Judge Philosophies
Aaron Weinstein - CSUF
n/a
Abby Yang - ModernBrain
n/a
Alek Cheng - HW
n/a
Alex Night - Tourn Judges
n/a
Alexander MacDonald - Tourn Judges
n/a
Alexandra Smith - Tourn Judges
n/a
Aryan Rana - HMDC
n/a
Ashrith Kasinadhuni - VIM
n/a
Caitlin Drees - IVC
I am an argumentation professor who has a very little experience with debate in competition. I do not know all the technical jargon so it will not help you in the round. You will want to explain your arguments and how they matter in the round. If you need me to understand the jargon you will need to explain it. Also be polite and nice to each other because I hate rudeness.
My forensic experience as a competitor was limited prep events.
Cassandra Daniel - HMDC
n/a
Catherine Velasquez-Galvez - Velasquez Academy
n/a
Chia Chang - QDLearning
n/a
Chris Robles - QDLearning
n/a
Clay Miller - Mt. SAC
n/a
Daniel Hill - ModernBrain
n/a
Dipanjali Suresh - ModernBrain
n/a
Ebubechukwu Anene - Tourn Judges
n/a
Eddie Hamel - Westridge
n/a
Edwin Ramirez - Mt. SAC
n/a
Elizabeth Lu - ModernBrain
n/a
Ellie Sohn - NDC
n/a
Gary Yablon - HASCS
n/a
Harjashan Sahota - ModernBrain
n/a
Hilda Velasquez-Galvez - Velasquez Academy
n/a
Irene Chung - HMDC
n/a
Ivan Lin - LiangyiLeaders
n/a
Jake Strader - CSUF
n/a
Joan Joseph - Tourn Judges
n/a
Jose Valdezpino - Velasquez Academy
n/a
Joseline Molina - Velasquez Academy
n/a
Josie Rivera - Velasquez Academy
n/a
Justin Wiley - Mt. Hood CC
n/a
Justin Perkins - Cypress College
My name is Justin Perkins, I am the Co-DOF at Cypress College, where I am primarily responsible for Debate events including Parliamentary Debate, IPDA, and NFA-LD. I have competed in Competitive Forensics for 4 years in High School for Oceanside High and 4 years in College for Palomar College and California State-University Los Angeles, primarily in Interpretation events. I majored in Performance Studies and am inclined academically/intuitively with the message and the performer-audience relationship in all its critical perspectives. I think persuasion is magic, and I challenge you to prove it otherwise. I have been coaching since 2006, and have been judging debate since 2007. I judge about 50 rounds a year, if not more, I don't really keep count. I also judge that many and more in Individual Events. I'd like to get as close as I can to cohesive way to view and judge all forensic performance, for after all, every event seeks to persuade its audience, and each does so in a subtly similar yet beautifully different ways.
Everything is debatable. I view debate as a fun and complex game of serious, academic inquiry. I view myself as a referee of said game, and am inclined to allow the players to decide the outcome on the field of play. However, I am persuaded by debaters exercising and explaining what they know that I know that they know, you know? That means explain everything to the point of redundancy. My brain is mush by the end of a long tournament. I like criteria based arguments, meaning that all warrants should frame the data supporting your claim in the context of the criteria agreed upon in round.
With that said, I'll get one thing out of the way, because I forget to say it most of the time; If you have any position that is fun, experimental, controversial, out-of-the-box, or non-traditional, I may be your best chance to win it. This means I'm willing to listen to anything; there is nothing you can say that will automatically lose my ballot or automatically win my ballot. I will fight to remain objective and not weigh in on my decision until the final second has expired and will try as I may to write, record, and weigh everything levied in the round.
This leads to the first question that debaters usually have; speed and structure. I don't find speed to be a particularly appealing way to persuade an audience, and debaters usually out pace their structure to the point of incomprehensible stammering, but hey, its your round as much as it is mine. I will, upon verbal agreement in the round, verbally call out clear for you to speak more clearly, Speed to speak more slowly, and Signpost if I don't where you are. Feel free to adhere to these cues at the expense of speaker points and possible arguments that might influence my decision. Don't pull through incoherent numbering/lettering systems, please restate and analyze and then weigh why you're winning under the agreed upon criteria.
