Hi all,
Last March, the Evergreen Oversight Board approved a Code of Conduct for
Evergreen events - http://evergreen-ils.org/code-of-conduct/.
Since that time, the Board has been working on developing procedures for
handling potential Code of Conduct reports if they should occur. These
procedures are still a work in progress, but the procedures do call for
trained safety staffers to be available at conferences to handle
incident reports.
The role of the safety staffers is to meet with the reporter of the
incident to gather all relevant details, meet with the alleged harasser,
work with a team that includes somebody from the conference planning
team as well as a rep from the Board to determine what action should be
taken, and to communicate those final actions to the people involved in
the incident.
The Oversight Board is committed to providing training to volunteers, to
developing a clear set of procedures on how such incidents should be
handled, and to assisting these volunteers in any way they can.
The qualities we are looking for in volunteers are people who listen
well, are approachable and are non-judgmental. Discretion is also an
important quality for any volunteer. We would be particularly interested
in finding people who have a background in counseling or something
similar. It also is important that volunteers are people who are regular
Evergreen conference attendees.
If you are interested in helping out or just have questions about the
role, feel free to contact me. Also, if you know somebody in the
community who possesses the above qualities, please encourage them to
get in touch with me. Sometimes, it's easier to see those qualities in
others than it is to see them in yourself. :)
I think the Code of Conduct is important for creating a welcoming
environment for all people in the community, regardless of gender,
sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, or
religion. However, if we don't have strong procedures for Code of
Conduct complaints and volunteers dedicated to ensuring that complaints
are handled fairly and quickly, the Code of Conduct will have no
meaning. My hope is that we never have an incident that warrants putting
the procedures into action, but if there is an incident, we want trained
people to respond to it appropriately.
I know we have a great community out there, so I hope to hear from some
of you that you are interested in helping to maintain a safe and
welcoming community.
Thank you!
Kathy
--
Kathy Lussier
Project Coordinator
Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative
(508) 343-0128
[email protected]
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier
