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Illinois Debate Coaches Association Novice JV State Championshi

2022 — NSDA Campus, IL/US

Novice Policy Paradigm List

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Sophia Franco Solorio Academy High School 5 rounds

Last changed on Sat March 9, 2024 at 1:58 AM CDT

I competed for Solorio (policy) for 4 years and am back to debating for Illinois State University (LD+IPDA).

Add me to the email chain: flowerfranco444@gmail.com

Arguments and preferences-

I love k debate. Was I a K debater? No, Conor Cameron wouldn't let me be one. Live out my dreams for me.

Cap- Is probably the root cause to every issue. That doesn't mean I'm always going to vote for it. If you read this you need to have a very specfic alt. Movements and revolutions is way to vague and gets you no where in the round.

Also, I am a product of Conor so I believe that cap is sustainable. Do what you will with this information.

CPs- Love them, they should be in every 1nc. Consult and process CPs aren't the most persuasive but I'm not against them. I prefer agent CPs and advantage CPs. In terms of answering- don't read a billion perms, perm do both is fine unless you explain the other perms in detail.

T- Hate it<3. Kidding, I only hate it if you use it as a time skew. Only read T if you intend on going for it OR are literally put at a disadvantage in the round/aff is untopical. Education> fairness. Debate is an educational activity, if you're not learning, wyd?

Theory-I don't love it<3but its fine if it makes sense. I will not give you a cheap win for it.

K-I was a K debater in my past life. I like K's but explain them!!! Don't just use old blocks and random K lingo that doesn't actually say anything. If you believe in your K, chances are I will too. With that being said, be intentional with what's in your 1nc.

Performance- If you have music playing in the background, explain why it's there. The more I see performance rounds the more I love it. It is so different from traditional debate and I think it is refreshing.

DAs-Should be in every 1nc. Disad turns case>>>>>>

K affs-Not totally experienced in them, willing to listen and learn. If it makes sense to the topic- go for it! If its a K aff that is around every year, try to connect it to the topic as much as possible because I'm less likely to vote for it.

If ur rude in round, ew+u lose+ur automatically ugly.

Ahmad Abughosh Glenbrook South High School 3 rounds

John Andreou Glenbrook North 2 rounds

Sohan Bellam Glenbrook North 2 rounds

Rose Bilicki Niles West High School 5 rounds

Last changed on Fri March 1, 2024 at 8:16 AM CDT

Rose - she/her -

Uiowa'27

Niles West '23

rose@bilicki.com

Top level:

Debate should be a safe space for all people involved. If you feel unsafe in a round, please let me know and I will stop the round and go to tab. Please put you emotional well being over debate, even if you feel pressure to kept debating through sickness, panic attacks etc it is okay to take an L on tabroom to protect yourself. This also means that racism, misogyny, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, and any other form of violence is prohibited. I will not hesitate to hold people accountable in round, high school policy has a huge accountability problem and I want to be part of the solution.

As a disabled debater I understand the struggle to exist within this space, if you need something from me to make it more inclusive (sit closer, need to record the RFD, time to stop and take meds, etc) please let me know and I will do my best. I will be wearing a KN95 or better mask, I almost have extras if you would like one please ask!

If you want to know more about debating at Iowa or in college more generally please feel free to come talk to me after the round!

General thoughts:

Although I run k based arguments, while judging I put an extreme amount of emphasis on the flow. Doing line by line and keeping a clean flow are all key to how I view a debate. This does not mean big picture explanations cant win you the debate, you just need to explain why dropped arguments don't matter. I want to be least interventionist as possible, but if you don't clean up the debate for me I am going to have to make my own decisions hence my paradigm. I am going to vote on the 2ar/2nr, if your card in the 1nc is fire but you dont explain it at all I will not be voting on it.

Think about your subject position when running identity based arguments, any form of oppression you do not experience should not be casually thrown into the round as time skew or a gatcha moment, its harmful and needs to stop. I think aff teams can point this out as long as it done in a respectful manners (Asking "what is your relationship with indigenity/queerness etc?" is better than assuming someone identity)

My main k lit focus is disability studies, cap, and trans studies. In the past run security, fem ir, security studies and orientalism so those are the lit bases I am familiar with. I find k debaters misunderstanding their lit base, cards and arguments one of the most painful things to watch, so please at least be passable in your understanding. Please dont kill the flow, at least attempt to do an line by line instead of a 3 min long over view.

Policy affs - please do not be afraid to take the k up on its theory of power, those are the most fun debate for me to watch as a judge.

K affs/FW

Debate is probably a game, but what that game looks like can be debated. I tend to vote on impacts of the fw flow so impact comparison, internal link analysis and solvency questions will most likely be part of my decision. I do not think fairness is an impact with out an explanation, I think clash is the better impact in almost every case.

Neg teams: Please have something in the 1nc that is not just framework: cap, a push on presumption, a counter plan, etc make the debate way more interesting, nuanced and in-depth. If you do not have some method of resolving aff offense by the 2nr (TVA/SSD) you are shooting yourself in the foot. A pet peeve of mine is team grouping DA when they are completely unique offense, please at least try to not be a block bot.

Policy things

Judge kick if you tell me too. Please do line by line on theory especially condo, there is almost no clash in those debate. Case debating is one of my favorite things in debate. Cards and evidence matter, your terrible no card CP is not going to be the most persuasive 2nr in front of me.

Impact calculus need to be in your final rebuttal. I have often found myself deciding round where there two impacts that are both dropped by the final rebuttals but no one tells me why their impact outweighs, turn, or comes first

Online Debate:

I will have my camera on as much as I can as I am an expressive judge. Please start at a slower speed so I can get used to your voice through a microphone and make sure your zoom setting are not set to filter out back round noise (it often recognizes spreading as back round noise and you will cut out)

Random things/ speaks:

Ethos, puns, and creativity = better speaks

Remember to have fun :)

Hana Bisevac Niles North High School 5 rounds

Last changed on Fri April 19, 2024 at 4:46 AM CDT

add hbisevac0@gmail.com

niles north 23, kentucky 27

general

the core predisposition I have is that technical execution and preventing judge intervention should be at the forefront of whatever approach you take. this means that technical concessions (including cheap shots) matter and there should be lots of judge instruction.

big fan of cool strategies. I enjoy research a lot and will always appreciate and reward a well-researched and thoughtful strategy, whatever that be. (but, I am also not qualified to mediate interpersonal problems between debaters!)

evidence matters a lot. you should read all the cards. debaters have to set the metric for how evidence should be evaluated and do comparison.

organization is extremely important. you should number arguments, sign post, and slow down at times.

thoughts

topicality: predictability matters a lot more to me than other things. have good cards. this means cards that define the word, not just use it. reasonability will forever seem super arbitrary to me but can sometimes be fine against suspect interpretations. limits for the sake of limits is not persuasive and internal link debating is very important.

counterplans: solvency deficits need explainable impacts. competition debates are good. NEG flex and precision are usually very persuasive. most AFF theory violations seem pretty silly to me and standalone theory ever being the A-strategy doesn’t make a ton of sense to me.

kritiks: teams should get to weigh the AFF but excluding Ks doesn’t make sense. vagueness on the link explanation will favor the AFF. backfile Ks with no relation to the topic are icky and the links will always sound unpersuasive. there are a lot of things that teams feel compelled defend but are entirely irrelevant in the larger context of the debate. things like realism, util, etc. often end up just buzz-words used that are not contextualized to any of the larger parts of the 1AC/thesis of the K. the less you disprove the 1AC, the less compelling you are.

planless AFFs: the more you struggle to explain the advocacy (in a non-vague way), the more favorable I am toward the NEG. I'm more persuaded by arguments about skills and methods that result from the 1AC being good as opposed to debate/institutions being bad.

asserting an argument is new or dropped does not constitute an argument, you should jump up and down about it with thoughtful explanation.

everything above applies. I do not like tricks, I do not like phil, and I do not like RVIs. (and whatever else elizabeth elliott thinks)

other

please format email chains properly with the tournament, round, and teams.

if you are interested in debating in college and want to know more about kentucky, feel free to reach out!!

Viraj Bodiwala Maine East High School 5 rounds

Last changed on Sat March 30, 2024 at 9:22 PM CDT

Viraj Bodiwala

University of Chicago '26

Maine East '22

1A/2N

email: mehsdebatevb@gmail.com

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

tech over truth.

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

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

I think that debate is a game with pedagogical and political implications. As such, I see my role as a judge as primarily to determine who won the debate but also to facilitate the debaters' learning. Everything can be an impact if you find a way to weigh it against other impacts, this includes procedural fairness. When my ballot is decided on the impact debate, I tend to vote for whoever better explains the material consequence of their impact. Use examples. Examples can help to elucidate (the lack of) solvency, establish link stories, make comparative arguments, and so many more useful things. They are also helpful for establishing your expertise on the topic. All thing said, at the end of the day I will adapt to your argument style.

I dislike judges who exclude debaters because of what they decide to read in a debate round, I will NOT do that as long as you don't say anything racist, sexist, etc.

Speaker points are arbitrary. I tend to give higher speaker points to debaters who show a thorough understanding of the arguments they present. I am especially impressed by debaters who efficiently collapse in the final rebuttals.

Lastly:

Be nice.

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

Gershom Chan Niles West High School 3 rounds

Last changed on Thu January 4, 2024 at 9:44 AM CDT

Background:

I debated for Niles West in high school and West Georgia in college.
BA in Philosophy.
Currently coaching at Niles West.

Email:

gershom000@gmail.com

Top level things:

If you engage in offensive acts (think racism, sexism, homophobia, etc.), you will lose automatically and will be awarded whatever the minimum speaker points offered at that particular tournament is.
If you make it so that the tags in your document maps are not navigable by taking the "tag" format off of them, I will actively dock your speaker points.
Quality of argument means a lot to me. I am willing to hold my nose and vote for bad arguments if they're better debated but my threshold for answering those bad arguments is pretty low.
I’m extremely hesitant to vote on arguments about things that have happened outside of a debate or in previous debates. I can only be sure of what has happened in this particular debate and anything else is non-falsifiable.
Absolutely no ties and the first team that asks for one will lose my ballot.
Soliciting any outside assistance during a round will lose my ballot.

Pet peeves:

Lack of clarity. Clarity > speed 100% of the time.
The 1AC not being sent out by the time the debate is supposed to start.
Email-sending related failures.
Dead time.
Stealing prep.
Answering arguments in an order other than the one presented by the other team.
Asserting things are dropped when they aren't.
Asking the other team to send you a marked doc when they marked 1-3 cards.
Marking almost every card in the doc.
Disappearing after the round.
Quoting my paradigm in your speeches.
Sending PDFs instead of Word Docs.

Ethics:

If you are caught clipping you will receive a loss and the lowest possible points.
If you make an ethics challenge in a debate in front of me, you must stake the debate on it. If you make that challenge and are incorrect or cannot prove your claim, you will lose and be granted the lowest possible points. If you are proven to have committed an ethics violation, you will lose and be granted the lowest possible points.
If you use sexually explicit language or engage in sexually explicit performances in high school debates, you should strike me.

Cross-x:

Yes, I’m fine with tag-team cx. But dominating your partner’s cx will result in lower points for both of you.
Questions like "what cards did you read?" are cross-x questions, and I will run the timer accordingly.
If you fail to ask the status of the off, I will be less inclined to vote for condo.
If the 1NC responds that "every DA is a NB to every CP" when asked about net benefits in the 1NC even if it makes no sense, I think the 1AR gets a lot of leeway to explain a 2AC "links to the net benefit argument" on any CP as it relates to the DAs.

Inserting evidence or rehighlightings into the debate:

I won't evaluate it unless you actually read the parts that you are inserting into the debate. If it's like a chart or a map or something like that, that's fine, I don't expect you to literally read that, but if you're rehighlighting some of the other team's evidence, you need to actually read the rehighlighting.

Affirmatives:

I’m fine with plan or planless affirmatives. However, I believe all affirmatives should advocate for/defend something. What that something entails is up for debate, but I’m hesitant to vote for affirmatives that defend absolutely nothing.

Topicality:

I default to competing interpretations unless told otherwise.
The most important thing for me in T debates is an in-depth explanation of the types of affs your interp would include/exclude and the impact that the inclusion/exclusion would have on debate.
5 second ASPEC shells/the like have become nonstarters for me. If I reasonably think the other team could have missed the argument because I didn't think it was a clear argument, I think they probably get new answers. If you drop it twice, that's on you.

Counterplans:

For me counterplans are more about competition than theory. While I tend to lean more neg on questions of CP theory, I lean aff on a lot of questions of competition, especially in the cases of CPs that compete on the certainty of the plan, normal means cps, and agent cps.

Disads:

If you're reading a DA that isn't just a case turn, it should go on its own sheet. Failure to do so is super annoying because people end up extending/answering arguments on flows in different orders.

Kritiks:

The more specific the link the better. Even if your cards aren’t that specific, applying your evidence to the specifics of the affirmative through nuanced analysis is always preferable to a generic link extension.
‘You link you lose’ strategies are not my favorite. I’m willing to vote on them if the other team fails to respond properly, but I’m very sympathetic to aff arguments about it being a bad model for debate.
I find many framework debates end up being two ships passing in the night. Line by line answers to the other team's framework standards goes a long way in helping win framework in front of me.

Theory:

Almost all theory arguments are reasons to reject the argument, condo is usually the only exception.
Conditionality is often good. It can be not. I have found myself to be increasingly aff leaning on extreme conditionality (think many plank cps where all of the planks are conditional + 4-5 more conditional options).
Tell me what my role is on the theory debate - am I determining in-round abuse or am I setting a precedent for the community?

Framework/T-USfg:

I find impacts about debatability, clash, and iterative testing to be very persuasive.
I am not really persuaded by fairness impacts, but will vote on it if mishandled.
I am not really persuaded by impacts about skills/the ability for debate to change the world if we read plans - I think these are not very strategic and easily impact turned by the aff.
I am pretty sympathetic to negative presumption arguments because I often think the aff has not forwarded an explanation for what the aff does to resolve the impacts they've described.
I don't think debate is role-playing.

If the aff drops SSD or the TVA and the 2NR extends it, I will most likely vote neg.

Randall DeVera Niles West High School 4 rounds

Last changed on Sun January 28, 2024 at 2:04 PM CDT

University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana ‘24

2A for Niles West High School (‘18-‘21)

yes email chain:

randalldevera.debate@gmail.com

Updates:

2/9/23 -I have not judged any debates on the NATO topic, so be wary using of any abbreviations or any specific terminology.

Top Level:

If you engage in offensive acts (think racism, sexism, homophobia, etc.), you will lose automatically and will be awarded whatever the minimum speaker points offered at that particular tournament is.
Quality over quantity. I prefer well-flushed-out arguments with specific uniqueness, link, internal link, and impact evidence.
Be clear especially if it is an online debate! If I don't hear your argument, it's not going to be evaluated.
I have no argument preference. I primarily ran policy arguments, but I am versed in some critical literature. I still expect simple yet nuanced explanations of the critical literature you are presenting.
Usually tech > truth.
The best rebuttal speeches should frame my ballot i.e. it should tell which specific arguments I should evaluate first, how those specific arguments interact with the opponent's arguments, etc. If you fail to do so, you risk my intervention and biases which might result not in your favor.
Soliciting any outside assistance during a round and clipping will lose my ballot.
I’m extremely hesitant to vote on arguments about things that have happened outside of a debate or in previous debates. I can only be sure of what has happened in this particular debate and anything else is non-falsifiable.
I am not a good judge for you if you get super aggressive, snarky, or rude in round. Please, treat your partner and opponents with respect.

Ethics:

If you are caught clipping you will receive a loss and the lowest possible points.
If you make an ethics challenge in a debate in front of me, you must stake the debate on it. If you make that challenge and are incorrect or cannot prove your claim, you will lose and be granted the lowest possible points. If you are proven to have committed an ethics violation, you will lose and be granted the lowest possible points.
If you use sexually explicit language or engage in sexually explicit performances in high school debates, you should strike me.

Inserting evidence or rehighlightings into the debate:

I won't evaluate it unless you actually read the parts that you are inserting into the debate. If it's like a chart or a map or something like that, that's fine, I don't expect you to literally read that, but if you're rehighlighting some of the other team's evidence, you need to actually read the rehighlighting.

Affirmatives:

I’m fine with plan or planless affirmatives. However, all affirmatives should advocate for/defend something, and that specific advocacy is up for debate. I will not vote for affirmatives that defend absolutely nothing.
Plan-lessaffirmatives: I extremely dislike long k-aff overviews (i.e. if they last more than one minute) for several reasons. First, you risk me not flowing specific arguments that you believe to be crucial because you have packed so much information. Second, it avoids clash. Most disads and theoretical explanations of the critical literature are better placed with the opponents' corresponding arguments.
Policy Affs:Plan texts should be clear and in line with the words of the resolution. I think vague plan texts that allow teams to no link out of clear disads to that affirmatives are bad. This is compounded by solvency advocates that are not supported by topic literature. Affirmatives' solvency advocates should clearly outline what the aff does, and affirmatives should also be able to explain the nuances and intricacies of the mechanisms of their aff.

Topicality:

The most important thing for me in T debates is a thorough explanation of the types of affirmatives that are justified in each interpretation and the impact/implications it would have on debate.
I will not give credence to 5-second ASPEC shells. If you wish to run these types of arguments, they should have each of the necessary components of a topicality argument that is well explained. If I reasonably believe the other team could have missed the argument because I didn't think it was a clear argument, I think they probably get new answers. If you drop it twice, that's on you.

Kritiks:

Links should be specific to the affirmative. I understand that is not possible to account for every possible affirmative, but you should apply your evidence to the specifics of the affirmative through nuanced analysis.
Framework debates should have an in-depth clash. The negative should have critical or theoretical justifications as to why the debate is a priori question; otherwise, I will grant the affirmative their right to weigh their aff. Line-by-line answers to the other team's framework standards goes a long way in helping win framework in front of me.
I extremely dislike long k overviews (i.e. if they last more than one minute) for several reasons. First, you risk me not flowing specific arguments that you believe to be crucial because you have packed so much information. Second, it avoids clash. Most disads and theoretical explanations of the critical literature are better placed with the opponents' corresponding arguments.

Counterplans:

Do counterplans need solvency advocates? Yes, I think any counterplan that is read in the round should have a solvency advocate that outlines the mechanism of the counterplan. However, if the affirmative fails to provide an adequate solvency advocate, I will give the negative more leeway in this.
I tend to lean neg on questions on cp theory. I lean aff on a lot of questions of competition, especially in the cases of CPs that compete on the certainty of the plan, normal means cps, and agent cps

Framework/T-USFG

I find impacts about debatability, clash, iterative testing and fairness to be very persuasive. I think fairness is an impact in and of itself.
I am not very persuaded by impacts about skills/the ability for debate to change the world if we read plans - I think these are not very strategic and easily impact turned by the aff.
I am pretty sympathetic to negative presumption arguments because I often think the aff has not forwarded an explanation for what the aff does to resolve the impacts they've described.

