UNC Linux Users Group

[Palmer, Cristóbal <cmpalmer AT email.unc.edu>]

A warning for readers: this post will mention multiple cases of harassment 
and assault.

A response regarding the motives for instituting a Code of Conduct is below 
the following off-list message, which I have forwarded with permission.

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Joel J. Adamson" <adamsonj AT ninthfloor.org>
> Subject: Re: [unclug] full text of Code of Conduct
> Date: April 4, 2013 10:06:28 AM EDT
> To: <cmpalmer AT email.unc.edu>
> 
> "Palmer, Cristobal" <cmpalmer AT email.unc.edu> writes:
> 
>> As a follow-up to my last message, I thought I would post the text on
>> the list info page as it currently stands. As a reminder, this Code of
>> Conduct outlines expectations for behavior both on the mailing list
>> and for in-person, face-to-face meetings sponsored by unclug.
> 
> Hi Cristobal,
> 
> Was there an event that prompted this posting?  I have faith that most
> of the participants of this list do not intend to harm anyone using a
> mailing list.  However I can see how you might feel responsible for
> providing a safe environment.
> 
> When I see a list of "you better...or else" I feel hesitant to
> contribute to a group because I need to feel safe from punishment.  
> 
> Would you please post a clarification of your rationale to let people
> know that they can freely discuss the topics that get posted?
> 
> I think there's a much better chance of "harassment" based on level of
> experience with our favorite computing systems.  In other words there's
> a bigger chance of "Why don't you read the manual instead of wasting my
> time?"  I know you've seen that in as many places as I have.
> 
> Joel
> 
> -- 
> Joel J. Adamson
> Servedio Lab
> University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
> 
> My Research Blog: http://lxmx.wordpress.com
> Join the FSF: http://www.fsf.org/jf?referrer=8164


I'm going to summarize what you said above for the sake of being clear about 
what I'm responding to. I think the first point is that this seems like a 
reaction to an incident, and possibly and overreaction. I think the second 
point is a concern about a chilling effect due to strong assertion of 
authority.

So the first question -- was there an incident -- is more or less no. I can't 
say definitively no because there have been many things that have come to my 
attention over the past six months or so, and it's not clear where the 
watershed was that made me feel this was important enough to push for more 
formal policies in the organizations in which I have the power to do that 
sort of pushing. I'll lump things that have come to my attention together 
into two categories -- on campus and off.

On Campus.

I'm going to assume for a moment that nobody here has been reading the DTH, 
emails from the Chancellor, or other news sources and give a painfully brief 
introduction to the on-campus part. Multiple students and a former staff 
member filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's 
Office of Civil Rights, and there is now an investigation into how the 
University handles cases of sexual assault. One of the students involved has 
also filed another complaint against the University for retaliation based on 
an Honor Court case against her by her former partner, the person she has 
accused of sexual assault. Separately, a housekeeper won (last Thursday) an 
Office of Administrative Hearings case against the university based on sexual 
harassment and retaliation experienced while working under two different 
managers at different levels. One of these managers was fired when the 
housekeeper recorded the abuse with a voice recorder, and the other (the one 
accused of retaliation) retired. In yet another case, 13 housekeepers have 
filed a joint complaint seeking the removal of a zone manager based on 
harassment. These incidents and the issues they bring to the foreground have 
been discussed at length in both local and national media sources, including 
recently and dramatically on the front page of the DTH. If people want links 
to more information, I'm happy to supply them.

Off Campus.

It seems like worldwide attention has shifted to cases of sexual assault and 
harassment, because there are too many incidents covered in the news to list 
coherently from just the past year. Steubenville, OH. Torrington, CT. Two 
separate assaults in India, one resulting in the death of the woman assaulted 
on a bus and the other involving a tourist couple on a bike tour. It's worth 
pointing out that these headline-grabbing cases might lead us to a 
conversation about assault and harassment, but they are typically bad 
examples from the perspective of looking at the systemic problems that should 
be addressed to reduce the most common and damaging forms of harassment and 
assault. By this I mean that typically assaults that get headlines involve 
strangers or celebrities, while the most common forms of sexual harassment 
and assault involve non-famous people known to the person who experiences the 
attack. For more on what the difference between the common narrative/script 
of assault compared to the research on the reality, see this blog post: 
https://yesmeansyesblog.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/meet-the-predators/

To bring this back closer to the tech context of this mailing list, let's 
look at the specific case of the experience of a woman at PyCon this year. 
Here are some links:

