Last changed on
Tue February 20, 2024 at 2:20 AM PDT
Current undergraduate student at Berkeley with 4 years of experience in PF.
Email is aryanvsawant@berkeley.edu. Add me to the email chain.
TLDR: Everything below is a preference, and not a rule. Following these preferences does NOT guarantee a win. Do what you have to do to win the debate. I will literally evaluate ANYTHING (I mean it) so long as it is intelligible.
Tech > Truth
[1] General:
Spreading: I don't enjoy it. If you're going to spread, send a speech-doc.
Signposting: Yes, signpost.
Crystallization: Not super important for me personally, though it can be beneficial if the round is getting muddy.
Final Focus (the last speech, not only PF but other events like Parli). Given that you're not making new (particularly no substantive arguments, requesting to look at cards for example will be evaluated) arguments, I will evaluate FF.
I don't flow cross. I listen, sometimes. For Parli: I don't flow POIs, but I DO flow POOs.
Make unique arguments, I love unique arguments
I enjoy charismatic humor (have fun). Don't be disrespectful to your opponents or your teammate(s). Humor won't (by itself) win you the round, but it's a massive plus. Besides, we're all here to have a good time. If you debate like your college applications don't depend on it, you'll find that you'll have much, much more fun.
I enjoy disclosing, but sometimes it takes me forever to go over the flow and review both sides, forcing competitors to wait for me to make a decision. This adds a ton of pressure on me to finish up early that frankly does neither side justice. So unless a tournament explicitly requests that I disclose or I have already made my decision, I don't disclose. If I am on a panel in outrounds, I almost always disclose. Feel free to ask me post-round if I'm disclosing and I'll lyk.
+ 1.5 Speaks for Team(s) That:
- Collapse on a "try or die" framework
- Argue for a ROTB argument on feminism/women's rights
- Introduce a new side about debate I didn't already know about (whatever that means lol)
Do all three earnestly and I will award 30 speaks.
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[2] Theory:
Ts: I like Ts, -- and topicality debate-- a lot. That being said: Worry less about the "structure" of a T shell and more about the actual argument you're making. You can spend time going down the voters, issues, etc but at the end of the day I'm there to vote for an argument, so make it tangible and easy to vote for. I generally default RVIs.
Ks: I've run feminism/sexism-related ROTB Ks in high school but haven't worked with more of the standard Ks such as Cap Ks, Set Col, etc. I wrote my college application essays on an experience regarding running sexism ROTB K's, so I'd say I have a pretty decent understanding of how to run a K. While I can't promise that I'll be able to keep up, I'd definitely like to learn more about K debate and so I'm generally open to them.
DAs: I like them when they're run by themself in the 1NC. Makes the round cleaner and easier to flow. In other words, I find judging a DA enjoyable when the DA is the entirety of Neg's case.
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[3] Hot Takes:
[A] Harmful content should be defined VERY NARROWLY. I believe that it's very easy to define uncomfortable arguments as harmful, and that they need to be properly defined in order to protect people, while concurrently allowing free expression within an academic setting. I do not require trigger warnings [unless tournament rules specify otherwise]. I will drop a debater for harmful content if:
1. It goes against the tournament rules. That's not in my hands, so make sure to read the tournament handbook.
2. You're being disrespectful or outright rude to your opponent(s), partner, or judge(s).
[B] Low-point wins should not be a rarity. Speaks and a pure flow debate have absolutely nothing to do with another. You can be both a good speaker and a good flow debater, and you can also be a terrible speaker and a good flow debater. I do not and will never understand why some circuits discourage low-point wins.
[C] If you make a frontline or response that goes unresponded to, you should not be obliged to extend it throughout the round, because it is the burden of your opponent to flow it and respond to it. For example, if your opponent doesn't respond to your rebuttal speech frontlines in first summary, you do not have to bring it up in second summary. You should bring it up in final focus (the last speech) so I know that you're going for that argument. Is it always the best strategy? Probably not, since there's a chance I may have not flowed it. That being said, the burden is not on you.
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[4] Random, but Important to Me: The inflection between theory and small schools
As a debater from a small school that began the speech and debate program at my school, I'm very, very aware of the financial and educational difficulties that prevent small schools from accessing the same amount of resources as bigger schools. Big schools can compete at tournaments 5 times the number of rounds a small school can compete in. Not only do they receive more "practice" in competition, but they have big prep teams that have the ability to share and pay for information. In other words, when big schools compete against small schools, the rounds hold a greater value for small schools because they are one of the few opportunities throughout the year that they have to compete within the national circuit.
With all of that being said, if you are a school that chooses to run theory/K/any tech argument on a small school, I will vote for the theory (assuming it's winning: your opponents legitimately do not respond to or defend against what you're running). I've wrestled with this issue for a long time, but I've (you could honestly convince me otherwise on any given day) come to the conclusion that theory is a part of circuit debate, whether or not I like it. So yes, invitationals matter a lot to small schools because there are only so many they can compete within an year. But I am also of the opinion that basic theory knowledge is necessary for national circuit debate, and that it is essential for a pure trad team to face a theory round in order for the small school to work toward becoming better at circuit debate. How would they go about that given the lack of educational resources? Reddit, Discord, and asking others etc is probably the best option at the moment. But I think that the benefits of facing such a round, especially for a novice team or a small school is necessary for the long term and future rounds, since they will have to ultimately hit a tech round someday.
I am not a fan of "oppressor vs. oppressed" hierarchies within a non-technical sphere (outside of the scope of theory). Please do not try to convince me you are a small school or a big school, it doesn't matter. I've seen millionaires attending Title IV schools and low-income students attending private college prep boarding schools. I've seen it all. This is why I intentionally left out my definition for the two terms-- it opens up a can of worms that is really unnecessary.
If you are running theory on a small school, all I ask is that you do it for a legitimate reason (plagiarism, etc). If you run something wild like a really badly, convoluted theory that has no response by your opponent, I will vote for you. But not only would I feel terrible about myself after that, but I think that would just be a sucky round to judge overall. It would be off-putting rather than productive. The choice is yours.*
If you are a small school or a team that doesn't know how to respond to theory: Just respond to the argument. No matter if you call it a K, T, or a DA, it's always an argument at the end of the day. Debate like you always do, and don't let your opponents intimidate you with a bunch of technical jargon. That is the best advice I can give you for now.
* If a newer/smaller team can successfully argue such theory is abusing the system (ie not conducive of an educational environment), I almost always default to the RVI (the team that argues that the theory is abusing the system).
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I'm constantly changing this paradigm over the tournaments I judge. If you ever have a question about something, disagree with my paradigm, and or want to offer thoughts on how I could improve how I judge, feel free to lmk!
If you have any questions, my email is aryanvsawant@berkeley.edu