I enjoy the procedural debate as long as it is a witty, intellectual exercise of logic. I weigh offense on the procedural in the time trade off and dont really recognize reverse voters for numerous reasons. I weigh good, practical arguments more than dropped, fallacious arguments unless really encouraged to do so. The best way to not lose a procedural is to not violate procedure in the first place. I love positions that interrogate structures of power and criticize aspects of society at large. I embrace the Kritik, but also traditional forms such as DA/CP and other inventive double binds. I don't discourage the practice of fact and value debate, in fact, I consider the degree of difficulty in running those cases to be higher. I will entertain as many points of order as you call. You may state your point, and I will entertain a response from the other side, before finally giving you a brutally honest decision to the best of my ability and will encourage my fellow judges on panels to rule on important, big round arguments in rebuttals at their discretion. It is a team activity, but I will only weigh arguments made by the speaker, feel free to repeat partner prompts or pass notes. Give me your best and have fun, I'll be giving you my best and ensuring we have an ordered and fair round.
Kelly Hutchison - Cypress College
Experience-
Hey there you all, my name is Kelly Hutchison and I am currently an Assistant Coach for Cypress College. I recieved my master's at the University of the Pacific in Communication. I have two years of competitive experience at the community college level. I continued my parliamentary debate career at the four year level at CSULB where I was ranked top 13 in the nation prior to national. I then went on to compete in individual events at CSULB qualifying limited prep events (extemporaneous speaking and impromptu) at AFA. After my competitive career, I have been coaching and judging for several years. Now that you know a little about my involvement as a competitor and a judge, let's discuss how I view debate!
Pedagogy-
I view this activity as a unique place to hone advocacy skills and to learn about current events that are going on in the world around us. This activity is the perfect storm of education, competition, strategy, and community. I find it helpful to remember that all of us were once novices in this space and should create spaces for everyone and anyone interested in the activity.
Speed-
I can most assuredly keep up with your speed, if I can't I have no problem "clearing" or "slowing" in round. Although I think speed can increase the competitive nature of the activity, I feel that rounds should be inclusive to all debaters. Therefore, if a team requests debaters to slow down for equity purposes, you should.
The Topic-
I think the affirming the topic is the burden of the affirmative. I believe that switch side debate checks back for rejecting the topic at large. Although I have voted on positions that do so. I do not think that affirming the topic necessarily means that you as a debater are upholding the implicit undertones of the resolution. Basically, you are not a bad person for saying the state is good. On the other hand, I acknowledge that rhetoric and one's position do matter.
K-
I think that kritiks are a great tool for questioning the methods of the affirmative. I am more persuaded by alternatives that attempt to solve the aff. I am highly persuaded by the arguments that rethink and reject alternatives are artificially competitive. I prefer Ks that have strong/unique links to the affirmative action. I have a very low threshold for generic links or links of omission.
Theory-
I like theory positions and have voted on them. I prefer well flushed out theory positions that the debater can collapse to, as opposed to "blippy"/ unwarranted theory that does not have argumentative precedent. I don't know how to resolve trigger warning theory, disclosure theory, or exclusionary framework theory. I am not saying don't run these positions, but I am not sure how to resolve them. TDLR, I am probably listening to your T, condo, vagueness shells, but not "you must read a plan text in the first three minutes of your speech" theory positions. In terms of dispo theory, I think that the negative always has access to the status quo. The status quo is presumed and not an advocacy.
Concessions-
If you drop an argument, it is dropped. I protect the flow, but please call points of order. I am persuaded by crafty arguments rooted in fact. I have a very high BS meteor and a low threshold for you to refute claims that are not true. I try and not vote for arguments that are explicitly false. Please don't make things up to justify your arguments, this affects your ethos in round.
Remember debate is fun and a great place to make friends (across team lines) and learn things about the world!
Madison Lin - Flintridge Prep
n/a
Maria Perez - Velasquez Academy
n/a
Michelle Ramirez - HW
n/a
Muhammadbaqir Oloruntoyin - Tourn Judges
n/a
Nia Gordon - HW
n/a
Platon Kryukov - HW
n/a
Purvi Naswa - ModernBrain
n/a
Shannon Huang - ModernBrain
n/a
Travis Cornett - Tourn Judges
n/a
Upma Saini - ModernBrain
n/a
Veronica Galvez - Velasquez Academy
n/a
Yujing Zong - ModernBrain
n/a
devraj singh - Tourn Judges
n/a