Theory:

Even as a former 2A, I think conditionality is good with exceptions. I tend to lean aff where there are 5+ conditional worlds, especially when the planks of a cp are conditional.
Tell me what my role is on the theory debate - am I determining in-round abuse or am I setting a precedent for the community?

Chris Dressler Glenbrook South High School 3 rounds

Diego Duarte Glenbrook North 2 rounds

Last changed on Wed September 7, 2022 at 11:13 AM CDT

Name: Santiago (Diego) Duarte. Refer to me however you want, I really don't care.

Pronouns: He/him. Remember to ask your opponents.

Cancer sun, Scorpio Moon, Cancer rising

School: Glenbrook North (formerly), University of Oregon (not active debater)

Email: 224029@glenbrook225.org Please put me on the email chain without asking

If you read this paradigm, integrate the word "lasagna" into any speech once and I will give you +0.3 speaks

Experience: Debated for GBN on the Immigration topic and the Arms Sales topic. Judged debates on the Criminal Justice topic and the Water topic.

Former speaker position: 2N

Don't over-adapt to my paradigm. I'm willing to adjust to your styles. Debate how you want to debate and I'll try to keep up.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The long version of this paradigm is, as advertised, LONG. It is also quite boring to anyone who is not me, and was written more as a self-indulgent essay than a helpful guide. You won't miss much if you only read the short version, and if you need more detailed information on my views on specific topics, make use of the command+F function.

Paradigm (Short version) :

As a judge of novices, my goal is to educate and provide an enjoyable debate experience. Your first year is meant to be a learning experience, not a stress-filled environment. I am willing to make reasonable accommodations within debates to fit this - please ask before the round if there's anything that would make the debate more comfortable for you.

Don't be rude to your competitors, don't read racist arguments, if you have tech issues let me know and I probably won't take off speaker points.

Read any kind of argument that's allowed by the tournament rules, check with me and your competitors if it's potentially a triggering argument. K affs suck for novice debate but if the tournament lets you do it then I'll judge them fairly.

Be nice in cross-ex, don't speak over each other, don't dominate your partner's cx time.

I consider myself centrist on the Tech vs. Truth question, but I'm probably leaning more towards truth being important than the average judge.

I'm fine with any speed personally, but be careful over zoom. If i tell you to slow down, I expect you to actually slow down.

0% risk exists and is actually fairly common

Ask me if you have any questions, at any time.

Paradigm (long version):

With regards to digital debate: I will not take speaker points off for technical issues, with the exception of problems which you could reasonably be expected to prepare for, or egregious and unverifiable ones. I will be lenient with prep time when it comes to tech issues - as novices, you can't be expected to be able to instantly format and send files and such.

Cross examination: I am okay with open cross examination - HOWEVER - if one partner is clearly dominating another and abusing the concept of open cross-ex, I will stop that immediately and deduct speaker points. You will not earn brownie points with me by being an "aggressive cross examiner." I would prefer polite and low-volume cross-ex. Things said in cross examination are binding, however of course you and your partner can ask me to strike something you just said from my record of the debate, as long as it's within the same CX or speech.

Tech vs. Truth: I think that the inherent believability of arguments does matter in debate. While it is a game, you should be bringing arguments that make at least a modicum of sense, and not rely on overwhelming speed or speaking ability to swamp your opponent. That being said - ultimately, I am judging a competition and the better debaters should almost always win.

Speaker points: I will likely award slightly higher than average speaker points. I believe that there's no real reason to hurt new debaters by assigning a low numerical value to their speaking skill, barring extreme circumstances.

Situations in which I will stop a debate: Any accusation of cheating of any kind is the end of the debate, with the winner depending on the truth of the accusation. Any accusation of harassment or bullying will also cause me to end the debate - in any of these scenarios I will notify tournament staff and we'll go from there. Extreme rudeness to your competitors will cause me to at least pause the debate, and maybe award you a loss depending on the situation.

ARGUMENT SECTION

I am generally okay with any kind of argument, as long as it fits within basic standards of human decency. Arguments which are truly inherently racist and read with bad intent will at the very least not be counted, and may result in me automatically submitting my ballot against the offending team. I think that arguments which have a significant chance of triggering debaters should be mentioned before you read them - things like Death Good for example, I will allow if it isn't a significant trigger for the other team. (this is a general point - novices really shouldn't be reading these arguments)

Topicality:

I don't understand topicality. You, novices, definitely don't understand topicality. The people who wrote your T blocks probably do, but that doesn't make hearing them any more interesting. I will not be happy if I have to judge a novice debate that comes down to the nuances of topicality. This is even more true at the start of the year.

If this does end up being important - I find negative ground to be an unpersuasive standard, although I'll vote on it if it's argued well. Legal and contextual precision is my personal preference for evaluating T in policy rounds.

Kritikal arguments: Go ahead and read K's, I'm relatively friendly to them. If it's a convoluted and unintuitive Kritik, I do expect you to slow down for the benefit of both me and your opponents. My personal political biases lean towards a lot of kritikal arguments. I will do my best not to let this affect my judging of these arguments, but I'll probably be happy to hear them.

Performative contradictions are real and I will vote on them. The threshold is high, but if it's blatant then don't be afraid to call it out. If you're reading Cap and an Econ DA, that's pretty weird and will make a lot of philosophical arguments much less compelling.

Counterplans: Go ahead, any kind. Counterplans are probably my favorite kind of argument, don't be afraid to go all in on the CP in the 2nr.

Theory:

I like theory. I think it's the most unique part of debate, that the rules are only norms unless you prove that they should be rules in the round. I am willing to vote on theoretical questions, and open to all kinds of arguments in this area.

My counterplan theory stance is pretty neutral. I am happy to vote on good aff theory against cheating counterplans - I view theory as a totally legitimate and skill-based form of debate. If the neg abuses conditionality, go for condo and if you're better at arguing it I'll vote for you. Conditionality can be a voting issue for me, if you make it one.

Disads: Most basic kind of neg argument. Read as many as you want. Can't think of any unusual takes I have for this section. Please don't read DAs that have racist premises, I won't like you.

Go ahead and read all the politics disads you can think of - they're a lot of the neg ground on this topic. Don't bother running one in front of me unless you understand the uniqueness inside and out though - these disads are won or lost in the uniqueness section most of the time.

Kritikal affirmatives: These are almost certainly bad for novice debate. If the tournament allows them and you genuinely out-debate your competitors with one, I'll vote for you, but it's a high bar to clear in front of me. Even though I'm personally sympathetic to the ideas behind them, they're not cool for novices.

Case: Case debates are my favorite kinds of debates. Offcase are fun, but the core of debate is meant to be around the plan. Negative teams: don't be afraid to spend huge amounts of time attacking the case. If their affirmative doesn't make sense, go all in on that. I'm perfectly happy to vote on presumption if their case doesn't exist by the final rebuttals. If their affirmative is really strong and does make sense, then trying to frame the debate towards focusing on offcase is a good idea. Affirmative teams: don't let them do that last part. Keep the debate focused on whether your aff is good or bad. Convince me that that's all that matters. You get a huge advantage in picking the focus of the debate, use it wisely.

HOT TAKES: I mentioned earlier that I'm happy to vote on presumption - this is a sort of complicated issue for me. On a debate mechanics level, I think the presumption argument is cool and not used enough by negative teams. On a personal/political level, I've never agreed with the fundamental idea that "if the aff doesn't prove that they're good, then assume change is bad because it's risky." I think this is a reactionary and conservative way to view argumentation and debate. I am open to affirmatives making this argument if they feel that presumption is a likely strategy. Despite all that, if the affirmative doesn't make this argument in the 1AR, I will go with the debate community standard and say presumption goes neg.

Again, don't over-adapt to what is written above. I am happy to do what you tell me to do on this issue unless the other team contests it.

My second hot take is with regards to permutations: I absolutely hate the way permutations are usually done. If you stand up for the 2AC against 3 or less conditional alternatives and say "perm do the cp perm do both" a few times, I will flow them, but these are not real arguments and if the negative says so I will agree with them. Explain your permutations. What do they mean, what does doing both look like? Do not force whichever neg debater is taking the counterplan to respond to all the possible variations of a 3 word permutation because you couldn't be bothered to make a real argument. I will however be more sympathetic to rapid-fire permutations against 4+ conditional worlds - the 2AC is already a time-intensive speech and I will extend some understanding because of that.

My third and final hot take is that the 1AR will get a ton of leeway in front of me when it comes to making new arguments. I think that the block usually overdevelops one-offs from the 1NC to the point of making effectively new arguments, and when that happens I'm totally cool with letting the 1AR shoot a half dozen new offensive arguments in their faces in return.

Jargon: I am not an active debater on this topic. I have a passable knowledge of the main arguments and ideas underlying them, but some jargon might be outside of my understanding. Please don't abbreviate words that you think there's a good chance I wouldn't know the shortened version of. Use your best judgment.

If there's anything you want to know that's not on this paradigm, just ask before the round. Have fun!

Elizabeth Elliott Niles North High School 5 rounds

Last changed on Thu April 25, 2024 at 4:41 AM CDT

Isidore Newman '23 and Wake Forest '27

Debating for Wake + Coaching/Cutting Cards for Greenhill LD

send docs - speech drop/file share/elizabethelliottdebate@gmail.com

Please format the subject of the email with relevant information.

I have Wake Debate stickers on me so feel free to ask for one / ask any questions you have about Wake/college debate in general !!

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Be a decent human being.

To vote on an argument, I must understand it and it must be on my flow. I flow and evaluate every speech. I flow straight down and do not flow author names.

Tech >>> truth, but your speaks are mine. I will do my best to decide the debate to minimize intervention. Judge instruction helps a lot with deciding in your favor.

Post-rounding is good. If I make a decision you disagree with, please ask questions. It makes the activity better and forces judges to pay attention. Feel free to email me with questions (just make sure someone else is cc'ed).

You can insert rehighlightings of cards and perm texts.

I think zero risk is possible. I evaluate things probabilistically except for debates about models which are yes/no questions.

I protect the 2NR more than the average judge, AFF teams should make sure to either justify new arguments they are making or make sure they can vaguely be traced to earlier speeches (minus impact calc/ev comparison).

Unless the affirmative is new*, the chain should be sent before the round starts. Please start speaking at the start time and minimize dead time.

Evidence quality matters a lot. If I need to read the evidence in a debate - I read the evidence in 'invisibility mode' - this means evidence you have entered into the debate is part of the evidence that you have read.

Saying the phrase 'independent voting issue' does not make it an 'independent voting issue.'

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DA/Plan AFFs: Turns the DA/Case is better with carded evidence. Impact calculus/comparison matters a lot. Explain how arguments interact / what it means to win broad theoretical claims.

CP: Have perm texts for anything other than 'do both' or 'do the cp.' I will not judge kick unless instructed to by the negative. 1AR deficits should be tied to impacts. Counterplan theory as the 'A Strat' never makes much sense to me. I would much rather see theory debates as competition debates.

K: Middle of the road in these debates. Framework debates are a question of models. I will decide the framework debate as a yes/no question and not a middle ground---this makes the framework page (regardless of which side you are on) very important in front of me. I am good for K tricks as long as they are made clear in earlier speeches (LD).

T/Theory: Caselists matter a lot to me. Make sure you extend your interpretation/counter-interpretation. Weighing between standards usually decides these debates in front of me. I am pretty bad for 'reasonability' absent judge instruction, implicating thresholds for what offense matters, etc. I lean negative on most forms of CP theory but given the state of LD will happily vote on condo if well-executed/well developed.

Tricks/Frivolity/Phil/Theory debates that do not exist in policy: I would rather not. I will vote on it, but you will not like your speaks. I am horrible at evaluating this debate and I will openly say the quality of my RFDs in these debates is bad. I need a higher level of explanation than most judges. Examples>>> You need to go slower than you think you do...I will vote on presumption if your 1AC is unflowable.

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Speaks: I am unpersuaded by a 30-speak spike. Ways to boost your speaks: doc organization, judge instruction, clarity, numbering, line by line, and argument innovation.

Debating Novices/People with Less Experience: You should do what you need to do to win the debate, but make the debate as accessible as possible ie. slow down, explain things, be nice, etc. If you are clearly ahead either go for the winning argument and sit down or have a debate your opponent could engage with. I am uninterested in hearing 6 minutes of a K that was dropped.

Online Debate: I have no preference between camera on vs. off. You should locally record speeches in the event you cut out. The less I think you are stealing prep the better.

*"New AFFs" are affirmatives that have not been read by you, a teammate, your prep group, or another school. To be read as 'new,' none of the evidence in the AFF should have been read before. If evidence has been read before, the evidence should be disclosed to your opponent. Changing tags/how a card is cut does not make an affirmative new. If you break 'New' and your affirmative is not new - your speaks are capped at a 25 in prelims and I will have a very low bar for voting against you on disclosure in elims.

Steven Frankowski Whitney M. Young Magnet High School 3 rounds

Last changed on Sat November 4, 2023 at 9:12 AM CDT

Hi!I am a first-year PhD student at the University of Tennessee studying nuclear engineering and doing research at the Tennessee Ion Beam Materials Laboratory. I competed in parliamentary debate at the university of Illinois on the NPDA circuit, and did congressional debate for three years at Hampshire High School in Hampshire, IL in ICDA, NSDA, and IHSA tournaments. At the University of Illinois, I was the president of the Illini Forensics speech and debate team, and help coach parli and LD.

In terms of personal politics, I won’t let them influence my voting decisions or speaker scores that I give out. I’ll definitely push back against any dumb ideas in my ballots, but I’ll definitely try my hardest to not let that reflect in speaker scores or my RFD (of course no judge is perfect at this and they’re lying if they say they are). Only exception is blatantly racist, sexist, homophobic, any kind of -ist or -ic arguments will cause me to dock speaker points and will be a voting issue, but it should be addressed by the other team in their speeches if it comes up regardless.

Congress

1. Clash - This is a form of debate and I expect to hear a battle of ideas. This also indicates that you are listening.

2. No spreading - Congress is as much about clearly communicating ideas as it is about content.

3. Research - State your sources; I will judge based on research quality, both the source and date of the research cited are important. Along with this, youneed analysis on your research. Stating quotes or stats without any reason for why I should care will get you docked speaker points and speech score.

4. Content - Make sure when you give a speech that you are bringing in new arguments, if you get up and only restate other debaters' arguments you are missing the point of debate. As debate evolves, make sure you evolve with it. If the focus of the debate starts to center around one pivotal thing, make sure you bring that up. If you make a claim without a link or quote evidence without any analysis, I generally take that as if the evidence was not brought up at all. Link both to the bill and to other speakers' arguments.

5. Questioning - This is not a time to give a speech or preempt your speech. Point out flaws in logic, or clarify certain terms, but don't just ask them to restate their contentions.

Parliamentary:
1. No/minimal spreading. Without cards and without shared documents, it's incredibly hard to hear clearly. Online debate exacerbates this issue, as mic quality is terrible. I won't necessarily vote on spreading, but if you're speaking fast enough to where I can't understand you, I won't be able to completely flow your argument, so you'll appear to have dropped arguments on my flow.

2. Kritiks must be absolutely rock solid and grounded in reality for me to vote on them. I generally despise Ks, especially in parli, because they are almost always prepared ahead of time and just minorly adapted for the individual topic. If you do decide to run a K, make it understandable and realistic, don't start quoting obscure theory that is beyond a reasonable level of familiarity. THAT BEING SAID I try my best to vote on the flow, so if you run an annoying K but the other team doesn't respond properly, I'll have to vote for it but I won't be happy.

3. I will only vote on theory if there is proven abuse that is not sufficiently responded to by the other team. Big fan of RVIs, run them if the other team runs frivolous T.

4. I am much more concerned about the quality of arguments than I am about the technicality of your arguments. Better arguments = better communication.

5. Signpost please! Be clear when moving onto different advantages, disadvantages, counter plans, etc., and give a roadmap of your speech before you give it, you can do this off time if you like.

6. Have fun, don't get angry at each other. We all do debate for fun, no need to make it overly competitive.

Policy and LD

1. I’m fine with speed (to an extent). In policy you have cards and the arguments are usually predictable enough to follow along. The only time I dock speaker points for spreading is if I think your case or your own personal speaking style would be helped by slowing down. If you’re spreading so fast that I can’t understand your arguments, that’ll reflect on the flow not because I don’t like spreading but because I can’t flow arguments that aren’t clear.

2. Kritiks must be absolutely rock solid and grounded in reality for me to vote on them. Don’t run a K because you want to shoehorn your grand political ideology into every single debate you have. If you don’t prove that voting for the K has real world impacts and that it’s not just trying to fiat mindset, 99 times out of 100 it’s just cringe. Ground your Ks in a very tangible voting issue that I can feel good voting about. If you run it, also be aware that I will DEFINITELY vote for a T that attacks a stupid K for making the debate non-educational. THAT BEING SAID I try my best to vote on the flow, so if you run an annoying K but the other team doesn't respond properly, I'll have to vote for it but I won't be happy.

3. I will only vote on theory if there is proven abuse that is not sufficiently responded to by the other team. Running theory/topicality and the other team responding badly does not automatically mean you won the debate on theory/topicality if you haven’t proven that you’ve lost ground or the educational value of the debate. I love RVIs on pointless T.

4. Signpost, please. I am not a policy judge first and foremost, I’ve only ever competed in Congress, Parli, and a little IPDA, so please tell me where you are in your arguments because with spreading (which again is fine) and the different format, it’s very easy to get lost.

5. Probably the most important one for me, clarify any policy/LD specific jargon. Again, I’m not typically a policy judge so if you come at me with acronyms that I don’t know, probably not gonna help your case!

6. Cross-ex- I flow it, but please make sure to apply what you asked in cross-ex in your speeches. Respond to it in your speeches as if I didn’t flow it. Don’t just ask questions for the sake of asking questions, make them all intentional.

7. Have fun! If you take debate so seriously to the point where you actually get mad or tilted at an argument, that’s probably more on you than it is on the other team. We all do debate for fun.

If you have any questions for me before/after a round or want clarification on feedback, feel free to reach out to me at stevenf3@illinois.edu, I’ll keep an eye on my email before rounds during prep for parli if you have any questions during prep and try to respond during prep.