0) [long--useful background but you can skip it] A post from the person 
behind the PyCon Code of Conduct: 
http://jessenoller.com/blog/2012/12/7/the-code-of-conduct
1) A timeline of events: 
http://femalecomputerscientist.blogspot.com/2013/03/terrifying-escalating-sexism.html
2) Possibly the best wrap-up: http://www.dogsandshoes.com/2013/03/adria.html
3) This shouldn't really be necessary, but if the sex/gender of the author 
matters to you, here's a man's perspective (linked in the above wrap-up): 
http://mattlemay.tumblr.com/post/46004653389/on-pycon

I watched this unfold from a distance. I read things I found on twitter, 
metafilter, hacker news, slashdot, IRC…. I followed with intense interest 
because I'm on the board of TriLUG and we routinely have only one or two 
women at our events. I found myself wondering how often something has 
happened at one of our TriLUG meetings and I haven't heard about it. I found 
myself wondering about the Code of Conduct we (the Steering Committee) backed 
down from implementing in 2007. I found myself thinking about this a lot, and 
eventually I stumbled on this:

http://www.caktusgroup.com/blog/2012/05/24/narrowing-gender-gap-open-source-community/

I used to work for Tobias. I know him better than a lot of people I interact 
with in tech and I respect him. Reading that post is the closest thing to a 
watershed moment I've had. I have definitely thought about that post when 
wondering if I'm doing the right thing pushing for a Code of Conduct for 
BarCampRDU and instituting one here.

And now on to the second issue: chilling effects.

It's a good point that abuses can come in many forms, and abuse of 
power/authority to chill speech is definitely something to be guarded 
against. There are any number of ways to do that, but I think the easiest way 
here is to point out that conversations that stay focused on Linux or Open 
Source Software are exceedingly unlikely to break the Code of Conduct. When 
in doubt, there are people you can turn to off-list (me, for example) who can 
take the time to help facilitate whatever discussion you're worried about 
having. We could talk about structural/institutional rules like rotating me 
out of the list owner position, having an official student organization with 
a board, etc. etc. The reality is that right now unclug exists as one thing 
-- this mailing list -- and my drive to get people together to talk about 
Linux and Open Source Software. There were no posts to this list in 2012. 
Check the archives. None. I think that the real risk is not a chilling effect 
-- it's people not caring enough to come out or otherwise participate. 
Furthermore, there's the real historical risk that women won't show up 
because it's tech, and they don't feel welcome in tech circles. I don't know 
that having a Code of Conduct will actually make women more likely to show 
up, but I have some evidence to suggest that it might. One is the PyCon 
experience. PyCon has a Code of Conduct based on the same template I used, 
and they've experienced growth among women that far outpaces the rest of the 
tech sector. Other evidence is more anecdotal -- it's feedback from friends 
and acquaintances. It's blog posts like this: 
http://agentfin.tumblr.com/post/46712547856/the-ux-of-community-in-contested-space

The specific form of chilling effect that you point out ("Why don't you read 
the manual…") could be framed as anti-newcomer, anti-questioner, or any 
number of other framings. Interestingly there was a recent talk by the Etsy 
CTO which is about their effort to hire more women engineers. In that talk 
the CTO specifically talks about rules that the Hacker School instituted that 
they call human friendly, but he posits are particularly helpful for 
retaining women. The rules include no feigning surprise and no backseat 
driving. Relevant portion of the video here: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4LExVkv4Pw#t=8m57s I guess what I'm saying is 
that not only are efforts at inclusivity not at odds with eliminating the 
sort of RTFM harassment you mention, but they're highly overlapped.

I respect all of you enough to think that you'll use good judgement and 
engage in good faith about this, and that if someone -- including me -- 
crosses a line, you'll feel empowered by the Code of Conduct to step up and 
challenge that person. For example, I'm keenly aware that many of the things 
I talk about in this post would under normal circumstances not be appropriate 
under the Code of Conduct. That's why I put a warning at the top, but even 
now I'm not totally sure that I've made the right call in how I've presented 
this. Have I been sufficiently respectful of everyone involved? Have I been 
fair? Am I abusing my power as list owner? I think I know the answers. Please 
let me know if I've erred.

Thanks,
--
Cristóbal Palmer
Systems Administrator with Open Systems
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
440 W. Franklin St. Chapel Hill, NC 27599-1150