EQUITY

What is equity?

• The Equity Officers manage the social and emotional aspects of a tournament�
• That means ensuring tournaments are safe, inclusive, and enjoyable
• Equity applies for the whole tournament, including socials and at accomodation

EQUITY OFFICERS/CONTACT

[name]

[contact details]

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[name]

[contact details]

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What to avoid

Actions that are inconsistent with equity

Bullying

• The repeated and unreasonable behaviour by an individual or group that is directed towards another individual or group. The nature may be physical or psychological and may involve intimidation.

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Direct Discrimination

• Unreasonably treating an individual or group less favourably than another individual or group on the basis of a protected attribute in similar circumstances.

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Indirect Discrimination

• The unreasonable imposition of conditions/practices that is likely to have the effect of disadvantaging an individual or group.

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Actions that are inconsistent with equity

Harassment (including sexual harassment)

• Any unwelcome, offensive, abusive, belittling or threatening behaviour that humiliates, offends, or intimidates.
• Sexual harassment is any unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favours, or any other unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature.

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Vilification

• The public incitement of hatred, contempt, or severe ridicule of another individual or group.

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Victimisation

• Causing detriment to a person because they have taken part in complaints proceedings.

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Protected attributes

• Age, gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, socio-economic background, disability, medical details

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• Debating ability or institutional affiliation
• Political affiliation or beliefs

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• Religious practices
• Language proficiency
• Race, colour, descent, national or ethnic origin, or ethno-religious background

• Relationship status
• Sexual practices or experience (for example, previous partners or lack thereof)

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Any other attribute where discrimination:

• Causes or perpetuates systemic disadvantage;
• Undermines human dignity; or
• Adversely affects the equal enjoyment of a person’s rights and freedoms in a serious manner that is comparable to discrimination on a protected attribute

Tournament Behaviour

Pronoun introductions

• At the start of each debate, the chair asks everyone to introduce themselves, their role in the debate, and their pronouns.
• Order: Chair → Panelists/Trainees → Affirmative team → Negative team
• For example, “Hi, I’m North, I’m first Aff, I use they/them”
• You do not have to provide pronouns if you don’t want to.�
• Don’t write your speech in a pronoun round
• Please respect everyone’s pronouns in the debate.
• If someone does not provide pronouns, use gender neutral language. �
• If you make a mistake apologise and move on.
• If you are the chair and you notice a mistake, remind the speaker after their speech.

Conduct during debates

• Whisper on the bench, don’t be disruptive to the speaker
• Don’t make outraged faces
• Don’t offer POIs too frequently (minimum of 15 seconds)�
• Don’t insult others or their speeches, instead explain why they’re wrong
• Don’t say “the first speaker was stupid when they said …”�Instead say “the point made by the first speaker is wrong because …”�
• Judges are responsible for maintaining decorum
• Judges should issue a reminder between speeches if someone messes up�

If you have equity concerns about your judge please let the Adj Core know via the judge feedback form as well as the equity team via the equity form.

Language

At university we debate a wide range of topics. It’s easy to accidentally offend people when speaking about sensitive topics. To avoid this:

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• Think about whether you really need to say a slur/offensive idea
• You can refer to things without repeating them
• The burden is on you to justify why whatever you said was necessary in the debate�
• Be careful not to repeat stereotypes
• Generalisations are offensive and unconvincing
• Imagine that a member of that group is in the room with you, they may be without you realising�

Issues occur when people are flippant or dismissive, so pay more attention

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Accent Bias

• Do not dismiss points because of the accent of the speaker
• Having a ‘nice’ accent doesn’t mean you get extra points, or that your material is more important

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Everyone is expected to listen closely so that they can fully understand points even when spoken in an unfamiliar accent

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Social Behaviour

Alcohol and Drugs

• You are expected to manage your alcohol intake�
• Look out for other people
• If you think your friend is drinking too much, talk to them and get them a glass of water�
• Don’t pressure people to drink
• Coining is fun but people are allowed to say no�
• Drugs are illegal
• We don’t suggest you use them, but it's your decision
• If you get in trouble we are here to help, we won’t report you

Sex and Consent

If you want to have sex, you need affirmative consent. We take sexual harassment extremely seriously. Consent must be:

• Freely given Consent must be given without coercion, undue pressure or a power imbalance, or undue influence from drugs and alcohol.
• Informed Everyone should be aware of what they are consenting to.
• Reversible Consent must be ongoing and can be withdrawn at any time.
• Enthusiastic Consent must be willingly and positively given. Not saying ‘no’ is not enough, they must say ‘yes’.
• Specific Consent for one activity does not imply consent for other activities.�

At tournaments we are in shared accommodation, you are probably not used to that. If you want to have sex you need the consent of everyone in the room, not just the person you’re having sex with.

Community Expectations

The equity officers can’t be everywhere. Creating an enjoyable and safe community is everyone’s responsibility. If an incident happens you should follow the 5 D’s:

• Disrupt If you feel safe, call out bad behaviour in the moment (Chairs may call order when there is loud table tapping, you may ask someone to leave your friend alone)
• Distract Try to diffuse the situation by directing attention elsewhere (for example, starting up a separate conversation with the victim, asking if they would like to come visit the bathroom/get some water, changing the conversation topic)
• Debrief Check in on the person who was impacted after the event has occurred, ask them if they're okay and what you can do to support.
• Document Take note of the event that has occurred, so you can inform someone later.
• Delegate Approach a trusted person to ask for help.

Complaints

Complaint form

If any issues come up, at any time fill out the form.

The equity officers check it frequently and they will get in touch with you

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The link to this should also have been shared with your squad chat. It’s also on the Facebook page/Google drive

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You can also submit an anonymous question and we will answer it publicly.

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[QR code goes here]

[Link to form goes here]

When to raise a complaint

• Any time you think the conditions we explained have been breached
• If you’re the victim
• If someone else was targeted
• If there wasn’t a specific victim but it was still concerning (it may be part of a pattern)�
• Equity applies during the whole tournament�
• Examples
• Sexist jokes
• Not respecting boundaries while they’re drunk
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Informal issues

Sometimes an issue comes up that you don’t feel is on the level of a formal complaint. For example, dicey jokes, or unintentional behaviour.

Come talk to us and we can help you navigate that social situation.

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We’re also here if you’re feeling down

Formal Complaints

• If you believe someone has breached the equity policy or an incident has happend and you get in touch with us, we will:
• Talk to you about what we can do to help
• Ask if you want to continue�
• If you wish to progress the complaint we will:
• Speak with the complainant to obtain full details of the complaint
• Speak with anyone involved with the complaint (including the individual complained about)
• Determine if a breach of equity has occurred

Options

• You can have a representative
• A friend
• Someone from your campus exec�
• You can report anonymously
• Note that we won’t be able to do as much�
• You can stop the process at any time
• Don’t be afraid to report someone because you’ll harm them. In most cases people aren’t intending to cause harm and appreciate the heads up
• We will protect you from any retribution

Resolution

• After a breach has been identified the equity team may do any/all of the following:
• Make an announcement to the whole tournament
• Issue a warning to them
• Request an apology
• Bring the relevant participants together to talk
• Explain the complaint to them and have a discussion about why it was found that they were infringing on equity�
• In serious cases the equity team may recommend further action be taken, such as:
• Removal from the tab
• Expulsion from the tournament
• Contacting authorities

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