Max Archer 
Director of Debate - Augustana College 

Here's the deal - I think debate is a competitive communication activity. I think both teams present views of the topic, and by extension debate itself, that seek to encourage the judge to adopt their view of what is valuable in debate. As such, I think both teams are equally responsible for the arguments they make in the debate and I find it very difficult to assume you can separate the issues of policy and rhetoric in the round. 

I think the affirmative should be responsible for defending a topical example of the resolution. I don't necessarily think this means the affirmative must have a "plan text" (whatever that is) but do think it is important to address the topic in some form or fashion. Generally speaking, I adopt a liberal view of how the affirmative should do this/ I usually don't find framework arguments centered around fiat or switch side debate the least bit persuasive without a very high level of sophistication. If you A-strat or gut check against anyone who talks about ethics or philosophy is framework, you are going to have a very difficult time winning my ballot on this particular issue. I truly believe there is no single way of debating or affirming the resolution, and thus seek to balance the content of the debate with issues of form, rhetoric, ethics, etc. I love a good T debate, but rarely get to see it. I loath framework debates, but always seem to see them. 

This may come as no surprise to many - and I don't think its too terribly radical to say that if you make an argument in the debate and the other side engages you on that argument in some form or fashion, you should be responsible for defending the way you chose to do it rather than running away under the pretense your opponent has ruined the activity. 

Beyond that I think I'm pretty receptive to most forms of arguments and content of discussion. In the time I was involved as a participant, I did many different forms of debate along all points on the continuum from policy to critique. I try not to inject my opinions of how the debate should be into the round. I generally see PICs as a good thing, dispositionality preferable to conditionality, and textual and functional competition as important issues for discussion. Disadvantages and counterplans are still very much in vogue - I actually enjoy these debates more than some of the fecal politics some know as the K. 

But don't assume just because I have feelings about framework, you don't have to answer it. On the contrary, I also have a high threshold for appreciating most critique debates these days because of general lack of application of the argument to opponents' arguments. If you want to run a framework argument about limiting the debate to a particular view, by all means go for it - but please, please, PLEASE explain an impact beyond aff choice, switch-side debate and everyone will quit. 

My policy on paperless debate is this - until I see you physically hand the flash drive to your opponent, the prep clock is still running. Prep will run while you find your flash drive, save it to your computer, etc. in the same way that the clock would run if you were organizing / cross-hatching your flows and evidence under the paper model. Prep will continue to run if you are flashing your speech to your partner, in the same way that you would take prep to backflow for your partner. Be an organized paperless debater practice this between tournaments, model other teams, get proficient - organization is an important skill of debate, so your speaker points will be assessed accordingly. 

I don't tend to read a lot of evidence at the end of debates. This is usually the case because I have a threshold for considering evidence as a piece of argument. If you want me to read your cards, you should make a clear extension of the citation and the warrant and make comparisons to the other team's evidence. Don't be surprised if I don't call for any cards at all. 

Finally, I think the debate is best when both teams are passionate about what they do and entertaining in the process. Funny analogies and alluding to pop culture and music will certainly help in this regard. I reward competitors beyond the base 27.5 for going above and beyond. I may penalize you if you don't ask or answer CX questions, if you prompt your partner too much or if you are unclear, offensive or otherwise idiotic in the round. Have fun, do what you do and I think we should all be hunky-dory. 

Go Mavs - Go Stros <- These Issues are NOT up for debate 

Associate Director of Debate @ Greenhill

Still helping KU in my free time

Please add me to the email chain: a.rae.chase@gmail.com

I love debate and I will do my absolute best to make a decision that makes sense and give a helpful RFD.

Topicality

Competing interpretations are easier to evaluate than reasonability. You need to explain to me how we determine what is reasonable if you are going for reasonability.

Having said that if your intep is so obscure that there isn't a logical CI to it, perhaps it is not a good interpretation.

T debates this year (water topic) have gotten too impact heavy for their own good. I've judged a number of rounds with long overviews about how hard it is to be negative that never get to explaining what affirmatives would be topical under their interp or why the aff interp links to a limits DA and that's hard for me because I think much more about the latter when I think about topicality.

T-USFG/FW

Affirmatives should be about the topic. I will be fairly sympathetic to topicality arguments if I do not know what the aff means re: the topic after the 1AC.

I think teams are meming a bit on both sides of this debate. Phrases like "third and fourth level testing" and "rev v rev debates are better" are kind of meaningless absent robust explanation. Fairness is an impact that I will vote on. Like any other impact, it needs to be explained and compared to the other team's impact. I have also voted on arguments about ethics, education, and pedagogy. I will try my best to decide who wins an impact and which impact matters more based on the debate that happens.

I do not think the neg has to win a TVA to win topicality; it can be helpful if it happens to make a lot of sense but a forced TVA is generally a waste of time.

If the aff is going for an impact turn about debate, it would be helpful to have a CI that solves that impact.

DA’s

I would love to see you go for a disad and case in the 2NR. I do not find it persuasive when an affirmative team's only answer to a DA is impact framing. Impact framing can be important but it is one of a number of arguments that should be made.

I am aware the DA's aren't all great lately. I don't think that's a reason to give up on them. It just means you need a CP or really good case arguments.

K's

I really enjoy an old-fashioned k vs the aff debate. I think there are lots of interesting nuances available for the neg and the aff in this type of debate. Here are some specific thoughts that might be helpful when constructing your strategy:

1. Links of omission are not links. Links of “commission” will take a lot of explaining.

2. Debating the case matters unless there is a compelling framework argument for why I should not evaluate the case.

3. If you are reading a critique that pulls from a variety of literature bases, make sure I understand how they all tie to together. I am persuaded by aff arguments about how it's very difficult to answer the foundation of multiple bodies of critical literature because they often have different ontological, epistemological, psychoanalytic, etc assumptions. Also, how does one alt solve all of that??

4. Aff v. K: I have noticed affirmative teams saying "it's bad to die twice" on k's and I have no idea what that means. Aff framework arguments tend to be a statement that is said in the 2AC and repeated in the 1AR and 2AR - if you want fw to influence how I vote, you need to do more than this. Explain how it implicates how I assess the link and/or alternative solvency.

5. When ontology is relevant - I feel like these debates have devolved into lists of things (both sides do this) and that's tough because what if the things on the list don't resonate?

CP's

Generic counterplans are necessary and good. I think specific counterplans are even better. Counterplans that read evidence from the 1AC or an aff author - excellent! I don't have patience for overly convoluted counterplans supported by barely highlighted ev.

I do not subscribe to (often camp-driven) groupthink about which cp's "definitely solve" which aff's. I strongly disagree with this approach to debate and will think through the arguments on both sides of the debate because that is what debate is about.

Solvency deficits are a thing and will be accounted for and weighed along with the risk of a DA, the size of the DA impact, the size of the solvency deficit, and other relevant factors. If you are fiating through solvency deficits you should come prepared with a theoretical justification for that.

Other notes!

Some people think it is auto-true that politics disads and certain cp's are terrible for debate. I don't agree with that. I think there are benefits/drawbacks to most arguments. This matters for framework debates. A plan-less aff saying "their model results in politics DA's which is obviously the worst" will not persuade absent a warrant for that claim.

Love a good case debate. It's super under-utilized. I think it's really impressive when a 2N knows more about the aff evidence than the aff does.

Please don't be nasty to each other; don't be surprised if I interrupt you if you are.

I don't flow the 1AC and 1NC because I am reading your evidence. I have to do this because if I don't I won't get to read the evidence before decision time in a close debate.

If the debate is happening later than 9PM you might consider slowing down and avoiding especially complicated arguments.

If you make a frivolous or convoluted ethics challenge in a debate that I judge I will ask you to move on and be annoyed for the rest of the round. Legitimate ethics challenges exist and should/will be taken seriously but ethics challenges are not something we should play fast and loose with.

For debating online:

-If you think clarity could even possibly be an issue, slow down a ton. More than ever clarity and quality are more important than quantity.

-If my camera is off, I am not there, I am not flowing your speech, I probably can't even hear you. If you give the 1AR and I'm not there, there is not a whole lot I can do for you.

