Belonging & Inclusion

Submit a Belonging and Inclusion Concern

General information about the NSDA's Belonging & Inclusion stations is available here: https://www.speechanddebate.org/bis/

What is a Belonging and Inclusion Station?

The Belonging and Inclusion Station is a tournament resource designed to provide interpersonal support to participants who feel excluded from an aspect of the tournament. The BIS also safeguards against potential violations of the NSDA Harassment and Discrimination policy.

What is the purpose of a Belonging and Inclusion Station?

The BIS may serve as a resource for any student, coach, judge, or official participating in a tournament to seek interpersonal support or raise concerns an individual feels harassment and/or discrimination has occurred.

Principles of the BIS

•Teaching

Our Belonging and Inclusion Advocates help educate all visitors to the BIS on how exclusion, harassment, and discrimination negatively affect a person's tournament experience.

•Learning

The BIS seeks to address inappropriate behavior by guiding others in taking responsibility for their behavior, understanding any harmful impacts, and coming up with ways to both redeem themselves and avoid causing future harm.

•Healing

The BIS should ease the pain caused by feelings of exclusion or perceptions of harassment and discrimination. Ideally, visitors to the BIS should feel restored about their tournament experience at the end of the visit.

What the BIS is NOT...

The Belonging & Inclusion Station is NOT:

•punishment-focused

•an opportunity to alert the tournament to previous grievances

•a space to silence people

•designed to empower or disempower tournament participants on the basis of political/social ideologies

•a loophole around tournament rules or guidelines

•Note: If something feels more like a rules issue than an interpersonal, harassment, or discrimination issue, the BIA will redirect the concerned party to the tournament officials and encourage them to submit a protest form instead. In instances where a rules violation has harassment/discrimination elements, it may be beneficial for the BIA and tournament director to work in tandem.