theory arguments are pretty much only ever something I will vote on if they're dropped

-I used to be a big hater of the process counterplan but I've come to appreciate them, so long as they have (you guessed it) a solvency advocate. To be specific, that means a solvency advocate that is at least either in the context of the topic or the aff (looking at you concon).

K:

-I'll probably end up evaluating both the aff and the K unless the framework flow is overwhelmingly in one direction

-See K affs for some thoughts, particularly regarding lit bases and long overviews

-A specific link to the plan will help you immensely here, the more specific the better.

Run what you want, have fun.

This is my Paradigm -- Noah Kern (noahkern@gmail.com)

If you're a novice, good job checking my paradigm. Put me on the email chain please.

Debated for Northside for 4 years.

He/Him

--

I am fairly familiar with IR jargon but I have only judged 1 round on the 2022-23 topic. Take that as you will. 

Go at whatever speed you're most comfortable with, flow everything the opponent argues, answer all of your opponent's arguments in order, and aim to make it as easy as possible for me (or whoever is judging you) to understand your arguments.

Walter Payton ‘21

Top Level:

- Novice year is about learning how to debate, so be nice, keep calm, flow, and everything will be okay.

- Do impact calc and make sure to tell me the story of your advantage/DA in every round.

- Being rude is not cool and edgy; it's annoying. I will lower your speaks substantially if you're a jerk.

Affs

- I don't think I'm the best judge for a K aff. I find T USfg extremely persuasive in the context of novice debate

- I read a soft left aff. If you're reading one, you need to answer turns case analysis on the DA and extend specific framing arguments. Reading a bunch of framing cards and never extending warrants from them will make me sad.

DAs

- Impact calc and turns case are important.

T

- I have given a substantial number of T 1NRs in my time. I like T debates, just make sure to explain why your interpretation creates a better model of debate than your opponent's.

- Legal precision is the most persuasive standard to me, but you should go for whatever standard works best with your interpretation. Make sure to spend time in each of your speeches telling me which standard should frame my decision and why it should do so.

- Both teams should spend the rebuttals explicitly comparing the models of debate set by the interpretation and the counter interpretation. If the debate is clean and well impacted out, I'll give everyone good speaks.

CPs

- Not a huge fan of the process CP, especially in novice debate. I'll vote on it if you win but I won't be happy about it.

Ks

- Most familiar with your generic cap/security/biopower stuff and a little bit of set col.

- Explain your thesis clearly and spend a lot of time on the link debate. Links should be specific to the aff (a USfg link alone is not enough)

Hey whats up guys, as you can see my name is Jace, don't be afraid to call me by my first name !!

I prefer policy debate but k debate is great too. Don't let my preference scare you from running the arguments you want to run. I'm pretty open to most arguments.

The only thing I would note is that I'm not really gonna vote T unless it isn't answered correctly or it's dropped.

Niles West '14

UIUC '18

I coach for Niles West debate and have for the past 6 years. I have coached and judged in every level from novice to elimination rounds in varsity divisions. I have also coached and judged on local, regional, and national circuits.

Yes, I would like to be sent speech docs but I will not be flowing off of them --- elipre@d219.org

I debated for three years for Niles West and one year at Michigan State University on the legalization topic. My experience in debate is 50/50 policy and K.

I would like to emphasize that I am totally down for the K as much as I am totally down for a policy debate.

First and foremost: I do not allow my preconceived notions about certain types of arguments affect my decision-making. I view debate as an activity that develops critical thinking and advocacy skills, so do that in whatever way you think is best suited for your situation (granted that it is respectful and not offensive).

Certain arguments:

FYI: dropped arguments are not true arguments --- whoever makes the argument has the burden of proof.

T – love a good T debate. compare interpretations and evidence adequately. the impact level is the most important to me in T debates, and you should be comparing standards/impacts. don't forget the internal link debate. fairness is an impact in and of itself.

DAs – are essential to a good debate I think. impact calc and overviews are important. think we can all agree on that.

Ks and Framework – I love the K, I went for it a lot in high school. they are good for debate *if they answer the affirmative*. Please engage the affirmative. This entails making specific link arguments as well as thorough turns case analysis. I am probably familiar with your literature, however, I will not weigh your buzzwords more than logical aff arguments against your K. If you want my ballot, you need to first and foremost TALK ABOUT THE AFF. Read specific links to the aff’s representations and impacts, not just to the topic in general.

The link debate is crucial – and the aff should recognize if the neg is not doing an adequately specific job explaining their link story. Additionally, you need to make turns case arguments. I will not be compelled by a mere floating pik in the 2NR – that’s cheating. Give me analysis about why the aff reifies its own impacts. Absent this, I usually default to weighing the 1AC heavily against the K.

Relating to framework, I have a high threshold for interpretations that limit out critiques entirely. I would rather see debaters interact with the substance of the criticism than talk shallowly about fairness and predictability (especially if it is a common argument). A lot of the times, framework debates are lazy.

Planless affs: Totally down for them, especially on the criminal justice system reform topic. Perhaps they could be read on the neg, but that does not mean that they should not be read on the aff. This is good news if you are negative going for framework because switch side debate probably solves a lot of aff offense if there is a topical version of the aff. This is also good news for the aff because I can just as likely be persuaded that the reading of your aff in the debate space creates something unique (i.e., whatever you are solving for). A policy action, whether or not it's done by the federal government, should be a priority for the aff to defend. Please just do something that gives the negative a role in the debate. SLOW DOWN on taglines if they are paragraphs.

***

Meta things:

1. Clarity (important for online debate) - I've changed my stance on this since online debate became a thing. Still definitely say words. Sending analytics in speech doc and/or slowing down on analytics 1) helps me which is, in turn, good for you and 2) (at worst) facilitates clash because your opponents can also hear and know what you are saying, which is also good for everyone educationally!

Ideally I would not have to work too hard to hear what you are saying. I am bad at multitasking, so if I’m working too hard I’ll probably miss an argument or two. Please enunciate tag lines especially. If I can’t decipher your answer to an argument, I will consider it dropped.

2. Be respectful – yes, debate is a competitive activity, but it is also an academic thought exercise. I encourage assertiveness and confidence in round, but if you are rude, I will reduce your speaker points. Rudeness includes excessively cutting your opponent off or talking over them in cross-ex, excessively interrupting your partner's speech to prompt them, being unnecessarily snarky towards your opponents, etc. Please just be nice :)

3. Logic - a lot of times, debaters get wrapped up in the technicality of their debates. While tech is important, it shouldn’t come at the expense of doing things like explaining your arguments, pointing out logical flaws in your opponents’ arguments, and telling me how I should evaluate a particular flow in the context of the whole debate. I tend to reward teams that provide consistent, clear, and smart meta-level framing issues – it makes my job 100 times easier, and it minimizes the extent to which I have to intervene to decide the debate. I will not do work for you on an argument even if I am familiar with it – I judge off of my flow exclusively.

4. DO NOT assume that I am following along on the speech doc as you are giving a speech, because I am probably not.

5. Trolly arguments will probably get you low speaks and some eyerolls. Debate is an educational activity. By my standards, "trolly" includes timecube, xenos paradox, turing tests, etc. Y'all are smart people. I think you catch my drift here.

Introduction

Call me Sam, Oak Park River Forest '21 & Emory '25, coach for Pace Academy, yes email chain oprfgs@gmail.com, I know absolutely nothing about this topic...

In my mind there are two serious reasons you might be reading my paradigm: either 1. you are determining prefs before a tournament or 2. you are determining how I will respond to your strategy before the round. I have organized my paradigm accordingly.

Listed below are the things I think are most important to point out about the way I judge, and the places where I might differ from the "consensus" of the debate community. If I do not bring up a certain issue, you should assume that I adopt the general "consensus view." If there is a particularly question that is important to you that I do not mention, you should absolutely feel free to email me before a tournament or even before a round. I will not write you an essay on what arguments to go for but I will answer straightforward yes or no questions like "is inserting a card ok if it was read in cx" (yes) or "when debated equally, do you think a textually legitimate but functionally illegitimate perm is valid if both teams agree a counterplan must be textually and functionally competitive" (also yes). If you are unsure whether your question is appropriate, ask anyway.