Ariel Gabay Niles North High School 5 rounds

Sam Gordon New Trier High School 1 rounds

Last changed on Fri March 15, 2024 at 4:13 PM CDT

New Trier '23

call me sam, not judge

please add me to the email chain - samgdebate@gmail.com

Top Level Stuff

Tech >>>> truth - I am down for whatever. The only exceptions to this are callouts, hateful arguments, or death good.

be clear!! I am not the world’s greatest flow, so please prioritize in-depth argumentation over shotgunning a bunch of misc arguments.

I won’t read cards unless specifically directed to by debaters or if it is essential to resolve a debate - even then, I will not read unhighlighted portions of cards unless a rehighlight is extended

I have very little topic knowledge, so please avoid jargon and explain topic-specific examples

Give an alternative to plan text in a vacuum

interpretations must be explicitly extended in every speech

CPs

I default to judge kick unless told not to - these debates need to begin in the 1AR

DAs

even if it’s kind of silly, 1ARs need to respond to turns case

K v Policy

I’m familiar with Pess, Set Col, Cap, Death Cult, and Security - anything else requires significantly more explanation

I’ll probably always start off with framework when writing my ballot in these rounds, so teams need to be explicit about what I weigh if they win their interp - this explanation should preferably begin in the 2AC and 2NC

If you want an argument to be applied to framework, that needs to be explicit

Subjectivity shift defense should go beyond the generic list of alt causes (also applies to T-USFG)

T v K

I have no preference for the offense either team decides to go for in these sorts of rounds - I generally think that fairness is an impact but can be persuaded otherwise

please cut the long overviews

If i have no idea what your AFF does after the 2AR, i’m voting on presumption

K v K

I would feel much more comfortable adjudicating a T debate

clarity is super important here, I will feel much more confident in my decision if everyone slows down and defaults to more explanation - keep things super organized, and i should be fine

Theory

Unless theory is dropped (and it's on a flow that's extended into the 2NR), condo is probably the only reason to reject the team - that said please don’t go for condo unless absolutely necessary - condo debates make me want to throw up

I won’t vote on condo in novice debates

Absent an add-on, I think 2NC CPs are indefensible

Misc Things

saying "oops" in a speech = -0.1 speaks

please don't like yell your speeches - idk why people think being loud equates to increased ethos

Rachael Gu Whitney M. Young Magnet High School 2 rounds

Dennis Guno Glenbrook North 2 rounds

Joanna Gusis Glenbrook North

Last changed on Sun April 21, 2024 at 11:41 AM CDT

gbn '22 - msu '26 - 1n/2a for all 5 years - she/her

last updated: 4.21.2024

please put me on the chain:

gusisfiles@gmail.com

most importantly (in order):

1. be nice to each other, flow, have fun

2. don't be rude, sexist, racist, homophobic, etc.. i have no problem contacting tabroom or your coaches when if i feel my role as a judge needs to become subordinate to my role as an educator

3. i will not evaluate things that occurred outside of the debate. if something was truly problematic, the debate should be stopped and tab should be contacted. in a similar vein, i strongly believe you should reach out to an opponent if you find an ethics issue with their evidence. substituting a caseneg with an ethics violation that you found pre-round probably makes debate worse than the ethics issue itself.

4. tech > truth (but truth makes it easier to win tech)

5. these are my predispositions -- they can all be changed with good debating (see the line right above this)

6. arguments need a claim, warrant, and impact -- if you do not have all 3, i don't care if it's dropped. if it takes you less time to read your aspec 1nc shell than it takes me to type out "aspec = vi," it isn't an argument and i don't really care if the 2ac doesn't have an answer.

7. impact calc and framing really matter -- top of your 2nr/2ar should tell me what i'm voting on and why. my life is easier and happier if you write my ballot for me

8. tag team cx is fine but don't speak over your partner

9. you don't need a card to make an argument (see #6), but card probably beats no card

10. prep time ends whenyou say it does. if you prep after the timer ends, prep time ends when I say it has.
---things that can happen after prep ends: sending a speech, standing up, giving an order, setting a timer.
---things that cannot happen after prep ends: editing a doc (includes copy-pasting things), saving a doc, talking to your partner

11. marked doc is not removing the cards you skipped (this is flowing), its only adding "mark" for cards that you did not finish. if a team asks for a new card doc with the cards the other team skipped, you should take prep for them to put that together.

*topicality*

-i read questionably topical affs all 4 years of high school and 1 in college - do your worst but do it well

-precision > predictability > limits > ground

---specifically: grammatical precision > legal precision > contextual precision > overlimiting > neg ground > under-limiting > aff ground > topic education

-loooooove plan text in a vacuum, but affs tend to not debate it thoroughly enough

*framework / t-usfg*

-i love a good fairness debate but am not a die-hard fairness hack. probably think clash / testing and fairness are more convincing than something like movement lawyering, but it's debatable

-i think tvas and switch-side debate are pretty good ways to cut down the aff's offense

-i mostly tend to think affs should have a counter-interp because i need models of debate to compare. if your strategy is to impact-turn framework, i will assume that means your c/i is 'affs get to do what they want, how they want'

*disads*

-specific links are important, but not as important as a good story

-a thumper isn't a thumper until you tie it back to the link. for example, saying 'there are other bills on the agenda' is not a thumper until you win that those other bills will cost pc

-0 risk is a thing (maybe not aaaactually a thing, but probability can get so low that i should treat it as zero risk)

*counterplans & theory*

-anything is fair game as long as you can defend it BUT if the counterplan is cheating, the aff should be able to beat it on theory or a perm more easily

-i wont judge kick unless you tell me to (saying "the status quo is always an option" does count as telling me to)

-just saying "sufficiency framing" <<<<<<<<< explain why the counterplan solves / how i should evaluate it

-condo is probably bad (i know, hot take) but that won't matter if both sides just spread blocks at each other. you should NOT read this as 'she wants to only hear condo speeches'

-condo is probably the only theory violation worthy of rejecting the team unless there is an argument otherwise starting in the 2ac (but its a pretty high threshold)

-theory is (almost) always a question of models and (almost) never a question of in-round abuse

*kritiks*

-i've been around the block with the literature but that doesn't mean i want to hear baudrillard blocks spread directly into your computer at 400 wpm (nobody does)

-i tend to think ks need an alternative that solves the links and impacts, but high-quality framework debating can arguably substitute for this (i really do prefer k's that are more than 'you link, you lose')

-it's pretty hard to convince me that we should never do anything to meliorate a problem a team has isolated

-in a perfect world, links are causal, specific, and unique. this world is far from perfect

-i'm better for the k than you think (filter this through the fact that it came from me...obviously there's some bias there)

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if you have any specific questions about my preferences, feel free to ask before and after the round :) im happy to help

good luck, have fun !!

Sam Gustavson Glenbrook South High School 2 rounds

Last changed on Wed January 3, 2024 at 2:56 PM UTC

Updated 2023 Pre-Northwestern College Season Opener

Assistant Policy Debate Coach at UT-Dallas and Greenhill

Debated at C.E. Byrd HS in Shreveport, Louisiana (class of ’14). Debated in college policy for Baylor University (2014-2016) and the University of Iowa (2017-2019)

Have coached: Caddo Magnet HS, Hendrickson HS, Little Rock Central HS, Glenbrook South HS, University of Iowa, James Madison University

Email chain should be set up/sent before start time. Sam.gustavson@gmail.com

Top level

Please be respectful of one another. We are all sacrificing our weekends to be here and learn, you can be passionate about your arguments without being mean, rude, condescending, hostile, etc. I’d almost always prefer you convince me that your opponent’s arguments are bad, not that they’re bad people. Chances are, none of us know each other well enough to make that determination.

Please prioritize clarity over speed.Everything else you can take with a grain of salt and ultimately do what you are best at, but me being able to understand you comes before anything else.

Debate is hard. People make it harder by making it more complicated than it needs to be. I like debaters who take complex ideas and bring them down to the level of simplicity and common sense.

Judge instruction, impact framing, comparison of evidence, authors, warrants, etc. or “the art of spin” is the most important thing for telling me how I should decide a debate. Making strategic decisions is important.

One of the things that makes debate truly unique is the research that is required, and so I think it makes sense to reward teams who are clearly going above and beyond in the research they’re producing. Good cards won’t auto win you the debate, but they certainly help “break ties” on the flow and give off the perception that a team is deep in the literature on their argument. But good evidence is always secondary to what a debater does with it.

I care about cross-x A LOT. USE ALL OF YOUR CX TIME PLZ

Organization is also really important to me. Debaters that do effective line by line, clearly label arguments and use things like subpoints are more likely to win in front of me and get better speaks.

High School Specific Thoughts

I work full time in college debate and as a result am less familiar with the ins-and-outs of the high school topic. Take that into consideration.

If you’re interested in doing policy debate in college, feel free to talk to me about debating at UT-Dallas! I am a full-time assistant coach there. We have scholarships, multiple coaches, and a really fun team culture.

CLARITY OVER SPEED APPLIES DOUBLE TO HIGH SCHOOL

Set up the email chain as soon as you get to the room and do disclosure. If you’re aff, ask for the neg team’s emails and copy and paste mine from the top of my paradigm. Let’s get started on time!

Please keep track of your own prep, cx, and speech time.

Don’t flow off the speech doc, it’s the easiest way to miss something and it’s super obvious. Don’t waste cross-x time asking what the did and didn’t read! Flowing is so important.

Aff thoughts

I don’t care what “style” of aff you read, I just care that it is consistently explained and executed throughout the debate.

I like most judges enjoy 2ACs that make strategic choices, smart groupings and cross applications, and effectively and efficiently use the 1AC to beat neg positions in addition to reading new cards.

2ACs and ESPECIALLY 1ARs are getting away with murder in terms of not actually extending the aff.

Pretty aff leaning on a lot of CP theory questions (Process especially, 50 states, agent CPs. With the exception of PICs), but usually think they’re a reason to reject the argument. You can win it’s a reason to reject the team, but my bar for winning the 2ac was irrevocably skewed by the existence of a single 1NC position is pretty high. I don’t really lean one way or the other on condo (ideologically at least, I have no clue what my judge record is in condo debates).

Neg Thoughts - General

I like negative strategies that are well-researched specific responses to the aff. I think case debating is super important and underutilized. Nothing is more persuasive than a negative team who seems to know more about the 1AC than the Aff team does.

The 1NR should be the best speech in the debate, you have so much prep.

The 2NR should make strategic decisions, collapse down, and anticipate 2ar framing and pivots. The block is about proliferating options, the 2NR is about making decisions and closing doors.

Counterplans

Like I said above, prefer aff-specific CPs to generics. Counterplans that only compete on immediacy and certainty and net benefits that don’t say the aff is bad are not my favorite. I definitely prefer Process CP + Politics to Process CP + internal net benefit, because the politics DA disproves the desirability of the plan.

Because of the above thoughts, I am more aff leaning on CP theory in a lot of instances, with the exception of PICs. I think PICs that disprove/reject part of the aff are probably good.

People say sufficiency framing without doing the work to explain why the risk of the net benefit actually outweighs the risk of the solvency deficit. You have to do some type of risk calculus to set up what is sufficient and how I should evaluate it.

I have no feelings one way or another about judge kick. Win that it’s good or win that it’s bad.

Counterplans vs K affs are underutilized.

Disads

Comparison is important and not just at the impact level. Telling me what warrants to prioritize on the uniqueness and link debate, rehighlighting evidence, doing organized labeling and line by line, etc. Don’t just extend the different parts of the DA, do comparative work and framing on each part to tell me to tell me why you’re winning it and what matters most in terms of what I evaluate.

Like I said in the neg general section, I usually prefer an aff/topic specific DA to politics, but those concerns can be easily alleviated with good link debating on the politics DA. Your link being specific to the aff/resolution is usually important especially for link uniqueness reasons. I typically like elections more than agenda politics just as a research preference.

Impact Turns

Get in the weeds early in these debates and read a lot of cards. Don’t be afraid to read cards late in the debate either. Teams that get out-carded in these debates early have a tough time getting back in the game.

Recency, specificity, and evidence quality really matter for most every argument, but these debates especially. It’s pretty obvious when one team has updates and the other is reading a backfile

These debates get unorganized in a hurry. Labeling, line by line, using subpoints/numbers, and making clear cross applications are super important

Topicality

I really like T debates vs policy affs. I think creative arguments like extra T and effects T are underutilized or at least often underexplained and that there are affs getting away with fiating a lot of extra-resolutional/non-resolutional things.

Typically default to competing interps, and I’ll be totally transparent here: reasonability is kind of an uphill battle for me. When people go for reasonability with an interp, I almost always understand reasonability as a standard for why the aff’s interp is good. If you’re arguing your interpretation is better because it’s more reasonable, how is that not also an appeal to competing interpretations? And in the other scenario, if you’re going for reasonability with a we meet argument, I feel like a lot of the time it just begs the question of the violation and it’s easy for the neg to frame it as a yes/no question, not something that you can kind of/reasonably meet. Ultimately superior debating supersedes everything. If you win reasonability, you win reasonability. But you are probably better off just winning the we meet or going for a counter-interp

Impact comparison on standards is super important. I don’t have any strong preferences in terms of how I evaluate limits vs precision, aff ground vs neg ground, etc. Those are things you have to win and do the work of framing for me.

For the neg: Case lists, examples of ground lost under the aff’s interp, examples of why the debates under your model over the course of the year, topical versions of the aff, etc. will all help me understand in practice why your interp is better for the year of debate on the topic rather than just in theory.

For the aff: A well-explained we meet and/or counter interpretation, a case list of things you allow and things you don’t, and explanation of what ground the neg gets access to under your interp beyond quickly listing arguments and saying functional limits check, explain the warrant for why your interp preserves that ground and why those debates are good to have. N

Not super persuaded by “we meet – plan text in a vacuum” without much additional explanation. If the aff reads a plan text but then reframes/clarifies what that means in cross-x, in 1ac solvency evidence, or in the 2ac responding to neg positions, I think it’s easy for the neg to win those things outweigh plan text in a vacuum.

Framework

I judge a lot of these debates, and I’m fine with that. I think debating about debate is useful.

Fairness can be and impact or an internal link, just depends on how it’s debated. For it to be an external impact, it needs to not be circular/self-referential, which I think it often is in terms of how teams execute it. “Debate is a game, so it needs to be fair, because games need to be fair, and without fairness we can’t debate” is a circular argument that lacks an impact. To me, the argument becomes more offensive the more teams emphasize the time commitment we all put into debate and why maintaining fairness is important for honoring that time commitment, or explaining why it’s important for participation.

If either side is claiming participation as an impact, you have gotta explain how voting for you/your model would solve it. I think that’s hard to do but I’ve seen it done effectively both with fairness and with K affs doing for access/participation outweighs. The impact is obviously very big, but the internal link is often sketchy and not flushed out, in addition to largely being untrue because things like budget cuts have a lot more to do with who can participate than any particular team reading any particular argument.

I prefer clash as an impact more because I feel like it gets to a bigger impact that is more at the heart of why debate is good and that it often causes the neg to interact with the aff more. Your warrants for why clash turns the aff should be aff specific – same with TVAs. Nothing hurts me worse than ultra-generic framework debating where the argument could apply to literally any K aff. The best way to win your model can account for the aff’s impacts is to use the language of the aff in your explanation of things like clash, Switch-Side, and the TVA.

Affs that have something to do with the topic and can link turn things like topic education and clash are more persuasive to me than affs that try to impact turn every single part of framework. You probably will need to win some defense, because so much of the neg side of framework is defense to the stuff you want to go for.

Having a counter-interpretation really helps me understand how to evaluate offense and defense in these debates. This does not necessarily require the 2AC to redefine words in the resolution, but rather to tell me what the aff’s vision of debate is, what the role is for the aff and neg, and why those debates are good. Even if you are going to impact turn everything, having a counter-interpretation or a model of debate helps me understand what the role of the aff, neg, and the overall role of debate are.

Kritiks

The more aff-specific the better. Links do not necessarily have to be to the plan (it would be nice if they were), but they should implicate the 1ac in specific ways whether it’s their rhetoric, impact scenarios, etc. 2NCs that quote and rehighlight aff evidence, read new cards, proliferate links, and give the 2nr options are good. If you are criticizing/kritiking the aff, you should quote as much of their evidence, indict as many of their authors, and apply your criticism to the aff as much as possible. The most common advice I give 2Ns going for the K is to quote the aff more

Making decisions in the 2NR is still important even when reading the K one-off. You cannot go for every link, framing argument, perm answer, etc. in the 2NR.

The best K 2NRs I’ve ever seen effectively use case to mitigate parts of the aff’s offense. If you give them 100% risk of the aff vs the K, it’s harder to win!

Kicking the alt/going just for links or case turns is not the move in front of me. There are almost always uniqueness problems and I end up usually just voting aff on a risk of case. Whether it’s an alternative or a framework argument, you gotta explain to me how voting neg solves your offense.

I have noticed that in a lot of K debates I find that both the aff and the neg over-invest in framework. I honestly don’t see a scenario where I don’t let the aff weigh the 1AC if they win that fiat is good. I also don’t see a scenario where I vote aff because Kritiks on the neg are unfair. If the neg is making links to the aff, the aff obviously gets to weigh their offense against those link arguments. I really think both sides in most cases would be better served spending time on the link/impact/alt rather than overinvesting time on the framework debate.

I don’t really understand a lot of the form/content distinction stuff people go for because I think that the way arguments about “form” are deployed in debate are usually not actually about the form of anything and almost exclusively refer to disagreements in content

Ethics challenges/Clipping/Out of Round Stuff:

In the case that anyone calls an ethics violation for any reason I reserve the right to defer/go to tab, and then beyond that I can only vote based on my interpretation of events. This used to really only apply to clipping, but I’ve been a part of a bunch of different types of ethics challenges over the years so I’ve decided to update this.

Clipping: Hot take, it’s obviously bad. If I have proof you clipped the round will end and you’ll lose. I don’t follow along in speech docs unless someone starts being unclear, so if your opponent is clipping it’s up to you to notice and get proof. I need a recording if I don’t catch it live, even if we are on a panel and another judge catches it. Without a recording or proof, I’m not pulling the trigger.

Be careful about recording people without their consent, especially minors. Multiple states require two-party consent to record, don’t get yourself in legal trouble over a debate round.

I don’t vote on out of round stuff, especially stuff I wasn’t there for. For clarification, I suppose there could be exceptions to this and my opinions on it have gone back and forth. If you feel that someone in the round has jeopardized your safety, made you uncomfortable, or anything remotely similar, I will do everything in to advocate for you if I witness any of the following. If I am not a witness, I will make sure that the proper channels are used to address the complaint.

This is obviously distinct from criticizing something that someone has said or calling people out for being problematic. I’m saying if something so bad has happened that we have to stop the round, I have to go to the tournament and my bosses and look at my options. For your safety and mine I am required to think about how I’m protected, and my role and qualifications as a coach and educator as it relates to resolving officially lodged complaints of discrimination or harassment.

