Judge Philosophies
Aggie Hunziker - Willamette
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Alex van nieuwenhuysen - Willamette
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Anahi Marquez-Silva - CPSLO
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Andrea Van Nort - Hired
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Bee Edson - CofI
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Caleb McGill - MSU Denver
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Caleb Jackson - MSU
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Catie Cheshire - Alaska
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Chris Skiles - CPSLO
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Christian Curtiss - CofI
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Clayton Wilhorn - UMiss
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Colin Jarrett-Izzi - USAFA
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Danny Iberri-Shea - USAFA
David Romanelli - LUC
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David Steinberg - UM
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Diana Polley - Hired
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Edward Strok - Seattle U
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Elena Bonmati - CofI
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Emily Hatchett - Clemson
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Fernando Dzul Fisher - Lewis & Clark
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Gabriel Herring - CofI
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Gage Brock - Willamette
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Gavin Gill - Vanderbilt
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Hannah Detweiler - DU
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Harmoni Blackstock - USAFA
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Helen Morgan-Parmett - UVM
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Hugh Martin - Hired
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Isaac Williams - USAFA
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J Jiwani - Clemson
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Jacob Justice - UMiss
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Jason Jordan - MSU Denver
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Jeremy Johnson - DU
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Jillian Jaeger - CC
I competed in policy and NPDA and currently coach IPDA, NPDA, and BP styles of debate.
I have no preference in terms of what arguments are run in a round, but do expect that there is clash with the Aff's case and that you explain why the argument matters and why it is a voting issue.
- Topicality is always an apriori issue (if it is applicable) and will be voted on first.
- Kritiks need to explain what the alternative does and why voting for it matters - I'm not convinced by "nuclear war will never happen, but your ballot is a stand against racism." Do better. Be thoughtful. I seldom believe that Kritiks should be run as an Aff plan, but if they strongly link to the resolution, I may be persuaded.
John Rief - MSU Denver
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John Patrick - CPSLO
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Justin Morgan-Parmett - UVM
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Kelly Welch - Lewis & Clark
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Ken Newby - Morehouse
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Kirk Randolph - Hired
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Kobi Cannata - Regis U
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Kyle Cheesewright - CofI
This is my most recent judging philosopy. If you want to see a collection of them, with information that is more or less relevant, Net Benefits has an interesting archive.
“All that you touch
You Change.
All that you Change
Changes you.
The only lasting truth
Is Change.
God Is Change.”
–Octavia Butler, “Parable of the Sower.”
Debate is a game. Debate is a strange, beautiful game that we play. Debate is a strange beautiful game that we play with each other.
I love debate. It’s the only game that exists where the rules are up for contestation by each side. There are some rules that aren’t up for discussion, as far as I can tell, these are them:
1/ Each debate will have a team that wins, and a team that looses. Say whatever you want, I am structurally constrained at the end of debate to award one team a win, and the other team will receive a loss. That’s what I got.
2/ Time limits. I think that a discussion should have equal time allotment for each side, and those times should probably alternate. I have yet to see a fair way for this question to be resolved in a debate, other than through arbitrary enforcement. The only exception is that if both teams decide on something else, you have about 45 minutes from the start of the round, to when I have to render a decision.
Pretty much everything else is open to contestation. At this point, I don’t really have any serious, uncontestable beliefs about debate. This means that the discussion is open to you. I do tend to find that I find debates to be more engaging when they are about substantive clash over a narrow set of established issues. This means, I tend to prefer debates that are specific and deep. Good examples, and comparative discussion of those examples is the easiest way to win my ballot. Generally speaking, I look for comparative impact work. I find that I tend to align more quickly with highly probable and proximate impacts, though magnitude is just so easy.
I tend to prefer LOC strategies that are deep, well explained explorations of a coherent world. The strategy of firing off a bunch of underdeveloped arguments, and trying to develop the strategy that is mishandled by the MG is often successful in front of me, but I almost always think that the round would have been better with a more coherent LOC strategy—for both sides of the debate.
At the end of the debate, when it is time for me to resolve the discussion, I start by identifying what I believe the weighing mechanism should be, based on the arguments made in the debate. Once I have determined the weighing mechanism, I start to wade through the arguments that prove the world will be better or worse, based on the decision mechanism. I always attempt to default to explicit arguments that debaters make about these issues.
