Shae Bunas
Debated @ Oklahoma for 4 years.

Currently an Assistant Coach @ UCO.

Big Picture

In general, I don't have much of a preference for what people read in front of me. Despite having debated critiques throughout college I enjoy CP/DA/T debates and hope teams will be willing to read those arguments if they are more prepared to do so. Whatever strategy you choose, the more specific the strategy the better.

Specific arguments

Topicality: Generic T arguments don't get very far in front of me unless they are based in the literature and the negative can prove that the loss of core (generic) ground outweighs the affs education claims (e.g., why is the politics da/other generic da more important than the aff's particular education). If the aff doesn't read any offense they will very likely lose the debate.

Framework: Absent a T component it's not a reason to reject the aff. I have yet to hear a good reason why policy education is the only predictable education.

Disads: 'DA turns the case' is pretty important. I could be persuaded of 'no risk of the da' but it's unlikely. 

CPs: Well-researched PICs are enjoyable and I encourage you to read them. I tend to lean negative on theory but aff on questions of competition. Textual/functional competition is up for debate.

Critiques: In my experience, alternatives are under-debated. The aff needs offense against the alt and the neg needs a specific explanation of how the alt solves the case. Impact framing is important: don't stop at 'utilitarianism is key' or 'ethics first'. Tell me why you should still win even if you lose the impact framing debate (e.g., 'even if the neg wins that ethics comes first you will still vote aff because....'). Absent specific link analysis the permutation is pretty compelling. When deciding between reading the K you always go for and are comfortable with versus reading the K's you know that I read you should default to the K's that you are comfortable with. Don't read a huge-ass overview in the block, put it on the line-by-line.

Theory: Reading blippy blocks is a non-starter as are cheap shots. Just like every other issue in debate it needs to be well-developed before I will consider it. Conditionality is probably ok as long as the neg isn't reading contradictory positions.

Evidence: I prefer a handful of quality cards that are debated well over a stack of shitty cards that are read as fast as possible. As such, I'm persuaded by smart analytical arguments that point out the contrived nature of the case advantage/da/cp/k/whatever. You won't convince me that a card cut from a blog should be rejected if it has a warrant in it. I evaluate arguments, not qualifications with T debates being the exception to the rule: literature-based definitions hold more water than the definition given by merriam-webster or some other dictionary.

Paperless: Clock stops when the jumping team pulls the flash drive out of their computer.

*Updated for 2024*
Bryan Gaston
Director of Debate
Heritage Hall School
1800 Northwest 122nd St.
Oklahoma City, OK 73120-9598
bgaston@heritagehall.com

I view judging as a responsibility and one I take very seriously. I have decided to try and give you as much information about my tendencies to assist with MPJ and adaptation.

**NEW NOTE, I may be old but I'm 100% right on this trend: Under-highlighting of evidence has gotten OUT OF CONTROL, some teams are reading cards with such few things highlighted it is amazing they actually got away with claiming the evidence as tagged. When I evaluate evidence, I will ONLY EVALUATE the words in that evidence that were read in the round. If you didn't read it in a speech I will not read the unhighlighted sections and give you the full weight of the evidence--you get credit for what you actually say in the speech, and what you actually read in the round. Debaters, highlight better. When you see garbage highlighting point it out, and make an argument about it---if the highlighting is really bad I will likely agree and won't give the card much credit. This does not mean you can't have good, efficient highlighting, but you must have a claim, data, and warrant(s) on each card.**

Quick Version:

1. Debate is a competitive game.

2. I will vote on framework and topicality-Affs should be topical. But, you can still beat framework with good offense or a crafty counter-interpretation.

3. DA's and Aff advantages can have zero risk.

4. Neg conditionality is mostly good.

5. Counterplans and PICs --good (better to have a solvency advocate than not), process CPs a bit different. It is a very debatable thing for me but topic-specific justifications go a long way with me.

6. K's that link to the Aff plan/advocacy/advantages/reps are good.

7. I will not decide the round over something X team did in another round, at another tournament, or a team's judge prefs.