LD Paradigm:

Tech over truth but asserting that an argument is dropped/conceded is not the same thing as extending a full argument

My debate background is in policy, so I have much more familiarity with policy/LARP and Kritikal debates than I do with phil.

That is not to say you cannot win on philosophy in front of me, but you should try to frame it in language that I will understand. So telling me why your impact outweighs and turns their offense, winning defense to their stuff, doing judge instruction and weighing to tell me what matters and what doesn't.

Clarity is more important than speed. Slow down a bit on counterplan texts, interps, etc. Spreading as fast as you can through theory shells or a million a priori's means there's probably a good chance that I am not going to get everything

A lot of arguments in LD stop at the level of a claim - you can be efficient but you can't just blippily extend claims without warrants and expect to win

Not a huge fan of frivolous theory. I think most theory debates end up being a reason to reject the argument not the team with the exception of condo. But like I said, tech over truth so you can win theory in front of me, it just needs to be well impacted for why it is a reason to drop the debater and why rejecting the argument/practice doesn't solve

Khamari Hall Kenwood Academy 2 rounds

Last changed on Wed April 3, 2024 at 4:40 PM CDT

khamaridoesdebate19530@gmail.com

Hello all!

I'm Khamari (He/Him) and I'm currently a varsity debater at Kenwood Academy in Chicago, IL! I've been doing debate since my freshman year (senior now) and I've debated at a high national as well as local level.

I'll keep my paradigm short as my argument philosophy is pretty simple

First and foremost, I don't tolerate any form of bigotry. You can have ideas that people don't agree with, but things that support queer/homophobia, Anti-Blackness/Racism, Misogyny, etc. won't be tolerated in the round. Also just be genuinely kind and respectful in context to the round, so no talking during other speeches, giving mavericks a bit of leeway, that sorta thing.

TLDR: Just be kind and respectful to your opponents.

My central point in debate is a simple one, clash and engagement, it's important for you as the debaters to not just read cards at me or back at the other team but to engage with the arguments in order to create clash. As a debater, it forces you to actually defend yourself and manipulate evidence effectively, to know your subject, and as a judge it makes it easier to vote for you if you can show me why YOU are right and THEY are wrong. To be more specific, I really like phrases like "They say, we say" "Even if" etc, etc. I'm pretty relaxed on how you used "debatery language" too as long as you make arguments in a constructive, formatted manner.

In Cross X's, please as well formulated questions! Cross X can be about getting clarificaton, but it should be argumentative and challenging the underpinnings of the plan!

I do not have any preferences on off-case, disads are really solid arguments and I tend to vote on them if explained as a turn to case. If you going to run something like a K (I am a K debater, please ask me about them) or a CP make sure to really explain their function in relation to them plan and moreover the solvency clearly.

That's it ya'll, happy debating!

James Hanley New Trier High School 5 rounds

Last changed on Wed November 11, 2020 at 12:09 PM CDT

"ion like to fight until i'm fightin" ~ Chris Breaux

speech doc email go here: <jhanley@oprfhs.org>

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TL;DR - aside from the generic 'dO wHaT u Do BeSt AnD i WiLl ChEcK mY bIaS' [revealing tangent: are blank slates kind of a scam? methinks yea] let me just say I am gonna need to see ****DEPTH OVER BREATH**** in your second rebuttals!!!!!

This applies in terms of both argumentative (a) category & (b) number:

-- (a) specific scenario > general condition

-- (b) a singular warranted + impacted claim > stuttered collage of blips

this is for the 2XR, regardless of if we are talking T, policy or Ks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some other significant biases that I most certainly will bring into the room:

* tech + truth = means + ends . . . offense/defense is my default means | ethical agonism is my one & only end

* grounding speeches in the resolution is V important to me but im super game for advocacies that dont fiat shit

* also here for nutty theory debates . . . do Topical cps meet the burden of rejoinder? i won't make assumptions

* off case positions are for cowards !!! >:( but if you must -- probably enjoy T or K most but love a good DA/CP

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Personal Philosophy and/or Proprietary Paradigm:

* SPEECH ACT >>> SPEECH DOC | I am of the pre-paperless age . . . One big change in this regard is that, today, there is a complete and total transparency/accessibility of cards & blocks. Not saying it is good or bad -- just that, when I debated, the judge was unable to read along (they could, if need be, call for cards after the round). And I do think there's something to be said for "just listening" !

* I VOTE FROM THE FLOW ALONE | [see above re: speech docs]. If you want a "line" on that flow to affect my decision, it MUST SATISFY all four of the following:

1. appear in >1/4 of your speeches . . . more air time = more weight generally

2. summarize your opponent's response and provide some counter-argument

3. fit into the larger story of what my ballot is doing in this round . . . another way to say this is that EVERYTHING needs to have an "impact" whether it be to establish the uniqueness of a situation, articulate the internal link between phenomena, or explicitly compare ethical priorities

4. have concrete warrant(s) drawing upon a form of history , science , or logic

~ [5.] & get extra speaker points for spinning a yarn and/or cracking a joke !!! ~

* DOCENDO DISCIMUS | Debate is this crazy place where the students profess while teachers pay attention -- a dramatic reversal of the situation that defines our educational system. In other words, this is an activity where the instructor takes instruction. You should make the most of this dynamic and, rather than worry about "if I will listen" to your case, simply move me to sign the ballot in your favor. Make me laugh, make me cry, make me think!

__________[[Experience & Education]]____________

** Debated four years on the midwest / nat'l circuits (2x TOC)

** been out the game since 2011 but I still got some love for it

** ask me about: Silicon Valley; Micronesia; South Side Chicago

Joshua Harrington Niles North High School 5 rounds

Last changed on Tue March 26, 2024 at 3:07 PM EDT

Paideia 2019

Michigan 2023

Currently Pursuing a Ph.D. in Philosophy at Emory University

Email: harrington.joshua33@gmail.com

TLDR:

Policy debaters lie and K debaters cheat. If you believe both of these, you should pref me in the 1-25 percentile. If you believe only one of these, you should consider how much you disagree with the other then put me somewhere in the 25-50 percentile. If you disagree with both of these, consider preffing someone else. Any and all thoughts in this paradigm are malleable and determined by the debating done in a given round. My ideal tournament is one in which any judge from any program can fairly adjudicate any argument without any prior ideological commitments.

I fully believe that the role of the judge is to consider the arguments presented and do their best to render a decision that best reflects the round presented to them. Throughout my debate career I have seen judges allow personal bias and apathy render meaningless the hours of time and energy that debaters give to this activity that we all have limited time in. Therefore, I will do my best to flow all arguments made, listen to CX’s, render a decision, and give comments that I think will aid you in future debates. With that being said, this paradigm reflects my current thoughts on policy debate and how I render my decisions.

If at any point you read this paradigm and think I am referencing a specific ideological position in an attempt to cement a singular vision of debate, I am not. I find equal flaws and absurd arguments across the ideological spectrum and equally dislike most of the arguments, practices, and trends rewarded in this activity. I have felt this sentiment for a few years now. Despite this reality, the one truth I consistently return to is that I love debate. I love this activity and will do my best as a judge to make this activity a welcoming place to all argumentative styles and positions. If you have any questions or concerns, I encourage you to reach out via email or even come up to me at a tournament and introduce yourself. Far too many of us are strangers and fail to reach out, so know I am more than open to dialogue.

Background:

I am currently pursuing my Ph.D. in philosophy at Emory University and plan to continue coaching alongside. I debated for 8 total years and during that time, I was lucky enough to debate across a range of argumentative styles and strategies. I found value in all argumentative forms but have also developed my own argumentative preferences in doing so. I strongly prefer strategies that open oneself to deliberation and defend controversial positions. I believe the issue of clash and what kinds of education we produce are important ones to explore, as I continue to judge. I believe the difference between a good argument and a bad argument is often about packaging and impact calculus and often vote against teams that poorly articulate concepts and the implications of the arguments presented. Similarly, I often vote against arguments not because they are wrong, but because they have not been packaged in a manner that is responsive and/or implicated enough for me to vote on. Once again, any and all arguments are open for me, but if I cannot articulate the impact of an argument and its implications on the other arguments presented, I am very unlikely to vote on it.

Online Debate:

I encourage you to have face cams on, at least during speeches and CX but understand if you are not comfortable with that or just choose not to. I'm a pretty good flow overall, but if there is a tech issue or the speech becomes unclear, I'll do my best to let that be known.

Case/impact:

I will likely read your 1AC and be annoyed if you claim to do things and solve impacts not supported by your current 1AC construction. Many people claim the 2AR lies, but I believe the lies start as early as 1AC CX. This is not to say that new articulations, warrants, and impacts cannot be accessed throughout the process of debating, but I am annoyed by AFF inconsistency. I do not care what 1AC is read or what 2AR is given, just do your best to maintain consistency.

In terms of engagement with case, your negative strategy should implicate the case page in some way. When I say “implicate”, I mean that in the loosest of definitions possible. This can stem from going for terminal defense all the way to fully mooting the 1AC via framework. Remember, no matter what, at the end of the round, a negative ballot will likely have to answer the question, “what should I do with the 1AC?”

DA’s:

Read any and all of them as you please so long as it is substantiated by evidence. These debates often come down to impact calc and card quality. In case vs DA debates, I find myself often voting aff on try or die. Your impact calculus should anticipate that you are defending the status quo and do your best to overcome that.

CP’s:

I am fine with any counterplan so long as it has a solvency advocate, or as long as I can intuitively understand how the counterplan would function. I am working to become a better judge at in-depth counterplan competition debates, but for now err towards over explaining rather than under explaining. Judge kick seems to be good, however if I am judge kicking a counterplan, I am likely to vote on case outweighs unless sufficient case mitigation.

Theory:

I very much do not want to judge condo debates. I default to three being good, four being up for debate, and five or more being bad. The common rebuttal to this format is “number of condo doesn’t matter/it is about the practice/no clear difference between four and five”. I recognize these arguments even though I believe they are said in bad faith. This is an instance where technical execution can overcome ideology for me. However, in most theory debates (including condo), the aff needs to prove in-round abuse in order to persuade me. With theory arguments besides condo, I am likely to just reject the argument and not the team.

I care very little about negative contradictions at a theoretical level. Performative contradictions are not reasons you get to sever your reps, but they can be reasons that I ought to be skeptical of certain arguments.

Kritiks:

Any and all kritiks are viable options when I am in the back. I believe links should either be in the context of doing the plan, the assumptions around particular impacts, or the failures of a particular understanding the 1AC relies on. I find most one card kritiks incredibly unconvincing. I like kritiks that are not just kritiks of fiat and will give you a speaker points boost for developing your kritik beyond “fiat is bad”. I read and enjoy kritiks that defend a theory of power and apply that theory to the link debate; those were the kritiks that I read as a debater.

Answering Kritiks:

For answering the kritik, I am very good for many of the classical policy argumentative pushes that people use against common kritiks. That includes but is not limited to arguments such as: humanism good, psychoanalysis wrong, state inevitable/good/will crackdown, scenario analysis good etc. When a floating PIK/utopian alt is read, I am likely to be convinced by the permutation and a fairness push on framework. Otherwise, I would highly recommend going for a clash impact over fairness against most kritiks.

Defending your 1AC and implicating the kritik is the most effective and likely path to the ballot. I believe the FW (fairness) + extinction outweighs is a more than viable 2AR to give. That said, 75% of the time debaters do not articulate these arguments in a manner that is responsive to the negative’s kritik. I believe it is bad to only have extinction outweighs and fairness-centric framework in your arsenal because there are instances where clash is more responsive and debating the warrants of the kritik will increase your chances of the ballot. In addition, you should be willing to push NEG team on what they are saying. Pressing on the truth of a theory, the relevance of a link, and the viability of the alternative are all more than viable strategies and far more enjoyable to judge than the “two ships passing in the night” trend of Policy vs K debates we currently have.

K AFF’s:

K AFF’s are likely to be most successful in front of me when they take a stance on the resolution and a defend a theory of power that can be applied to the NEG’s offense. What a theory of power constitutes can be very broad, but I am likely to make you defend the implications and solvency of your 1AC. What it means to solve something likely depends upon your 1AC choice, but I must know what you are trying to do to know whether it is good, worthwhile, or even possible.

My three preferred 2NRs vs K AFFs were the Cap K, Topicality, and Afropessimism. I write this to demonstrate, I believe every AFF is answerable, and sometimes the best answer is Topicality.

Similar to the case section, I am most likely to vote NEG when NEG teams make arguments that meaningfully implicate the case page. I think presumption is a necessary tool that is often poorly deployed. I believe it can supplement most strategies and can be won in 1AC CX by a creative 2N who asks the right questions.

I enjoy topicality debates, both going for it and answering it. Fairness and clash are both impacts that should be explained more than you currently plan on. Most of these debates come down to who best articulates the role of the ballot and its ability to solve both sides’ offense. If you are AFF, I am likely to want an answer to the question, “what is the role for the negative”. Through smart defensive arguments, a counter interp, and/or a large defense of an impact turn, I can be easily convinced to never vote on topicality. On the opposite side, you should use fairness/clash to implicate case impacts and beat logical inconsistencies in most 2AC’s to framework. Different K AFF’s have different strategic strengths and weaknesses; different K AFF’s also produce different discussions and forms of clash (maybe). Recognizing the most strategic deployment of the 1AC in addition to your most strategic articulation of fairness, clash, tva, ssd, etc. will increase your chances of getting my ballot.

For K v K debates, I am increasingly conflicted on my beliefs of whether the AFF gets a perm and whether that perm requires a net benefit. I believe it is possible for 2N’s to craft competitive alternatives that disagree with core parts of the affirmative. At the same time, I recognize the potential fluidity of many K AFF’s and am thus sympathetic to different visions of competition. This analysis must be done and resolved otherwise I will abide by traditional rules of competition and consider whether the alt is mutually exclusive with the AFF. I very much dislike floating PIKs, but depending on the PIK and relevant offense, I can be convinced that PIKs in the 1NC can be good.

Procedurals/Ethics violations/RVI’s:

The only procedural I am likely to vote on is topicality. The vast majority of non-topicality procedurals that I have been exposed to are incredibly arbitrary and lose to a 2AR on “we meet”. If you find an 1AC you feel as though you cannot debate with a substantive strategy, I encourage you to find a topicality violation based in the resolution or find a way to out cheat your opponent.

Similarly, when issues of evidence become potential grounds for the rejection of the team, I am highly likely to strike the card and/or the argument rather than the team. Similar to the condo section, I do not particularly want to judge these debates and very rarely am certain enough that the practice should end the debate and/or be grounds for voting a team down.

Lastly, I am a very poor judge for strategies dependent upon out of round interactions. I believe the competitive aspects of debate makes the conversations incredibly unproductive and conversations outside of round are necessary (when possible) to resolve such disputes.

Misc:

My ideal debater combines the persuasion and ethos of Giorgio Rabbini and Natalie Robinson, the technical skill of Rafael Pierry and Elan Wilson the work ethic of DML, Kris Wallen, Don Pierce, Hana Bisevac, and Pranay Ippagunta, the judging abilities of Corey Fisher, Vida Chiri, Devane Murphy, Shree Awsare, and Taylor Brough and the attitudes of Nate Glancy, Jimin Park, Ariel Gabay, and Ben McGraw. If you are able to display any of these qualities to the level that these debaters have, you have set yourself up to thrive in this activity.

Uriel Hernandez Solorio Academy High School 5 rounds

Jonathan Horowitz SSICP 5 rounds

Last changed on Tue April 9, 2024 at 10:47 AM CDT

Hi. I debated at Glenbrook North HS in Northbrook for 4 years, 1.5 in policy and 2.5 in LD. I was the LD coach at Loyola Blakefield HS in Baltimore for 3 years followed by being the debate coach for Chicagoland Jewish HS in Deerfield, IL, New Trier HS in Winnetka/Northfield, IL, Bronx Science, Beacon HS in Manhattan, the director of debate at Mamaroneck HS in Mamaroneck, NY and currently the director of debate at South Shore International College Prep in Chicago. I've also worked at multiple debate camps and have been a private coach for multiple debaters. Trust me, I've seen it all.

Last updated 4/9/24. Changed some words and added my judge kick stance.

I'm fine being on email chains but I'm not posting my email publicly. Just ask before the round.

General stuff:

I will vote on any argument, in any weighing mechanism provided. I do not discriminate, I'm find with speed (though sometimes my flowing can be bad), fine with theory, fine with kritiks, whatever you want to do. It's your round, not mine have fun with it.

-Extensions are key! Every extension needs to have the word extend/pull through the flow/or similar wording attached to it. Then it needs to have a warrant for what is being extended, finally the extension needs an impact back to the weighing calculus. If that is the value/value criterion mechanism then it needs to impact back to the VC that is being used for the round. If that is some other mechanism, it needs to be impacted to that weighing mechanism (theory means voters I guess). That weighing mechanism and the warrants for the mechanism should be extended (In a v/vc model the vc should be extended along with the argument). If these things are not done then the arguments will not be evaluated in the same depth and I might not give you credit, or as much credit, for an argument that you may have clearly won on the flow. I guess in simpler terms I have a high threshold for extensions. Also, when extending please extend along with the warrant please compare your arguments to other arguments. The best extensions are not just argument extensions but have comparative weighing along with the arguments.

-Evidence is not inherently preferable for analytics absent some argument for why I should prefer that specific piece of evidence over a generic analytic. Debaters are smart and well researched on the topic (usually) and so should be able to have a command of what is going on equal to/greater than a lot of experts. Trust yourself and talk about why you are correct instead of some rando newspaper writer who has probably done less research than what goes into the typical 1AC.

- WEIGH! One of the things I'm almost always unsure of after a round is which argument to evaluate first. Do I look to the Disad, the spike, the contention 1? Most debate rounds involve multiple arguments that could "come first" and people telling me the order in which to evaluate arguments and which arguments are more important makes my life easier. It also means you'll be more likely to win because the argument that you're saying is most important/comes first is probably also the one that you're winning the most. WEIGH! Seriously WEIGH!

On Non-T affs:

You ought pretend to be topical. Topicality means different things to different people and I think that the topic and what topicality means can change in debate and in different debates. However, the aff should claim that they are talking about the topic. What the topic means to you and how it functions might be different than the "traditional" method and that's fine! How you make that claim or whether that claim is true can be (and should be!) contested in the round.

- Other thing: It has become very clear since 10/7/23 that settler-colonialism justifies mass atrocities. I will vote against it much as I vote against people who say or uphold racist/sexist/homophobic or other harmful ideologies.

- Feel free to come up to me at any tournament and ask me questions about anything, I can't guarantee you a great answer but I can guarantee that I will try to respond.