I will attempt to keep this short, sweet, and simple. I like to see a good T debate. I think it is underutilized and underappreciated. Theory debates ought to be explained and impacted, but are otherwise encouraged. I will vote on the cheap shot. As long as it is an argument that is impacted I will vote on it. Absent another framework at the end of the debate I will default to the standard policy maker mindset. I will believe that I am making your plan happen at the end of the debate and all that jazz. That does not mean that I can’t be persuaded to change my framework. I view the world of the K just like any other argument. There is always a claim, warrant, and impact. If you do ride the K train, please have some discussion of what the world of the alternative looks like and what that means. I don’t care about the theoretical legitimacy of said alt. I only really have two rules. 1.) DEFEND WHAT YOU DO. 2.) HAVE FUN. What that means for you in the world of debate I can’t know but simply defend what you do and have fun. Any other questions please ask

Darren Elliott "Chief" --Director of Debate and Forensics Kansas City KS Community College

delliott@kckcc.edu

Probably the least interventionist judge you will encounter. Will listen to and fairly consider any argument presented. (Avoid obvious racist and sexist arguments and ad Homs). For an argument to be a round winner you need to win the impact the argument has in relation to the impacts your opponent might be winning and how all of those affect/are afffected by the ballot or decision (think framework for the debate). No predispositions against any strategy be it a Disad/CP/Case or K or T/Framework on the Neg or a straight up policy or K Aff. Win what it is you do and win why that matters. I actually appreciate a good Disad/CP/Case Offense debate as much as anything (even though the arguments a number of recent KCKCC debaters might lead one to think otherwise). The beauty of debate is its innovation.

I appreciate in-depth arguments and hard work and reward that with speaker points. A debate that begins in the first couple of speeches at a depth that most debates aspire to be by the last two speeches is a work of art and shows dedication and foresight that should be rewarded. Cross-X as well, in this regard, that shows as good or better of an understanding of your opponents arguments as they do will also be rewarded. Cross-X is a lost art.

Most of all--Have Fun and Good Luck!!

Scott Elliott, Ph.D. J.D.

Asst Director of Forensics, KCKCC

Years Judging: 35+

Judging Philosophy:

What you need to know 10 minutes before your round starts:

I believe the affirmative should affirm the resolution chosen by the organization. I have been persuaded to vote otherwise. But, it is tough.

That argument you always wanted to run, but were afraid to run it….this may be your day to throw the Hail Mary. I prefer impact turns and arguments that most judges dislike.

Affirmatives still have to win basic stock issues. I prefer counterplans and disads. But I also believe that the affirmative has a burden to defend the ontological, epistemological, pedagogical and ethical assumptions of the affirmative arguments they have chosen.

I have probably written, cut cards for and against, and coached teams about, the “cutting edge” argument you are thinking of running. I have also voted for it and against it depending upon how that argument is deployed in the round.

I am not intimidated nor persuaded by team reputation, verbal abuse, physical assaults or threats. If you won, I am willing to take the heat and I do not care about the community’s reaction. I have friends outside the debate community and I have my dogs. I don’t need to be your buddy and I certainly do not care about my social standing within this so-called “community.”

Memorable examples of ways teams have unexpectedly picked up my ballot:
1) Voted for Baylor one time because Emory misspelled their plan text;
2) Voted for Emporia once because their plan wiped-out the universe, destroying all life (you had to be there);
3) Voted numerous times on anthro kritiks, De-Dev, Cap K's, anarchy, malthus, space, aliens A-Life, etc.;
4) voted for a counter-performance because it made me feel more emotional than the 1AC narrative;
5) voted for porn good turns;
6) voted for genocide reduces overpopulation turns;
7) did not vote, but the team won, because they took my ballot filled it out, gave themselves the win and double 30's;
8) voted once on a triple turn--link turned, impact turned, and turned back the impact turn (had to be there);
9) voted on inherency;
10) voted on foul language in a round--both ways--foul language bad and "yeah, we said F***, but that's good" turns;
11) voted for veganism K while eating a cheeseburger.

One last point: All of you need to flow the round. The speech document they flash over to you is not the debater's actual speech. Look. Listen. You may be surprised what the other team is actually saying.

John Fritch

It has been many, many years since I judged debates. That said, my background is in NDT/CEDA debate. I debated, coached for 15 years, then directed the NDT for 12 years. I used to be a pretty good judge (judged finals of NDT and CEDA Nationals) but that was many years ago. What does that mean as I judge a debate today?

1. I will flow the debate. I will pay attention to the arguments made in the debate.

2. Topicality is a voting issue. However, the discussion about the violation and reasons to prefer may implicate the reasons why it is a voting issue. I am seldom, if ever, a fan of reverse voting issues on topicality.

3. As a judge, I tend to default to the question of whether or not the plan should be implemented by the actor specified in the plan. Left to my own devices, I will make some assessment of how the affirmative advantages stack up against the negative disadvantages/case turns.

4. Counter-plans are fine. I think they should be offered in the first negative speech and their status should be specified. CPs need to be competitive and provide a reason to not do the aff.

5. Kritiks. So, this is a place where I have not followed the developments of debate as closely over the past several years. I am not as well versed in the current critique literature nor have I followed the theoretical developments. That means you should be careful if you are using debate lingo or making assumptions about my knowledge of the literature. That said, I am fairly well read in continental philosophy.

6. Be polite. Be smart. Have fun.

Mike Girouard

Years involved in debate: 20+ (policy 20+years, PF 7yrs, LD 7yrs)

Coached at Baylor, Kansas State, U of Rochester, The New School, Augustana College, The Asian Debate League and several High Schools - Debated at Univ of North Texas

I hate people who try to pigeon-hole judges into fitting a particular mold or label them as hacks that only vote for certain args or certain types of arguments. That being said I would say that I feel as though I can judge and evaluate any kind of debate that you want to have. I have some feeling about args and I will discuss those more in detail below, but it’s important to keep in mind that when you debate in front of me you should be comfortable in yourself and your arg and you should be fine. Have the debate that you want to have, because in the end that will make it more enjoyable and educational for everyone involved.

One last caveat, as this year has progressed and with the transition to paperless debate I find myself calling for less and less evidence after the round. I feel as though you should be doing the debating in the round. If it is a question of what the card says or doesn’t say I will probably call for the evidence, but don’t expect me to piece together your argument by reading all of your evidence after the round. I feel as though this does a disservice to a team that is at least attempting to do the argumentation on the line-by-line.

Prep Time – my default is that prep time should stop when the other team is flashing their evid. That being said if there is blatant disregard for this or abusing of this I will revert to prep-time not ending till after the speech has been flashed and given to the opponents. Before this does occur I will say something in the round.

CP’s – I love a good PIC. I think it should be the burden of the Aff to defend every aspect of the plan and should have some defense of including it in the plan. I really don’t like to vote on theory, but I will if that is what you want the debate to be about. As far as perms go, use them as you like. Just justify your theory and your fine. If you are going for a CP in front of me keep a few things in mind: it must have a net benefit and some sort of DA to the perm, it doesn’t necessarily have to solve for all of the Aff, but you need to have something to answer the portions that you don’t solve for, you can have a critical net benefit if you like, just explain how it functions in relationship to the Aff and the advocacy of the CP.

DA’s – Not really a whole lot to say here. I like U cards to have some sort of a warrant. Debate the warrants in the round and don’t make me have to evaluate 15+ U cards to help settle that debate. I would prefer fewer cards with more warrants to help settle this problem. Make sure you are giving me some sort of impact calc in the last few speeches and weighing all the potential outcomes of the impacts (i.e. – even, if statements). If the aff reads a K of your impacts you have to justify them or you will probably lose that argument. I prefer scenarios with fewer and more warranted internal links as to avoid the proliferation of outlandish impact scenarios. Make sure there is a solid link and you are weighing everything in the last few speeches and you should be fine.

The K – I am open to most K’s. I don’t believe that Realism/Framework is the end all answer to the K. Try engaging in the arguments that are being run and you have a better chance of picking up the ballot in front of me. Arguments that question your representations or epistemological starting point are best answered by providing an offensive justification for your reps or your starting point. Just make sure you are explaining how you want me to evaluate your K in relationship to the Aff. What are the impacts, what are the implications, do you have an alt, and what is the link. Make sure all of these things are in the debate and you will be fine. I do find that most people don’t answer one fundamental question in these types of rounds: What is the role of the critic? Just answer or at least recognize that these questions exist and you should be alright.

