Last changed on
Wed January 3, 2024 at 1:55 AM CST
I debated in Houston Tx. in high school and college. I was a policy debater. I have coached and taught debate for 30 years now; Policy, Public Forum, and Lincoln Douglas. I have coached and taught at Langham Creek HS in Houston, Tx., Hanover HS and Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH., Wayland HS in Grand Rapids, MI. and now finally at Auburn HS, in Auburn Alabama.
Emory 2020:
I haven’t judged many circuit level rounds this year, I coach one circuit debater and don’t get to see many high level plan debates. This means that in your first speech you should start slow for the first 5 seconds and speed up as you wish from there
Pref chain:
- Plan debate, policy, LARP: 1
- Traditional debate: 1
- Theory: 3
- K debate: 4
- Tricks: 5
- Performance: 5
I am a very flow judge!!! Tech should be true, otherwise you’re lying… So Truth > Tech.
I cannot stress this enough!!! NO TRICKS, NO SPIKES, NO FRIV THEORY!!! IT IS BAD DEBATE AND ITS GOING TO MAKE ME VERY UNHAPPY!!!
Add me to the email chain: donna.yeager@gmail.com
IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS THEN ASK!!! If you aren’t sure you can run something or have a question about my paradigm defaults then asking is the best way to be safe.
I am ok with good spreading, I flow from your speech and will refer to the doc if I missed something or am confused, but clear taglines and authors are important.
I default to the following:
- Neg wins on presumption unless otherwise argued
- Consequentialism for impact calc
Give an off-time road map!!! Every new off case argument will be flowed on a separate sheet of paper!!!
Things I liked in a round:
- Well-developed plans
- Fully linked out DA’s
- Good CP’s
- Proper decorum
- Good FW debate (Rawls, Kant, Hobbes, Locke)
Things I don’t like:
- Performative debate
- High theory K’s
- Spikes, Tricks
- Disclosure theory
- Friv theory
- Bad T/theory shells
- Incoherent spreading
- Speaking for others
- Ptx DA’s
- After round disrespect
- PICs
Disclosure:
I don’t disclose for double-flighted rounds, not that hard of a rule, if there is extra time, I might be able to give an RFD. I don’t disclose speaks.
Speaks:
30: I expect you to win the tournament or be in finals (rarely given)
29.5: Finals or high break rounds, I enjoyed this debate and learned something
29: Good debate, should break, close round with one of the above ^
28.5: Good job, room to improve, well executed arg on my do not like list.
28: You weren’t as clear as you could’ve been, the weighing wasn’t the best
27.5: Same as 28 but worse
27: Worse than 27.5 😊
26.5: You made some serious errors, ran something I don’t like or was hard to judge, you spoke awful
26: Worse than 26.5
25.5-25: You shouldn’t go above 3-3, you made a critical mistake and deserve to lose, you were racist, sexist, transphobic, homophobic, or ableist
My Public Forum judging philosophy will be the same as my asst. coach, Mr. Will Haynes. So thank you Will!
Flow/Speed: I am a typical flow judge. In rebuttals and summaries, please make it clear what argument you're responding to. All turns must be addressed in the following speech, so if you are the second speaker, and your opponent makes a case turn in their rebuttal, you must address this in your rebuttal or else it is dropped. Frontlining can be done in either the rebuttal or summary. I can flow 8/10 on speed. Do not spread. The summary and final focus must be consistent.
Evidence: If an opponent asks for a card, you get one minute to produce it. After one minute, I strike the card from my flow. I will call for cards at the end of the round if I am unclear on the intentions of the author or I have reason to believe it is mis-cut. I will not call for evidence due to washes or lack of weighing.
Crossfire: I do not flow new arguments in crossfire, nor does it have any effect in how I judge the round unless someone is rude, in which case I will deduct speaker points.
Framework: I default to utilitarianism unless another empirically justified framework is offered at the top of the constructive. I enjoy a good framework debate, so do not hesitate to propose a deontological value.
Offense: Under util, I only weigh quantifiable and empirically justified impacts as offense. If you do not quantify, there is no objective way for me to compare impacts at the end of the debate.
Fiat: If the resolution is framed in terms of a moral obligation (should, ought ect.), then I judge the debate based off the costs/benefits of the resolution actually taking effect. Therefore, I do not evaluate feasibility claims that have to do with the inabilities of laws or policies to pass through congress or any other governmental actor unless I am provided with compelling analytical justifications for doing so.
Theory: I believe theory is the best way to correct abuse in a debate round. It is much easier for me to flow theory if it is run in the standard format (A: Interpretation, B: Violation, C:Standards, D:Voters), but I am fine with paragraph theory as long as it is clear and well justified.
Kritiks: I very rarely vote for them, so just keep that in mind before you take that risk.
Speaker Point Scale: These are the criteria I use for determining speaker points. Everyone starts out with a 26. Do these things well to get up to 30.
Come to the round prepared and on time.
Remain calm during crossfire and speeches. Aggression and agitation are not compelling.
Give speeches with a minimal number of "ums" and "likes"
Have a clear organizational structure for your speeches. Signpost and don't jump all over the place on the flow.
Weigh arguments in your rebuttals, summaries, and final focuses. Don't just read a block.