LD Paradigm:

Things I've noticed about my preferences for debate: (This is just a list of things I like, none of these are necessary to win a round but they do affect my judging)

- I tend to prefer debaters who debated similarly to how I debated. What does this mean? I debated in an old school national circuit LD style. On the aff that meant a very broad criterion with mutually exclusive contentions that I tried to kick out of as much as possible (usually at the end of the 2AR, I had one contention and maybe framework). On the neg, it meant a short NC, no more than 2 minutes, with extensive analytical responses to the aff. While it might not help you win the round, debate has changed a lot, it will help your speaker points.

- I like a 2AR that isn't on the flow. What does this mean? The 2AR should be more of a story speech that merely references the flow. A lot of weighing/crystallizing or time on voting issues.

-I like even/if stories. They tend to make the round clearer and make my life easier.

-LD debaters need to stop saying "we" when referring to themselves. You are a singular human being and not one half of a partnership. If you say "we" while referring to yourself you will lose 0.1 speaker points. I will also interrupt your speeches to ask "who is we?" Be prepared.

-I'm a leftist politically. Property rights arguments and other capitalist arguments are not particularly persuasive to me and I don't like hearing them. That doesn't mean I won't vote on them, it just means if you have something else it's probably a good idea to run it.

-I presume coinflip. That means if I can't find any offense or way to vote I will flip a coin to decide the round. I have done this quite a few times and never want to do it again but I'm not afraid to do it and if I think your round warrants it, a coinflip will happen. (That said the only times I've done it has been in rounds where there have been on offense by either side so as long as offense exists I will not flip a coin).

-I like philosophy, I am a philosophy major. That said I'm not good at flowing it, especially when spread at the beginning of the speech. So if you do read philosophy slow down a little bit so that I can catch your arguments.

-Going off that last point, my major is in continental philosophy; which means I take classes on all those critical authors you've wanted to use in rounds. Kritiks are wonderful! If you know what are you talking about, please run them in front of me. Ks do not need an alt, though it is preferable. Make sure to understand the interactions between your position and the position of what your opponent is running.

- Please start the AC/NC with I affirm/I negate. It doesn't take away from your word economy and it gives me a second to "catch up" and get used to your spreading/debating voice so that I don't miss your first argument. You don't need to re-state the resolution though, that's unnecessary.

-Something most debaters forget is that as a judge I do not look to see what you are reading while you are reading it. I don't read the cards on the email chain until after the round. Therefore, be more specific in signposting then off the Martin card 1..2..3 etc. Don't just say Martin, say what Martin said as well, because I might not have gotten the author name Martin but I got the argument they made. Also, be clear about where Martin is on the flow. If Martin is a contention 1 card, say that she is in contention 1. Virtual/Computer debate note: I do ask to be on the email chain but I don't read the cards on the chain until after the round so this still applies.

- Policy style arguments have started to come more and more into LD and people like running them in front of me. That's fine, I really like them. However, if you are running them you also take on policy-style burdens. For example, if you read a plan then you have to fulfill the 4 criteria of the HITS (if you don't know what that is, you shouldn't be running a plan. Also, considering the last person to lose on significance was Tom Durkin in the 1978 NDT, significance doesn't matter anymore). Most importantly, is that policy has a status quo whereas LD does not. That means that you need to orally give me the dates of evidence! If you're running a DA I need to know that the uniqueness is actually unique, if it's a plan that the inherency is actually inherent etc. Evidence without dates on it means that I won't give you credit for uniqueness or inherency claims that you need in the debate round. If your opponent points out that you didn't read those dates then I will give zero credit for any uniqueness/inherency claim and assume that your evidence is from 1784 and take away any offense that is based off of that plan/DA (I will also give said opponent at least a 29). So make sure to tell me those dates!

- I've recently read A LOT of social movement theory and have also been actively been involved in crafting strategy for a social movement. This has made me significantly more wary of most kritik alternatives. Kritik alts either make no sense, are not realistic, would never be adopted by wide ranging social movements, or are actively harmful to spreading social movements. It won't change how I vote, if the alt is won, but it does mean that common sense arguments against K alts will be considered more important. But if you look at my earlier stuff from Ks you'll see that I don't even think an alt needs to be read, so, you know, think about that risk.

- A priori/pre-standards arguments/other tricky-esque nibs. If you are losing everything else on the flow I need a reason to uniquely prefer your 3 sentences over the rest of the flow. If that does not happen I will find it very hard to vote for you over somebody else who is winning the rest of the round. Not that I won't evaluate the argument at all it will just be weighed against the rest of the round and if someone else is winning the rest of the round I will vote for the person winning the majority of the round. In simpler words if you go for an a priori, go for it hard. I'm not going to buy it simply because it is dropped.

- Metaethics. Basically, meta-ethics cannot be used as a "magic wand" to get out of framework debate. You still need to provide an ethic to meet your meta-ethic. Just saying my meta-ethical util comes before your ethical deont haha! is not enough. Language might be indeterminate but that doesn't mean we default to util (or deont) unless it's justified.

Since everybody asks me about how I evaluate theory here it is:

I don't mind theory, I will vote on it and I will vote on it in cases where I think no actual abuse has occurred or even times where the argument itself is patently non-abusive. But before you rush to pull out your three theory shells, I really don't like voting on it. Moreover, of all the decisions where people have argued with me after the round, 2/3 of them are because of theory. My paradigm seems to be different than other judges so I would say run theory at your risk. Now of course you're asking why is my paradigm different? Simple because I don't default to a monolithic competing interpretations framework, you don't need a counter-interp/RVI/etc. to win theory (though it is helpful and in a case of offense vs. no offense I'm going to default to offense). I'm not as technical on theory as other judges, simply saying my argument is not abusive, drop the argument not the debater, or even talking about reasonability will probably be enough to convince me to not vote on theory. In other words, I default to reasonability, though will be persuaded otherwise. Also, in a round between two equal theory debaters or even a round where both debaters have competent theory blocks, theory turns into a crapshoot (which, by the way, is most theory rounds) so while I will do my best to sort through it that doesn't mean my decision won't be somewhat random.

Also, I guess most LD judges don't evaluate theory this way so I should point this out. If you only go for theory in the NR/2NR or 2AR then the affirmative/negative does not need a RVI to win the theory debate because the only offense at the end of the round is on theory which means that I am merely evaluating who did the better theory debating and not worrying about substance at all. The RVI only comes into play if there is a contestation of substance AND theory at the end of the debate.

Policy Paradigm:

I will vote on any argument, in any weighing mechanism provided. My main philosophy is it's your round not mine so do what you want. I think a lot of how I judge policy is probably transferred from LD so look there for good stuff. One caveat to that, if there is something that seems very specific to LD (like saying "we" for example) do not bring that into a policy context.

Obviously I have some caveats for that:

First and foremost is that LD is most of what I've debated and coached. Though policy kids have this outdated version of what LD is, there is now every argument in policy in LD also with extra stuff too! I am fine with speed etc. Don't worry about that but I'm still a LDer at heart so be prepared. I've been mostly coaching policy since 2018 or so meaning that I've caught on to a lot more of the nuances of policy debate. At this point I coach more policy than LD so this is changing.

The other important take away is that social conventions of what you can and cannot do in LD and policy are slightly different. For example, RVIs in LD are not joke arguments but made in almost any theory round (though I don't like RVIs in policy). LD does not have the concept of overviews in the same way as policy and what is considered "line by line" is very different. I've been able to figure out most of these biases but occasionally I'll mess up. Just be aware.

I default to reasonability on T and theory issues.

I don't know why this has become a thing but apparently people don't say AND or NEXT after finishing cards in the 1AC or 1NC. You still need to do that so that I know when to flow.

I just learned what this term means but apparently I judge kick if that matters to you (and I think I'm understanding the term correctly)

Utilitarianism is moral philosophy that evaluates the morality of actions based on the consequences. This means that small scale/structural violence impacts are utilitarian because we care about the consequence of structural violence. Stop saying these arguments are not utilitarian or answering them as if they are not utilitarian. They are.

Calvin Hwang Walter Payton College Prep 5 rounds

Last changed on Sun April 14, 2024 at 10:37 PM CDT

Of course I want to be on the email chain -- chwangdebate@gmail.com

HS Debate: 19-23 (4 years) -- Walter Payton

College Debate: 23-Present -- University of Michigan

Debate Coach: 23-Present -- Walter Payton

Top Level:

I think that judging records are more informative than whatever I type in my paradigm. Judging Record

Tech > Truth. I always decide the round off the flow first and foremost. Truth will have no bearing on the round unless the debate absolutely requires it because both teams failed to do literally anything which requires significant judge intervention. As an extension of this, I will not immediately strike arguments off my flow because they are too stupid or offensive to answer. The stupider and more offensive the argument is, the easier it should be to answer.

Throughout high school, I have done both policy and kritik strategies as both a 2A and a 2N. I have read big-stick policy affs, soft left affs, k-affs, 9-off 1NCs, and 1-off K 1NCs. My current style of debate is much more rooted in policy than K.

While I coach both policy and K teams, I spend the vast majority of my time doing policy research. I am very involved in argument coaching, and am usually well-versed in whatever the topic presents.

I do not care if you post-round; I am a firm believer that you have a right to express why you think you should've won the round. Debaters invest a lot of their time to win the round so they should have the ability to express why they believe that time should have resulted in a win. If you think part of my decision is wrong feel free to argue as it leads to better conceptualization of the decision.

If I need cards after the round I'll ask for them.

Online Debate:

Slow down regardless, but if you are unclear in person you should doubly slow down. No one wants part of my decision to be "I didn't hear that argument being made in x speech because you were very unclear."

I will type in chat if I am gone and my camera will be on showing that I am not there. If you start without me being there I will incredibly confused.

Things I like:

Clear framing of my ballot and why you win.

Really smart technical tricks or concessions.

When debaters time their own speeches.

Being funny and creative in your speeches.

Things I don’t like:

Saying the words “oops” or something along those lines at the top of your speech.

Calling me anything other than my name. “Judge” is the main one. You all are like a year or two younger than me calling me that makes me feel older than I am.

Unnecessarily saying my name in a speech just to prove you read the above line.

Being a jerk to your partner and/or the other team.

When the 1AC has not been sent out by the time the debate is supposed to start.

Trying to be funny and failing miserably.

When both people leave after the round. Too many times have I made a decision and have to run into the hallway looking for the debaters.

Kritikal affs:

I have read kritikal affs in the past, but I am still sympathetic to negative framework arguments.

Framework v. K-affs are some of my favorites debates to watch and judge. In my experience the aff wins these debates by winning their offense on the counter-interp and/or turning the neg's offense, while the neg tends to win these debates with smart framing of their interpretation and standards to mitigate aff offense.

If the 1AR makes vague, nebulous assertions about their aff with zero application to any negative offense, I am very reluctant to weighing any new 2AR spin.

I believe that fairness is the best impact, but that it can be either an impact or an internal link depending on how the teams contextualize it in-round.

Teams are not willing enough to go for presumption even when it is the correct 2NR. I am more than willing to pull the trigger on presumption should the negative arguments for it be strong enough. Varying inconsistencies between the 2AC and 1AR on case make pulling the presumption trigger that much easier.

I have little experience with KvK debates. I generally think that the aff gets perms, but I am very flexible on that.

Policy affs:

Do whatever.

A lot of affirmative teams are getting away with way too much and negative teams are allowing them to get away with it. Strong analytics are sometimes enough to take out shoddy internal link chains.

I am better for soft-left affs than most judges are.

Counterplans:

I enjoy counterplan competition debates but I fear that the majority of teams have literally zero clue what functional and textual competition actually mean and just use them as buzz words.

I think that people are either underutilizing immediacy and/or certainty key against process CPs, or they are giving terrible reasons for immediacy and certainty. Generic reasoning behind certainty and immediacy won't win you the round, but actually winning the deficit specific to the CP might.

Counterplan theory is a lost art of debate, which is a real shame because I love these debates. Affirmative teams are allowing negative teams to get away with murder. In a perfectly even debate I generally lean defense, but I am will decide the round purely off the flow. Should you invest the time and effort into effective and high quality theory debating, I am very receptive to such. The words “condo is a voting issue - time skew strat skew” do not constitute a complete argument. If you are just regurgitating your backfile theory blocks against each other I will disgruntledly vote for whoever backfiles are better and give both teams bad speaker points. Conversely, teams that utilize topic specification to describe the division of ground and how the theoretical objection changes will make me happy and be awarded high speaker points.

Saying "we get x condo" or "x condo is good/bad" is really arbitrary and I think is super hard to win, especially when the debate is "1 condo vs 2 condo" or something similar.

The reasoning for why new affs justify infinite condo is strange but I lean either way.

I generally find that word PICs are weak and unpersuasive. If you think that your word PIC is an exception you are welcome to try.

Kritiks:

I have found myself in the back of multiple rounds where the 2NR has been the K and am more than capable of evaluating it.

There has been a fundamental issue with how some teams are extending the K, and it has nothing to do with my predispositions on kritiks. Either:

2NRs are not going for framework or the alt at all and are losing on extinction outweighs a non-causal link, or
2NRs are not extending an impact (to framework, the links, or the K in general).

If you properly extend the K I am very receptive to it; I have found myself voting neg on the K when the 2NR does not have these issues and when the 2NR extends clearly articulated and nuanced arguments. I have no intention of voting up the K on vague, nebulous assertions made in the 2NR that are not applied to other parts of the flow.

I understand the basic premise of identity K's, but I have very limited experience reading them. I read an Orientalism K for a little which was more closely akin to an IR K than an Identity K. I think that saying that there's a link to the plan because of a historical event is a defensive argument for why progress is not possible but without further analysis will most likely not constitute a link to the aff.

I have next to zero experience with postmodernist/poststructuralist literature. I am not someone that easily understands that type of literature, thought or arguments. I will try and evaluate these debates as well as I can, but these types of arguments are far outside my realm of knowledge. You repeatedly saying the word “ressentiment” will definitely not help me. If you really want to win my ballot err on the side of over-explanation.

Topicality:

I am a better judge for evaluating T than most judges. There’s a strange paradox with judges that say that they are “tech over truth” but then have strong preconceptions of T debate that all but signal it is unwinnable for the neg. I have no such preconceptions. I have no preference for one standard compared to another.

I go either way on plan text in a vacuum.

I think that reasonability is very winnable, but only if you properly debate the negative’s debatability/limits push. I think debates are a lot easier to win on T if you frame it as a game of inches rather than a game of extremes. Rather than winning "our interp is good, their interp is bad", it is much easier to win that both models can be good and that either there is a small comparative advantage to one interpretation or conversely that because both are good it's a reason why competing interpretations in this instance is bad. I haven't seen any debates like this, but I definitely think teams should.

Disads:

I think that zero risk is real, and I have not heard a convincing reason why it is not real that is not interventionalist.

Other than that, I don’t think there’s a whole lot that can be said, or honestly should be said. There’s this strange dilemma surrounding politics and “generic” DAs which I don’t really get. A disadvantage is just a negative implication to the plan, there realistically shouldn’t be this much hemming and hawing to what that means. Read the disads you think will win.

Impact Turns

Impact turns are a unique opportunity to research and deploy arguments that challenge conventional wisdom, and are very fun and creative debates. I don't have any strong feelings for one side or another on any impact turn. I do not think that genocide good is an answer to war good.

If the 1AC has read an extinction impact and has said "the plan prevents extinction" the AFF has committed to extinction being undesirable and we should prevent it. If the 1NC stands up and says that the best way to prevent extinction is to go to war with a country, I think that the AFF saying "genocide bad" is not a responsive answer.

Speaks:

Theoretically the mean speaks should be 28.5, and I try will give speaks around there. The chance that (unless something went terribly astray) you get a 27 or a 30 is basically 0. I have and will give substantially different speaker points between partners if it is fitting, and I think low point wins are more common than is documented.

I think that giving speaker points for things like "make me laugh" or "mention x debater" is really dumb. I also think that taking away speaker points for doing thinks like calling me judge is also really dumb. If you are a funny debater that probably already affected the speaks I am giving you positively, so adding more just artificially inflates speaks.

Hotter Takes/Misc.

If you go for a new argument in the 2AR based on the 2NR, you must tell me how to evaluate it or I assign 50% weight to everything which opens the debate up to way more intervention that I am sure anyone wants.

Breaking new on paper, or sending one card at a time, or something in those regards is a little silly, but I guess I see where you are coming from.

There are individual instances of debate or state action that could be contextualized as good or bad, but I think it's hard to say that debate or the state as a whole is inherently either because of those examples. I think that using said specific examples in order to determine that debate and/or the state wholistically is either good or bad is really dumb.

Benjamin Jacobi SSICP 2 rounds

Ishrak Jalaluddin Glenbrook North 2 rounds

Madison James Solorio Academy High School 2 rounds None

Noye'e Johnson Kenwood Academy 2 rounds None

Ryan Kang Glenbrook North 2 rounds

Julia Kendziora Niles North High School 3 rounds

Noah Kern Northside College Preparatory 2 rounds

Humza Khan Glenbrook South High School 5 rounds

Last changed on Wed November 16, 2022 at 10:41 PM CDT

UIUC '26 - industrial engineering

GBS '22

Topics: Immigration, arms sales (my beloved), CJR, and Water

2N for all

T/L

anything goes (yes you can run that impact turn)

- i gripe a lot about stuff later on but i legitimately do mean the above

a dropped argument is a true argument

yes even aspec/no neg fiat but...

...an argument is a claim, warrant, and implication

the troll theory's gotta have all three to count

hkdebait@gmail.com

I do not do college debate but am active in electoral politics and policy stuff so you don't need to explain anything beyond the most crucial/niche acronyms and T definitions

- i have done almost nothing debate related since april 22 so 75% of this is me having hot takes about the activity

send a card doc after the final speech

What you care about (policy v k)

Policy

The last time I went for t-usfg was as a sophomore (every 2nr was an impact turn v k affs)

single digit amount of K 2nrs throughout my career

if i somehow end up judging a clash debate i wouldmuch rather see an impact turn debate

More stuff since people lie in paradigms all the time

I am most familiar with standard DA, case, and CP debates (obviously)

I am relatively familiar with T and standard Ks (you know what I mean)

Least familiar with non-standard Ks and K-affs

senior wiki for reference > https://opencaselist.com/hspolicy21/GlenbrookSouth/KhKi

case debate is underrated (everyone says this but i actually mean it) (seriously)

Mechanics

call me whatever the hell you want

- yes inserting re-highlightings unless it's from a different part of the article

- yes open cx

- average speaks are 28.5

- asking for a doc with the cards removed is prep time - a marked doc is a doc with marks on the cards that were marked

- I will not vote on things that happened out of round

- i try to decide in a reasonable amount of time (>30 min decisions are a crime)

- ptiv is stupid (just win the c-i???)