Topicality – My default is that this debate should be about competing interpretations. You should attempt to answer the question: which interpretation is better for both this debate round and the community as a whole. This being said, if you don’t want me to evaluate it based on competing interpretations just make the arg and justify it with warranted args and you should be fine. If you are going for T in front of me you probably need to spend a little bit of time on it in the 2NR. I’m not saying that you have to go for T and nothing else, but I think it’s an arg that requires a little bit of time for you to adequately go for it. Things I look for in a T debate: Clear distinction between interpretations, warranted reasons for why your interp is better as well as why the other interp is bad, and the impact these have on not only the round but the community at large.

Theory – Not a big theory hack, but will vote on it from time to time, especially in instances of clear articulated in round abuse. Just make sure you are giving warranted reasons why your theory is legit, the specific abuse that has occurred and the impact of them being allowed to do what they did. That being said, theory should be more than just a whine, engage their args and make sure that you are at least answering their args. If you expect for me to vote on theory you should devote some time to it in the last couple of speeches.

Performance – I’m fine with different styles of debate. There are instances where you can ask me to not flow or be so “flogo-centric” and assuming there is a warranted reason why this is legit I will be alright. A few things to keep in mind if you do chose to do this in front of me: why is your method better than what exists now? why should it be preferred and what are the larger implications on the debate community? Just make sure you are attempting to at least perceptually engage the other teams args and you will be fine.

Debated: UNI 2007-2011

Coached: University of Minnesota 2011-2017, James Madison University 2017-2021, Texas Tech, 2021-2022

Currently: Senior Lecturer in Communication-RPI

Email: al.hiland@gmail.com

Note: I'm now judging very infrequently. This doesn't change the way I evaluate debates, but debaters may want to adjust their performance in the following ways.
-I will not know the topic nearly as well as I did when coaching. I am likely to need more explanation for topicality and competition debates where the wording of the topic is an essential question.
-I will not be as up to date on acronyms or terms of art in the topic as I once was.
-I probably am not quite as fast at flowing as I once was. That isn't to say that I object to debaters going at their desired speed, but it might be an important consideration for some debaters.

When evaluating debates I try to privilege the arguments made by debaters in the debate, and attempt to resolve the debate based on those arguments as much as possible. Which is to say, I attempt to resolve debates to the greatest of my ability by evaluating competing claims rather than relying on my own assumptions. I do not have any aesthetic or political investment in defending a particular model of debate in how I render decisions, but instead seek to render a decision that reflects my subjective perception of which side did the better debating. Read: I am as comfortable with debaters who choose to pursue critical lines of argumentation as I am with policy debate. Where these differing styles meet I decide the debate on the merits of the arguments advanced. The description below is an attempt to sketch my process for deciding which side advances the better argument.

When rendering a decision I begin by evaluating arguments that establish a framework for comparing the impacts advanced by both sides during the debate. This can be as abstract (from the resolution) as determining whether the arguments in favor of a more fair debate format is more important than a particular kind of education derived from changing the norms of debate, or as concrete as determining whether or not the magnitude of a disadvantage should outweigh the probability of an advantage. Debaters who emphasize comparing impacts in a manner that is clear, helpful, and grounded in a combination of evidence and the nature of the arguments advanced tend to have more success debating in front of me.

After determining what impacts ought to be prioritized I evaluate whether or not those impacts are valid based on the arguments provided. This means determining whether a team has sufficiently proven the constituent elements of the individual argument (for instance, the uniqueness/link/impact of a disadvantage) for me to give the argument credence. One predilection that I have which is unlikely to change is that I do believe that it is possible to win 100% defense against an argument, so debaters should not presume that there is “always a risk” to any claim entered into the debate.

When evaluating individual arguments I usually apply two criteria. First, is the argument is internally consistent? Meaning, the argument should have a consistent logic and avoid internal contradictions. Second, is the argument externally coherent? Meaning, the argument should be consistent with other claims advanced in the debate and has an (arguably) factual correspondence with reality. In both of these criteria I emphasize the way the argument is explained by debaters as well as the quality of evidence provided to support that explanation. Arguments without evidence have value for me, but many claims need evidentiary support in order to satisfy the criteria described above.

Ultimately my decision tends to reflect which team provides the best way to evaluate competing claims where both sides have won at least parts of the position they have advanced. This almost never reflects an absolute view of the value or validity of the arguments advanced. Instead, it reflects a contingent decision based on the debate which has taken place in my view based on the process described above.

Other things that debaters should know about me as a judge:

Clarity is important. While I can flow most speeds I will admit that I am not the fastest around. This is made worse by a lack of clarity. When judging a debate I flow on paper, I do not follow along on speech docs, and I do not look at them during prep time (although I often am on my computer to make comments on the ballot). I will look at evidence after the debate if necessary to make a decision, but my predisposition is to do so as little as possible. Usually when I do look at evidence it is because of a flowing error on my part or the need to do my own interpretive work due to an error on the part of the debaters. Debaters are best served to be clear about how I should read a piece of evidence and its significance rather than relying on me to sort it out after the debate. The more clear that debaters are, both in terms of their speech and the explanation of their argument, the more predictable and consistent I am as a judge.

Cross examination matters for me. I will take notes, and I will be attentive. I consider questions asked and answered to be binding pending an explanation or argumentation to the contrary.

I do have a minimum threshold for argument explanation. Uttering “permutation do both” without any elaboration over the course of the debate is not sufficient, nor is saying “permutation links to the disadvantage.” I am open to debaters giving more thorough explanations over the course of the debate, but simply relying on the fact that a claim has been uttered is not sufficient, as it is not a complete argument.

I will follow the directions provided by debaters on how to treat arguments. For example, if a theoretical objection is raised as “reject the team” I will treat it as such unless it is challenged. Additionally, in keeping with my minimum threshold for argument, an instruction should come with a justification for why that direction makes sense. Similarly, I will not “judge kick” an argument for a team unless directed to do so, and that instruction is not challenged.

I believe that presumption follows from the burden of rejoinder. The affirmative has the burden to respond to the resolution, and I presume to vote negative unless the affirmative succeeds in responding. Subsequently I presume affirmative until the negative has provided a competitive option.

Debaters should not presume that I know anything of substance about goings on in the debate community. That is to say, if the community has decided that a particular argument is a bad one, or that an affirmative is decidedly not topical, that I am unlikely to be clued in to that decision.

Speaker points are at my discretion. That said I modulate the scale quite a bit to account for division and the size/norms of the tournament. I do very occasionally use them as a way to indicate my displeasure, usually at how a debater treats their peers (I think I’ve done this all of five times in as many years).

Online things:
1. Please let me know when you are done prepping and send a message in the chat box letting me know you are done and how much time remains if the platform supports it.

2. I have solid internet and decent equipment, but I have noticed that clarity is still lost somewhat. Mostly it happens where debaters are not enunciating while going quickly. For folks who are clear to begin with it's not generally a problem, but if you have struggled with clarity when debating in person you may need to take just a hair off your top speed for me.

3. Cross-ex is a little messier online because usual techniques for bringing long winded answers and questions to an end don't transmit as well online as in person. Please practice turn taking and be reasonable with how you use your time. Unnecessarily long and convoluted questions and answers used to soak up time are unlikely to be very popular with me.

4. I'm going to follow tournament guidelines for how to deal with tech questions wherever they exist. If there are no guidelines I'm going to assume all debaters are acting in good faith and let you do what you need to do in order to debate.

5. I am not requiring students to have video on in order to debate. I will have my own video on, and I do encourage it because I do think it helps debaters make appeals, but I will do my best to not let the decision to not use video influence my decision or the speaker points that I assign.

Five years as a debater, four years judging, three years coaching.

Efficiency, organization, and constructing the story always win over cramming in the most evidence. If needed, I will say clear three times. Give me the story and clearly explain why you are winning in the final rebuttals - the point of debate is not to teach you to speak quickly, but to develop your critical thinking and persuasive abilities. The best debaters win, not the best cards. 

K's are fine if you actually know the material and can explain it in plain english. Make sure that you clearly lay out the link, impact, and alt. I don't appreciate K's with no alt or impact. If you are reading ornate rhetoric that your coach handed you and your tags are a paragraph long, you're doing it wrong. I'm a human judge, and don't have the powers of Data the android and really, really can't get down the entirety of your paragraph tag. If you want to prove your point you need to do it in a way that someone who has not been steeping in the critical literature can understand. 

Basically, if you are going to run a K, you need to make it yours - know it inside and out. If I'm sitting here confused because I don't know the ins and outs of Buddhism or something, you have not correctly run your argument. Do not assume that just because we've been in the debate world for a long time that we know every piece of jargon from every obscure philosopher ever. Be clear. Be organized. Be flowable.

