O'Brien,+Keith

I haven’t judge a debate round in nearly 10 years. That being said, I have ample experience as a debater and coach. I have debated and judged hundreds of rounds. I was a policy debater for Central Valley High School, and then debated policy for Gonzaga University from 2000-2003. During my tenure at Gonzaga, I was an assistant debate coach at CVHS, focusing mostly on policy debate, for five years.

In addition to my experience in the debate realm, I have an academic background in public policy with a Master’s Degree in Public Policy and Administration from Northwestern University.

I don’t feel like I need separate philosophies for LD and Policy. For me, I consider myself to be a tab judge—I have a clean slate. I will consider any argument or position. Theory, kritiks, plans/counter plans (in LD) are fine. For LD debaters, please know that I am not used to seeing these arguments in LD so it may take a bit more time for you to explain them in the context of LD. Any argument or position is persuasive to me if I understand their relevance, how they further the discussion of the resolution and why they should be voted on.

It is the debater’s job to be persuasive— and explain to me what should be voted on. It is my job to be open to what they have to say. It is not my job, however, to make arguments, assumptions or conclusions for debaters.

Should neither side provide a way to evaluate the round and help me understand what to vote on, I have a tendency to fall back to traditional evaluative methods. For LD debate, that is the value and voting criteria. For policy debate, that is an examination of the impacts of the round to determine whether the affirmative’s plan should be adopted.

Flowing is very important to me. As a tab judge, I follow the flow to examine my decision. If it’s not on the flow, it didn’t happen. That means that it’s important to make clear extensions. I can handle speed, but it has been a long time. If I can’t understand you I’ll tell you once to slow down.

A few other things to note: - Flex- Use your CX for questions, not for extra prep. CX is a very important part of a debate. I will not allow it to be used as additional prep time. - If you are paperless, I will time flashing. - I intentionally communicate non-verbally in a round. I nod my head if I understand what you’re saying, if I noticeably drop my pen and am not writing it means I can’t understand and have stopped flowing you. - Be nice and respectful of each other. We’re here to further an academic discussion; learn from each other. Anger, frustration and a lack of professionalism have no place in an academic setting.