#teaminfinitecondo

Random thoughts you can read while your partner does pre-round

You don't need to crack jokes or whatever for speaks, but if you do want to min-max speaks here's some thoughts

- i like creative strategies (cliche i know) - if your strategy has me thinking you put hours of research into this one subject (my favorite 2nr senior year was nuclear energy bad and junior year it was adv cp+crypto regs good or transhumanism)

- no such thing as too many adv cp planks

i never paid attention to this when i debated but making it easy to flow is really helpful especially considering I have terrible engineer handwriting

saying 'this is {ideology} propaganda' etc. is not a warrant or an implication

indicts are usually stupid unless its refuting something methodological/scientific

Stuff you can read while waiting for a decision

it seems like people aren't going for NATO bad which is understandable but i feel like the block could go ham but idk its not a great argument

Sara Khan Glenbrook South High School 2 rounds

Connor Kiefer Glenbrook South High School 3 rounds

Roland Kim New Trier High School 4 rounds

Last changed on Fri March 11, 2022 at 2:02 PM EDT

Updated as of The 2022 IDCA Tournament

Email: rolandhkim@gmail.com

Summary:

Hi! I debated for New Trier, where I went to the TOC thrice and received many speaker awards/bids.

I am majoring in Political Science and minoring in Economics and Asian American Studies. This is meant to illustrate that I am down for any argument - from Politics to an Identity K - but greater explanation may be needed for more nuanced and/or topic-specific positions.

Tech>Truth, with an emphasis on implicit argument interaction (i.e., even if a team doesn't explicitly say it, knowing X is true means Y has to also be true). It is your job, in order to minimize "judge intervention," to make these implicit interactions EXPLICITLY stated.

I typically won't read evidence unless you a) tell me and b) give a sufficient explanation of it. However, murkier/closer debates will lead me to do more decision-making based on evidence quality/implicit argument interaction.

Explanation > Outspreading.

I am in no way a perfect adjudicator. Feel free to post-round!

Well-formatted speech docs will steal my heart.

Specific-Issues/HoT TaKeS:

The rest of the paradigm is my opinion on various debate issues. Technical debating, however, can always persuade me in the opposite direction.

Theory --

Presumption = least amount of change.

Yes judge kick.

Vagueness/"_"SPEC are legit arguments if abuse.

Definitions for topicality/perm competition is about what an interpretation ought to be, for competitive debate purposes, rather than a debate about what it literally means. This means that for PDCP, conceding "XYZ counterplan is good" will really hurt your chances of winning. If, for instance, process counterplans are good for neg ground, I'm going to have a tough time justifying why I should vote for an aff interp of "should" that would eliminate such ground. This doesn't mean that predictability/precision arguments aren't valuable, but rather that you need to impact them in a way that is not just "because this definition is true, vote for us" (anyways, this is pretty rare in T/Competition debates).

Impact your standards (e.g. clash and education matter b/c ____).

Compare (e.g. limits > ground, err neg > aff, etc.).

If you're AFF and debating T, please extend reasonability!

If you're NEG, don't be shy to read a ton of planks/fiat through deficits!

Counterplans --

Sufficiency arguments need to be contextualized to the aff's solvency mechanism/arguments.

I am not one of those judges that thinks it is a sin to read Process/"Cheating" counterplans.

Advantage counterplans are low-key OP.

Disadvantage --

Link turns case > internal link turns case > impact turns case

Specific link cards are great. But, having specific link explanation that uses the warrants of a generic link to apply it is also perfectly acceptable.

Kritiks --

Reps K's = <3, ditto for "you link back to your reps so you shouldn't win on FW."

Capitalize on soft-left teams making arguments like "Consequentialism Bad" and "We're a step in the right direction."

I'm more persuaded by FW arguments specific to debate (e.g. debate's justifications for extinction is dehumanizing). This is also true for K AFF v. FW debates, whether it be procedural fairness, debate-based identity arguments, or something else.

Miscellaneous --

Zero-risk is usually tough barring concessions.

More teams should frame their offense as linear if they're worried about losing on "zero-risk".

Smart analytics can destroy most pieces of evidence .

RECUT EVIDENCE!

Extreme impact framing (e.g. "X" FIRST) is sad, but it only matters if you point out why. It would benefit aff/neg teams to defend more "reasonable" framing arguments (e.g., magnitude x probability, contextualized securitization bad) in front of me.

Sid Kuchimanchi Glenbrook South High School 3 rounds

Last changed on Tue February 13, 2024 at 3:39 PM CDT

Glenbrook South 2018-2022 (Immigration, Arms Sales, Criminal Justice, Water Policy); George Washington University 2022-Present (Civic Debate Society: Worker Cooperatives)
Yes Email Chain - debate.squid@gmail.com
Call me Sid. Don't call me "judge". I'm not that much older than y'all.

Pre-Whatever Tournament Note:

I have judged approximately 0 rounds on this topic. I don't really know the main T, DAs, Affs, CPs, or topic-specific Ks. I have not flowed in more than 6 months. I will need more detail than other judges will. My debate background and a general understanding of International Affairs is all that I bring to the debate round. Don't assume I know acronyms, don't assume I know debate arguments, don't assume I know what your blocks are saying. Going slower is more likely to help you than going hyper-speed.

Actual Stuff:

Paradigms are stupid. If you're looking at this in the 15 minutes before the round, you do you and I'll try to keep up. If you are looking at this while doing prefs, here's what you should know. I did debate for four years. I had relative success in the back halves of my Junior and Senior seasons, including a TOC trip as a senior.

Things to know about me as a person:

I'm an International Affairs and Economics major, with a general interest in a variety of topics ranging from Philosophy to Geographical Studies
I love reading about politics and international issues
My favorite serious argument is either the Militarism K/DA or the ICJ Counterplan, both from the Arms Topic
My favorite not-as-serious argument was Wipeout

Things to know about me from a debate standpoint:

I flow on paper - which is another way of saying "GO SLOW THROUGH YOUR TAGS"
I mostly did policy impacts
Fine with funny arguments (Spark, Wipeout) and abusive arguments (certain PICs, CPs, etc.)
Love process CPs on bad topics
T is also fun when it's clean
I think people underestimate the power of a smart analytic
Just do what you do best and we'll all have an ok time

Also just don't be a jerk. That's about it.

Good luck!

Zachary Lim New Trier High School 5 rounds

Last changed on Tue January 31, 2023 at 11:32 AM CDT

Intro/Affiliations

Email: zachlim804@gmail.com

- Former student at New Trier HS (2015-2019) and the University of Pittsburgh (2019-2022).

- Experience: 6 years as a policy debater, no TOC bids, & NDT doubles (NDT '21) in college. I have been coaching for 2 years and judging for 4 years, albeit the past year and a half has been PF heavy.

**PF Stuff at the bottom

Online Debate

Cameras on preferably, slow down, and I don't know why this happens but wait until you know 100% that I am present before you give an order or start your speech. A black screen with my name means I am not there/ready unless I say otherwise.

Important/Relevant Thoughts

- For this specific topic, I am not familiar with the trends and arguments being made on the circuit, specifically the subsets, but I am knowledgeable on NATO as an organization from a previous college topic.

- My experience is policy-heavy, but in college, I strayed away from strict policy debating to more critical debating on both sides, mostly reading iterations of racial security and racial capitalism kritiks and critical affs with a plan. I am most comfortable adjudicating DA v. case, CP/DA v. case, and K v. case; it ultimately isn't my choice what I hear, but point is I think I've seen, heard, and debated a wide variety of arguments that will help aid in judging so do what you know best.

- I find debate enjoyable and I truly appreciated judges who gave a full effort in paying attention and offering an understandable RFD so I will attempt to emulate that in every round that I judge. With that, the best thing you can do for yourself is, up to you how you go about this, to orient your debating around "making my job easy". Whether you lean critical or policy, be more reliant on explanation and spin rather than being solely reliant on what your evidence says. Show me the big picture and within that picture, point out any fine details that are important for me to evaluate. Be explicit, get straight to the point, and avoid unnecessary speak/fillers. Judge instruction is key.

- A judge is never going to be unbiased when listening to different types of arguments. However, pre-conceptions are malleable and good debating (lbl, explanation, etc.) can supersede argument bias, but given my varying degrees of knowledge/expertise in different arguments, adaptation will matter in how "good debating" is performed in round.

- Continuity in argumentation and explanation will be scrutinized. Having been on both sides as a 2N and 2A, I believe many final rebuttals get away with a lot of new spin/explanation, so as I have throughout judging debates, I will hold a higher standard for extensions and such.

- Absolutely do not read morally reprehensible arguments such as death good, racism good, homophobia good, etc. There is no room for that in debates, and it is not courteous to your judge or opponents. You will be dropped and receive a zero.

- The link below will take you to a doc that I wrote many years ago, containing specific thoughts I have about specific types of arguments. I honestly do not think it's as relevant as it was when I was a first year out, but if you aren't familiar with what I think of certain arguments, then feel free to check it out to gain some more clarity. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d5pO-KRsf90F5Y-9Hfc1RlzRxsu21KCSxV9aVZFcRH0/edit?usp=sharing

- Don't hesitate to ask me any questions about my college debate experience as well as my time at Pitt. Feel free to email me or ask after the round!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Public Forum

I am a flow-centric judge on the condition your arguments are backed with evidence and are logical. My background is in policy debate, but regardless of style, and especially important in PF, I think it's necessary to craft a broad story that connects what the issue is, what your solution is, and why you think you should win the debate.

I like evidence qualification comparisons and "if this, then that" statements when tied together with logical assumptions that can be made. Demonstrating ethos, confidence, and good command of your and your opponent's arguments is also very important in getting my ballot.

I will like listening to you more if you read smart, innovative arguments. Don't be rude, cocky, and/or overly aggressive especially if your debating and arguments can't back up that "talk". Not a good look.

Give an order before your speech

Zucie Lopez Solorio Academy High School 5 rounds

Ava Lyon-Sereno Kenwood Academy 5 rounds

Eric McKewin Lane Tech College Prep H.S. 5 rounds

Last changed on Mon April 8, 2024 at 6:36 PM CDT

i used to be skeptical of judges that said they have no experience on the topic but now i am one and now i understand. it will be soooooooooo chill, just please explain acronyms and topic controversies. especially in t debates.

moment of vulnerability: because i haven't judged much this season, my spreading ear may be rusty. the 1ac and 1nc should be fine because i can always reread them, but if you spread 10-pointed theory blocks at me at warpspeed without putting them in the doc, you're accepting the risk that i'll miss something. to shake off the rust, i'll listen to some practice speeches before the tournament. you can aid this effort by speaking clearly, giving organized speeches, and signposting.

okay now here is my old paradigm

above all else: you do you and i'll adapt! if you win the thing you are running, i will vote for it.

wwd! warrants win debates! i really appreciate debaters who explain their arguments and how they implicate the rest of the debate rather than just assert that the tag line is true. similarly, i dislike debates that come down to arguments that were blips in the constructives but were blown up in the rebuttals. those debates are just spreading competitions and aren't productive for anyone involved.

cps: condo seems fine but i can be convinced either way. don't really see the difference between like 5 and 6 condo though. i'll judge kick if the neg tells me to but can be convinced either way there too. higher bar for winning something like 50 state fiat is a voter than something like condo.

ks: i'm more familiar with things like cap, security, set col, and identity-based arguments than i am with baudrillard and friends. no matter what you're reading, it's probably best to assume i don't understand your arguments and to over-explain them to me like i'm 5 years old. i've gone for both k affs and fw so i'm open-minded there. lots of line-by-line >>>>>>>>> 4 minute overview. novices: just don't read a k you don't understand lol.

t: some judges seem to be super dogmatic about when and where they'll vote for t. i've watched neg teams lose debates they clearly should've won because "i'll never vote for t against a packet aff" or "i didn't buy the small schools da because i think your school is big." this makes me sad. i don't know why these judges won't at least listen to the argument that potential abuse is a voter. i, for one, am totally down for a good t debate.

big big fan of big-picture framing moments, judge instruction, even-if arguments, strategic concessions + cross applications, and writing my ballot in the 2xr.

haaaavvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeee fun!

Devon McSager Kenwood Academy 5 rounds

Last changed on Wed March 20, 2024 at 12:46 PM CDT

Debate Experience
I've never debated

Coaching Experience
Kenwood Academy- Chicago, IL 2014-present
*My main focus is coaching and supporting the novices (and ordering the bus). If you're planning to run a strategy far outside something that a generic novice would be able to understand I likely won't either... (okay, maybe that is cutting myself a little short- but truthfully ...)

drmcbride@cps.edu

I try to enter the debate as neutral and open as possible. I want to hear clash and a good demonstration of understanding from the AFF and NEG (if you're reading a card you should understand and be able to explain it - especially in R speeches. basically "why is this argument or evidence important". I find I give slightly more leniency to the negative in terms of understanding especially for novice debaters, but, Affs you chose the case so you should know and understand your own cards and plan.

Good signposting is so important to me and really helps me to flow arguments and not waste time trying to figure out which flow you've moved on to.

I'm always looking for good impact calc and a good solid explanation of why your team wins over the other. "they dropped x-y&z" often isn't good enough for me- why were those arguments essential for them to win and without them they have now in your interpretation lost the round.

I'm okay with spreading as long as I can understand what you're saying. don't just assume because you sent out the cards that you can blur all of your words together. If I can't confidently flow it then I wont and it wont be part of my decision. For novice debaters it is often helpful to slow down for the tags. sign posting and a clear roadmap are also essential to a well organized debate. (it might not be normal but I love when debaters give the name of their offs in the 1NC- just helps me stay organized).

K- I enjoy K debates as long as the NEG really understands their advocacy and their alt. If you can't explain it you likely can't defend it well.

DA- cool.

CP- also cool. nothing big to note here. (I'm a little boring and I like a CP to be paired with a clear DA)

please run your own timer

Racism, bigotry, homo/transphobia, antisemitism, Islamophobia, or hatred towards a group is never acceptable and I will give the win to the other team almost automatically.

Be respectful and assume best intent from your opponents.

Piper Meloche Niles North High School 5 rounds

Last changed on Thu May 16, 2024 at 3:26 PM EDT

Piper Meloche [she/her, last name rhymes with "josh" not "brioche"]

Incoming 1L at Harvard Law School. If you have any questions about law school admissions, please reach out!

pipermeloche@gmail.com [all email chains, questions]

grovesdebatedocs@gmail.com [high school only]

NCFL Note

I am able and willing to listen to any argument at any speed. As a default, I decide debates based on technical choices and concessions. Please let me know if I am judging your last debate. I would love to give you a little congratulations and speaker point boost. Good luck and take advantage of the small amount of prep you have!

---------------

What I expect from you

1. Non-negotiables - Racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, or other forms of discrimination will not be tolerated. Nor will cheating. Unless the tournament rules tell me otherwise, I will not let an ethics challenge be "debated out." If there is an instance of discrimination in a round I am judging, I will allow the impacted person to decide whether the debate continues. I cannot adjudicate what I did not directly witness.

2. Strong preferences - flow, keep your own time, and frame my ballot at the top of the late rebuttals. Whenever possible, prioritize evidence quality - good cards and smart re-highlights will be rewarded with high speaks.

3. Be nice to each other and have fun - the people we meet and the ideas we learn in debate are far more important than the result of any individual round, tournament, season, or career. I am very sensitive to condescending and rude cross-ex questions - especially when the two students have a power imbalance.

What to expect from me

1. Tech over truth - but the two are far more interwoven than many debaters think. I often grow frustrated when teams give their opponents' best arguments the same attention as their opponents' worst arguments. Truth exists and should determine how you execute tech. Arguments also must not be morally repugnant - death good, oppression good count as morally repugnant, and hot take, global warming good is pushing it. All below preferences assume equal debating.

2. Much better for policy arguments - I was a K debater in high school, but my research now exclusively focuses on the policy side of college and high school topics. The purpose of this paradigm is not to constrain what you do in front of me but to give you the most accurate understanding of my predispositions and how I try to judge debates.

Topic Things

College --

1. D4/5 will be my first time judging this semester. If some community norm about the coolest cards to read or the worst advantages has developed since then, please take the time to explain that to me.

2. Many debates on the college topic will be an assurance or deterrence disad against an aff claiming to solve these impacts. Love that for y'all, but you need to do more link comparison. Asserting that you clearly solve prolif, but your opponent clearly doesn't without warrants gives the same vibes as "I know you are, but what am I?" and almost forces me to intervene.

High School --

1. FSPEC...I don’t get it. SPEC arguments are likely only true if dropped unless you can convince me I’m missing something.

Whatever happened to strategically vague plan texts?! Funding mechanism advantages are whatever, but you are opening yourself up to annoying PICs and process counterplans that change one tiny thing about that funding mech you specified in your plan text or in cross ex! “Normal means” is the best answer to “how is the aff funded” because “Perm: do the counterplan” is the best answer to counterplans that change funding in a way that still results in a JG, BI, or social security expansion.

2. Love that people are going for T, but I think there are more convincing options than “taxes and transfers.” I am unconvinced that the word “and” can never mean “or.” Piper likes to eat chicken shawarma sandwiches with extra garlic and mint chocolate chip ice cream. Did you read that as I like to put ice cream on my chicken shawarma sandwiches with extra garlic? I sure hope not. In this instance, “and” does mean “or.”

Policy v. Policy

1. The politics disad is good, actually. It's only "bad" if you're bad at storytelling. Know the major political figures and forces involved in the disad.

2. A smartly constructed advantage counterplan can solve most affs.

3. Counterplans should compete. Creative permutations can and should check counterplans that do not compete.

4. Conditionality is good, and all other theory is a reason to reject the argument. Conditionality ends after the 2NR if there is equal debating on judge kick or everyone is silent on the issue.

Clash

I'm far more familiar with identity Ks than Baudrillard and friends.

K affs v. Topicality --

1. Neg teams should answer case.

2. K affs should have a substantial tie to the topic.

3. Creative TVAs are an underrated part of the T debate - they should be something you actively research, not an afterthought.

4. I would prefer that aff teams provide and defend a clear counter-interpretation for the topic.

5. Everyone should avoid making gross exaggerations on the topicality page. K affs, for example, will not cause everyone to quit the activity.

Policy affs v. K --

1. Aff teams are most successful in these debates when they invest time in link comparison and flesh out the perm.

2. Neg teams are usually in a better spot when they prove that the aff is worse than the status quo and invest a substantial amount of time into the alternative.

K v. K

I have not judged enough of these rounds to give insight into how I evaluate them. Please prefer and provide judge instruction accordingly.

