Code of Conduct Incident Reporting Guidelines

Reporting a Potential Code of Conduct Incident

If you are attending a Carpentries workshop, in-person event, or participating in one of our online events or communication channels and believe someone is in physical danger, please ask your workshop host, instructor(s), or another community member to contact the appropriate emergency responders (police, crisis hotline, etc.). Prior to a Carpentries workshop or in-person event, event organisers should determine emergency contact numbers and local procedures.

If you believe someone violated the Code of Conduct during a Carpentries event or in a Carpentries online space, we ask that you report it. If you are not sure if the incident happened in a Carpentries governed space, we ask that you still report the incident. You are encouraged to submit your report by completing the Code of Conduct Incident Report Form. The form may be completed anonymously, or you may include your contact information.

Submit a Code of Conduct Incident Report

The Code of Conduct Committee takes all incident reports seriously and will review all reports according to our Enforcement Guidelines. A report guarantees review, but not necessarily that an action will be taken.

Alternative Contact Points

If you would prefer other ways to contact us, an email to coc@carpentries.org will be seen by all of the Code of Conduct committee. If you are uncomfortable reporting to the Code of Conduct committee, incidents can also be reported to Cam Macdonell, the designated ombudsman for The Carpentries, at confidential@carpentries.org.

The Carpentries Executive Director (Kari L. Jordan) can also be contacted by telephone at +1-407-476-6131 or email at kariljordan@carpentries.org.

Confidentiality

You are welcome to report an incident anonymously. If you would like someone to follow-up with you about the progress of your incident report however, you would need to provide contact information.

All reports will be kept confidential with details shared only with the Code of Conduct committee members. In the case that a CoC committee member is involved in a report, the member will be asked to recuse themselves from ongoing conversations, and they will not have access to reports after the enforcement decision has been made. Resolution action may also include removal of that member from the CoC committee.

In rare cases, the CoC committee may suspend a community member. In such cases, the Executive Council and Carpentries Core Team will be informed in order to prevent future harm to the community, and The Carpentries Core Team Immediate Response Checklist will be employed.

Some incidents happen in one-on-one interactions, and though details are anonymised, the reported person may be able to guess who made the report. If you have concerns about retaliation or your personal safety, please note those concerns in your report. You are still encouraged to report the incident so that we can support you while keeping our community members safe. In some cases, we can compile several anonymised reports into a pattern of behaviour, and take action on that pattern.

The Code of Conduct committee may determine that a public statement should be made about the incident and/or the action taken. If that is the case, the identities of all reporters and reportees will remain confidential unless those individuals instruct the CoC committee otherwise.

Report Data

Reports can be filed anonymously with minimal details. If you do not feel you can provide details, we would still like to be aware that an incident occurred. Our ability to act is impacted by the amount of information you can provide, however.

Information about an incident may be communicated to relevant Carpentries personnel in cases where a community member is suspended from engaging in The Carpentries community. In those cases, the Termed Suspension Checklist will be employed.

Following Up with Reporter(s)

Once a report is filed through the Code of Conduct Incident Report Form or other communication channels, the Code of Conduct committee will handle the review and follow up according to the procedures in the Enforcement Guidelines.