Our Blog: From Words to Actions

Speech and debate is an activity that we all know and love. We spend countless hours researching, prepping, writing, practicing, and stressing over our performances. Some of us face adversity at every step, some of us don’t, but we all push through because of how much this activity means to us, and to our futures. Speech and debate is more than just something to put on your resume, it actively teaches life skills like presentation, work ethics, and how to act in a professional setting. Speech and debate relies heavily on the students who participate in the club, however, in the actual organizations like the NSDA and CFL it is mostly adults making the decisions. This is not to say that there is no place for adults in forensics; coaches, advisors and every other adult are essential to maintaining the integrity of forensics and making sure these organizations function, but there needs to be a student presence as well. This is exactly the reason why student-run non profit organizations for speech and debate are so important: to provide a space where students can express their opinions and affect real change inside the activity we all love so much. 

I bet you can all see where this is going, so let's take a look at one organization in particular which has spread to speech and debaters all over the country and given them a voice: Equality in Forensics. Equality in Forensics is entirely student run, meaning it is a speech and debate organization that is not only for competitors, it is created by them. Equality in Forensics doesn’t just provide resources and community, it also gives students a far reaching platform to discuss the issues in our space that are important to them, through this very blog you are reading now. The Equality in Forensics blog now numbers at 50 articles stretching over a variety of topics, from the argument over progressive debate, to sexism, to the burden of coaches, to AI, to classism, to accountability, and everything in between. The blog showcases exactly why speech and debate matters: it creates well spoken, passionate students who are willing to fight for what they believe in. Every article is written by someone involved in speech and debate, whether its competitors, alumni or someone else entirely, the thing that brings it all together is a shared love for an interest and a desire to not only address problems, but provide solutions to create meaningful change in our community.

Speech and debate is an amazing activity, but it is not free of its faults. There are many injustices within our community, and while it might be easier to turn a blind eye, change doesn’t happen without people who speak up. Those very people are the ones who write these articles. They take the resources at their disposal and use them to try and make a difference. If even one person sees your article and feels seen, if even one person sees your article and decides to make a change to their behavior to help others, if even one person sees your article and decides to write their own, than you have succeeded as a blog writer and I can guarantee that, even if we don’t know it, every article has had an impact on at least one person. 

When it comes to my experience, Equality in Forensics has given me a platform to speak on issues that are important to me, such as the frustration of untrained judges, not just venting but providing solutions to those problems. It also allows me to see what is important to others, to see the struggles of people who do different events and live in different places and to look at what I can do to be a part of the solution. Far too often this world is focused on the negative, the problems, but not the solutions. The EIF blog is working to change that for the better and promote solution oriented thinking within the leaders of tomorrow.

Speech and debaters learn unique critical thinking skills through our events but too often struggle with figuring out how to apply that to the real world. We learn about injustices and issues and often feel powerless to change them, but by providing a platform for student speech and solutions, Equality in Forensics teaches students how to problem solve, and how to use their knowledge to help those around them. Articles such as The Impact on Attire in Speech and Debate by Athena Tian and The Extemp Rule Change Won’t Work, What Will? by Sasha Morel and Docket Group Chats are Still Harmful to Congress by Nicholas Ostheimer exemplify this through their solutions based commentary on issues important to the authors. The articles aren’t focused on the problem at hand, but instead ways to fix the issues and improve the speech and debate space. 

I joined the EIF team at the beginning of the year and got my first taste of what it's like to have people actually listen to what I have to say. My first article was about how misogyny causes women to quit debate, and having that published is like nothing I had ever experienced before. People who I’ve never even met were reading my ideas and thinking about my solutions. People who I’ve never even met were changing their behaviors because of me just writing some words on a website. For example, after that article was posted a friend of mine from another circuit reached out to explain how he never realized the struggle for women in debate, because where he’s from there are more female debaters than male. He was shocked to hear how women can be treated in this space and asked me what he could do to make the space more accessible for women. He didn’t just acknowledge the problem, he decided to try and be part of the solution. 

I believe that is something we all need in this world, to be shocked by uncomfortable truths but comforted by a solution, something we as individuals can do to make the speech and debate space better for someone else. That’s the importance of the Equality in Forensics blog. 

So next time you go to a tournament and see something you want to talk about, write an article. Write about a solution. Be a catalyst for the change you want to see.