For Prefs

General

-I like smart arguments. I like line by line. I like spreading (while being clear) and reading lots of cards and comparing evidence.

-I put substantial effort into evaluating every debate I judge to the best of my ability. That being said, the following is a ranking from most to least of my average confidence in evaluating each type of debate: DA/CP/Case Turn v Policy Aff, T v Policy Aff, K v Policy Aff, T/FW/DA v K Aff, K v K Aff.

FW/K

-Debate is a competitive research game with a winner and a loser. It is my job to determine who the winner and the loser are based on who does the better debating in the round. It is very difficult to convince me to vote for something outside of the round (however, a team responding to "out-of-round" arguments should still defend why these arguments exceed the ballot's purview).

-I have not judged many T-USFG/FW debates, so I am not sure how idiosyncratic my approach of them is compared to common community practices. However, all else being equal, I have yet to see a convincing argument for why the affirmative should not have to defend a topical plan.

For Pre- (and Post-) round

General Notes

-Do not over-adapt. Do what you do, do it well, and you will get my ballot.

-I am easily impressed by debaters who demonstrate that they command an extensive but approachable understanding of American foreign policy, the internal politics of other countries, "critical" debates in academia, etc. I am easily depressed by debaters who's knowledge of these subject is superficial or who can not describe these things in a way that is easily digestible. The best way to prove to me your quality as a speaker is to debate an important area of study both in-depth and in a way that a non-expert could understand.

-Read re-highlightings.

-Have perm texts (it's ok to insert them).

-I generally flow in-person debates on paper. If you think you are going too fast you are. If you think you are unclear you are. Please slow down when you are making a lot of non-carded arguments in constructives, especially on T/Theory/K OVs.

-Generally, after the debate ends, I will create a list of the questions I need to resolve to determine which side won. If the answers to any of these questions can clearly be determined based on my flow I will resolve them in the appropriate way. Finally, I will read the evidence presented by both teams on the more ambiguous questions on my list, and incorporate evidence, spin, and analytical arguments into evaluating them. Therefore, while good evidence is always important, evidence quality begins to matter a lot more to me if you have done less work with spin/analytics/etc, which is something you should keep in mind in how you approach your 2nr/2ar.

-Online: I highly encourage you to turn on your video if you are able to do so. Debate is a communicative activity and seeing you speak significantly helps me understand you on a psychological level.

T

-If the most precise reading of the resolution results in a bad topic, that's a gripe for the topic comity, not a justification for trying to re-define the topic (on either the aff or the neg). Is it possible to win my ballot on debatability? Yes. Does it require a lot of impact work? Also yes.

-Instead of focusing on only winning I should look at debatiability, predictability, or any of their component parts, consider how I will evaluate the round after it ends. Often times both teams have offered multiple lenses that modify one or more of these categories and how they interact. The teams that win T debates in front of me are usually the ones who come closest to identifying all the impacts and framing devices in the debate and explaining how they resolve.

DAs

-I love the politics DA. However, politics DAs require a story. The words "strong-arming moderates" in your uq ev + an "aff requires PC" card do not a story make. I will give good points for (decent) innovative politics strategies because I think they get at the heart of what makes debate fun and the ambiguities that fiat creates.

-There is a direct, positive, linear relationship between the amount of impact calc you do and how likely I am to vote for you. I know that's a cliché and I'm still including it here which should clue you in to how important this is. This also means that I am not a fan of framing contentions, and I only think they are useful in so far as you impact out and do impact calc with the applicable arguments on the appropriate DA or counterplan page. This is not to say I will throw out framing contentions; I will still try to adjudicate the debate as fairly as possible, just know that all else being equal I lean negative on theses issues and if you are running a framing contention you are better off convincing me the neg's impacts are securitized and bad then you are convincing me that DAs are fake.

CPs

-I default to counterplans needing to be functionally and textually competitive. However, the way the affirmative determines if the CP meets that burden is the permutation. Therefore, when debated equally, a textually legitimate but functionally illegitimate perm is valid.

