Holsted,+Philip

Philip Holsted Heritage Hall - '11 Northwestern University - '15

Just for some background, I debated for 4 years at Heritage Hall high school for 2 years at Northwestern University. Basically I am willing to listen to and vote on almost anything. I try my best to only evaluate what is said in the round and not let any of my own preferences influence the outcome. Since that is rather vague, here are some specifics:

T – I think that the aff should have a plan text that directly relates to the resolution. I also tend to think that debate is a good thing and that it is good for education. Convincing me otherwise is difficult but not impossible. This does not mean that I will make arguments for the other team - if they do not properly respond to your argument, I will vote for you.

Ks – Ks are fine. I have read them throughout my debate career, and I'm pretty comfortable with most well-known Ks. I always prefer to hear a specific K with good links to the plan and advantages over some shady link of omission that you dug up from your backfiles because you think the other team won't have answers

CPs – once again, it is always better to be specific, but. overall, if you can justify it feel free to read it. PICs are fine (if you can find an aff team that actually takes a stance on enough things for one to be competitive), but I generally tend to be a bit more skeptical about things such as Consult in terms of competition (of course these differences are on the margin not huge personal biases against these args)

DAs – always a safe strategy. i think that it is possible for the aff to win 0% risk of a DA, but the more likely scenario is that I give the DA a lower risk but still evaluate some of the impact

Theory – conditionality is fine, but i will not kick a CP for you unless the 2nr gives warranted reasons why i should and it is not responded to well by the aff. I see most other theory arguments as reasons to reject the argument and not the team or reasons why the perm on certain CPs can be justified.

feel free to ask me any questions you may have