I have seen some seriously powerful, I might even say beautiful, performance debates, kritik debates, and policy debates. I hope I can tell you you did it right after the round. If I'm shaking my head at you or have my eyebrows knit in confusion, I'm making those gestures for you, not for me. Interpreting your audience is a key skill to have in public speaking, and debate is no exception. 

On paperless debate - do not abuse prep time - saving and sending are to be done quickly and efficiently or I will continue to run your prep. If you are spreading analytics that your coach has pre-written for you, I can neither write nor type that fast and your argument will not be flowed. I'm very much against coaches forcing debaters to run things they may or may not understand - it's my belief that debaters are the ones who should be debating, not coaches. 

Please - be respectful, polite, and relax. Have a good time, and come in with an educational mindset. 

I agree with most of Fred Sternhagen's paradigm as well; you can refer to that if you'd like. 

Updated for Fall 2019.- Yes, include me on any email chain. jessemeyer@gmail.com

I am currently an assistant PF debate coach at Iowa City West HS. I am also under contract by the NSDA to produce topic analysis packets and advanced briefs for LD, PF, and Biq Questions. I am also an instructor with Global Academy Commons, an organization that has partnered with NSDA China to bring speech and debate education, public speaking, and topic prep to students in East Asia. In my free time, I play Magic: The Gathering and tab debate tournaments freelance. I am the recipient of the Donald Crabtree Service Award, 2 diamond coach (pending April 2020), and was the state of Iowa's Coach of the Year in 2015.

I say all of this not to impress people. I'm way too old to care about that. I say this to point out one thing: I've dedicated my life to speech and debate. Since I was 14, this activity was a place where I could go to find people that cared about the same things as me and who were like me. No matter how bad of a day I was having, I could go to practice and everything would be ok. This is what debate is to me, and this is what I have worked towards since I became a coach. So it upsets and angers me when I see people that try to win debate rounds by making the world a worst place for others. There is a difference between being competitive and being a jerk. I've had to sit with students who were in tears because they were mistreated because they were women, I've had people quit the team because they were harassed because of their religion, and I've had to ask competitors to not use racial slurs in round. And to be honest, I am tired of it. So if your All Star Tournament Champion strategy revolves around how unconformable you can make your opponent, strike me.

With that being stated, here is how I view arguments.

In LD, I prefer a value and criterion, even if you are going non traditional in your case structure. I don't care if you are traditional, progressive, critical, or performative. I've judges and coached all types and I've voted for all types too. What I care about more is the topic hook you use to get your arguments to the relationship of the topic. If I can't find a clear link, if one isn't established, or if you can't articulate one, I'm going to have a really hard time voting for you.

I weight impacts. This is a holdover from my old college policy days. Clearly extend impacts and weight them. I view the value and criterion as lens for which I prioritize types of impacts. Just winning a value isn't enough to wind the round if you don't have anything that impacts back to it.

If you run a CP, the aff should perm. Perms are tests of competition. Most will still link to the DA so the neg should make that arg. The more unique the CP, the better. CP's should solve at least some impacts of the aff.

If you run a K, throwing around buzz words like "discourse, praxis, holistic, traversing X, or anything specific to the K" without explaining what those mean in the round will lower your speaker points. To me, you are just reading what the cards you found in the policy backfile said. Also, finding unique links to more generic K's, like cap or biopower, will be beneficial in how I view the round. But also note that on some topics, the K you love just might not work. Don't try to force it. A good aff needs to perm. Perm's on K debates tend to solve their offense. I do not like links of omission.

Case debate- Love it.

Theory- Do not love it. When I was in my 20's, I didn't mind theory, but now, the thought of people speed reading or even normal reading theory shells at each other makes me fear for my 50 minutes in round. If theory is justified, I will vote on it but there is a big barrier to what I count as justified. I need to see clear in round abuse. In lue of that, the potential abuse story needs to be absolutely 100% on point. This means that a theory shell that is zipped through in 10 seconds will not be getting my vote. No questions asked. Do the work because I don't do the work for you. Oh, I will not vote on disclosure theory. Disclosing probably is good but I do not require it and unless the tournament does, I don't see a reason to punish the debaters for not doing this.

Reformative arguments- I coached kids on these arguments and I've voted for them too. The thing is that because I don't see them often I have the reputation of not liking them. This creates a negative feedback loop so I never see them and so on... I'll vote for them but you need to have a topic hook and some justification or solvency mech for your performance. I will also be 100% honest because I owe it to the debaters who do this style of debate and who have put in so much time to get it right, I'm probably a midrange judge on this. At large bid tournaments there are probably judges that are better versed in the lit base who can give you more beneficial pointers.

PF Debate

Unless told otherwise, I use the pilot rules as established by the NSDA.

I hold evidence to a high standard. I love paraphrasing but if called out, you better be able to justify what you said.

If I call for a card, don't hand me a pdf that is 40 pages long. I will not look for it. I want it found for me. If you expect me to find it, I will drop the card.

I am still getting on board with pf disclosure. I am not the biggest fan as of now. I can see the educational arguments for it but it also runs counter to the basis for the event. I do not require teams to share cases before round and arguments in round as to why not sharing put you at a disadvantage won't get you ground.

I appreciate unique frameworks.

This event is not policy. I don't drop teams for speed or reading card after card after card but I will dock speaker points.

I weight impacts. But with this stipulation; I am not a fan of extinction impacts in pf. I think it goes a bit too far to the policy side of things. Use your framework to tell me how to prioritize the impacts.

Treat others with respect. I will drop people for being intentionally horrible to your opponents in round. Remember, there is a way to be competitive without being a jerk.

Should also go without saying but be nice to your partner too. Treat them as an equal. They get the W the same as you.

Policy- Honestly, I kind of used the majority of what I wanted to say in the LD section since they are so similar nowadays.

T- Love it. Won most of my college neg rounds on it. Be very clear on the interp and standards. If you go for it, only go for it. Should be the only argument in the 2NR.

Samantha Oxborough
Affiliations: Minnesota Urban Debate League, University of Minnesota

Rounds judged this year: 20-30
Number of years judging: 7

I am prone to judge rounds from a conservative, policy framework perspective. With that said, I am willing to listen and vote on anything. I want people to debate intelligently rather than adapt to my judging preferences, therefore, consider my vague opinions as grounds to experiment. 

Critiques: I am familiar with a lot of literature regarding critical theory and am open to both critiques on the neg and aff. It is the debaters responsibility to bring the argument past the name of the author and catchphrases and outline specific warranted arguments. I do typically vote neg on the critique. This is not because I necessarily buy the alternatives, rather, affs lack the cohesive story that the neg is afforded through the shell. I think that affs more often than not, opt out of crucial offense on critiques for more arbitrary defense; articulated offense, clearly addressed levels of a critique is crucial to winning the position.

Topicality: I would consider myself to evaluate topicality on the basis of competing interpretations. The more interesting the violation and the standards the better. I prefer an offense/defense method of argumentation on the standards with specific reasons to vote. I will vote on potential abuse if articulated.The problem with topicality debates I've seen recently is the lack of precision and variation of "standards" arguments. I think it's crucial for both sides to tell a story with T, like any disad or counterplan. 

Counterplans: Love a good counterplan. My favorite debate argument is an interesting PIC with a good net benefit. 

Speaking: I can handle speed, just don't start too fast out of the gate (especially if it's the first round, for the love of God). Also, I still flow on paper so allow me to get the sheets organized while you speak your road map and switch between positions.

Palczewski, Cate

University of Northern Iowa                                                                                     

Judges at no tournaments since 2009, have been judging college debate since 1988

***I have not judged or researched on this topic, so it is your job to bring me up to speed on acronyms, issues, controversies, etc.***

Debate is a competitive, educational activity that focuses on a policy resolution.  (However, as Celeste Condit points out, policy argument involves not simply convincing someone that a law should be passed; it also includes the integration of a vocabulary into the public repertoire – more on this later).  People participate in debate because they enjoy the activity (for a myriad of reasons).  Given this, I have a series of predilections or strong presumptions.  If an argument is put forward that persuades me to alter these presumptions, then I will reconsider my presumptions and vote accordingly.  BUT, if equally strong arguments are presented, my tendency is to lean toward the following beliefs.