-I am sympathetic to being time pressed in the 2AC and think the threshold for a sufficient explanation for a perm or solvency deficit in the 2AC is that I am able to reasonably predict the subsequent 1AR explanation. However, I am a lot less sympathetic to perms and solvency deficits (especially impacts to solvency deficits) that sound substantially different in the 2AR then they do in the 1AR (or that barely feature in the 1AR but feature prominently in the 2AR). While this is opposite to your strategic incentives, the earlier you explain your arguments the better for me as a judge, and perms or solvency deficits that are explained thoroughly in the 2AC require less time investment to explain in the 1AR, so there is a cost/benefit calculus you have to take on.

-In my mind, perms are a yes/no question. My default way to evaluate perms is to look at each one, see if it clearly establishes that the counterplan is not an opportunity cost the the plan, and depending on if the answer is yes or no discard the counterplan or move on to other arguments respectively. One implication of this is that I am generally unsympathetic to "any risk of a link to the net benefit" answers to the perm. Nevertheless, my stance on perms as a yes/no question is somewhat malleable if debaters make explicit arguments for why I should understand the perm in a different way.

-I view CPs through the lens of negation theory. The negative is, first and foremost, responsible for giving me a reason the aff is bad (not just a reason the aff is less good than it could be). That means all counterplans must have offensive net benefits. I will never vote for a counterplan whose net benefit is better aff solvency. Even if the counterplan solves the aff better, and is mutually exclusive with the aff, it has not provided a reason the aff is bad.

-By default neg leaning on theory. The two most important things to my ballot on a theory argument: 1. Win topic side bias AND/OR how this theory argument implicates this topic specifically AND explain the implications of this. 2. Do impact calc. These debates often get messy, so being simple and formulaic is to your benefit.

-If judge kick is not brought up in the debate, I will kick the CP for you if it has been clearly designated as conditional/dispositional. Otherwise, I will evaluate the arguments for/against judge kick presented in the debate. If the counterplan has not been clearly designated as conditional I will not kick it.

Ks

-If neither team forwards a "middle ground" fw interpretation, like "weigh the advantage but also weigh reps links," I will not intervene and make one for you. I will only decide between the fw interpretations forwarded by either side, but a team can make arguments that modifying its fw interpretation in later speeches to attempt to take the "middle of the road" and capture the other team's offense.

-I am uncomfortable adjudicating anything other than the debating that took place within the round I am assigned. If there is harassment within the round, I hold the appropriate course of action to be stopping the debate and going to tab, where I am happy to argue that the team doing the harassment should be expelled from the tournament and talk to the team's coaches about the debaters facing repercussions. If there is harassment outside the round, talk to me and/or send me an email and we can go to tab and/or try to determine an appropriate course of action.

Final thoughts

-I think debate is no fun when everyone is up-tight and being a little fun and/or silly is a good thing. However, this should never come at the expense of debating well.

-I am probably a better judge for arguments like death good than the rest of this paradigm makes it seem.

-If you feel unsafe during a round for any reason, send me an email.

-I am still paying attention even I am staring off into the distance, especially if I am flowing on my computer.

Email: jmtorres7@cps.edu

General about me: I debated CDL and a couple of invitationals for 3 years at Taft, acting as captain my third year, my email is maxtoaster@gmail.com. I'm a graduate of Lake Forest College with degrees in philosophy and psychology, and any pronouns are fine.

Please add me to the email chain if you chose to have one, and feel free to email me with any questions. I love debate and all the different strategies people employ, so I'm open to any arguments as long as you're having fun and aren't being a jerk to the other team, or running racist/sexist/homophobic/etc... arguments. And feel free to call me Max, not "judge" or "Mx. Tozer" or anything like that. I enter the round as a policy maker, and defaulting to reasonability, and continue to operate as such unless told to behave otherwise in round.

Disclaimer: I'll run down my beliefs about specific arguments here, but don't change your preferred strategy to pander to what you think I'd like after reading my paradigm. In my eyes all strategic approaches to a debate are valid, and I want you to argue the way that you're best at and will enjoy the most. I vote for the team that does the better debating, I won't vote against a team for running an argument I don't like or anything like that.