8. Email Chain access please: bgaston@heritagehall.com

9. The debate should be a fun and competitive activity, be kind to each other and try your best.

My Golden Rule: When you have the option to choose a more specific strategy vs a more generic strategy, always choose the more specific strategy if you are equally capable of executing both strategies. But I get it, sometimes you have to run a process CP or a more generic K.

Things not to do: Don't run T is an RVI, don't hide evidence from the other team to sabotage their prep, don't lie about your source qualifications, don't text or talk to coaches to get "in round coaching" after the round has started, please stay and listen to RFD's I am typically brief, and don't deliberately spy on the other teams pre-round coaching. I am a high school teacher and coach, who is responsible for high school-age students. Please, don't read things overtly sexual if you have a performance aff--since there are minors in the room I think that is inappropriate.

Pro-tip: FLOW---don't stop flowing just because you have a speech doc.

"Clipping" in debate: Clipping in the debate is a serious issue and one of the things I will be doing to deter clipping in my rounds is requesting a copy of all speech docs before the debaters start speaking and while flowing I read along to check from time to time.

CX: This is the only time you have “face time” with the judge. Please look at the judge not at each other. Your speaker points will be rewarded for a great CX and lowered for a bad one. Be smart in CX, assertive, but not rude.

Speaker Point Scale updated: Speed is fine, and clarity is important. If you are not clear I will yell out “Clear.” The average national circuit debate starts at 28.4, Good is 28.5-28.9 (many national circuit rounds end up in this range), and Excellent 29-29.9. Can I get a perfect 30? I have given 3 in 20 years if HS judging they all went on to win the NDT in college. I will punish your points if you are excessively rude to opponents or your partner during a round.

Long Version...

Affirmatives: I still at my heart of hearts prefer and Aff with a plan that's justifiably topical. But, I think it's not very hard for teams to win that if the Aff is germane to the topic that's good enough. I'm pretty sympathetic to the Neg if the Aff has very little to or nothing to do with the topic. If there is a topical version of the Aff I tend to think that takes away most of the Aff's offense in many of these T/FW debates vs no plan Affs--unless the Aff can explain why there is no topical version and they still need to speak about "X" on the Aff or why their offense on T still applies.

Disadvantages: I like them. I prefer specific link stories (or case-specific DA’s) to generic links, as I believe all judges do. But, if all you have is generic links go ahead and run them, I will evaluate them. The burden is on the Aff team to point out those weak link stories. I think Aff’s should have offense against DA’s it's just a smarter 2AC strategy, but if a DA clearly has zero link or zero chance of uniqueness you can win zero risk. I tend to think politics DA's are core negative ground--so it is hard for me to be convinced I should reject the politics DA because debating about it is bad for debate. My take: I often think the internal link chains of DA's are not challenged enough by the Aff, many Aff teams just spot the Neg the internal links---It's one of the worst effects of the prevalence of offense/defense paradigm judging over the past years...and it's normally one of the weaker parts of the DA.

Counterplans: I like them. I generally think most types of counterplans are legitimate as long as the Neg wins that they are competitive. I am also fine with multiple counterplans. On counterplan theory, I lean pretty hard that conditionality and PICs are ok. You can win theory debates over the issue of how far negatives can take conditionality (battle over the interps is key). Counterplans that are functionally and textually competitive are always your safest bet but, I am frequently persuaded that counterplans which are functionally competitive or textually competitive are legitimate. My Take: I do however think that the negative should have a solvency advocate or some basis in the literature for the counterplan. If you want to run a CP to solve terrorism you need at least some evidence supporting your mechanism. My default is that I reject the CP, not the team on Aff CP theory wins.

Case debates: I like it. Negative teams typically underutilize this. I believe well planned impacted case debate is essential to a great negative strategy. Takeouts and turns can go a long way in a round.

Critiques: I like them. In the past, I have voted for various types of critiques. I think they should have an alternative or they are just non-unique impacts. I think there should be a discussion of how the alternative interacts with the Aff advantages and solvency. Impact framing is important in these debates. The links to the Aff are very important---the more specific the better.

