High School Debate Judge Lila Lavender “Before Anything Else, Including Being a Debate Judge, I am a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist” (Video)
Briana V. Whatley
The National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) is the largest interscholastic speech and debate organization serving middle school and high school students in the United States. It claims to “provide recognition and support for high school students participating in speech and debate activities.”
Despite posturing that they envision a world in which every school provides speech and debate programs to foster communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creative skills, at least one judge at NSDA, Lila Lavender, seems more focused on her own political agenda than fairly weighing debate arguments.
Student Briana Whatley shared that she left NSDA because of judges like Lavender.
Whatley said, “Imagine that you’re a high school debater. You are walking into your debate round to find out that Lila Lavender,