1.  Topicality: T is an evidentiary issue.  Teams should compare evidence and indicate why their evidence allows or disallows a particular resolutional interpretation.  The implications of such an interpretation should be outlined as well.  At the end of a debate, I then compare the evidence and see whose evidence best supports their interpretation and then I compare the relative acceptability of the competing interpretations. T, as a rule based structure, also can be challenged. I tend to agree with poststructuralists that categories are, themselves, mechanisms of power. So, if you can articulate how T reinforces such categories, go for it.

2.  Counterplans: Topical counterplans are OK.  Agent counterplans are OK.  However, all of the theoretical arguments that I have heard in defense of plan-inclusive, topical agent counterplans have been premised on the theory that topical counterplans are OK when they are the opposite of the affirmative and that agent counterplans are OK when the agent is non-topical.  Accordingly, I have found topical agent, plan-inclusive counterplans to be particularly unpersuasive.  If someone comes up with a theoretical defense that is persuasive, my predisposition may be altered.  A similar sort of analysis works with exception counterplans as well.  I am likely to be persuaded that the part of the counterplan that is consistent with the affirmative is not competitive and, hence, cannot be included in my decision making.  This means that I weigh the impact of not doing the plan in an area vs. the advantage of doing it everywhere. I tend to think that counterplans that are straight-turned cannot be kicked out.  If you are ing to kick out of a CP, you need to identify what argument you are granting to make it go away, and explain why the granting of that particular argument makes the CP go away. I do find counterplans that speak to the language/advocacy of the affirmative to be interesting.

3.  Conditionality and disposition: All arguments are conditioned . . . upon other arguments in the debate.  One may kick out of an argument by granting other arguments.  One may not simply wish an argument away (unless the other team lets you). I am becoming less and less enamored of CPs that link to all the other args in the debate as much as the aff does. 

4.  Disads and advantages: I have very high standards on evidence that establishes links and

internal links on DAs and advantages.  One does not need evidence in order to answer a DA or a case scenario.  Explained analytical answers are sufficient to beat both DAs and advantages if the other team does not have the evidence to establish the links and internal links.  I also am rather strict on uniqueness on DAs.  A non-unique DA weighs very very little in a debate.  You need not have a turn to beat a DA or a case scenario.  Also, you need not have a DA to win a debate.  If you obliterate the affirmative case via solvency arguments and/or on-balance case turns, I will vote negative.  I also am willing to vote negative if there are absolute case takeouts. As someone who teaches political communication, I find the politics disad to be particularly unpersuasive -- usually massive internal links (if they even exist) are missing.

5.  Critique/Performance/Activism:  If you are putting forward a critique/performance/activist stance, you should meet the standards established in the argument.  The impacts of critiques should be explained in a way that offers a coherent decision making approach.  Is it a DA?  Is it an absolute significance takeout?  Is it a replacement of policy debate?  If it is the latter, then you should enact the replacement that you call for.  Also, critiques are called that for a reason.  If you critique, you should critique, explaining why each part of the affirmative case, each card, the plan, each advantage etc., violates the critique.  I tend to like topic specific critiques much more than generic critiques.  And, if you present a critique, then CRITIQUE!!! Starting in the IN, links need to be outlined, and in order for something to meet the level of a link, it needs to actually reference the text (the 1AC) you are claiming to critique.  Saying “they use the state” is NOT a link.  Point to specific locations in the 1AC where appeals to the state reentrench it. I do think ALL THINGS are debatable and I do think those who engage in more traditional debate need to be able to defend the assumptions behind their practices. As someone who teaches social protest, I also appreciate the conscious and reflexive efforts of those who challenge traditions.

6.Other stuff: People should debate because they enjoy the activity.  If you look like you are in pain when you debate, I will be in pain when adjudicating.  You should have fun.  You should have a personality where possible.  Sexist, racist, homophobic, classist, and other derogatory comments will be "rewarded" with speaker point reductions, and in some cases a loss.  During CX, let your partner at least attempt to answer before interrupting.  You should compare evidence (and evidence is more than just a card; evidence comes in many forms).  Absent debaters' comparison of evidence, you leave it up to me, and you don't want that.  You must be clear when speaking, or I will not flow.  I will give you two warnings if you are unintelligible.  After that, I will draw big black squares for all that I cannot understand.  I have ignored entire 1NCs when they were unintelligible.  If you are clear, I will get everything down.  If you are not clear, I will make unhappy faces instead of flowing.  If an evidence challenge is made, the round stops, and the challenge is assessed on its merits.  The normal outcome is that if a challenge is successful, the unethical team loses and receives zero points.  If the challenge is unsuccessful, the normal outcome is that the challenging team loses with zero points.

7.  Speaker points: to get a 28 or above, you need to make a brilliant synthesis of the debate which identifies argument interrelations that resolve the entire debate and speak with near-perfect enunciation, label and number all arguments, analyze and compare evidence, run coherent positions, show joy in the process, treat all participants with respect, and make complete arguments with coherent explanations.

8. My ballot: My ballot is always an endorsement of everyone's participation in the debate. I am giving my time, energy, and assistance to all who participate. Please do not try to convince me my ballot can send a message for a team to stay in, or leave, debate. If that were true, then I have mathematically told 100s of students to leave debate, which is simply not true. It would mean, in every round, I am telling half the students to leave. If that is the case, then I should have stayed out of judging lest I send that message to someone. Instead, I hope my conversations with everyone in the debaye is a signal to everyone that I value their time, work, energy, and commitment.

Ravi Rao, J.D.

Director of Debate

Lindenwood University

St. Charles, MO

Updated Oct 2014

Debate Experience - 4 years HS CX in suburban St. Louis (slow, very non-critical, very traditional)

3 semesters of CEDA, maybe 12 tournaments in all.  4+ years of Parli.  Former St. Louis UDL coach and Director.  Have coached for Lindenwood since its inception, 2012-2013.

I hold the educational value of participation in debate rounds of the highest value, and try to be as open to different arguments as I can be.  In this,  I place a premium on the value of diversity in participation (meaning I don't like limiting "education" to "policy / real world education").  I happen to find much of what we do in debate exclusionary, often for no better reason than that we've always been that way.  That said, you should be free to do as you will in front of me, though I will have to find some way to determine a "winner" and a "loser", and allocate speaker points, when all is said and done.  While I have no predisposition to vote against teams for failing to comply with what I write here, I will try to outline some of what I have observed in my own debate judging.

1. Slow down.  My issue with speed is mostly practical - I never developed the hearing/flowing skills to flow the faster teams going at their fastest.  I will try to interject "slow!" or "clear!", but it's ultimately on you to make sure I'm keeping up.  This becomes especially problematic during chains of rapid-fire 2-word responses that aren't even numbered (and, no "Next" isn't a number).  At least if it's numbered, I know how many I've missed and can ask you to repeat them during prep.

2. Depth over breadth.  If your basic NEG strat is to run 12 off and see what they undercover, you should probably pref me ridiculously low.  It's a perfectly legit strat, just not one I'm able to fairly evaluate (see #1).  I'd much prefer to see substantive clash over fewer arguments and scenarios.  Extend warrants, don't just shadow extend citations and tags.  If I have to call for cards to dig out warrants at the end of the debate, you're doing it wrong - and I probably won't bother.

3. Framework, T, and "Performance".  I presume a traditional framework requiring the Aff to affirm the resolution by way of a topical example is advantageous.  That doesn't mean I'll pull trigger for the Neg, or won't vote for nontraditional "performance" teams.  If you can articulate a good reason for punting the topic, and generate offense against this presumption for the traditional view of debate (most performance teams do this), my opinion on this issue will come down to which competing interpretation is best for education.  Fairness and rules are, in my view, internal links to education, and little more.

That said, I continue to be frustrated by (some) performance Affs that give me little to no weighing mechanism to adjudicate a debate.  Under an alternative, non-policy framing of debate, what must a Neg do to get my ballot?  Role of the ballot arguments might begin to answer this question, but in my view don't go far enough.  My ONLY inclination to vote on framework is when I can't figure out what to ask of the opponent to keep the debate fair. JMO, but not enough performance teams clearly articulate what their opponent's burden is to win, and doing so would be much appreciated.

4. Disads/Advantages.  My formative years were spent debating in a district where plans had planks, and a policymaker cared how much plans cost and where the money came from.  So I tend to require a greater degree of specificity in internal links than most debaters are want to provide.  Simply put, the results of a midterm election in which maybe 20% of registered voters will cast ballots isn't very likely to cause WW3, no matter how many times the same authors write the same cards.  I prefer case specific, tighter DAs.  Generally, the smaller the impacts, the more solid the internal links.  Same goes for AFF Advantages and solvency: legalizing medical marijuana isn't all that likely to prevent three different extinction-level scenarios.  That said, debaters have to actually make these answers, or else I'm likely to give full weight to the argument.