Big impact turn debates: I like them. Want to throw down in a big Hegemony Good/Bad debate, Dedev vs Growth Good, method vs method, it's all good.

Topicality/FW: I tend to think competing interpretations are good unless told otherwise...see the Aff section above for more related to T.

Theory: Theory sets up the rules for the debate game. I tend to evaluate theory debates in an offensive/defense paradigm, paying particular attention to each teams theory impacts and impact defense. The interpretation debate is very important to evaluating theory for me. For a team to drop the round on theory you must impact this debate well and have clear answers to the other side's defense.

Impact framing-- it's pretty important, especially in a round where you have a soft-left Aff with a big framing page vs a typical neg util based framing strat.

Have fun debating!

About Myself:
I debated for four years at Guymon High School and have been judging since 2018 and I am currently attending the University of Oklahoma. I am a Political Science major with a minor in Psychology looking to attend law school in 2025. My crowning achievements in debate are going undefeated at a tournament while dressed as a clown and placing at the state tournament without being enrolled in debate or speech class (feel free to ask about the context of either story). You can call me Andy or Judge.

I'd like to be included with all email chaining and the flashing over of evidence. You can use this email:

andy.ramirez2002@gmail.com

If you have any questions about strategy or want a more detailed RFD don't hesitate to ask me on this email (You can use the other email for this but I am far more responsive on this email):

andy.ramirez2002@ou.edu

Overview:
I like to think I’m a very laid-back judge. I think debate should be a place for innovation and self-expression so there are very few arguments that I won’t vote for, so feel free to try and experiment with new and creative arguments!

Topicality:
I think topicality debates are really great to watch. I will vote on topicality if the affirmative does seem too far out of the topic and that makes it difficult for the negative to debate. However, it is the negative’s responsibility to explain and show why an aff is untopical. Additionally, they must show why being untopical is unfair for the negative and why I should vote on it.

Disadvantages:
I like disadvantages since they generally have great versatility in rounds, and they also can be incredibly valuable to a team. They may seem like a vanilla argument, but vanilla is a classic for a reason. A good disadvantage should have a coherent impact story somewhat similar to an advantage in an affirmative case. This means that specific links are best but generic links will also work. A good internal link story will work wonders I promise.

Counterplans:
I think counterplans can be some of the most underutilized arguments in a round. There is really great potential for counterplans when they are paired with net benefits. I really like specific counterplans, but generic counterplans are fine. Just a tip, make sure that your counterplan really can't exist in a world with the aff (mutually exclusive). Naturally, feel free to disregard this if you are running a PIC.

Kritiks:
I really like kritiks and have been running them ever since I got into debate. I’m most well versed when it comes to capitalism, anthropocentrism, settler colonialism, and biopower kritiks. However, my favorite kritik has to be Imperialism, and often ran it in high school. Kritiks work best when they are paired with framework. This doesn’t mean you have to accommodate to what I just know best, however. Run any kritik you want to run! I just ask that you be prepared to explain the kritik if it could be considered more obscure (looking at the Time Cube K). Also, for my sake and yours please don't run kritiks if you don't understand it. Read through your evidence and know the arguments you are making.

Kritikal Affirmatives:
I am completely cool with kritikal affirmatives. I even ran a Kritikal Affirmative for half of my debate career. The only thing about kritikal affirmatives that I specifically like to see is, if you are running it untopically or planless, that you can argue why topicality is bad for debate or why the negative can still reasonably debate your team. If you are running it with a plan, then you don’t need to worry about that as much.

Framing and Framework:
Tech vs Truth:
I am very much a Tech over Truth Judge.
My reasons:
I don’t believe that my personal biases and views should interfere with an argument a debater makes.
If a claim is made that has no “truth” to it then it should be easy for the opposing team to call it out and answer it.

Impact framing:

Impact framing is one of my favorite things about debate since there is so much room to be creative and really show how voting for you is better than the other team. If there isn't any impact framing in a round then I usually just resort to biggest impact or utilitarianism. Impact framing is a place where you can experiment with a variety of ways to prove your impact is more pressing such as timeframe, magnitude, probability, and maybe a few more that I am forgetting as I write this.

