Tournament Wide Expectations and Policies

--Expectations for competitive integrity: The Barkley Forum for High Schools believes that competitive
integrity is more important than competitive success. We also believe firmly that every participant has
the right to participate in a respectful, safe, and supportive environment. We expect that every
competitor, judge, coach and observer will engage in a spirit of fair and affirming competition and will
act in good faith to preserve the integrity of the tournament. We expect participants to abide by the
honor codes and integrity policies of their represented academic institutions. We expect that no
participants will lie, cheat, steal or otherwise undermine the fairness of the tournament and that all
participants will hold themselves to the highest standards of honesty and integrity in competition. In
events with disclosure, honest disclosure is expected. Your participation in the Barkley Forum for
High Schools indicates that you understand these expectations and will abide by them.

--All invitations to and memberships of the tournament are contingent on each coach, judge, and student
comporting themselves in a manner that is respectful of others at the tournament. Disrespectful
behavior towards judges, tab room staff, or students will not be tolerated and may result in dismissal
from the tournament and/or a school’s membership being revoked.

--We have immense respect for the educators who make speech and debate programs available in schools, the schools who support those speech and debate programs, and the students who have put in the hard work required to attend the Barkley Forum for High Schools. In order to respect all of these entities, we have these policies and procedures in place:

1. To stay true to the founding principle of the Barkley Forum for High Schools – to encourage the
development of high-quality forensics programs at high schools around the country – the
tournament will only accept applications from students representing their high schools; as a
result, no hybrid teams are allowed. No independent entries will be allowed, and no entries
representing entities other than high schools will be allowed. Rare exceptions to this policy
may be made at the discretion of the tournament director. If you would like to request an
exception, please email Mikaela Malsin at emorybfhs@gmail.com to describe your situation.
2. If a student is not accompanied by their debate coach to the tournament, they must have a hard
copy of a letter on school letterhead from the school’s administration indicating the student has
permission to compete on behalf of the school. If the student is not able to provide the letter
upon request during the tournament, tournament administration reserves the right to remove the
student from the competition and forfeit all previous rounds.
3. If students qualify to participate in the tutorials (i.e., clear), they are expected to be available
through the final exhibition round to respect their opponents and the participants who will learn
from their performance. If a student must leave the tournament and cannot participate in a
tutorial or exhibition round for which they have qualified, they will forfeit their award and all
rounds. Special circumstances may lead to rare exceptions to this rule at the tournament
director’s discretion. We are providing this information so you may make your travel plans
accordingly.
4. Unless approved by the tournament director, if you choose not to participate in a tutorial or
exhibition, you forfeit all previous rounds. We will submit your results reflecting no wins/last
place in each round to the TOC, NIETOC, and other entities to whom we provide results.
5. In order for the tournament to function effectively, if you know there will be circumstances that
will require you to leave prior to the conclusion of the tournament, please let us know as soon as
you are aware of these circumstances.

--All participating students are required to submit this Release of Liability form and have a legal
guardian signature if under 18. Forms should be completed and submitted by January 16, 2026 at 11:59
EST. Coaches will be able to see who has filled them out on tabroom.

--Participating schools assume any and all responsibility and liability for both student and adult
participants from their schools and by registering attest that an adult will be present at the
tournament and will assume all responsibility for the school’s students. Additionally, while Emory
will be conducting background checks on all judges we provide, all judges provided by the schools must
have completed a successful background check conducted by the schools.

--Entourage Rule: Anyone providing coaching or research support for any contestants in the Pelham
Debates, Public Forum, or LD should be entered in the judge pool for a minimum of 2 rounds (4 flights,
if applicable) and be available to judge elimination debates. Anyone providing coaching or research
support for any contestants in Congressional Debate must be entered as a judge and available for
elimination debates. If there is a reason someone requires an exception, they should reach out to
tournament administrators prior to the tournament for approval. Should a school violate the entourage
rule, debaters in LD and Pelham will lose prefs for two rounds, teams in Public Forum will lose strikes
for two rounds, and schools with Congressional Debaters will be fined the fee for an uncovered judge.

--Please make sure all judges and students are informed about the tournament’s Title IX policy, which is
available here and linked on tabroom.

--We require that all judges, coaches, and participating students have an established, functional
Tabroom.com account - including a cell phone number listed.

--At the final awards ceremony on Sunday evening, we will be presenting the results and awards from all
final rounds as well as the top 5 speakers in Pelham and Public Forum.

--It is an expectation of the tournament that students will accurately represent material read during
speeches. In order to ensure compliance, students may record their opponents’ speeches. It is the
responsibility of coaches to ensure that their debaters and parents understand this tournament
requirement and complete the paperwork necessary to ensure compliance with applicable state laws.

--If participants enter spaces the Barkley Forum is not using for rounds (professor offices,
classrooms that are not on the pairing), they will be disqualified.

--Generative Artificial Intelligence -
--in events in which speeches must be the original created work of a competitor (OO, Informative,
Extemp, Impropmptu) students are prohibited from quoting or paraphrasing text directly from
generative AI sources. Generative AI should not be cited as a source. The exception is that a
student delivering a speech about the topic of AI may quote AI to illustrate their points about AI,
in accordance with existing quoted word limits. While generative AI may be used to guide
students to articles, ideas, and sources, the original source of any quoted or paraphrased evidence
must be available if requested.
--In debate events, generative AI should not be cited as a source; while generative AI may be used
to guide students to articles, ideas, and sources, the original source of any quoted or paraphrased
evidence must be available if requested.
--In Interpretation events, students are prohibited from performing material created by generative
AI sources. Generative AI should not be used as a source of material; while generative AI may
be used to guide students to articles, ideas, and material, the original source of any material that
is performed must be available if requested.

--NEW: Dr. Ed Lee, Emory College of Arts and Sciences’ Senior Director of Conflict Management and
Organizational Logistics and Senior Director Emeritus of The Barkley Forum, will serve as the Director
of Tournament Standards and Practices during the tournament should our guests have an issue,
concern or complaint that cannot be resolved by the event tab room personnel. For the past several
years, we have offered the services of the Emory University Ombuds Office, and when we explored the
underutilization of that resource, we realized that tournament patrons were still contacting tab rooms
directly regarding conflicts around policies and practices of the tournament. We decided to create a new
structure where Ed will work in partnership with the event tab rooms to manage those particular issues.
The tab room director will connect concerned parties to Ed, and he will work with tournament patrons
by listening and offering a flexible range of options for addressing issues and concerns informally.
Please note that Ed is a mandatory reporter for Title IX related complaints. His role is to mitigate
conflict that might arise from tournament policies and practices, but he is not a decision maker regarding
event tabulation; that role is filled by each event’s tab room directors.

--NEW: In addition to their competitive debate program, the Barkley Forum has a decade of experience
facilitating dialogues on the campus to learn about our differences and build connected communities
through the appreciation of similarities. This year, we are offering an opportunity for high school
students who are here for the BFHS to participate in a World Café dialogue inspired by Martin
Luther King, Jr.’s Strength to Love. The dialogue will be held on Sunday, January 25th, at 11:00
a.m., and lunch will be provided for participants. More details and information on how students can
sign up to participate will be forthcoming.

--For use while you are on campus, consider downloading Emory Mobile. Under “Campus Connection,”
there are maps, and there are also instructions for getting connected to WiFi, dining information, etc.

--Please note that Emory is a tobacco-free campus. For more information: www.tobaccofree.emory.edu.