Bauman,+Scott

For Meadows 2014:

I’m a parent judge and this is my first time judging at a debate tournament. I did policy debate in high school though (although it was more than 30 years ago), so I’m probably best at adjudicating util debates, though I’m definitely not up to date with current trends.

If you spread, I will not be able to understand you. Therefore, I strongly suggest that you don’t speak much faster than normal conversational speed. If your opponent spreads, while you may feel the need to spread as well in order to respond to all of his/her arguments, you should avoid doing that. If I can understand the arguments of one of you, but not the other, guess which one of you is going to win the round?

I will do my best to flow and evaluate the round. However, you should be wary of running any theory or complex frameworks, because I’m not going to be familiar with most of them. If you use those things, you will need to clearly explain them to me. In other words, don’t use LD jargon and expect that I will know what you are talking about.

I do not like disrespectful, arrogant, racist or sexist behavior by any debaters. If you engage in such behavior, it will be reflected in lower speaker points.

If the round is a tie, I will vote for the negative, absent compelling arguments to the contrary.