David Freeland

No personal debate experience however, you will find qualifications and paradigm below:

Years of Judging Experience: 5 years, currently living with an Assistant Debate Coach who has years of HS and college debate experience.
Educational Background: Wichita Collegiate grad, Bachelors Degree in Anthropology, Masters' Degrees in Psychology and Sociology. Ph.D.C in Psychology with a focus on diagnostics and statistical analysis.
Hobby-level interests in politics, scientific research studies, history, and policy structure.

Debate-specific paradigm:

Overall, I most identify with policy maker style judging with some tabula rasa.

-I do not mind speed, but please keep it below college-style debate speed. I want you to be able to annunciate and talk fast. Please refrain from screaming, pointing at judges, or singling out judges in a panel. It is unprofessional.

-I do tend to flow, although am not professionally trained to do so. It will look different than you typically expect of a more experienced judge.

-On all arguments, I want you to stick to them and believe in them. If the negative team drops an argument due to being refuted effectively, I will not vote against them. Affirmative, please make sure you address all arguments.

-On disadvantages, I prefer very specific DA's that have a strong link to the affirmative plan. Generic DA's are ok, but add more or find a specific link.

-On counterplans, make sure they are formatted correctly and it is clearly stated they are a counterplan. I have seen too many rounds where the counterplan is not explicitly stated. Stick to the counterplan as it is initially created. Do not use this opportunity to be vague and a moving target, changing your CP.

-I tend to dislike K and T arguments. I believe T is vague and allows too much flexibility for the negative team to change their definitions at will. K is a frustrating topic, as it does not tend to be specific and usually just aims at semantics.

-Please include me on speechdrop, email chains, and other evidence exchanges. This makes it fair to you that I am seeing the evidence and can refer to it as needed.

-I do not like vague plans that are unable to explicitly state what they are doing. If the affirmative can change it between rounds or tweak it to say something slightly different, it is not a solid plan. It has holes and would make an ill policy.

-Framework is a valid argument as debate is a structured event with rules. Do not allow your argument to fully rely on framework and rules. I am much more apt to vote on policy than I am rules.

-Things teams tend to overlook: introduce yourself with your speaker position, no new arguments in rebuttals (evidence is fine), new arguments in the 2NC are not against policy but are definitely frowned upon for me.

I competed in high school debate in a small 4A/3A school for four years in the late 80’s, was part of K-State’s CEDA national championship team in the 90’s. I coached for about 10 years before taking a break to raise kids and I am now in my 5th year back.

I know debate and my coach's heart is strong. . . but I am better at the older style of debate than the newer style of debate.

Important:

1. My most important rule is “Be Kind.” There is a reason this activity needs to be accessible to all. Don’t pollute the activity that I love.

2. I used to say speaking fast is fine. I am editing my paradigm now to say that the recent fast rounds that I have judged have not been articulated clearly enough for me to understand. In the end, this is still a communication activity. Additionally, mindless reading of blocks without clash is not good debate. Please flow and put your arguments on the flow. You shouldn't be able to speak from just a preloaded block on your computer. I enjoy line by line argumentation. I expect summarizing and explanation in between. I appreciate speed most when it is utilized to analyze and weigh responses and dislike when teams spread through unwarranted responses to attempt to overwhelm the other team.

3. I am probably closest to a policy-maker or a stock issues judge, but am willing to consider other paradigms if you want me to.

4. I expect you to weigh the round and analyze the voting issues in the final rebuttals.

5. Please include me in any email chain or evidence sharing, but I will probably only look at the evidence if it's important to my decision and 1) someone asks me to or 2) I think it sounds misconstrued.

6. I will not evaluate any K's, or theory arguments unless you tell me how to approach the argument and how it weighs in the round. Don’t get me wrong, I am willing to listen to K's, although I have little experience reading or evaluating them. If you run these arguments, please avoid excessive jargon. You are going to have to be super clear.

7. Cross-ex is for questions not arguments. You will get a lot further with your argumentation if you save it for the speech. I don’t flow cross-ex and usually am working on the ballot during that time.

8. I will vote on topicality if necessary.

9. I will not vote on vagueness unless clarifying questions are asked of the affirmative in cross-examination AND their case becomes a moving target.
10. I will not vote on disclosure theory. Just debate the round.
11. I know that I am old school, but I believe that feeding your partner what to say during their speech or cross-ex makes that partner look weak. Trust your partners. They are smart people.
12. I hate rudeness and will penalize. Don’t put another person down and don’t try to make them look stupid . . . other than that, speaks are based on strategy/arguments, not style/speaking ability. I stick to 27 - 30 for speaker points unless you are rude, condescending, racist, sexist, homophobic, etc.

