Enforcement of the ACL Anti-Harassment Policy — Implementation

Revision of 2018-08-07

Background

In 2016, ACL adopted an anti-harassment policy, based on that of NAACL, for its conferences: https://aclweb.org/adminwiki/index.php?title=Anti-Harassment_Policy

The present document sets out a framework for enforcement of this policy, with procedures to follow if complaints are raised under the policy. The goals are:

1. Identify the roles required within ACL to properly handle complaints, both in the case of behavior at conferences and other ACL events and in the case of behavior online or other ACL-related situations.
2. Lay out procedures so that the people charged with handling complaints have guidance as to what action to take.
3. Ensure that the procedures give the policy "teeth" — otherwise, it won't serve its stated function of making sure that ACL events provide fora for "open exchange of ideas, the freedom of thought and expression, and respectful scientific debate".
4. Ensure that the procedures are set up to protect the privacy of individuals involved, to the extent possible and reasonable.
5. Provide due process and fairness for both complainants and respondents.

Terminology

Complainant: A person who brings a complaint under the anti-harassment policy.

Respondent: A person who is named in such a complaint as having violated the policy.

Professional Conduct Committee (PCC): The (new) committee of the ACL charged with responding to complaints.

Exec: The ACL Executive Board.

Preparation

1. Local organizers of a conference will collect information about how to contact local emergency services (police, fire, ambulance). We mention this in this document because in extreme cases, calling the police may be the appropriate response. This information should also be included in the conference handbook, as it is relevant in general (not just for cases of harassment that rise to the level of needing police intervention).
2. The registration form should ask for email and phone contact information that will allow ACL staff to contact attendees during the conference if necessary, and indicate that such contact information will not be published or shared beyond the ACL staff and committee members. (This is useful for organizers quite apart from the issues dealt with here.)
3. The Exec will bootstrap the PCC by appointing a person or persons as initial chair(s) to organize an initial call for members, training, etc.
4. The initial chairs will develop an incident reporting form, and will recruit a group of ACL members to serve on the Professional Conduct Committee.
5. The ACL will provide mediation training and other appropriate training (by bringing in outside trainers to ACL) to members willing to serve on the PCC.
6. A statement of possible consequences and how they are decided will be attached to the registration form for all ACL-sponsored events, so that registrants are aware of these (as well as the anti-harassment policy itself) at the time of registration. This statement should also include a statement of what information is maintained and by whom. Suggested text:

"Conduct that violates the ACL's anti-harassment policy may lead to sanctions from the ACL including removal from the event without repayment of registration, ineligibility to register for future ACL events, and ineligibility to serve on the ACL Exec or Chapter Boards or to become an ACL Fellow or Lifetime Achievement Award winner. Records of complaints raised and how they are resolved will be maintained by the ACL and accessible to the committee charged with resolving such complaints. Furthermore, information about sanctions applied will be maintained so that ACL office staff can verify whether registrants, invited speakers, and nominees are in fact eligible. The PCC and ACL office staff will act to protect the privacy of both Complainants and Respondents, to the extent feasible."

Professional Conduct Committee

The Professional Conduct Committee will be composed of 4–12 members of the ACL, who will each agree to serve 3-year (renewable) terms. The PCC will necessarily include ACL office staff, both in their role as front-line people at conferences and in order to manage possible sanctions. The PCC acts with authority from the ACL Exec, and is responsible to the Exec. [The name "Professional Conduct Committee" is not intended to imply that the committee covers all aspects of professional conduct that the ACL might have an interest in. For example, it does not cover plagiarism in ACL publications. Rather, the name reflects the fact that harassment is one kind of violation of professional conduct. It is possible that in the future the Exec could expand the role of the committee to cover other areas of conduct. An alternative name for the committee could be the Professional Misconduct Committee, but this has derogatory construals.]

PCC membership is a volunteer position. All PCC volunteers must satisfactorily complete a training course (sponsored by the ACL) to become a member of the committee. This course will need to be offered regularly (annually?) so that new PCC members can be trained as they come on board. Continuing members should be welcome to attend additional trainings. PCC members should be relatively senior, so that they can operate relatively free of fear of retribution, and from different locations and institutions, to provide perspectives representative of the membership. The Committee should have enough members at any given time to allow for three members to discuss any given case even after those with conflicts of interest have recused themselves. Committee members found to be breaching confidence or handling complaints in a capricious fashion can be removed from the PCC by the ACL Exec.

The PCC will be overseen by a chair (or two co-chairs), appointed by and responsible to the Exec, who will serve five-year (renewable) terms. The PCC chair would normally be a chosen from current or past PCC members. The PCC chair is responsible for oversight of the committee, including:

1. Recruiting new members.
2. Arranging training sessions for new members.
3. Recruiting and liaising with trainers.
4. Ensuring that each case handled by the PCC is properly handled and documented.