Random Hot Takes

1. The state of the high school and college wikis is disheartening. If you are scared that your entire strategy will collapse if others have your evidence, your evidence is probably not that good to begin with.

I think posting cites instead of Open Source is perfectly fine. BUT you have to check that you’re uploading complete cites! That includes the full tag, author, date, qualifications, a link to where we can access the text if available, and the first and last 3 words of your card.

2. Inserting rehighlights is *usually* good practice - read better evidence if this makes you sad. Rehighligted evidence will only be considered to the extent that it is explained. "Meloche goes neg" is not an explanation. At some point, introducing excessive rehighlights makes the level of explanation I need impossible.

3. A phenomenal 2AR cannot make up for a 2AC with sloppy mistakes - taking a few seconds of 2AC prep to make sure everything is in order is more valuable than saving those 15 seconds for the 2AR.

4. Your breath control sucks - easiest way to fix it is to try and take breaths at the end of sentences like we do in normal conversations. You'll sound and feel better.

5. After each tournament, I check how the points I gave compared to those received by the teams I judge throughout the weekend. This is my attempt to keep up with point inflation, but it doesn't always work.

6. Death by a Thousand Cuts is a fantastic Taylor Swift song - it is a mediocre neg strategy.

7. I am judging how easy to read, quickly sent, and aesthetically pleasing your judge doc is. Not in a win/loss way, but in a "I'm keeping a mental tier-list" way.

8. https://twitter.com/mcfuhrmann/status/1362452482165768193/photo/1

----

I've been trying to delete this numbered list for like 20 mins and gave up :(

Arik Mendelevitz SSICP 1 rounds

Kamil Merchant SSICP 3 rounds

Carmine Miklovis Glenbrook North 3 rounds

Last changed on Sun September 18, 2022 at 10:12 AM EDT

Carmine Miklovis (he/him)

American University '26

cmiklovisdebate@gmail.com

Who Are You?

I did policy debate for Glenbrook North for 3 years, and stopped debating at the start of my senior year. I had a little success, but am probably unsuited to judge in the late elimination rounds of the larger tournaments of the year.

Top Level (Non-Negotiables)

Any behavior that is actively violent or otherwise harmful to anyone in the debate will not be tolerated. Default to gender-neutral pronouns (they/them) if you don't know your opponent's specific pronouns.

My ballot will not (and cannot) be a referendum on out-of-round behavior.

Debate is a game.

Tech > Truth, but the original argument has to be complete and not incoherent.

Cross-applications are never new.

Evidence should be highlighted to make actual arguments and shouldn't look like haikus. Teams should call out other teams for extending warrants that weren't originally highlighted in their cards.

If I'm unable to draw a line between an argument made in a final rebuttal and an earlier speech, I won't evaluate it.

Pen time is important. Don't expect me to flow 4 perms in a row. If you're spreading analytics at full speed, don't be mad if I miss the 11th 10-word subpoint you made about why weighing the aff is bad.

Clarity > Speed (you should spread, so long as you're clear)

Clipping is an auto-loss. Accusations of it must stake the debate on it and would benefit from audio proof.

If your primary strategy relies on attempting to win the debate by confusing your opponents, you should strike me. I'll probably end up being confused too.

The age of your blocks is inversely proportional to your chances of winning.

The more judge instruction you do, the less I will have to intervene.

What follows is a list of predispositions that I have about certain arguments. All of the following can be overcome by good debating, but are important to note when preffing me or debating in front of me. Given equal, or unclear, debating, the following predispositions will guide how I resolve the debate.

Topicality

--T v Policy Affs

I have no predispositions about which standards are good, and which ones are bad, or whether to prefer competing interps or reasonability. Don't assume I know the "community consensus" about which affs are and aren't topical, or about what "egregiously untopical" aff MBA reads.

I dislike plan text in a vacuum, but will still vote on it.

--T v K AFFs

I'm not the best for K affs, but if you have me in the back, there are a few things to note.

Your 2ar should have a lot of judge instruction. Given that I ran almost exclusively policy arguments, in the absence of robust judge-instruction from the aff team, I might resolve the debate in a way that favors the team whose arguments make more sense to me.

Aff teams should impact turn the neg's standards on T (and definitely shouldn't read a counter-interp that links just as much to their own offense).

Don't expect me to vote on buzzwords unless you actually explain them.

Additionally, I think any K aff that is not explicitly critiquing debate should always lose to a combination of switch-side debate and a topical version of the aff. K affs that aren't explicitly critiquing debate tend to instead have a reason why defending the USFG is bad, in conjunction with a reason why advocating for their scholarship is key. However, the reasons why the USFG is bad can easily be read on the neg, as a K, and the "advocacy key" warrant is not an "affirmation key" warrant, so the neg only needs to win a small risk of any of their offense on T in order for me to vote neg. That being said, this predisposition can be easily overcome by good debating, and will not substitute for insufficient negative topicality debating.

Kritiks

I'm not terrible for these, but I'm not amazing. You should err on the side of over-explaining your arguments, especially if they're more complicated. I'm good for certain Ks, such as cap, security, settler colonialism, and kritiks of IR, and you shouldn't substantially alter your level of explanation or strategy if you have me in the back for those, but anything else will require a lot of judge instruction.

A simple way to know whether or not you've met the threshold for explanation that will allow me to vote for your argument is to not only explain the concept, but explain the implication of it for the debate, and try to do so using as few buzzwords as possible. For example, "Dropping that antiblackness is ontological zeros all of their state good offense because it proves the state will never actually change, which means engagement is futile and means any risk of a link is sufficient to vote neg."

If you really think an argument is so important that winning it means you should win the debate, it should be more than a one-liner. Otherwise, don't expect me to vote on it, and don't post-round.

Links should be more specific than "any action by the United States federal government is bad."

If you have a new style of K, with completely never-before-seen elements, that you think will revolutionize debate, I'm probably not the best judge for it.

Perm: double bind should just be a way of explaining perm: do both, not a separate argument.

Counterplans

Counterplans that compete off of words that are always in the resolution (resolved, "United States federal government," "should," "substantial" or "substantially," et cetera) are unpersuasive to me, and should lose to theory or the intrinsic perm.

Counterplans that compete off of normal means (also known as "process counterplans") shouldn't be prolific on the NATO/emerging tech topic. Instead, I think plan-inclusive counterplans and advantage counterplans should fill that deficit in the negative's strategic arsenal.

Intuitive solvency claims don't need advocates, but you should have an advocate for why, for example, building a space elevator would prevent the collapse of U.S. hegemony.

Disads

Not much to say, they're great, especially specific disads. While I would prefer specific links, I'm fine with generic links if you can contextualize the link story to the aff.

Aff teams should take advantage of dropped straight turns, and neg teams should stop dropping straight turns (usually in the 1nr).

Evidence should tell a coherent story. If the uniqueness evidence says the bill passes because of bipartisanship, the link shouldn't be about political capital.

Theory

Like most other theory arguments, whether conditionality is good or not is a debate to be had.

"No neg fiat" is a joke.

Most theory arguments against kritiks are nothing more than a time skew for the 2nc, as opposed to a viable 2ar option.

Case

Impact defense is fine. I'm persuaded by the aff explaining why the specificity of their internal links means the impact defense isn't responsive.

Aff internal link chains and solvency mechanisms are suspicious, and should be poked at in cross-ex and in neg speeches.

Comparative impact calculus goes a long way in helping me resolve the debate, and, in conjunction with turns case arguments, can make close debates significantly easier to resolve.

Turns case arguments would benefit from (but don't necessarily need) cards. The level of explanation of your turns case argument is proportional to the likelihood I will vote on it if it is dropped and properly extended.

Closing Thoughts

Email me if you have any questions/would like additional feedback. I will listen to any redos you send me and give you feedback.

Otherwise, good luck and have fun.

Subbi Namakula Niles West High School 3 rounds

Last changed on Sat February 4, 2023 at 4:33 AM CDT

If you are a novice, none of these things apply to you. please just do your best. Your speaks are solely dependent on you being kind and nice to everyone in the room.- I don't need to be on the email chain! You all amaze me every day!

(Policy, Public Forum, then LD)

POLICY

I'm Subbi and I do Policy debate at the University of Iowa. GO HAWKS I debated for 3 years at Niles West.

First things first, make arguments you are comfortable and happy with. This is an activity that is inherently for the students participating in it. Read what you want to read and tell me why it matters and why I should vote on it. That being said please don't say racist/sexist/ableist language during a round. I'm just not gonna vote on racism good.

@Both Aff and Neg- Making fewer arguments that are extremely warranted is better than making more arguments that are not as warranted. I love common sense arguments and analytics. I don't think you need a card for every argument you make. If you make a persuasive analytic I'm all for that. I think debaters should be able and be encouraged to make arguments outside of cards. I prefer structural impacts over extinction-level impacts if you do make an extinction impact, have a really good internal link chain analysis.

@Policy Aff- Policy affs are really precise and garner GOOD SKILLS and I love them. I LOVE theory and I have a very low threshold for voting on it. I don't like really long case overviews. I will always weigh the affirmative unless told otherwise by the Neg. Winning against a one-off K in front of me requires you to at least win the Perm and a no link argument. I am very biased towards structural and ontological impacts like I don't think extinction outweighs everyday mundane violence, that being said have impact defense.

@Non-Traditional Affirmatives- Non-traditional affirmatives are really fun and give good EDUCATION and I love them. Non-Traditional Affs don't have to win that the Ballot is key in front of me, I will hold them to the same standard I hold the policy affs to, which is "you have to prove that the aff is a good idea. I need the aff to at least be reasonably within the bounds of the resolution.

@Policy Neg- Please don't read spark, death good, or PIC/KS.

@K Neg- If you're a one-off K team, please have a good explanation of your Links. You don't need to win an Alt in front of me to win the K, but you have to win impacts and framing, and why your theory means the aff can not solve or turns the case. Please have great answers to the permutation because I think most times the permutation is probably good, and I admit that I lean aff when it comes to permutations In one-off rounds.

@Negs Vs Non-Traditional Affs- If your ammo against non-traditional affs is two off cap and FW, lose the cap in front of me and just read external impacts that the aff can't solve but can be solved by core policy education. Case debates are really good against Non-traditional affs, Utilitarian framing is good, survival strategies are bad, No root cause. All of these are valid and good arguments to read. Don't drop the case ever. Don't let the aff weigh the entire aff against FW because they will almost always win. I like framework debates where the impact isn't fairness but education and skills. If you go for a Kritik against these Kinds of Affirmatives, I will have a high threshold for the aff being able to get a permutation, especially if they don't have an advocacy statement, but you must make this argument. Also, contextualize your Links to their theory/aff.

@cross ex- Look at me and don't laugh at your opponent's answer. Many people have done this with me in the back and it really hurts your ethos. Please be nice to each other, I have hella feelings and I don't wanna vote up a mean team.

Miscellaneous

- Please show up to rounds on time, ESP NOVICE, I will vote on disclosure theory so fast.

-Email subbi45hope@gmail.com

-Cx is a speech- Brian Rubaie 2k16

-I will never judge kick, ever.

-Don't steal prep.

-Have Fun :)

-I'm here to protect the 2NR.

-Will vote you down if you own Air Pods!!

-fam the wilder your alt, the higher the speaks lol.

- I have a low threshold for presumption if you are running a policy aff, I am not voting for presumption against a K aff.

Hey, I actually love and prefer judging PF. People in PF are a lot more polite and they always acknowledge me in the round and I like that.

PRO- Strongly prefer if pro always goes first in speeches and in the crossfire. I think to me a good pro is very persuasive and organized. I would prefer if you have two well-written and well-explained advantages rather than a bunch of shallow ones. I don't need you to extend everything in every speech but you should definitely have your points in the last two speeches if you want me to consider them.

CON- I think I am CON-leaning but that doesn't mean this is an easy ballot. You should offer good counterexamples, and directly answer their points in the last 3 speeches. I prefer that you have less defensive arguments and are more focused on proving the pro harmful.

Crossfire- You get a question, they get a question, then you get a follow-up. I hate hate hate when someone dominates the crossfire and doesn't allow for the other person to question, very rude. Will drop your speaks.

NOTES- I am fine with speed, I will reward politeness. Thank you for debating for me!

Hi so I have only judged a few rounds of LD, I think I have a good enough grasp on what is going on. I give a lot of leeway for the pro because they have a very short speech when answering a very long one. I prefer if this wasn't a debate about super old philosophers. That's right, I am NOT here for a Kant vs Locke debate. Most of these philosophers were super racist and if you want to talk philosophy there are philosophers today that you can reference.

Mackenzie Paich Glenbrook North 2 rounds

Last changed on Fri November 4, 2022 at 6:31 AM CDT

uvm '26, gbn '22, 1n/2a for 3 years, she/her

put me on the chain mpaichdebate@gmail.com

i do not know the NATO topic well enough for you to assert something about the topic without explaining it

top level:

- i have zero tolerance for racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism or other harmful rhetoric - i will vote you down and deck your speaks

- tech > truth

- tag team is fine but dont speak over your partner or take up their cx

- debate is a game

- cx is binding

- i read a policy aff for basically my entire career but i read a k aff for some of senior year so i understand both

- instruct me in the 2ar and 2nr. please.

aff

- i definitely err towards affs with a plan (k affs or policy) but i can definitely be convinced that you don't need one

- impact turns are fun but death good isn't! i will vote you down

- win framing

topicality

- this was taken directly from joanna gusis's paradigm: grammatical precision > legal precision > contextual precision > overlimiting > neg ground > under-limiting > aff ground > topic education

- i have no clue what reasonability is -- it changes from a team to team basis, i will not vote on only this

- i will vote on plan text in a vacuum, just explain it well throughout the debate (it's not a hail mary in the 2ar)

disads

- specific aff links>>

- do lots of impact calc

counterplans

- you need a net benefit; solvency is not a net benefit

- i will not judge kick the cp, tell me to do it

- winning some mitigation of case makes it easier for me to comfortably vote neg

kritiks

- i love really good k debates -- i want specific links to the aff and in-depth explanations; i am not the best judge if your strat is to kick the alt in 2nr tbh (if you do kick the alt, you need to do work for me on why them Simply Linking To the K is worse than voting aff)

- if you read high theory i'm probably going to need a bit more of an explanation

- don't drop framework (or just disregard it on either side)

- plan specific links>>

theory

- hiding aspec in the 1nc is annoying. especially if you're debating varsity.

- condo is probably the only theory violation i will vote on -- whoever does the better debating will win

other (novice):

- jokes about people from gbn, gbs, nt, minn south +0.2 speaks

- if you add me to the chain without me asking +0.2 speaks

- don't stress too much and have fun!

Grey Parfenoff Lane Tech College Prep H.S. 5 rounds

Aaron Paul SSICP 1 rounds None

Lizzie Prete Niles West High School 3 rounds

Last changed on Sat February 12, 2022 at 6:41 AM CDT

Niles West '14

UIUC '18

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

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

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

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

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

Certain arguments:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

Meta things:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Haaziya Saiyed Maine East High School 2 rounds

Claire Satkiewicz Glenbrook North 2 rounds

Audrey Sepahdari Glenbrook South High School 5 rounds

Last changed on Thu February 8, 2024 at 7:42 AM CDT

https://www.womenandgenderminoritiesinpolicydebatecollective.org/

She/her

Glenbrook South ‘22 (arms sales, criminal justice reform, water resources)

UC Berkeley ‘26

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

Cal Invitational 2024 Note:

I am judging LD but did policy in high school. Please keep in mind I have not debated/judged in almost two years, so please err towards lots of judge instruction and going slow through tags and analytics. I am probably best for DA/CP teams but understand/went for Ks so don't worry about overadapting. I would prefer to vote on developed args rather than tricks but will vote off the flow. Most importantly have fun!

Top level:

Debate should be a safe space for everyone.
Although I have a lot of experience in policy debate, I have zero topic knowledge, so please keep in mind that I may need more explanation of acronyms, etc.
Tech > truth, I will vote off the flow, arguments need warrants, CX is binding.
Fine with anything as long as it’s well-executed. I was a 2N and most 2NRs were DA/CP, but went for everything from the fem fiat K to wipeout. The following is just meant to give you some knowledge of my predispositions if left without enough judge instruction, but ultimately debate how you are most comfortable.

K affs: I only went for framework vs them, but if you have a good answer to SSD/“read it on the neg” you will be in a good spot. I tend to think debate is a game that teaches us about the real world, so both sides take that how you will.

CP: Won’t judge kick unless you say so + win that it’s good.

T: I will evaluate these debates based on offense-defense, not a big fan of plantext in a vacuum but I will vote for it if you win it. Since I have no topic knowledge I don’t think I will feel comfortable voting on reasonability alone but again if you win the flow I will vote for you.

Some good paradigms you can refer to as well: Melanie Rudolph (junior year partner), Sid Kuchimanchi (senior year partner), Alyssa Lucas-Bolin (high school coach)

Have fun!

Rockwell Shapiro New Trier High School 5 rounds

Last changed on Sat February 10, 2024 at 12:24 PM CDT

rockwell.debate@gmail.com // Rocky, Rock, Rockwell, etc.// he/him // New Trier High School

- Studying Jazz Piano and Political Science at Johns Hopkins—if you have any questions about any of that, I love talking about myself.

- Please time your speeches because I won't, yes tag team cx, yes prep during cx, whatever u wanna do with that time.

- Despite considering myself pretty chill, I'm pretty punctual about time, so like, be on time

- Unpopular opinion: I'm sort of receptive to some level of post-rounding (if you're mean I'm going to be annoyed with you). I'm always down to improve as a judge, and the only way I can is if I receive feedback, but keep in mind the decision is final.

____________________

Read this if your round starts in 30 minutes:

• tech > truth, dropped = true, left is law, etc.

• assume I know nothing about the topic (especially on T <3)

• soft left, planless, and big stick affs are all good in front of me.

• i'm better at resolving a K debate than other stuff because that's where a lot of my debate experience lies, but for what its worth, as a 1a, i read exclusively policy strats

- that's not indicative of a bias towards Ks—in K v Policy rounds, I'd consider myself very impartial compared to other judges.

- I would much rather watch a good T debate than a bad K debate

• 2ac should send analytics

• i only judgekick if someone says so

• fairness is probably an internal link

• 0 risk exists

• condo is the only reason to reject the team

• extra thoughts on kritik/framework below

Notes for Kritiks:

Top level:

• In terms of familiarity, I'm most well-read on Marxism, Bio/Necropolitics, Cybernetics, and Anthropocentrism, but I understand most authors/arguments enough to adjudicate a debate at the high school level

• If by the end of the round I don't understand what your K is talking about, that's your fault for not explaining it well enough, not mine for not reading enough Lacanian post-colonial gender abolitionist authors

• If you don't want to line-by-line at all, don't be mad if I miss something or am not clear where exactly an argument belongs. My expectation isn't for the 1off Baudrillard team to stand up and be like "AT: 2AC 13", just like, roughly follow the 2AC order and signpost at the least.