Minor notes:
I am totally fine with speed but make sure that you are enunciating well.

When transferring files a flash drive or email chain is perfectly fine. If possible, I would like to be included in the file transfer.

Personal Preferences:
These are a few things that probably won’t get you the win, but I do like to see in a round. You can think of these items as ways to get bonus points. They are listed with the most important thing at the bottom and the least important at the top.

Cross Examination stare: I don’t know where or when this started but I just personally find it weird that during cross examination sometimes the debater being asked questions will constantly stare at me while their back is turned to the other team. It looks almost dismissive of the other team and just looks silly so if you do this you may see me laugh. Look at the other team while you are in cross examination and if you just give me the occasional glance then I'm perfectly happy.

Road Maps: Just a quick little rundown before the speech that details which arguments you will be covering so everyone can prepare their flow.

Equal Cross Examination: I am totally cool with open cross examination, but I do like to see both debaters asking and answering questions. This is a team activity so it's nice to see team chemistry at work.

Signposting: I love debate but one frustration that I have seen among debaters is that sometimes flows get unorganized. So just signposting when you are going onto a new argument can really help stop a flow from getting messy.

Effort: This is an activity you should want to be in and if you want to be in something you should put effort into it. I don't think debate needs to be totally serious all the time but there are some moments and some topics that should be fairly serious. Be sure to give them the effort and consideration they deserve.

Sportsmanship: I totally understand that debate can get really intense and heated but that shouldn’t mean the round should turn into an unconstructive shouting match. Everyone in the round is a person just like you so it's important to be mindful of other people and respectful.

Finally, have fun y’all!

I want to be on the chain, ask me for my email.

2X NDT qualifier

2X CEDA Elimination rounds

5 years of policy in college

LD and PF in HS

1st year Undergrad Assistant Coach at the University of Central Oklahoma

2nd year as Assistant Coach at Heritage Hall High school

I have ADHD which effects my brain processing sometimes so I will almost certainly miss something if you go your absolute top speed to get as many args out as possible. Spreading is obviously fine but clarity, transitions, organization and pen time are all essential for me to be able to both flow your argument but actually internalize it and understand it to vote on it.

Policy

TL;DR Do whatever you do best,

I have done almost every kind of debate and strategy possible at least once and will always be receptive to whatever your strategy is (barring it isn't inherently exclusive like racism good, patriarchy good etc.) I like some strategies more than others but that shouldn't dissuade anyone from reading their best stuff. However you like to debate is the debate that is going to happen and I'm perfectly fine with that.

The more work I do, the more my decision is up in the air for both teams. I really try and judge debates how the debaters tell me how I should judge the debate. Absent that judge instructions I will default to whatever little framing there is in the round and come up with a decision from there but you don't want this to happen because I might not see the debate in the exact same way as you so you should tell me why I should see things your way. If you want me or any judge to vote a specific way, then my RFD should line up a lot with your 2R. Also I'm more tech over truth but will only give dropped args a the full weight of the arg explained.

Below are random thoughts I try not to default to when not told how to resolve different kinds of debates but when I am not told how to resolve something, it is inevitable to some extent that they will creep in.

I was mostly a 2N that went for the K a lot and I have a soft spot for impact turns/straight turns on case and DA's where the link is specific to the aff and the internal link and impact narrative line up. I have experience as a both 1A/2A on plan and planless affs alike. So please just do what you do best and tell me why it's a reason the aff is bad or good.

K v Policy AFF: Love these debates. I'm down to vote either way but Framing is super important. Aff should say more than the aff OW and should read cards that actually answer the K rather than a bunch of cards you aren't gonna go for anyway. consolidate in the 2AR and use your explanation of your aff to disprove links. You read the aff for a reason. Neg should also consolidate around core pieces of offense/defense in the 2NR and think about how those args solve/ turn / whatever the aff- offense could be alt solves case and avoids a risk of the link- link turns the case with a link to the plan the alt solves- FW + link (maybe alt for uq) --- you should think about what the 1AR set up the 2AR to go for and going for that.