Case- case debate is fine and good, but as a tip, please don't forget to look at your opponents sources and dates. Aff, please do some storytelling. I'll put more weight on your harms if you tell me how we get there. K-affs are fine but I'd advise not running them if you are a novice, stick to what you understand.

FW- I LOVE myself some framework debate and will take them seriously into consideration when making my decision on the round, ROB's are great if you want to have one, anything that makes my job easier. That said, I recognize that framework can be used as a tool for silencing, and advise teams to be ready to defend their framework if their opponents bring this up.

DA's - All DA's have 100% likelihood unless I am told otherwise. DA's that don't have extinction impacts are refreshing and nice. It's in no way necessary, but I will give you and your partner +.2 speaks out of gratitude for mixing things up a bit if you run a DA with non-extinction impacts.

Theory - Awesome cool and great, but if you want me to take this seriously spend time on it in your rebuttals.

CP's - CP's are one of the most useful tools in debate, very strong, often short, and have a great potential for tying your arguments together. Because Cp's are SO good, I do believe they can get abusive, and I will vote on condo or other theory arguments if argued well. I'm not a big fan of PIC's, and the Cp's solvency should be competitive with the aff. The CP should solve better, if I think the aff and the cp both solve the same impacts equally well, I'll vote aff.

K - my favorite off case in debate, feel free to get as creative as you want with them. That said, the most important part of a K is the link. BE SPECIFIC why the aff links to your K, if you have an aff specific link read it, if you need to read a general link, elaborate on it in your own words regarding the specifics of the aff. Try to stick to K's you understand, and clearly explain your alt. nothing wrong with using a cp as a policy example of an alt.

T - I will vote on T, but you should tell me why I should vote on T in round. Explain to me how your opponent's aff specifically violates your voters, and explain the impact your voters have on the round/why they should be voters. 5 minutes on T in the 2nr isn't a bad idea if you want me to vote on it.

Other -

-I flow your speech, not your cards. Spreading is fine, but clarity is key, it's not my job to look over all your cards to figure out what you're saying if I can't understand you.

- Tech over truth 90% of the time, if something exceptionally absurd is claimed by one team, I will give the other the benefit of the doubt, but you should be fine.

- Don't be afraid to have a sense of humor. Debates are long, straining, and often repetitive, everyone in the round would be happy to have the formalities be broken for the sake of a joke.

- Speaker points: I try to stick to this scale - http://collegedebateratings.weebly.com/points-scale.html but I will add or subtract some points based on sportsmanship. Insulting your opponents isn't okay, don't do it.

Please put me on the email chain: sammywinchesterwalsh@gmail.com.

I debated for Northside for four years and graduated in 2022. I am not debating in college.

I lean policy, but I will vote on anything if you are winning it.

Clash is especially important, go a level further than the tag, tell me why you are right and they are wrong.

Please do not forget about Case. 

T and Theory - If you lose any T or theory arguments that are ran against you, I will usually vote against you. Though the standards of the argument need to be impacted out to be considered. For example "They lost T." is not enough for me to vote on, you need to go a level.

DAs and CPs - Very comfortable with them, go for it.

Policy Aff v. K - As I lean policy, if you are running a K, turns case arguments work best with me. On framework for both sides, make sure it is consistent. Please try not to change your interpretation or standards throughout the round. Unless it is an integral part of the K to ignore Case, don't concede or forget about case in the 2NR. I am decently comfortable with the standard Ks, but anything super specific or academic, you will need to make it make sense to me. I will not vote on something I do not understand by the end of the round. If you are going for it, you should be able to explain it adequately.

K Aff - I will not vote on something I do not understand by the end of the round. If you are going for it, you should be able to explain it adequately. Especially since academic K's are about learning. However, if you're framing is based on being confused, you're going to need to do some explanation there, but if you win it, I will vote accordingly. Arguments against K Affs that I like are other Ks and Cede the Political, though anything can work.

Hello! My name is Bella (she/her) and I am a senior at Walter Payton College Prep. Include me on the round's email chain @bwatts44@icloud.com.

Here are my recommendations for Novices:

Behavior:

-Turn on your cameras unless absolutely unable, it will help build the creditability and engagement of your argument and in turn, bring you more speaker points in addition to preparing you for next year, in-person tournaments.

