Chapters
Regional chapter of Equality in Forensics offer supportive communities, conduct outreach, advocate for change & reform in their leagues, and host in-person events. Use the dropdown menu above to find your region. If you don't see your region, read how to start or join a growing chapter below.
Current chapters
What do chapters do?
Community Support
Many debaters, schools, and communities have limited access to support and opportunities. Small states are disconnected from the national circuit at large. Low income debaters can't access conventional support, like private coaches or pricy summer camps. Many underfunded teams can't even compete at the same level as established programs in their own league.
Chapters are here to provide one of the only privileges you don't have to pay for: community. Your regional chapter is a large group of nearby speakers and debaters who would love to welcome you into your community.
For example, each chapter has a WhatsApp group that includes every chapter member. This is a fantastic forum to ask questions, receive advice, find out about opportunities, or even organize in-person meet ups!
Resource Outreach
As a national 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, Equality in Forensics can only reach so far. Our conventional methods to promote our resources often fail to reach those teams and competitors who really need them the most. Chapters are often the best way to help debate communities in their entirety, not just those who happen to hear about Equality in Forensics.
Regional Advocacy
Often, regional communities could use a bit more support and structure when it comes to influencing league policy. Students deserve to make their voice heard. Chapters are the perfect platform to consolidate student opinion and make your opinion felt.
In the past, Equality in Forensics chapters have rallied around certain causes. For example, South Florida rallied around the petition to remove the conversion therapy bill from the final round of the state congress championship. Our Idaho chapter advocated against a state proposal to limit the number of tournaments each school in the state league may attend.
In-Person Events
Our chapters rally students around the country to make speech & debate more accessible on a local, state, and national scale. We do this through all sorts of in-person events, such as clothing and tech drives where we collect extra clothes or equipment and distribute them to debaters in need. Chapter members may even simply meet up for dinner after local tournaments to make friends and forge connections!
How can I start a chapter?
Chapter Requirements
6+ active, committed interested members
Members interested in officership
Chapter members from at least 2 different schools
Chapter members from at least 2 different debate leagues within the region
Chapters represent a large regional area: smaller states get a whole chapter (Arizona, Colorado). Larger states are divided (North, Central Florida).
We're ready to start one.
What's next?
Get in touch with our Outreach Director, Eshaan Shaik!
s.eshaan06@gmail.com
Chapters involve a great deal of work and commitment. Each chapter basically functions as a team of competitors from across a region, that serves to uplift each member of the chapter and their schools. Chapter leadership must be deeply invested in the local speech & debate community and committed to improving it through the chapter.
All of a chapter's leadership has a few constant responsibilities:
Chapter leadership meets monthly with the Outreach Director to discuss plans, conduct outreach, improve the chapter
Host a monthly general meeting for the chapter: all chapter members are welcome to join, discuss chapter activities, and get to know each other.
Organize chapter activities! The chapter is yours to run. Get creative. Use your initiative.
When a chapter is first founded by the initial members, the Board of Directors will nominate and select temporary leadership until the next election. This is because it's impossible to run a real election with only a handful of interested people. This will involve a rigorous application and interview process.
Every year in April, chapters elect their leadership for the next year. They elect 3 individuals:
President: Lead and represent the chapter. Take responsibility for chapter activities. Consult and cooperate with the national Board to make speech & debate as accessible as possible.
Vice President: Assist the President in the execution of their duties. Assume the duties of the President if they leave office or are temporarily unavailable.
Secretary: Assist in the administration of the chapter. Record and manage records of chapter membership. Lead and conduct outreach operations for the chapter.
When the chapter is first formed, there are a few critical steps necessary to get the ball rolling.
WhatsApp GC: Chapters use WhatsApp group chats as the base of operations. This is an easy way to accommodate everyone on a single platform for everyone to communicate.
Promotional flyer: Chapter leadership creates a flyer to be distributed at local and state competitions to raise awareness about the chapter and its services.
Outreach plan: Chapter leadership drafts a plan with the Outreach Director to grow the chapter over time. This includes plans to promote the chapter at local competitions
This is just some general information about what being involved with a chapter looks like! If you're interested, we encourage you to get in touch with our Outreach Director about starting a chapter. If there is already a chapter in your region, sign up to join your chapter.