K v K aff: These are either really good or really bad. I love really good method debates but I don't think it's executed well a lot of the time. Framing is pretty important in these debates especially because the methods can look very different (PIKs, do nothing alts, do a lot of things alts whatever just explain it) . Saying "no perms in method debates" and "links are disads to the perm" are only one word different and only the second makes sense to me most of the time, win your links and contextualize it to the perm. Also please for the love of everything make standards for links competition clear

T: Honestly should probably be read in 75% of debates purely because it is almost always a positive time trade off for you

FW/USFG: I'll vote either way on it. The neg should probably have a defense that solves a lot of the aff offense or at least incorporates similar scholarship/SSD/TVA some way to talk about the aff if it's a good thing to talk about/full of truisms. I think that debate is one of the most valuable games we can play because there are so many unique ways we engage debate and debate engages us as people. What you choose to research and educate about on the aff is your choice but if you want to say the res is bad then you should probably have specific links to the res to impact turn the education on FW and your CI needs to be inclusive of both policy and critical sides of debate, whether or not those happen on the aff or not is up to you, and there are clever ways to do it that doesn't seem self serving.

DA's: I like a well researched DA specific to the aff. I'm not a fan of the politics/elections DA but if you are good at running it then go for it. I think turns case args are important and I think you need smart case args to make the DA impact calc more in your favor (impact defense to help yours outweigh or internal link take outs on an advantage for probability) Also think about what framing is the absolute best for your impact that also frames out your opponents.

CP: Needs to have a net benefit. One line CP in the 1NC with no ev or other args don't make any sense to me unless you are re-highlighting their evidence in a way that substantiated the 1NC cp text. These can often be the best counterplans against an aff. Theory is pretty up in the air but I will vote on it if there is a full arg in the 2AC to it. I will vote aff on theory so keep that in mind when you are answering the 2AC with your generic theory blocks (Side note: Conditions cp are def BS) ((I will vote neg on one but might you catch an eye roll during the 1NC))

PIC/PIK: I honestly think these are busted if the aff messes them up/ doesn't make a X key argument. PICS bad is kinda eh for me, also please make it as clear as possible to me you are floating the PIK. You can be tricky about it just be very clear in the alt solvency explanation in the BLOCK

Theory: I'm fine with it just make interps, violations and impacts clear. I hate when people spread theory blocks that don't answer the opponents

Condo: I think conditionality is good unless the neg doesn't defend it properly. There should be a time tradeoff in the block being forced to answer theory if you want to spend the 1NC spamming CP's. I only went for condo once when the neg actually messed it up and it was the correct choice.

Presumption against K affs that don't do things can be really good but it should be paired with offense to supercharge your link argument (do nothing affs against an organizing link on the cap K) and can be a straight turn of the case by itself because they make the aff impact worse because they think they have done something about violence.

LD: I did this for three years and I really want to see the local circuit become more modern. I am a judge that will definitely vote on a K, is cool with speed IF it's clear, I'm definitely cool with the neg having multiple off case positions (condo is more of a voter esp. with shorter speeches but i also think reading 4off is not strategic when you have so little time)

PF: Haven't judged nat circ. ever but am receptive to whatever, EXCEPT bad theory and tricks

Local/trad PF: I know the circuit is super lay friendly but you don't need to treat me like a parent. I think bc speaking is heavily emphasized I don't think fast spreading is good but I think that some speed is fine. I treat definition debates like T debates except, lack of plan focus means you might stick to a wholistic reading of the res to ensure clash, I think PF should be able to get specific advocacies on the but whatever it is it's unconditional (all this means is that if the con want's the status quo they have to go for it from the beginning or they can read an advocacy in that is different then the pros case) I also love K's but with the nature of PF the more specific it is to the topic or whatever the other team said the better

If you have any accessibility concerns for the round then I am happy to accommodate and I'm sure your opponents will be happy to oblige.