-Be nice to one another, debate is intense and combative but it does not need to be cruel. Lack of such is especially damaging in CX!

Speech:

- Thoroughly develop, defend and refute and rebut the case argument: all claims must have warrants and well nuanced significance (no K aff's)

- Disadvantages are very effective if link is firmly established, impact calculus is a must

- Considering the breath of the topic, I am uncertain that topicality is best, but I would keep an open mind if articulated strongly and or if a clear violation is present

- Welcome to K's on the neg, yet must be done with all necessary components to form a compelling vote!

- Counter-plans should prove mutual exclusivity on the neg to win on the issue

Feel free to ask any questions you need in round, and remember, have fun!:)

** I can ideologically agree with you are still vote you down if your strategy is ineffective or mismanaged, but I will not endorse a team that relies on stereotypes and social discrimination as a source of justification.

Greetings!

Hi! I am Stefanie Zin.

Please add me to the e-mail chain: zinst4364@gmail.com

If you don't read ANYTHING else, please read the following:

1.PLEASE SIGNPOST

2.PLEASE PROVIDE A ROADMAP

Okay, now that I've said that:

While I debated in high school for four years, and in college for two, it was a while ago. I have VERY LIMITED familiarity with most Kritiks and definitely not as fast a flow as I used to be. That said, you needn't act like you are giving an "after dinner speech". Related to speed, I also appreciate intelligibility. My motto is, "If I can't understand what you said, I can't flow it and if I can't flow it, I can't vote on it." To borrow a statement from my Ex-Husband, David Zin, "Debate is still a communication activity, even if we rip along at several hundred words a minute."

I am a bit of a traditionalist: I tend to have a stock issues approach to the AFF, I like clear and succinct tags on evidence. You can read the evidence as fast as you want (assuming you are intelligible). I appreciate it when the 2NR/2AR not only provide me with justification as to why they win, but contrasts their position to the other team and explain how they outweigh.

Tag team CX is okay, within reason. I award speaker points based on the quality/content of the speeches as well as CX performance. I want all of the debaters to be able to think on their feet and not rely solely on their partner to "carry them through the round". Please demonstrate your independent understanding and mastery of the material (this will be rewarded).

Finally, I have a deep and profound respect for civility in a debate round. Your goal should be to prevail based on the content and quality of your argumentation, not on your ability to subject your opponent to abject misery and totally debase them. (This type of behavior will NOT be rewarded and you will NOT be happy with your Speaker Points as a result).

Please consider the following elements with an "X" denoting my position with respect to the spectrum of characteristics.

No Tag Team CX---------------------------X---Tag Team CX okay (within reason

Tech---------------------X----------------------Truth

Policy--X---------------------------------------Kritiks (As stated above, I have very limited experience with Kritiks.)

Theory--------------------------------------X------Substance

I'll read no cards----------------------X-----------I'll read all the cards

Lots of so-so cards ---------------------X-------- A few good, longer cards

Debate is about ideas--------------------X-------------------Debate is about people

Debate is good/valuable -X--------------------------------It's not

Conditionality bad-------------------------X--------------------Conditionality good

No process CPs ------------------------------X---------------Lit determines legitimacy

Politics DA not a thing --------------------------------X-------------(Good) Politics DA is a thing

Running Kritiks assuming I am infinitely UNFAMILIAR with them-----------------------X- Explain the K and the Alt and Framework

Framework with respect to Kritiks - PLEASE EXPLAIN HOW YOUR FRAMEWORK IS PREFERABLE and how I should weigh it!!!

Clarity--X-------------------------------------------Unintelligibility (Trust me on this!)

I'm a robot-----------------------------------------X-Slow down on tags/cites/analytics/theory

Aff Ground--------------------X-------------------------Limits

Long overviews-----------------------------------X----Articulate positions, line by line

2NRs that collapse ---X------------------------------- 2NRs that go for everything

2ARs that assume I will vote AFF regardless------------------------------X-2ARs that tell my WHY to vote AFF.

I look forward to an enjoyable experience judging you and your team!