Examples are the evidence of Parliamentary debate. Control the examples, and you will control the debate.
On specific issues: I don’t particularly care what you discuss, or how you discuss it. I prefer that you discuss it in a way that gives me access to the discussion. I try not to backfill lots of arguments based on buzzwords. For example, if you say “Topicality is a matter of competing interpretations,” I think I know what that means. But I am not going to default to evaluating every argument on Topicality through an offense/defense paradigm unless you explain to me that I should, and probably try to explicate what kinds of answers would be offensive, and what kinds of answers would be defensive. Similarly, if you say “Topicality should be evaluated through the lens of reasonability,” I think I know what that means. But if you want me to stop evaluating Topicality if you are winning that there is a legitimate counter-interpretation that is supported by a standard, then you should probably say that.
I try to flow debates as specifically as possible. I feel like I have a pretty good written record of most debates.
Rebuttals are times to focus a debate, and go comprehensively for a limited set of arguments. You should have a clear argument for why you are winning the debate as a whole, based on a series of specific extensions from the Member speech. The more time you dedicate to an issue in a debate, the more time I will dedicate to that issue when I am resolving the debate. Unless it just doesn’t matter. Watch out for arguments that don’t matter, they’re tricksy and almost everyone spends too much time on them.
Before I make my decision, I try to force myself to explain what the strongest argument for each side would be if they were winning the debate. I then ask myself how the other team is dealing with those arguments. I try to make sure that each team gets equal time in my final evaluation of a debate.
This is a radical departure from my traditional judging philosophy. I’ll see how it works out for me. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. For the record, I have strong opinions on just about everything that occurs in a debate round—but those strong opinions are for down time and odd rants during practice rounds. I work to keep them out of the debate, and at this point, I think I can say that I do a pretty good job on that account.
I just thought of a third rule. Speaker points are mine. I use them to indicate how good I thought speeches are. If you tell me what speaker points I should give you, I will listen, and promptly discard what you say. Probably.
For the sake of transparency: My personal gig is critical-cultural theory. It’s where my heart is. This does not mean that you should use critical theory that you don’t understand or feel comfortable with it. Make the choices in debate that are the best, most strategic, or most ethical for you. If your interested in my personal opinons about your choices, I’m more than happy to share. But I’ll do that after the debate is over, the ballot submitted, and we’re just two humans chatting. The debate will be decided based on the arguments made in the debate.
“[Y]ou can’t escape language: language is everything and everywhere; it’s what lets us have anything to do with one another; it’s what separates us from animals; Genesis 11:7-10 and so on.”
-David Foster Wallace, “Authority and American Usage.”
Kyle Sessions - Willamette
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Kylle Zapata - Alaska
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Leah Young - Hired
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Lindsey Dixon - Clemson
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Lola Baerlocher - Carroll
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Lori Davis Perry - Hired
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Mark Kaufman - Hired
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Mary Knight - Carroll
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Matthew Lerdahl - USAFA
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Matthew Schaupp - ULV
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Meaghan McHenry - Hired
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Megan Canale - CPSLO
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Micah Pepper - WC
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Michael Harvey - USAFA
The most important thing to me is a debate where both teams treat each other with respect. I will try and flow everything, but if you're going really fast and see me put down my pen, take that as a sign! I am not fond of Ks but will judge them on how they are presented. Answer (at least briefly) all things on the flow and don't make me fill in the blanks on incomplete arguments. Good luck!
Milaj Robinon - Morehouse
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Miranda Zigler - Lewis & Clark
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Nicholas Bacon - Morehouse
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Nick Aranda - Regis U
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Nicole Jerr - Hired
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Nivesh Tuwani - UW–Madison
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Parker Davidson - Seattle U
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Randall Martinez - UM
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Rob Margesson - Regis U
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Ross Gresham - Hired
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Ruby Nunez - Alaska
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Sage Margesson - Regis U
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Sam Ferreira - WC
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Samuel Allen - RMC
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Sarah McClellan - Hired
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Shawn Briscoe - Alaska
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Stephen Beaton - Hired
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Steve Johnson - Alaska
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Talya Slaw - UMiss
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Teigen Tremper - Carroll
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Thomas Jones - Regis U
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Travis Loik - DU
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Trevor Woodward - Hired
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Vinny Gallardo - Carroll
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Will Reid - Clemson
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