Pamela+Bowman

Pam Bowman – George Mason University This is the last tournament of the year and you are the ones debating, not me. Off the top of my head I can’t think of any argument or style of debate that I will refuse to listen to or vote on, except if there is a clear objection that is voiced during the debate about an argument that is particularly offensive or demeaning. That being said, you should say what you want to, and I will not dismiss any genre of argument based on my own predispositions. Other things to know: --Every argument has a counter argument, and if you don’t want me to default to my own opinion of “that makes sense to me,” you need to be clear about defending and weighing those two choices. --I appreciate good case debate, and in my opinion those are the best and most enjoyable debates to listen to. --Theory arguments need to be explained beyond a string of 50, 3-word blips that don’t get hashed out until the last two rebuttals. --I read cards after the debate if I need to, but I won’t use the warrants in the cards to make arguments or connections for you. That is your job. --I will vote on critical arguments, and I read them frequently when I was debating. But know that the past few years I have been working in Washington DC in a district where I have heard very few of them, I have not personally read/heard any of the new literature on these issues, and my work in politics has kept me focused on researching a more “policy oriented” view of the past two topics. Framework debates are also essential as to how I evaluate these arguments and how they function during the debate. --A good CX is a factor in assigning speaker points.
 * 1) years judged college : 3
 * 2) tournaments this year: 10
 * 3) rounds judged: 40+