Equality in Forensics February 9th Newsletter
While we won't offer chocolates this Valentine's, we will offer complimentary resources for all!
The month of romance, big national tournaments, and the Superbowl is here. While 2025 isn’t a leap year, here at Equality in Forensics, we want to help all grow by leaps and bounds as the spring season tournaments roar to life! For those just joining, we are a nonprofit student-run organization committed to providing an equitable Speech and Debate experience for all competitors out there.
In this Newsletter, we will first cover our staff’s success at Emory, updates on scrimmages and close out with weekly scrimmages and publications.
“Be a little kinder than you have to.”
-E. Lockhart
Emory Success
Towards the end of January, Equality in Forensics members competed at the prestigious Barkley Forum hosted by Emory University, congratulations to our Congressional Finalists Swathi - 2nd, Ryon - 4th, Emilie - 5th, Amber - 6th, CJ - 9th Pranika - 10th, and Grace - 11th for their outstanding performance.
Additional congratulations to our Extemp Finalists Sasha - 4th and Charlotte - 3rd for their great success as well!
Scrimmage Update
Our 14th free scrimmage has concluded. Congratulations to Pranav Garigipati for winning Congress and Theo Campen, Sumit Datta, and Ian Cheng for winning Extemp! And to all the LD debaters that won their rounds! Congrats to our top speaker Anna Dong.
We will host our fifteenth free online scrimmage on Tuesday January 28th at 8 PM EST for extemp and congress. 8:30 for PF and LD We will be offering PF for the first time! Congress Bill: A Bill to Impose a Sugar Tax Extemp Topic Area: Domestic Affairs of the People’s Republic of China LD Topic: Jan/Feb: Resolved: The United States ought to become party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and/or the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. PF: Jan topic of:
Resolved: The African Union should grant diplomatic recognition to the Republic of Somaliland as an independent state.
Weekly Publications
Blog- In this week’s edition of the Equality In Forensics Blog, read about how Speech and Debate extends beyond the competition, and how the community around us is just as crucial
"The point is: you cannot go it alone, and neither can anyone else. One of the major appeals of speech and debate is the connections you can make and the friendships you can create between you and your fellow competitors. There are so many wonderful people to meet at each tournament, so why not take a break from the isolation and meet some of them?"
Competition and Camaraderie—Josephine Gilbert
Red Folder — Our February 3rd publication was full of shocking news, so time to read up with our weekly publications! In domestic news, read about continuing misinformation on Covid-19, how the US government is torn over an AI investment, tariffs being imposed on Mexico and Canada, and an end to the federal funding freeze. In international news, read about brand new AI company Deepseek, the future of the Liberal party in Canada, the decline of ECOWAS, and a power shift in the DRC's civil war.
Access the Red Folder and keep up with all our breaking news updates and weekly briefs at redfoldernews.org. and on Instagram at @redfoldernews!
Conclusion
The world is rapidly changing, sometimes in life it feels like we just scored a touchdown, others, like we just missed a game winning field goal, but despite the challenges that come your way, Equality in Forensics is here to make your Speech and Debate experience a little bit sweeter!
Brought to you by Charlie Hui and the rest of the Equality in Forensics Team