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Staff Procedure for incident handling.md

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This procedure has been adopted from the Ada Initiative's guide titled "Conference anti-harassment/Responding to Reports”.

Be sure to have a good understanding of our Code of Conduct policy, which can be found here: https://github.com/rmotr/code-of-conduct

Also, have a good understanding of what is expected from a student that wants to report a harassment incident. These guidelines can be found here: Student Procedure for incident handling

Try to get as much of the incident in written form by the reporter. If you cannot, transcribe it yourself as it was told to you. The important information to gather include the following:

  • Identifying information (name, slack username, or GitHub username) of the student doing the harassing
  • The behavior that was in violation
  • The approximate time of the behavior (if different than the time the report was made)
  • The circumstances surrounding the incident
  • Other people involved in the incident

Prepare an initial response to the incident. This initial response is very important and will set the tone for RMOTR directors. Depending on the severity/details of the incident, please follow these guidelines:

  • Offer the victim your help and ask what they might immediately need.
  • Offer the option of leaving the forum in which the incident took place.
  • Ask them "How can I help?"
  • Provide them with your list of emergency contacts if they need help later.

There are also some guidelines as to what not to do as an initial response:

  • Do not invite them to withdraw the complaint or mention that withdrawal is OK. This suggests that you want them to do so.
  • Do not ask for their advice on how to deal with the complaint. This is a staff responsibility.
  • Do not offer them input into penalties. This is the staff's responsibility.

Once something is reported to a staff member, immediately meet with the RMOTR directors or coordinators. The main objectives of this meeting are to find out the following:

  • What happened?
  • Are we doing anything about it?
  • Who is doing those things?
  • When are they doing them?

After the staff meeting and discussion, have a staff member (preferably the RMOTR director if available) communicate with the alleged harasser. Make sure to inform them of what has been reported about them.

Allow the alleged harasser to give their side of the story to the staff. After this point, if the report stands, let the alleged harasser know what actions will be taken against them.

Some things for the staff to consider when dealing with Code of Conduct offenders:

  • Warning the harasser to cease their behavior and that any further reports will result in sanctions
  • Requiring that the harasser avoid any interaction with their victim for the remainder of the course
  • Requiring that the harasser immediately leave the course and not return
  • Banning the harasser from future courses (either indefinitely or for a certain time period)
  • Removing a harasser from membership of relevant organizations
  • Publishing an account of the harassment and calling for the resignation of the harasser from their responsibilities (usually pursued by people without formal authority: may be called for if the harasser is part of the RMOTR staff, or refuses to stand aside from the conflict of interest, or similar, typically staff have sufficient governing rights over their space that this isn't as useful)

Give accused attendees a place to appeal to if there is one, but in the meantime the report stands. Keep in mind that it is not a good idea to encourage an apology from the harasser.

It is very important how we deal with the incident publicly. Our policy is to make sure that everyone aware of the initial incident is also made aware that it is not according to policy and that official action has been taken, while still respecting the privacy of individual students and members. When speaking to individuals (those who are aware of the incident, but were not involved in the incident) about the incident it is a good idea to keep the details out.

Depending on the incident, RMOTR directors may decide to make one or more public announcements. If necessary, this will be done with a short announcement through the general channel or official communication channels (email, social network accounts, blog, etc). No one other than RMOTR directors or someone delegated authority from the institution should make any announcements. No personal information about either party will be disclosed as part of this process.

If some students were angered by the incident, it is best for staff to apologize to them. If there are residual hard feelings, suggest that they should write an email to the RMOTR directors. It will be dealt with accordingly.