[Eg-oversight-board] Update on Code of Conduct Procedures

[Kathy Lussier]

Hi all,

I'm sending along an update on where we are with our Code of Conduct 
procedures. I think we're close to having them finalized, but I still 
need to incorporate some bits of recent discussion before they are done. 
I see no reason why we wouldn't have this process wrapped up by 
conference time.

The current draft of the procedures is available for review at 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1J6v_EytMv3vQfFQ9QcLh_3M4knSIC671GnMaYt8qVRs/edit?usp=sharing

A brief overview of the procedures as well as recent activities is below.

- We have six volunteers who will be serving as incident responders at 
the conference and other Evergreen events. They are Rogan Hamby, York 
County Library System; Jane Sandberg, Linn-Benton Community College; 
Melissa Ceraso, Bibliomation; Lynn Floyd, Anderson County library; Ruth 
Frasur, Hagerstown-Jefferson Township Library; and Erica Rholfs, Equinox 
Software. Many thanks to everyone who volunteered to help!

- Valerie Aurora from the Ada Initiative held a conference call with us 
last week to review the procedures and to provide some guidance to 
responding to potential violations of our Code of Conduct.

- The discussion with Valerie was very helpful and led to more changes 
to our procedures.

   --The procedures are now clearer on who makes final decisions. We 
incorporated an Evergreen Safety Committee into the procedures that will 
meet with the incident responder and make decisions on how to address 
the incident. The Safety Committee should comprise 3 to 4 people (one of 
whom should be an EOB rep), along with the conference chair or event 
coordinator. Andrea Buntz-Neiman, Galen Charlton, Chris Sharp, and 
Chauncey Montgomery, who were the original volunteers to help draft the 
procedures, have all said they would be willing to serve on the Safety 
Committee.

   -- Valerie encouraged us to have a discussion now, while it is still 
a hypothetical, about the possibility that a person in power could be 
the person against whom a report is made. She basically wanted to make 
sure that the Safety Committee is empowered to apply sanctions to an EOB 
chair, conference chair, release manager, etc. if the situation ever 
arises. Galen had a very good idea of addressing this issue by having 
project leaders sign the Code of Conduct and further agree that they 
will relinquish their position  upon a determination by the Safety 
Committee (and appealable to the EOB) that they should step down. I just 
want to note that stepping down is not the first sanction the Safety 
Committee would turn to for a CoC violation, but is a higher-level 
sanction for a more serious offense.

- I have also made some minor changes to the Code of Conduct that can be 
viewed at 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ytdYEW92tgZUzB3Bjaj3_vn3FNFIIpa6eUAUGEITRTE/edit?usp=sharing. 
These changes will ultimately need an EOB vote, but I think we should 
wait to do it via email until we're done revising the procedures in case 
something else comes up.

Other than the updates, I also wanted to commend Valerie for the Ada 
Initiative for her help with getting us started with implementing the 
Code of Conduct.

I also would like to ask the EOB to consider a donation of $200 to the 
Ada Initiative as a thank you for working with us on the procedures. 
They didn't charge for meeting with us, but they do depend on donations 
to fund their operations.

Thanks!
Kathy

-- 
Kathy Lussier
Project Coordinator
Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative
(508) 343-0128
klussier at masslnc.org
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier