here - College of Arts & Sciences - Bethel University

Grace, Jeremy
Rice Univ.
Background of the critic:
Judging, coaching, and competing since 1983.
Parli, LD, & IE background.
Approach of the critic to decision-making (for example, adherence to the trichotomy,
stock-issues, policymaker, tabula rasa, etc.):
I attempt to base my decision on how the debaters argue I should decide; I avoid using
my own decision-making philosophy as much as possible but will if the round demands
it, ergo, no one gives me a criteria. There are many cases where this might be necessary:
If asked to use my ballot politically for example, or if both sides fail to give me a clear
mechanism for voting, or if I know something to be factually incorrect (if you are lying).
In these cases I try to stay out of the decision as much as I can but I don’t believe in the
idea that any living person is really a blank slate or a sort of argument calculator.
No one is tabula rasa. I can think in different ways so policy, fact, or value is fine with
me.
Relative importance of presentation/communication skills to the critic in decision-making
:
Speak well and do not be rude. It is more difficult to give you a win if you are not
likeable or professional.
Relative importance of on-case argumentation to the critic in decision-making:
Weigh the MPX. That being said, this is not a race to count body bags. REALLY! How
will corn subsidies to lead to nuclear war in Iceland Please attempt to avoid making
absolutely ridiculous claims.
The argument’s weight depends on how strong it is. I think line-by-line vs. "big picture"
is an artificial divide anyway. This can vary by round. I would say you need to deal with
all the line-by-line stuff but should not fail to frame things (do the big picture work) for
me as well. It’s pretty rare that I vote on one response but it’s equally rare that I will vote
on the most general level of the ideas.
Openness to critical/performative styles of debating:
If you "perform" I will judge you on the actual quality of the performance. Perform away,
but if you drop all case you will probably lose.
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