Judge Expectations
The judge in the room is there primarily as an educator. Although not all judges are literally teachers/educators, in the context of a debate round they do take on this role. While they are obviously in the room to make a competitive assessment of the round, they are also in place to provide education to the students in that room, with all that entails. As educators, their obligations include making informed and reasoned critical determinations, insuring that the rounds remain within the boundaries of an acceptable educational experience, and that they themselves, as the authority pro tem, conduct the proceedings in a professional manner.
New judges should familiarize themselves with training materials before the tournament. Many of these materials are available here: http://www.debatecoaches.org/tournament-directors-toolkit/
As the authority in place, it is the judge’s responsibility for the rounds to proceed in a timely fashion. Judges need to be in the rooms at the posted start time. This means that, in cases of paper ballots, that they have their ballots in hand before they arrive. When a tournament is using e-ballots, this means clicking start when (and not before) all the competitors are in place. If the competitors aren’t in the room at the start time, the tab room should be notified. Debaters should start debating within five minutes of the posted start time.
At the end of the rounds, debaters deserve meaningful, educational critiques. But to keep the tournament moving, all critiques should take place after ballots have been entered/sent to tab, and should take no longer than 10 minutes. If a judge has more to say than can fit into this time period, it can be added to the ballot later. It only takes one missing judge, team or decision to throw an entire tournament off schedule.
While debate is at its core a free speech activity, it is the judge’s obligation as the educator in the room to check certain activities (physical assault, use of pornographic materials or actions, etc.) that go beyond the boundaries of acceptability in a high school environment. These are usually clearly delineated in (and easily inferred from) the students’ own high school’s rules handbook.
Judges have an implicit contract with the tournament to act according to the sense of this document. Judges whose behavior is unacceptable (missed rounds, late rounds, inappropriate behavior) will be fined and/or removed from the tournament. Hired judges will not be paid, and school judges will be charged the full cost of a judge replacement or, in extreme cases, asked to leave the tournament.