Framework:

*Note: Generally, these are my opinions which demonstrate how I think about framework—you can win otherwise (see "tech > truth")

• At the end of the day, we can all admit that it's probably most fair to let the aff weigh the 1ac (or the inverse for T - USFG vs. planless affs). The framework debate should be about what fairness means and how it impacts us.

• Debate is an educational activity that uses a competitive game as an incentive structure to encourage better research, and has some limited capacity to shape/create subjectivities. I'm frustrated that many of us take "debate doesn't shape subjectivity" as a given.

- I don't think individual rounds are persuasive or can incite action (i.e. a revolution will not spill out of debate), but debate, which defines a particular approach to politics, has the possibility to influence the way we understand information and decision-making, and there may be different models of the activity which might produce more desirable thinkers. In short, "debate doesn't shape subjectivity" argument can be swapped with "school doesn't shape subjectivity" to realize how silly and reductive the argument is.

• I love philosophical/positional competition a lot, and it shapes the way I think about politics in the real world (what's that?), but I do recognize how it could be competitively unfair/problematic, so I could go both ways on it.

• I think fiating an alternative is awesome, but one should have its justification rooted in framework and not some abigious claim of "reciprocity to the affs model".

Other:

• Overdependenceon jargon is annoying (I recognize sometimes it's necessary, but this is a highschool activity): "ontology" is a good example. Google defines it as "n. the branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being", so it always begs the question: ontologyof what? Ontology of the state, the ontology of the oppressed, the ontology of settlers, etc. The point being: clarify things like these and don't rely on buzzwords to make the argument

Hina Shehzad Niles West High School 2 rounds

Last changed on Wed March 27, 2024 at 5:14 PM CDT

Please add me to the email chain: hinashehzaddebate@gmail.com

Niles West '23

Michigan State '27

Last Update - 1.22.24

**TLDR**

I will try to not let my beliefs influence me, that being said I will not tolerate any offensive acts (racism, sexism, homophobia, etc). You will lose automatically, be given the lowest speak points and I will email coaches/school. Now that is out of the way, you should do what you do best. Most important things are keeping the round organized, show your knowledge about the topic not just read blocks. Arguments need warrants behind them, inserting top level claims even if its dropped is NOT a full argument. I am not as familiar with the highschool topic, so clear explanation, no weird acronyms will be appreciated. Last but not least, debate is suppose to be an activity where you have fun, yes competitive incentives exist but don't let that be the only thing you get out of debate.

**Specific Args**

Kritik:

I enjoy these debates when there is clash between arguments. I believe that framework determines whether links need to be unique. Dropping AFF impacts on case put you in a hard position if you are not winning that they shouldn't be able to weigh case. Teams should not allow the neg to act like/say they fiat 'movements' or 'mindsets' otherwise the debate becomes an uphill battle for the aff. Negative kicking the alt and going for links as DAs can be strategic but understanding uniqueness and framework in these debate is key. KvK rounds for the most goes which ever side has more perm + no link work, specific links are super important in these rounds.

Framework:

I think that I am better for framework than most people may think, but Impact articulation matters for me cause when teams blend impacts and become repetitive/generic it often will make you lose these rounds. These debates should make it clear whether its about models of debate, just fairness in this round or both etc. I believe that "debate is a game" does not = debate is a good game and participation in that "game" does not = can't say the game is bad. Competitive incentives probably overdetermine actions but like you need to win it and explain what it means to the round, inserting it 40 times isn't going to get you anything. I find TVA's to be wayyyy more persuasive than SSD but no matter what at least one of them should be extended because you definitely need to be able to access at least some of their offense. Aff you should just go ham on the impact turn, but it gets hard to evaluate debates where the 2AR is extending every DA and not unpacking/comparing impacts.

Topicality:

I am not very familiar with topicality on the highschool topic, thus things like TVA, list of good AFFs under your interpretation, list of bad AFFs under their interpretation, definition comparison, explanation of neg ground under your interpretation AND the other teams are helpful. I honestly think aff ground is probably a good impact specifically on this topic.

Disadvantage:

Yay I actually like DA and Case debates, comparison and organization is super important in these rounds. High Schoolers read literally horrible DAs that they will never go for, don't be afraid to straight turn them. Rehighlightings prob are good.

Counterplans:

I just don't think I am that good for competition debates, process counterplans confuse me. Rehighlighting 1AC evidence is a good way to show the CP overcomes solvency deficits and truly solves the affirmative. If you think the CP does not solve all of the aff, you should probably have some impact d/turns or whatever on what you don't solve.

**Miscellaneous**

I am willing to vote on theory, but I dont want to vote on aspec.

Condo is good!

I feel like clipping is a weird issue to resolve, like its weird to record someone without their permission? But if I catch you clipping I wont record but you will probably lose.

Tbh I lowkey give high speaks, getting away from blocks, your knowledge about the topic, organization are all the big things that go into how I give speaks. If you aren't clear and I miss an argument, its your fault. Teams also need to be giving more pen time between flows.

I feel like debate can change your subject formation, like you spend so much time in the activity, you make such close friends, spend hours researching and more. Like it is true debaters read things they don't agree with, but it is also true that debate is a unique place because its not like you are just out doing strategic debating and talking about things like IR with like your aunt or school friends. Also like I truly don't think you can look some of these judges who have spent their whole lives on debate and say that debate hasn't shaped them into the person they are now.

For other forms (pf, ld) I will evaluate rounds like I would a policy one. I am not familiar at all with either topic and am not great for weird theory things, trix etc.

Feel free to post round if you don't agree with my decision. I am happy to discuss it!

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Dana Thurnell Glenbrook South High School 2 rounds

Rithika Tudmilla Northside College Preparatory 5 rounds

Last changed on Fri February 10, 2023 at 6:21 AM CDT

Email Chain: artsy2133@gmail.com

She/her

Northside College Prep '22

University of Chicago '26

Experience: 4 years of Policy Debate in high school, now American Parliamentary Debate in UChicago. Yes, Parli. Go ahead, laugh. In high school I had a history of running policy, not a master at critical philosophical arguments but can keep up.

TIPS

I like depth over breadth. If you're going to run 11 off, fine. But having a few, well-explained off-case arguments in the 1NC is better for you and your opponents if you actually want to learn something. This also applies to your second rebuttals for both sides; focus on 2 or 3 key arguments you think you are ahead on, explain your warrants, and compare your warrants to the warrants of your opponents.

Make sure to do line by line! Answer your opponents' arguments by inditing their authors or warrants, and explain how your warrants are better. Contextualize it to the round as a whole and TELL ME how it helps you win in your rebuttals.

If you are going to extend an argument from a constructive, make sure it's been explicitly extended in all of the following constructive and rebuttals for it to have weight in the round final decision. If you hear your opponent extending an argument in their second rebuttal that they didn't in the first rebuttal, make sure to call it out and explain why it's not fair. If you do, it's a good sign you are flowing carefully and I will probably increase your speaker points.

AFF

All affs are cool to read, including K Affs. If you are breaking a new aff, please be explicit in your overview to explain the mechanisms, implications, and solvency. Be careful about topicality. This topic implicates a huge scope of affs, so any limiting standards on Topicality will be convincing.

Running disadvantages is good. I have a higher threshold for extinction-level impacts so make sure you explain how your impact has a better probability, timeframe, and magnitude over your opponent's. If you are going against a soft-left affirmative, framing should be a large part of your argumentation in order to tell me how I should evaluate the debate.

The solvency advocate for counter plans needs to be strong for it to win. Make sure you have both internal and external net benefits to the CP so that you explain how the counterplan avoids the disadvantage and how there is an advantage to it that the Affirmative can't access. Permutations are important and will probably be the round decider if it goes insufficiently answered. Have a clear explanation of why your counterplan cannot happen at the same time as the affirmative.

KRITIK

Kritiks are all valid and appreciated. The links should be strong and a viable alternative should be proposed in order for it to be properly evaluated against the Affirmative. I understand the necessity of criticism but an answer to the "so what" question needs to be provided. Makes sure to do K framing to tell me how I should evaluate the Kritik in the round.

THEORY

I do think theory is a voter as long as it's legitimate, so make sure you have a good defense if you are challenged. I consider three or more conditional advocacies to be convincing for condo, but if you have a good explanation of why one or two is cheating, go for it. If you find yourself going for theory, you should dedicate your entire second rebuttal to it. At that point, nothing else will matter. Make sure to isolate points of real in-round abuse or a good argument for why potential abuse is harmful.

Random note: if you are looking for a good pen to use for debate flowing, I recommend Pilot G-2. I like using 0.7mm but 0.38mm is also out there if you prefer Ultra Fine.

Cameron Unwin Niles North High School 3 rounds

Lauren Velazquez Niles North High School 3 rounds

Last changed on Mon January 8, 2024 at 7:20 AM CDT

Name : Lauren Velazquez

Affiliated School: Niles North

Email: Laurenida@gmail.com

General Background:
I debated competitively in high school in the 1990s for Maine East. I participated on the national circuit where counterplans and theory were common.

Director of Debate at Niles North

Laurenida@gmail.com

Experience:

I competed in the 90s, helped around for a few years, took a bit of a break, have been back for about 7 years. My teams compete on the national circuit, I help heavily with my teams’ strategies, and am a lab leader at a University of Michigan. In recent years I have helped coach teams that cleared at the TOC, won state titles and consistently debated in late elim rounds at national tournaments. TL/DR--I am familiar with national circuit debate but I do not closely follow college debate so do not assume that I am attuned to the arguments that are currently cutting edge/new.

What this means for you---I lean tech over truth when it comes to execution, but truth controls the direction of tech, and some debate meta-arguments matter a lot less to me.

I am not ideological towards most arguments, I believe debate structurally is a game, but there are benefits to debate outside of it being just a game, give it your best shot and I will try my best to adapt to you.

The only caveat is do not read any arguments that you think would be inappropriate for me to teach in my classroom, if you are worried it might be inappropriate, you should stop yourself right there.

DISADS AND ADVANTAGES
When deciding to vote on disadvantages and affirmative advantages, I look for a combination of good story telling and evidence analysis. Strong teams are teams that frame impact calculations for me in their rebuttals (e.g. how do I decide between preventing a war or promoting human rights?). I should hear from teams how their internal links work and how their evidence and analysis refute indictments from their opponents. Affirmatives should have offense against disads (and Negs have offense against case). It is rare, in my mind, for a solvency argument or "non unique" argument to do enough damage to make the case/disad go away completely, at best, relying only on defensive arguments will diminish impacts and risks, but t is up to the teams to conduct a risk analysis telling me how to weigh risk of one scenario versus another.

TOPICALITY

I will vote on topicality if it is given time (more than 15 seconds in the 2NR) in the debate and the negative team is able to articulate the value of topicality as a debate “rule” and demonstrate that the affirmative has violated a clear and reasonable framework set by the negative. If the affirmative offers a counter interpretation, I will need someone to explain to me why their standards and definitions are best. Providing cases that meet your framework is always a good idea. I find the limits debate to be the crux generally of why I would vote for or against T so if you are neg you 100% should be articulating the limits implications of your interpretation.

KRITIKS
Over the years, I have heard and voted on Kritiks, but I do offer a few honest caveats:

*Please dont read "death good"/nihilism/psychoanalysis in front of me. I mean honestly I will consider it but I know I am biased and I HATE nihilism, psychoanalysis debates. I will try to listen with an open mind but I really don't think these arguments are good for the activity or good for pedagogy--they alienate younger debaters who are learning the game and I don't think that genuine discussions of metaphysics lend themselves to speed reading and "voting" on right/wrong. If you run these I will listen and work actively to be open minded but know you are making an uphill battle for yourself running these. If these are your bread and butter args you should pref me low.

I read newspapers daily so I feel confident in my knowledge around global events. I do not regularly read philosophy or theory papers, there is a chance that I am unfamiliar with your argument or the underlying paradigms. I do believe that Kritik evidence is inherently dense and should be read a tad slower and have accompanying argument overviews in negative block. Impact analysis is vital. What is the role of the ballot? How do I evaluate things like discourse against policy implications (DAs etc)

Also, I’m going to need you to go a tad slower if you are busting out a new kritik, as it does take time to process philosophical writings.

If you are doing something that kritiks the overall debate round framework (like being an Aff who doesnt have a plan text), make sure you explain to me the purpose of your framework and why it is competitively fair and educationally valuable.

COUNTERPLANS
I am generally a fan of CPs as a neg strategy. I will vote for counterplans but I am open to theory arguments from the affirmative (PICs bad etc). Counterplans are most persuasive to me when the negative is able to clearly explain the net benifts and how (if at all) the counterplan captures affirmative solvency. For permutations to be convincing offense against CPs, Affs should explain how permutation works and what voting for perm means (does the DA go away, do I automatically vote against neg etc?)

Random

Tag team is fine as long as you don’t start taking over cross-ex and dominating. You are part of a 2 person team for a reason.

Speed is ok as long as you are clear. If you have a ton of analytics in a row or are explaining a new/dense theory, you may want to slow down a little since processing time for flowing analytics or kritkits is a little slower than me just flowing the text of your evidence.

I listen to cross ex. I think teams come up with a lot of good arguments during this time. If you come up with an argument in cross ex-add it to the flow in your speech.

Paul Wallace Glenbrook North 2 rounds

Amanti Washington Kenwood Academy 2 rounds

Carter Weese Northside College Preparatory 5 rounds None

Fiona Yin Glenbrook North 2 rounds

Alan Zhukovsky Glenbrook South High School 2 rounds

Last changed on Sat November 19, 2022 at 2:58 PM CDT

TOP LEVEL -

I'm a first year out. I don't debate in college. Glenbrooks is my first(and maybe only) tournament of this year, so I don't really know much about the topic specifically, but I still remember a decent amount from my years of highschool debate and will probably be able to piece the round together(just don't assume I know anything since I'm a bit rusty). I haven't updated my paradigm in a while, so a decent amount is in the context of novice debate.

This is my inspiration, everything he says applies. He probably does a better job explaining everything so...

https://www.tabroom.com/index/paradigm.mhtml?search_first=connor&search_last=kiefer

TL/DR:

I'll vote for anything

do impact calc and judge instruction

Tech required is proportional to how true the argument is

explain stuff (I'm not smart)

I'm ok with open CX

I like funny debaters, but not mean debaters.

I debated for 4 years debating for Glenbrook South (North of Chicago). I do not debate in college. I was a kritial policy debater(just so you know). I am absolutely not big brain, and will probably be the dumbest one in the room.

General Stuff

I am tech over truth most of the time if warrants are provided. Although I used to prefer evidence over analytics, recently I have started to think of well warranted and contextualized analytics as being the same if not better than cards. If you are extending evidence tell me why I should prefer your evidence (and don't just say "well it's more recent" or something like that, tell me why recency matters). MAKE SURE TO DO IMPACT CALC; as a 2a, I rarely do enough of this (don't be like me). I also like judge directions(please tell me how to evaluate rounds, I would like to do as little work as possible). Try to be respectful, but I understand if you have light hearted banter or make jokes.

Order of arguments(favorite - least favorite) this isn't an order of how I vote, just my favorites

1.Kritiks

2. CPs(the cheatier the better)

3. Normal Arguments(Case/DA)

4.misc. theory violations

5.Topicality

Theory

In my eyes, there are no clear rules to debate. If someone drops your stuff, and they are winning sandbagging good, I might still weigh it. If you want a 3nr, go up there and spend most of the time on theory(actually, probably not. Tournaments have speech times. If it's the last round, then I might be receptive). With persuasive theory, I will allow almost anything. TECH OVER TRUTH DOES NOT ALWAYS APPLY HERE. Using a previous answer, if you want a 3nr, you better have some damn good theory arguments. but generally I will vote on theory arguments if they drop it. I generally believe that the neg has the most ground, but am willing to be persuaded. Theory debates should not exclusively be blocks, extend your offense and then do line by line on their defense.

Here's the order of voters I find persuasive

1. Education

2. Fairness

3. Strategy

4. aff/neg Ground

5.miscellaneous

Kritiks

Ks are pretty epic ngl. I have the most experience with Moten, Afropess, Cap, Setcol, but I am willing to listen to any K(as long as you explain this well and aren't too buzz word heavy[I am probably the least familiar with PoMo]). Because of this, I would like to believe that I can be a competent K judge, but I still think that a good K team doesn't go off big words, but instead explains their theory like I have never heard of who Deleuz is. I believe that the affirmative should have to defend the impact of the plan and their representations, but can be convinced otherwise. I think that framing out the aff/k tricks are interesting. I have sympathy for the aff wanting to weigh their impact, but I think this becomes more persuasive when you defend your reps are good or read scenario planning cards. I also think that if the K team does not attempt to moot the aff, they should either have in-depth impact framing or case debating. I believe that in debate, utilitarianism is the most predictable impact framing, and will default to this. That being said, I can very easily be convinced another way.

Counter-Plans

I think counterplans are strategic. That being said, I am very willing to vote on perms, and probably will. IF YOU ARE AFF, NEVER DROP PERM DO THE CP(THIS IS YOUR BEST CHANCE OF WINNING). Also, try to attack solvency and the net ben. I find counterplan debates fun, and went for a process CP almost every neg round novice year.

I am Ok with open CX, but if you keep taking questions from your partner, then you will lose speaks. I understand if you think your partner will cost you the round, but in general, have some trust. Same thing for asking questions. I like teams that are dominant in CX, without being overly aggressive.

Racism/Misogyny/Bigotry

I typically have a pretty high bar for what I would consider to be in this category, like if you mess up a util argument, I won't completely flame you. TECH OVER TRUTH DOES NOT APPLY HERE. If you read a racist argument, I will not evaluate it, and I will yell at you in the RFD. Even subtle things, can be racist if it's a clear dog whistle. I will try not to outright vote you down if you are clearly winning, but if it's competitive, you will lose.

Topicality

I personally do not think a lot of T arguments are legitimate(clearly some are). That being said, I will vote for them(even if they aren't completely dropped). The T ASPEC at the bottom of another T violation is a legitimate strategy, just please be very clear if it isn't in the speech doc.

General Decorum

I am fine, with some light hearted bashing, IF the other team is alright with it. pls no bullying.

If I see you not flowing then you are probably going to lose speaks, as it kinda shows me you don't care. That being said I'm ok with you prepping speeches, just please don't look at the ceiling or look at "cringe compilation #154"

I will shout clear. I probably won't do this a bunch, especially if you send speech docs.

Jared Zuckerman Glenbrook North 2 rounds

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