Change in wording?
Currently this has
- If a participant engages in harassing behavior, the conference organizers may take any action they deem appropriate, up to and including expulsion from the conference [with no refund]
"up to" makes it sound like this is the worst possible action. A couple of alternative wordings:
- "... may take any action they deem appropriate, including expulsion from the conference [with no refund]"
- "... may take any action they deem appropriate, including expulsion from the conference [with no refund]. Law enforcement may be contacted in the event of criminal harassment or assault."
Housing Arrangements A Neglected Topic?
In the last 3 years, I have been invited to attend two conferences by my immediate superiors, at two different jobs. In both cases, only one hotel room booking had been made, a fact I discovered ahead of time in both cases by calling the hotel to determine what kind of internet connectivity and security on the same they provided.
The first time, I just made excuses not to go -- first that we had a release coming up and I had code to write and test. He didn't accept that excuse, so finally I told him in meeting, in front of about half a dozen people (where he announced that I was going to said conference with him) that I couldn't go -- I had "band practice." He quizzed me on what kind of "band" it was I belonged to, and I couldn't resist. I told him -- "Oh it's a country and western band. You know, cheatin' songs...murder ballads ... that sort of thing." He blushed beet red, and did not pursue the conference thing after that.
The second time, I made arrangements to stay with a girlfriend who lived in the same city, on public transportation lines -- and then informed him and bcc'd to HR that since only one room was booked, I would be happy to stay with my GFF's family. He went freaking ballistic, because of course he got called on the carpet by HR.
Which brings us to the topic of housing arrangements. Conference organizers are at least partially responsible for providing enough hotel rooms at a reasonable enough price that people are not pressured to "double up" with -- well you know, people with penises. What are the recommendations? It seems to me that this sort of expectation has got to be fairly common if it happened to me twice in the past three years.
Privacy of Reports
One reason for not reporting incidents to the organizers is because few people who need a whistle blown on them relish the whistle-blower. Assuring people when reporting an incident that their report will be kept private is probably ideal... except that one generally has to share it at least with the person in charge of collating such things. I want more eyes before putting something in the main article.
Ideally any identifying information of the reporter or the subject of any harassment (not always the same person) would remain private except to uninvolved people directly dealing with anti-harassment enforcement, or law enforcement if their presence becomes necessary.
Barring the horrible what-if in "what if one of the anti-harassment enforcement team is themselves reported harassing someone", I just know that eventually someone's going to demand to know who accused them, especially if they're being ejected from the conference. It is probably best to maintain the privacy of the reporter even under those circumstances. Azurelunatic 08:33, December 8, 2010 (UTC)
Sexiness-appropriate venues
This section popped out at me:
- [Exhibitors in the expo hall, sponsor or vendor booths, or similar activities are also subject to the anti-harassment policy. In particular, exhibitors should not use sexualized images, activities, or other material. Booth staff (including volunteers) should not use sexualized clothing/uniforms/costumes, or otherwise create a sexualized environment.]
I think the scenario I am thinking of is less likely to be an issue at a professional conference, but more likely at an entertainment sort of convention: consider the dealers' room where most material is safe for the general public, but there is a partition behind which children and anyone who does not wish to view sexualized imagery should not go, and this is where the sexualized artwork is kept. This is the phrasing I might propose for venues at which a certain amount of sexualized content is acceptable/expected in its designated area:
- [Exhibitors in the expo hall, sponsor or vendor booths, or similar activities are also subject to the anti-harassment policy. In particular, any vendor who uses sexualized images, activities, or other material should arrange ahead of time to set up in the zone set aside for this purpose. Exhibitors in the general areas of the expo hall should not use sexualized images, activities, or other material. Booth staff (including volunteers) should not use sexualized clothing/uniforms/costumes, or otherwise create a sexualized environment.]
Azurelunatic 16:39, February 6, 2011 (UTC)
- Clearly there are venues where sexual displays even within talks are in-scope for the conference. Consider a sex community conference! I'd suggest that a conference who wanted to either not have this rule delete it, or adapt it as you suggest (the licence is very permissive), rather than edit the sample policy to suggest that this is what conferences should do by default. It might at some point be useful to have a sample adaptation for, eg, sex community conferences and similar which deal with warnings and the right of people to walk out without being queried or heckled and so on. Thayvian 00:12, February 7, 2011 (UTC)