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This year's WFI had a panel of guest coaches gather together to talk about conditionality and the status of counterplans. Our amazing guests included:
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The “Western Series” seeks to spotlight online tournaments that are accessible and ensure high-quality judging. Our goal is to make it easy for coaches across the country to find online tournaments they can afford, but that will still be professionally run and high quality. Thus, UW will seek to sanction a few tournaments a semester as “Western Series” tournaments. Our hope is this will be a helpful resource for coaches navigating an evolving online tournament environment, especially those whose programs are interested in dipping their toes into national circuit debate. Announcing the 2022-23 Western Series: The Ivy Street Invitational (hosted by the Marist School), 9/24-26 Westminster, 10/15-17 The Heart of Texas Invitational (host by St. Mark's), 10/21-24 [Hybrid] The Spartan Classic (hosted by Michigan State University), 12/2-4 The Conway Classic (hosted by Gonzaga University), 1/6-7 [Hybrid] The Stanford Invitational aka Palm Classic, 2/11-13 The Digital Speech and Debate Series #2 (hosted by the University of Kentucky), 2/24-26 Tournament Details The Ivy Street Invitational Date: 9/24-26 Host: The Marist School Modality: Online Events: Policy, PF, LD Policy TOC bid: Finals Entry fees: $30 Policy and PF. $20 LD Independent entries: yes Westminster Date: 10/15-17 Modality: Online Events: Policy Policy TOC bid: Semis Entry fees: $20 Independent entries: no The Heart of Texas Invitational Date: 10/21-24 Host: St. Mark's School of Texas Modality: Hybrid Events: Policy, LD Policy TOC bid: Octos Entry fees (online): $50 Independent entries: no The Spartan Classic Date: 12/2-4 Host: Michigan State University Modality: Online Events: Policy, Congress Entry fees: $25 Policy, $10 Congress Independent entries: case-by-case The Conway Classic Date: 1/6-7 Host: Gonzaga University Modality: Hybrid Events: Policy, LD, PF, Congress, Individual Events Policy TOC bid: Semis Entry fees: TBD (updated fee structure posted on website by early fall) The Stanford Invitational aka Palm Classic Date: 2/11-13 Modality: Online Events: Congressional Debate, LD, Parliamentary, Policy, PF, Speech (All), World Schools Policy TOC bid: Semis Entry fees: $100 with a 100% fee waiver to at-need schools upon expression of need Independent entries: yes The Digital Speech and Debate Series #2 Date: 2/24-25 Host: University of Kentucky Modality: Online Events: Congress, LD, PF, Policy, Speech Policy TOC bid: Quarters Entry fees: TBD (aiming for $25/student) Independent entries: yes *Honorable Mentions* The Damus Hollywood Invitational (hosted by Notre Dame High School), 11/11-13. This tournament has a limited hybrid division- apply soon to ensure you get in if you're looking to compete online! Events include policy, LD, and WSD. This is an excellent tournament that is professionally run, has great judging and MPJ, and won't gouge you. It does not allow independent entries. The Urban Debate Dragon Invitational (hosted by DC International), 11/11-13. This hybrid tournament offers Policy Debate divisions and promises affordability and accessibility. Entry fees have not yet been locked and independent entries will be on a case-by-case basis. First and Second Year Nationals hosted by Woodward Academy, 3/17-19. We decided to only announce regular season tournaments as Western Series tournaments, but Woodward's First and Second Year National Championship is an excellent tournament that will either be online or hybrid (Policy, LD, PF). It will likely $50 per entry, and independent entries are not allowed. The Digital Speech and Debate Series hosted by the University of Kentucky. We have announced their second tournament (2/24-25) as a Western Series tournament, however they will also be hosting on 12/2-4 (semis bid) and 3/10-12 (quarters bid).  The end of the year always leaves us mulling over the big questions in debate. This year, we invite you to join us in doing the same. We invited prominent debate coaches, judges, and college debaters to respond to any item that interested them from a short list of questions about debate. We tried to center the conversation around eternal controversies, contemporary controversies, or things people would want advice on, but we practically invited our guest writers to run wild with their hot takes on debate.
Below the fold you'll find responses to these questions by Evan Alexis, Eliza Buckner, Cody Crunkilton, Nate Glancy, Lauren Ivey, Matt Liu, David Rooney, and Jasmine Stidham. Author: Lawrence Zhou, University of Wyoming debate coach & head lab leader for the Lincoln-Douglas lab of the Wyoming Forensic Institute
The Lincoln-Douglas lab is a one week session for students of all experience levels. It will be taught by Lawrence Zhou. This lab is oriented around success at the local, regional, and national levels. There are three guiding principles that will guide the curriculum:
Author: Lawrence Zhou, University of Wyoming & WYVA debate coach
The following essay is adapted from a presentation given at the Wyoming High School Forensics Association’s Fall 2021 Conference. Introduction In Part I of this essay series, we covered what the value criterion actually is. In Part II, we explored three common mistakes often seen in more traditional circuits as it pertains to the value criterion. In Part III, we will cover the state of contemporary criterion debate, why I find it subpar, and ways we can improve it. In particular, I think there are five things that make contemporary criterion debate abysmal.
