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BioQUEST Partner Support Module: Exploring Community

Community Standards

These Community Standards for events are a living document. We value your insights, feedback, and comments. Please leave comments and suggested edits in the google document version of the code of conduct. 

Commentable Version

What does it mean for this to be a living document?

These Community Standards are a living document. We value your insights, feedback and comments. As new versions of this document are published to reflect the ongoing discussion, individuals who make significant contributions will have the option to be included as authors. Everyone who comments or suggests a revision will be acknowledged. 

We will revisit these comments and suggestions as we near the dates of BioQUEST's annual summer events and update the standards to reflect the discussion. These community standards are also shared in the QUBES Library under a Creative Commons license, meaning you are free to use and adapt it for your own event. If you would like to share your adaptation of this document, you can publish it on QUBES.

BioQUEST Events

BioQUEST has been providing professional development, resources, and community for biology educators since 1988. With the 3P’s educational philosophy of “problem posing, problem solving, and peer persuasion,” BioQUEST has been a core component of many national education reform projects. BioQUEST serves as the national base and administrative home for the collaborative QUBES project.   

Diversity and Inclusivity

BioQUEST Partner Support Module: Exploring Community is designed to bring together a community of BioQUEST's partners to leverage BioQUEST features to build communities that serve their project goals. This space provides a unique opportunity to interact with individuals from different disciplines and institutional types, as well as different personal backgrounds. This diversity is a source of strength for the community, providing many different viewpoints and allowing participants to grow in new directions.  

However, it is important to acknowledge that the practice of inclusivity can be challenging.  It is not always easy to hear others voicing ideas that make one uncomfortable, or to have the courage to address those issues in productive conversation. We encourage all participants in the workshop to start from the knowledge that everyone present is committed to the laudable and challenging goal of supporting student success.  

It is also important to note that acceptable behavior to one person may not be acceptable to another, so use discretion to be certain respect is communicated. With that in mind, we ask everyone to proceed from the assumption that if you are offended or made uncomfortable, this was done without malice, and that engaging someone who has offended you in a respectful conversation about why you are offended is the best way to lead to growth in the community. Conversely, when drawn into conversations about why something is offensive, it is important to listen actively and consider carefully what is being said.  

Be aware that emotions are likely to be running very high on both sides. Try to take a breath and be aware of your own emotions. Then think about the situation and respond to one another focused on the incident rather than the emotions as best you can. 

These are teachable moments that we will all experience in the classroom, and although it is uncomfortable, as a group we need to work to make it safe to take the risk of being vulnerable and have these conversations so that we can grow and become better educators. 

Expected Behavior

We expect everyone to respect the following list of behaviors during Exploring Community (this list of behaviors and consequences was modified from the Ecological Society of America Code of Conduct):

Expected Behavior

  • Treat everyone (this includes other participants, staff and volunteers of BioQUEST) with kindness, respect, and consideration, valuing a diversity of views and opinions (including those you may not share). Treating others with respect includes using their preferred name and pronouns.
  • We are all professionals. We expect everyone to exhibit professional behavior at all times.
  • Communicate openly, with respect for others, critiquing ideas rather than individuals.
  • Be mindful of your surroundings and of others. Alert a BioQUEST staff member if you notice a dangerous situation or someone in distress.
  • Respect the rules and policies online platforms utilized by the group such as QUBES and Zoom.  

Unacceptable Behavior

  • Harassment, intimidation, or discrimination in any form including, but not limited to: 
    • Physical or verbal abuse 
    • Exclusionary behavior and microaggressions related to age, appearance or body size, employment or military status, ethnicity, gender identity, and expression, individual lifestyle, marital status, national origin, physical or cognitive ability, political affiliation, sexual orientation, race, or religion
    • Inappropriate physical contact
    • Unwanted sexual attention
    • Use of sexual or discriminatory images in public spaces or in presentations
    • Deliberate intimidation, stalking or following
    • Sustained disruption of talks or other events
    • Bullying behavior, including intentional microaggressions
    • Retaliation for reporting unacceptable behavior
  • Unacceptable behavior intended in a joking manner still constitutes unacceptable behavior.

Reporting Incidents

Anyone experiencing or witnessing behavior that constitutes an immediate or serious threat to public safety at any time should contact local law enforcement (by calling 911) and then immediately notify the conference organizers (listed below).

If you are not in immediate danger but feel that you are the subject of unacceptable behavior, have witnessed any such behavior, or have other concerns, report the incident to one of the conference organizers (as soon as possible) who will work to resolve the situation. 

BioQUEST staff will treat all reports seriously and will work to understand the situation through prompt investigation, including conversations with relevant individuals and witnesses before determining an appropriate course of action. 

Contact information for BioQUEST staff

  • MODULE FACILITATOR NAME (email), Facilitator, Role at BQ
  • Sarah Prescott (sarah “dot” prescott “at” bioquest “dot” org), Director of BioQUEST
  • Deb Rook (deb “dot” rook “at” bioquest “dot” org), Deputy Director of BioQUEST

Consequences

  • Anyone requested to stop a behavior by conference organizers is expected to comply immediately.
  • BioQUEST staff may take any action deemed necessary and appropriate, including immediate removal from the meeting without warning or refund.
  • BioQUEST staff reserve the right to prohibit attendance at any future event.