SPE CODE OF CONDUCT

• Exercise consideration and respect in your speech and actions.
• Attempt collaboration before conflict.
• Refrain from demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior and speech.
• Be mindful of your surroundings and of your fellow participants. Alert SPE staff if you notice a dangerous situation, someone in distress, or violations of this Code of Conduct, even if they seem inconsequential.
• While at an SPE event, no participant should engage in harassment in any form.

[1] Harassment, bullying, microaggressions, intimidation, and/or insinuations that are hurtful or interfere with any other attendee’s experience or participation are unacceptable behaviors. Examples of unacceptable behavior include but are not limited to the following:

[2] Microaggressions are verbal, behavioral, or environmental slights, indignity, or snub – intentional or unintentional – that demeans, invalidates the experience of, expresses a prejudiced or discriminatory attitude, or communicates hostility or a negative message towards a marginalized group.

• Demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior or speech, including but not limited to personal insults, sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, ageist or ableist language or any language that insults or demeans the characteristics of a person protected under U.S. federal, state or local law.
• Inappropriate physical contact; you should have someone's consent before touching them.
• Language that implies exclusion or derogation of a person on the basis of the person's immutable characteristic; for example, asking a participant where they are “really from”; assuming a person's spouse or partner is of the opposite gender; deliberately using the wrong pronoun to refer to an individual.
• Unwelcome sexual attention, including sexualized comments or jokes, inappropriate touching, groping, or sexual advances.
• Deliberate intimidation, stalking or following.
• Sustained disruption, including during talks and presentations.
• Displaying sexually explicit or violent material including in presented materials (e.g. slides, presentations, talks) or in informal settings or on personal devices (e.g. on your phone).
• Violence, threats of violence, or violent language directed against another person or group.
• Possession of dangerous or unauthorized materials such as explosives, firearms, weapons, or similar items.
• Bullying including repeated verbal abuse; verbal, non-verbal, or physical conduct of a threatening, intimidating, or humiliating nature; or the sabotage or undermining of a person's performance.
• Theft, inappropriate removal, or possession of the property.
• Use, distribution, sale, or transfer of illegal drugs.
• Any other illegal activity or forms of harassment not covered above.

Sanctions may range from a verbal warning to ejection from the meeting without refund, to notifying appropriate authorities. Retaliation for complaints of inappropriate conduct will not be tolerated. If a participant observes inappropriate comments or actions and personal intervention seems appropriate and safe, they should be considerate of all parties before intervening. Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately.