Equity and Diversity

Equity means being fair and impartial.  Specifically in debate, equity means assuring that debaters, judges, and spectators are all comfortable with what is being discussed.  While debate is about challenging controversial topics, the UBCDS wants to make clear the distinction between pushing boundaries and inflicting harm or offense. 

Access Fund

The Access Fund is a sum of money set aside to ensure that an individual’s ability to attend a tournament is not inhibited by financial capability. Any member of the UBCDS is eligible to apply to utilize the Access fund. In order to do so, an individual must have been selected to receive funding to go to a determined tournament by the tournament-specific selection committee. Club funding during the 2018/2019 year is between 50-80% of travel and registration costs. If you are unable to afford the 20-50% of the travel and registration costs not covered by the UBCDS, you may apply to use the Access Fund by sending an email to diversity@ubcdebate.com with a brief explanation of how much funding you need and where the it is going, before the tournament takes place. Funding cannot be given retroactively and receipts must be submitted. Funding for an individual may not exceed the total cost of travel and may not be used for personal purchases, including, but not limited to, food.

Equity Policy

Below is a copy of our equity policy, which is released during all tournaments we host. Despite being tournament specific, however, we abide by this policy and principles underlying it at all UBCDS events, including meetings and socials. If you feel as though you may have an equity complaint, it is always better to err on the side of caution, so we encourage you to contact one of our Equity & Diversity Officers (Lai Wei and Aashton Vinay) by emailing equity@ubcdebate.com.