I am frustrated by excessive tech time (there is a reason that we added prep-time). Please keep a fair track of your time. I don’t want to have to worry about it. But don’t cheat on time.

If you have any questions, ask before the round. I will do my best to give you meaningful feedback about your strengths in the round and how I think you can improve on the ballot.

Best of luck! Have fun! Enjoy! Form connections . . . that’s what debate is all about!

I do not like spreading, unless you are articulate and easy to understand. Enunciate and clarify taglines and authors.

I do not like T or K as a general idea, but if you can give specific links and thoroughly explain how the case is a violation, try it.

I like good argument structure and organization. Speeches should be easy to flow and keep track of.

I like when you answer the arguments in the order it was presented originally-- signpost and roadmap.

I do not like racial/gender theory-- it doesn't matter if you can link it to the case, I think it fundamentally takes away from debate.

I really like good sportsmanship-- duh.

I do not like new arguments being made in the 2NC/2AC. If you are going to be making arguments they need to be brought up in your first constructive.

Signpost, Signpost, SIGNPOST!

pamela.williams@usd428.net

I competed in high school debate in a small 3A school for four years in the late 80’s and competed in college for 2 years in the 90s. I am currently an assistant coach after leaving competitive speech for many years.

I know debate, but my experience is from 20+ years ago, and therefore I prefer an older style of debate.

Important:

1. It is essential to me that you are kind, courteous and respectful to one another and to me. Courtesy is far too undervalued and often overlooked, but I will vote against teams that are discourteous.
2. I must be able to understand what you are saying to me in order to vote for you. If you have good articulation and enunciation when you are speaking quickly, then go for it. That being said, I will not give you points for just saying the most words in the time you have.
3. I expect you to clash. If you have not directly related your evidence block to the argument of the other team, you are not debating. Reading of blocks without making those connections is not clashing and therefore not debating. I want to see summarizing and explanation of how your evidence links to and refutes the opposition's arguments. Prove to me that you understand the evidence you are using well enough to explain why I should care about what it says.
4. Don’t Lie. Do not try to read evidence and then claim it says something else in your summary or explanation. Do not try to cut a few words or phrases that completely change the meaning of the evidence. Do not leave off the last half of the card because it is problematic for your case. If there is an issue with how the evidence is explained, or you are trying to twist the meaning, I will give you a 4 and a loss. Use strong, analytical arguments and you won’t have to lie with your evidence.
5. In my opinion, stacking arguments in an attempt to overwhelm the other team is not good debate. I will flow the round and therefore I will notice when arguments are dropped, but I will also notice when arguments are superfluous.
6. I want you to signpost your arguments. Offtime roadmaps are appreciated.
7. In the final rebuttals, I want you to evaluate what has occurred in the round, explain the voters and remind me why "your team” had the superior arguments.
8. I would like to be included in any email chain or evidence sharing, however unless the evidence is problematic or it seems to have been misused, I am probably not going to spend much time looking at it. (See #4, above)
9. I am not opposed to K’s or Theory arguments but I expect you to be very, very clear about how the argument links. Make me understand how the philosophical or theoretical argument is relevant in this particular debate or I am not going to consider it.
10. Do not present arguments in cross ex. Ask questions, get clarification, and set your partner up to clash.
11. I will vote on topicality if the argument is convincing. I am most likely to vote on stock issues and extending the arguments through. Do not drop an argument and hope I won’t notice. If an argument is dropped by the other team, remind me of that in your final rebuttals.
12. I award speaker points for strategy, understanding of the argument and your ability to explain the argument so I care about it.
13. It is important to me that you pronounce words correctly. If you are mispronouncing the words in your evidence, it indicates to me that you are not familiar with that card. Being able to correctly pronounce the words in your evidence demonstrates your knowledge of the argument you are making.
14. Don’t be a jerk. That includes being condescending to your opponents, racist, sexist, homophobic, etc.
15. You have prep time. As much as possible, all technological maneuvers should be completed during that prep time. When you walk to the podium you should be ready to speak. If you are having tech difficulties, let me know and I will do what I can to accommodate your needs.
16. I am not a fan of vagueness or fairness arguments and will almost always vote against them.

If you have any questions, ask before the round. I will try to give you good, useful feedback on the ballot as well as a clear reason for the decision. I will happily shake your hand before the round, but please don’t try to shake my hand after the round. I want to be focused on the ballot and giving feedback during that time. Be courteous to your opponents and then feel free to leave.

In summary, speed and spread alone won’t get you a W. Clash, summarize, explain, and convince me to care about YOUR position and its importance. Keep reminding me of your position. Ask me to vote for you and give me reasons to do so.