5. K's.  I can guarantee you I don't know your literature base as well as you think I do, even after reading this statement.  K cards are dense, so you need to do some heavy explaining.  I understand that longer tags are designed to alleviate some of this problem, but find it impractical for flowing.  I'd prefer 1N's take the time to explain cards as they're being read, pulling out the key warrants (see #1 and #2, above).  Bottom line, if I can't articulate what the link to the K is, or what the alternative would look like, or how the K should function in my adjudication of the broader debate, by the end of the block at the latest, you will lose your K.  When in doubt, err on the side of me being ignorant and unread - you won't offend me.

6. Line by line debating.  This used to be a thing; whatever happened to it?  I have a predisposition to give higher speaks to teams that impose structure onto the debate.  It's a pragmatic thing that I can be argued out of doing in-round (I've been persuaded before by performance teams arguing how flowing itself was hegemonic).  That said, it's never an excuse to be disorganized.

To sum all the above in two sentences: The easier it is for me to follow your arguments, the better decision I will be able to render, and the more useful my comments will be.   Slow down, make fewer arguments, but focus the debate on the arguments you find most compelling - whether you think I like them, or not.  This space is for you to make the arguments you've chosen, and for me to try to offer constructive criticism.  To the extent I can, I will.

Old paradigm, saved for posterity.

Ravi Rao, J.D.

Adjunct Instructor, Lindenwood University (St. Charles, MO)

Experience.  Four years highschool CX in suburban St. Louis, 1+ years CEDA.  My last exposure to CEDA, prior to 2012-2013, was over a decade ago.  I don't have the best ears for this game, but will do my best to keep up - still, slowing down and enunciating (especially during line-by-line) is appreciated.  Ultimately, if it's not on my flow but on everyone else's, I'm not going to consider it - this is still a persuasive activity, after all.  I'm a former UDL Director (St. Louis), so that probably informs my perspective on theory and style.

T & K.  I default to policymaking when deciding rounds, but will listen to pretty much anything.  I tend not to pull trigger on T unless it's blatant and impacted - you pretty much have to hang your hat on it in the 2NR.  I tend to view kritiks within a policy framework, in that I'm most comfortable as a pragmatist.  If you want me to vote on the K, the sooner you establish a clear alt and its centrality to your overall strategy, the better.  I'll listen to "multiple worlds", but I think there's something compelling about NEG strategies where each arg amplifies the next.  I was always a CLS/Movements guy when I debated.

F/W & Performance.  I heard my first framework debate only a couple of years back, so I'm not as familiar with the development of the theory as I'd like - but I think it's valuable to question norms and rules.  My experience with urban debate makes me quite sympathetic to challenging the way in which the debate game is traditionally played.  That said, my own highschool debating was in a very traditional district, and I definitely see value in the traditional formulation.  I presume the traditional view of policy debate (that AFF teams should have a topical plan, and the role of the ballot is to test whether that topical plan, as an example of the resolution, should be enacted) has value.  You can critique the activity in front of me, but you will need to provide me an alternative of what debate should look like (including what standards should be upheld).  I tend to value educational warrants (access to the activity, depth of clash, predictable ground, etc) over competitive ones (fairness, rules of the game, jurisdiction, etc).  I think the best "nontraditional" teams are those that have a clear idea what their opposition needs to do to win the ballot.  If an alternative ROB doesn't seem to provide equitable ground, I think this can be a voter against nontraditional teams (and an argument that is, IMHO, underutilized or poorly impacted).

This ain't my day job.  For me, this is a labor of love.  I don't do this full time, nor is this a part of my academic pursuits - so don't expect me to know your literature base or topic as well as you or your coaches might.  When in doubt, assume I don't know and you need to explain it to me.  You won't offend me, unless you're a belligerent ass about it!  I'll try to be reasonable and explain my decisions (and ways to win my ballot in the future) as best as I can.  

ericjohnshort@gmail.com please add me to an email chain.

previous coaching: Niles West (2016-present), Walter Payton (2014-2016), Wayzata (2009-2013), Moorhead (2007-2009), University of Minnesota (2011-2015, plus various tournaments since), Concordia College (2006-2009).

I generally judge 75+ debates on the high school topic.

updated September 2019

I'm updating my philosophy not because of a meaningful change in how I evaluate debates, but because I think the process of how I decide debates is more important than how I feel about individual arguments.

I judge debates in the way they are presented to me. This means you control the substance of the debate, not me. As such, the team that will win is the team that is best able to explain why their arguments are better than their opponent's arguments.

I start deciding a debate by determining if I need to read evidence. I often read very few cards at the end of a debate. In many debates, the quality of evidence, its qualifications and even warrants or conclusions go uncontested. I'm not the judge to reconstruct the debate for you. Then, I assign "risk" to the positions forwarded in the last rebuttals. The type of "risk" is determined by the debate--anywhere from "does the DA outweigh the aff" to "do the representations lead to a unique impact" to "does the performance actively resist forms of oppression". Link and impact analysis is therefore extremely important. You probably won’t like the decision if I decide what is most important.

Most of my topic research revolves around critiques. I have also worked at a summer institute almost every year since 2005. Chances are I am familiar with your literature base, no matter which side of the library it's housed in. However, you still need to explain your arguments for me to consider voting for them.

If you want me to consider the status quo as an option, you should tell me in the 2NR: I will not default for you. Outside of conditionality, I default to rejecting the argument, not the team unless instructed otherwise.

Note on decision times: the longer it takes to finish the debate, the less time I have to adjudicate, so it is in your best interest to be efficient.

Speaker points are influenced by a variety of factors. While I do not have a specific formula for integrating all the variables, your points are reflected by (in no particular order): argument choice, clarity, execution, participation in the debate, respect for others, strategy, and time management. I tend to reward debaters for specific strategies, humor, personality and speeches free of disposable arguments.

I debated several years at UNI. Most of my debating and judging experience is in Policy debate. I’m currently the coach at Ottumwa.

Clarity is important. So are impacts. So is being a decent person to everyone in the debate.

Really successful teams will spend time explaining how the impacts in the round interact with each other and how I should prioritize them. I have a hard time in any debate event voting on a theory or framework argument that doesn’t have an impact. “That argument isn’t allowed so you can’t vote for it” is weak sauce. Give me something about why it shouldn’t be allowed.

Everyone should participate in their cross-ex. If your partner needs help, that can be fine but they need a chance to do it on their own first.

I’m a stickler about time. If the timer goes off, you need to stop giving the speech. Stealing prep is sketchy. If you aren’t using all your speech time, you’d better be absolutely crushing the debate or it’ll show in your speaker points.

You can put me on the email chain: simonson.zd@gmail.com

Justin Stanley - Johnson County Community College

I debated at Missouri State and have been coaching for about 10 years.  I would like you to debate using the arguments that you feel will win you the debate without putting too much stock in my own personal preferences.  I try to eliminate those preferences when judging and evaluate each argument outside of any feelings I have towards particular arguments.  With that being said,

I am a better counterplan/disad/Case judge than kritik judge because I have more experience debating, coaching, and researching these positions.  I certainly understand kritik literature more than I used to, but I am still probably not as well read on these issues as other judges. 

I have a strong preference that the affirmative have a topical plan and defend its passage.  However, I can be persuaded otherwise.  This is an issue in which I try to eliminate my preferences and judge the debate based on what I see in the round. I often find that your defense of why you have chosen to be anti-topical is not as persuasive to me as it is to you.  I haven't ever thought that topicality was genocidal.  If there is a topical version of your affirmative that solves all of your "impact" turns then you are likely in a bad position.  If there is not a topical version of your affirmative then that is likely more of a reason to vote against you then to vote for you.

I don't think conditionality is always the best approach for debate.  This is especially true in rounds in which multiple conditional options are used to try and "Spread out" the IIAC and not necessarily to test the merits of the affirmative.  I have not voted on conditionality bad very often, but I often find that has more to do with the debates then my own personal preferences. 

I think PICs are often very good strategies, but I am not the best judge for obscure word PICs that claim a minute net-beneft.

A few other things...