Read the rest after the fold! Author: Lawrence Zhou, University of Wyoming & WYVA debate coach
The following essay is adapted from a presentation given at the Wyoming High School Forensics Association’s Fall 2021 Conference. Introduction In Part I of this essay series, we covered what the value criterion actually is. In Part II, we will explore three common mistakes often seen in more traditional circuits as it pertains to the value criterion. I strongly suggest that readers begin with Part I as many of the answers to these questions assume familiarity with the concepts in Part I. These common mistakes commonly signal that debaters don’t understand what the role of the value criterion is and can sometimes even hurt debaters strategically in round. This article continues below the fold... Author: Lawrence Zhou, University of Wyoming & WYVA debate coach
The following essay is adapted from a presentation given at the Wyoming High School Forensics Association’s Fall 2021 Conference. Introduction The purpose of this series of essays is twofold. First, I think that the value criterion is often poorly debated in local debate leagues. I think that is both painful to witness as a judge but also is a strategic error as debaters are forfeiting valuable opportunities to leverage their arguments in ways that pose serious threats for their opponents. Second, I think Lincoln-Douglas (LD) debate is a unique venue to teach philosophical concepts that most students will never get the chance to explore until their undergraduate studies. Nebel et al. write (2013) that “competitive LD debate as it is currently practiced brings students into contact with a considerable diversity of philosophical questions” and that “LD debate provides a unique way of appreciating the connections between different areas of philosophical investigation.” Being able to parse through complex philosophical concepts teaches a unique form of thinking that most other subjects are not able to impart. I think, pedagogically speaking, there is good reason for educators to demand higher quality debate about the value criterion. This series will be organized into three essays, published in three parts. Part I will provide a brief overview of the value criterion and its proper function. Part II will cover three common misconceptions about the value criterion and explain why these mistakes are so damaging. Part III will cover five worrisome trends in contemporary traditional LD debate and ways to correct or reverse these trends. This essay continues below the fold... UW has made a few changes to our hosting schedule for this year. We'll still be hosting four high school tournaments for the 2021-22 season. The date of the UWRR and High School Tournament changed by one weekend (the second weekend in December instead of the first), and we added an LD division to the UWRR. The UWRR (12/9-10): The UW Round Robin is our policy and LD debate round robin for Wyoming teams only. **We have added an LD division this year.** The showcase debates will be online, have no fees, and no judging requirement. Compete to win the Sandy S. Patrick Trophy! Please express an interest in entering directly to Matt Liu (mliu6@uwyo.edu). Note: if the UW HS Tournament is in-person, the Round Robin will likely move to January and remain online. The UW High School Tournament (12/10-11): all events welcome, this tournament is focused on local Wyoming debate. This tournament will tentatively be online and will have no entry fees. The Western Series @ UW (2/11-13): a tournament for LD and policy debaters. The Western Series is our take on bridging local and national circuit debate in an accessible, high-quality forum. This tournament will have no fees for anyone in the Mountain West. More details can be found here or on the Tabroom page. The Western States All-Stars (4/29-30): this is our regional policy debate championship. It is a round robin format with two pods. This tournament will be online, have no fees, and no judging requirement. Compete to win the Western States traveling trophy! [Pictured: last year's UWRR and Western States winners with the respective traveling trophies]
Beginning this year, the Wyoming Forensics Institute will operate an open book policy. We promise the community that we run our camp revenue-neutral, with a focus on serving students and the community rather than funding our college team. Our open book policy is a way of demonstrating the veracity of that promise.
You can find a copy of our books here. We try to run the camp as close to revenue-neutral as possible. In 2021, extraordinary circumstances diminished interest in a second year of online debate camp, particularly at regional camps and particularly while the rest of the world seemed to be opening up. Rather than cutting our staff with little notice during a pandemic, we decided to extend additional financial assistance to students in order fill our labs to the student-instructor ratio we were comfortable with. Thus, to sustain regional interest in debate, we extended a significant number of tuition waivers. This was made possible by a year of online debate and is not expected to be possible again in the future. Additionally, we will be disclosing the salary of all staff members who opt-in to disclosure. This year, that includes 100% of our staff. You can find that in the same link above. UW Debate supports a model where camps disclose salary guidelines and the specific salaries offered to each staff member. The goal is to prevent gendered and racialized salary differences by embracing transparency. This year's WFI had a panel of guest coaches to talk about the States Counterplan on the water resources topic (and beyond). Our amazing guests included:
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