1) Clarity - go as fast as you would like, but don't underestimate the importance of clarity in my decision.  If I can't understand your argument then I am highly unlikely to vote for it.

2) Strong cross-examination will earn you additional speaker points.  Being humorous and kind will also help you with speaker points.  If you are a team that ranks based on speaker points then I am probably average to slightly below average in the speaker points that I give.  I rarely give a 29+.  Most debaters will fall in the 27 - 28.7 range for me.

3) Paperless debate is a great thing and I am relatively patient with tech problems.  However, at some point my patience runs out and I get frustrated.  Please do your best to eliminate delays between speeches. 

4) One person should not ask and answer all of the cross-examination questions. 

5)  If you want me to call for a card then you should extend author, claim and warrant for the piece of evidence.  Listing 20 authors in a row with no real explanation will likely result in not calling for any cards.

6)  If I catch you clipping cards then you will automatically lose with zero peaker points.  This is true even if the other team did not make a complaint about it.

FRED STERNHAGEN Concordia College; 36 years coaching; Spring 2018

For e-mail chains: Fred.Sternhagen@gmail.com

This First Section is the Quick Overview

Things I’ll Try to Do

1. I have no approved list of positions. My commitment is to listen to the debate that the debaters produce.

2. I try to preference decisions made in the last rebuttals. I think developing critical thinking is a (perhaps the) biggest benefit of the activity. Making choices is very important to critical thinking. So, I will try to hold you responsible for the choices you make in the last two rebuttals. If you don't talk about it in the 2NR or the 2NR, I'm going to try to not think about it. To me, this seems to emphasize and reward critical thinking by the debaters.

3. I will try to privilege decision calculus developed by the debaters. Even if I think the way you compare and weigh issues is pretty silly, I’ll try to use that decision calculus if the other team doesn’t present an alternative. If you don't do that comparative work (and few debaters do) I'll need to do the decision calculus work. You might not like the way I do it--but someone needs to do those comparisons.

Personal Proclivities

1. People tell me I’m quite easy to read non-verbally. I certainly try to be. I try to give you a lot of response. So, if you pay attention, that should help you.

2. I can get irritated by people who seem to presume that they are so much smarter than their partner that they need to do all the cross ex answers. Now, I'd really prefer a complete and/or accurate cross ex answer to an answer that will mess up the debate. So, if you need to answer to accomplish that, please do so. However, please think carefully about whether you are presuming your partner is not competent enough to give the answer. Do you really want to say that?

GENERAL ADVICE: 1) I don’t want to read a lot of evidence after the round. While I do have concerns about preserving orality, my bigger concern is that judges often construct arguments that the debaters did not. If I have to read a bunch of stuff to figure out what you are saying—that’s a problem for you. 3) I will not read speech documents during the round. This is a consequence of my concern for judges constructing arguments (what we used to call "judge intervention") 4) Portions of many speeches are unintelligible to me. Frankly, I think that is true for many people and that a lot of people fake understanding. I think the major reason debaters swap their speeches back and forth is that without that—you wouldn’t know what is going on. Maybe not, maybe it is only me. In any case, you would be well served when debating in front of me to be much more concerned about being understandable. 5) I like clear claims. I REALLY like clear claims. If your tags are over nine words long, you should not presume that I can flow that. I’ll pick 6 to 9ish words as a rendition of your claim. It is very much in your self-interest to influence what I perceive to be your claim. 6) Clear precise signposting is likely to be very helpful to you. I like arguments to line up. 7) Following transitions between arguments can be difficult for me. My higher pitch hearing is not very good. Grunting “next” might not let me know you have moved to another argument. 8) I think most contemporary debaters are simply horrid at refutation. Repeating what was said earlier is not an extension. Reading more evidence is not refutation. Tell me HOW you win an argument.

CRITIAL ARGUMENTS: 1) The philosophical issues seem important to me. 2) Still, a lot of critique positions strike me as just silly or, even more likely, some kind of incoherent philo-psycho-babble. I think you would be well served to think about what separates a critique from other kinds of arguments. Just reading some cards that mention a philosophical concept does not mean that the position functions as a different kind of argument. 3) My desire for the educational functioning of the activity still controls the situation and IF you were able to convince me that critique positions are particularly bad for our game, I'd want to get rid of them. However, you need to remember that I don't start with the assumptions that critiques are bad. You need to explain and illustrate why that would be so. More specifically, appeals that seem to merely call for a rejection of weird stuff are not likely to be persuasive with me. There’s still a lot of 1969 under my thinning hair….. 4) While the Concordia debaters have been far “left” of center for some time—that was never my plan. It just kind of happened. I’ve never told debaters what positions they may or may not work on. I’ve just sort of been taken along for the ride. 5) Mutual preference judging means I’ve heard way more critical than traditional debates for some time. You should remember that if you are running traditional positions. I’ll probably enjoy hearing them—but I’ll be less practiced with them than a lot of judges. Be careful about assuming I’ll fill in gaps for you.

THEORY ARGUMENTS AND OTHER PROCEDURALS: I’ve never been opposed to these arguments. However, I don’t vote for them much. I think there are two reasons. First, usually there is not much in the way of support/grounds for the claims. When debaters don’t have a card to read—they often don’t know how to support a claim. Secondly, there is usually a need to do more impact comparison. An affirmative decreases ground. Okay, what is the result of that? What bad happens? Is the result enough to outweigh what the affirmative claims as the advantage to their approach?

The rest of this is stuff I’ve distributed for many years. I still think reading it would be helpful—but there isn’t much new from this point on. Some of it is repetative with parts reworked above. The parts are meant to be consistent.

OVERVIEW: My views about what needs to be emphasized in contemporary academic debate have remained stable for several years. The first is PRECISION OF ARGUMENT. It seems to me that debate should train students to more precisely advance and identify claims. It is hard for me to regard sloppily worded claims on the nature of, “case analysis disproves that” as representative of good argumentation. Second is lack of COMPLETENESS. I think speed per se, the words per minute uttered, is rarely an important problem. Rather, utterances become so truncated that they cross below the threshold of what constitutes an argument or delivery makes it very hard for listeners to process--to attend to and remember--the arguments. Third is lack of COHERENCE in the reasons debaters advance. We've heard a lot about the need to “tell a story.” Much research converges on the conclusion that people process information within structures; that for information to be meaningful, it must be connected to other information. My firm belief is that debaters need to spend MUCH more time and effort considering how separate arguments in a debate fit together into a coherent whole. Particularly important is comparison of arguments and evaluation of their relative importance. Winning an argument isn't that hard. Ability to show why the arguments you've won are important to the whole round is the mark of a truly good debater. Instead, debaters usually treat all arguments as equally important. There is little attempt to discuss underlying assumptions or overarching issues. While overviews at the beginning of a rebuttal are better than NO attempt to provide comparisons I often find them of little use because they are left divorced from the "line-by-line." In my view, really effective debating would INTEGRATE comparisons with the specific refutation. That is, the debaters would win the particular arguments and then explain the importance of those positions rather than separating out the "importance" step into a separate overview. Also, I suspect that overviews are often used to advance new arguments so be sure you clearly connect overview arguments to somewhere else on the flow

GENERAL IMPLICATIONS; FRAMEWORK FOR DECISION MAKING In an effort to promote precision, completeness and coherence in argument, I have adopted what can be termed a ”non-interventionist” stance, holding that debaters should be given credit for only the arguments they ACTUALLY PRESENT. I attempt to place an obligation upon debaters for not merely presenting ``positions,'' but to create MEANING. To promote decision making by the debaters, I take the role of an “educational gamesperson'”. The “educational” reflects my desire for the outcome of the process. The “games” term reflects my view that the educational end result is best served by allowing argument about any issue. I promise to listen (to the best of my ability) to anything. Since education is my desired end result of the game, educational implication is one fruitful area from which to develop justifications for theoretic practices. It is certainly not the only area from which to develop such justifications. I purposely avoid terming myself “tabula rasa'' since it is hard for me to believe a blank slate possible or even desirable. What does a blank slate tell the tab room if no one develops any decision rules? The predispositions which I knowingly bring into a room fall into these general categories

ARGUMENT PRECONCEPTIONS: Remember that my definition of an argument is ”cognitive” and focuses on meaning. That means I'm actively trying not to intervene and finish titles, explanations, applications,... What you say out loud is the argument made. Even if I could make the argument more effective by altering the claim, it will not be rewritten for you. You should also make your own applications of arguments. If an argument on disad 1 applies to disad 3, you need to tell my why. Even if the link is ``clearly'' the same. You need to tell me that. However, intervention will happen after 2AR. I will make a real effort to catch new arguments in 2AR. A lot new happens in 2AR and it is automatically thrown out. While a smart disco can strike me as a thing of true beauty, it is risky to grant things out in 2AR since that may be perceived as new. Comparisons of positions are pretty safe. In another effort to minimize intervention, I try to call for evidence only if it was missed through my error or if there is a dispute about the nature of the evidence.

COUNTERPLANS: 1) I think a lot of debaters don’t really “get” competition. You need to address the question, “what forces a choice between the two systems.” 2) I am not terribly interested in questions about things like what it means to “advocate a perm.” Focus on the competition question.

TOPICALITY PRECONCEPTIONS; At the start of the round topicality is an absolute voting issue, extratopicality means no accruing advantages. Again, all this can be fruitfully argued.

PERSONAL PREDISPOSITIONS; Don't be obnoxious to anyone. This would never be consciously applied to a decision but it sure will be applied to your points! Playing with the format of the activity should be argued only as a last resort. This view of game playing does not thrill me. It would take a lot of educational benefit to outweigh the impact upon the poor tournament director. When in doubt - ASK!!

A Couple of General Things About My Orientation to Debate

1. I’m a lot less interested in what you debate about than how. You debate. An example. It is true that I often find the subject matter of politics disads, big federalism positions, etc. to be rather boring. However, that does not mean you would be better off not running such positions. This semester I judged a round where the neg did a big, very predictable Bush credibility disad. But I really enjoyed that debate because they did it so well! They were technically clean, had good evidence, were direct in their refutation. The way they debated was much more important to me than what they talked about.

2. Most debaters don’t have a good sense of their own limits in regard to fast delivery. Consequently, they regularly exceed what they can handle. I’m very convinced of that.

a. That does not mean I would like debate to be slower. I know where to find extemp speeches if I wanted to listen to them. It does mean that most debaters would be more effective in front of me if they would be clearer/slower.

b. Articulation is rarely the important variable. Seems to me the problem usually has to do with people moving out of English into some kind of truncated debate-speak that doesn’t make much sense.

Updated Feb 2017

Yes, I want to be on the email chain, tewsie1@gmail.com.

If you are a team that has been judged by me in the past there aren’t many changes. This is mostly an update b/c I haven’t looked at this thing in like 7 years.

I don’t really have strong argumentative preferences. Do what you do best and I will give you my best attempt to understand what you are arguing. Complete arguments have a claim, warrant and impact (reason it matters in the debate). Incomplete arguments rarely make it into my decision.

I flow and I don’t really read speech doc until I need a specific piece of evidence at the end. I value line-by-line refutation and get irritated when arguments don’t line. Overview proliferation is annoying. Most of those args can just be made on the lbl. I also flow on paper so undeclared overviews destroy my flow.

Good impact analysis helps my decision. Spend a little time talking about timeframes and probabilities instead of just magnitude. Often times mag is a tie, so I need something to clarify the extinction v extinction debate, obviously.

I look mad all the time. I’m not actually mad. It has no bearing on how I feel about the debate or you as debaters.  If I am mad at you, you will know it.

Pet Peeves:

Links are links not Disads to XYZ. If you win a link that means the argument competes, it isn’t a DA to anything on its own.

Debaters should handle their own CXs. If they need help that is fine, but they should at least be given the chance to answer questions in their own CX.

You are 18-25 year olds, figure out how email works. Excessive time sending email will result in prep time restarting.

I find it kind of sad that debaters aren’t funny anymore. I reward humor with points. Obviously, you should consider audience and appropriateness but don’t take everything so seriously all the time.

CP/Disads

I don’t really have anything substantive to say here. You can outweigh the aff with a good disad you don’t always have to have a counter-plan but you do have to win case defense. It also helps if you explain the warrants of the case defense in relation to the aff impact claims (instead of just reading cards and letting me sort it out). In DA outweighs the aff rounds, you must have internals between your DA and the case impacts OR some really good defense. You also need to spend a lot of time on internals and TF/Prob differentials.  

Kritiks

I pretty much adjudicate K debates like I do disads, did you prove a link and does the impact outweigh. Also typically in K rounds I will ask myself at the end of the round if I can explain in plain English why I voted on this argument (to the losing team). In other words if you can’t explain a K in simple English it becomes more difficult (not impossible) for me to vote for you. Alternatives don’t have to solve the aff if they solve the K and it outweighs the aff.

Self-serving roles of the ballot are annoying. My ballot typically indicates who did the better debating. Sometimes that better debating means that you convinced your opponents that the ballot means something different, but for real that ballot doesn’t change just b/c you said so. Go ahead and play the game but like all other arguments you are going to have to win this. A simple assertion of a new role is not enough. If you want to change the role of the ballot you are going to have to have a rationale for why your role is good for debate/the round/has some justification that goes beyond “you want to win the round”.

Topicality:

It is a voter. I usually evaluate on competing interps. I can be persuaded by reasonability however I think that these args are deployed weakly these days. Reasonability is a value claim and as such you need to assert the value (i.e. we are reasonable) and then explain how to evaluate reasonableness (how do I recognize if something is reasonable). The aim of this should be to take the onus off of my moral system of what is reasonable/fair to me and put it more on an objective system for recognizing reasonability in relation to community norms. It helps if you have a vision for debate and can defend it and don’t just treat T/FW as an analytic disad.

Theory

I often struggle with theory debates because people blaze through them with no regard for pen time. If you want to win theory debate you have to have a clear link and impact and explain why the impact should merit the ballot. I won’t read your blocks, if I can’t understand it from the speech and my flow then it doesn’t count. 

I used to do policy debate and extemp speaking in high school at, what was then, Henry Sibley. I debated on the Concordia debate team in college and I now have coached speech and debate for almost 10 years.

I don't think a paradigm should impact too much of what you do in a classic debate round given the somewhat rigid nature of the arguments that are allowed. However, I would love to take this opportunity to remind you what's important (to me).

Tell me how to vote. Use impact calculus to compare the two sides of the debate. At the end of the day, who has the bigger reason for taking action or not taking action? How am I supposed to know which impact is bigger? If you are clear, kind, and confident, you'll be great.

I also tend to value what is said more so than how it is said. At times, your opponents may come off as less confident or polished than you. While that does influence speaker points, ultimately it would be a mistake to think I will give it less weight simply because it wasn't stated in an elegant fashion.

I look forward to being your judge!

Five years as a debater, four years judging, three years coaching.

Efficiency, organization, and constructing the story always win over cramming in the most evidence. If needed, I will say clear three times. Give me the story and clearly explain why you are winning in the final rebuttals - the point of debate is not to teach you to speak quickly, but to develop your critical thinking and persuasive abilities. The best debaters win, not the best cards. 

K's are fine if you actually know the material and can explain it in plain english. Make sure that you clearly lay out the link, impact, and alt. I don't appreciate K's with no alt or impact. If you are reading ornate rhetoric that your coach handed you and your tags are a paragraph long, you're doing it wrong. I'm a human judge, and don't have the powers of Data the android and really, really can't get down the entirety of your paragraph tag. If you want to prove your point you need to do it in a way that someone who has not been steeping in the critical literature can understand. 

Basically, if you are going to run a K, you need to make it yours - know it inside and out. If I'm sitting here confused because I don't know the ins and outs of Buddhism or something, you have not correctly run your argument. Do not assume that just because we've been in the debate world for a long time that we know every piece of jargon from every obscure philosopher ever. Be clear. Be organized. Be flowable.

I have seen some seriously powerful, I might even say beautiful, performance debates, kritik debates, and policy debates. I hope I can tell you you did it right after the round. If I'm shaking my head at you or have my eyebrows knit in confusion, I'm making those gestures for you, not for me. Interpreting your audience is a key skill to have in public speaking, and debate is no exception. 

On paperless debate - do not abuse prep time - saving and sending are to be done quickly and efficiently or I will continue to run your prep. If you are spreading analytics that your coach has pre-written for you, I can neither write nor type that fast and your argument will not be flowed. I'm very much against coaches forcing debaters to run things they may or may not understand - it's my belief that debaters are the ones who should be debating, not coaches. 

Please - be respectful, polite, and relax. Have a good time, and come in with an educational mindset. 

I agree with most of Fred Sternhagen's paradigm as well; you can refer to that if you'd like.