This would be a great round table to have at next year's conference, just
not here. Not in this space. Not when *in this same thread* there is
cross-talk and accusatory language. It's particularly inappropriate if
we're not centering those who are often affected the most by these
situations. It's so hard to gauge tone in these discussions on the internet
and things can unnecessarily spiral, which is why I suggest a roundtable
discussion or somewhere where survivors feel safe to speak up. I appreciate
Sunni for bringing it up, and I agree it's important. I disagree with the
format and how it was brought up. It's not an indictment on any one person,
but more out of my personal concern and my desire to minimize harm to those
directly affected by sexual harassment.

Natasha

---
Natasha Allen (she/her)
System and Fulfillment Coordinator, University Library
San José State University
1 Washington Square
San José , CA 95192
[log in to unmask]
408-808-2655





On Tue, Jul 2, 2019 at 11:21 AM Andreas Orphanides <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> I don't think the answer to the questions of this thread is "off-topic". To
> my mind, it's not. It's been a long time since Code4Lib has been solely the
> venue of people who write code in libraries, nor solely the place of
> discussion for code in libraries. This community has grown to encompass a
> whole host of adjacent issues, not least of which include things like
> psychological safety, diversity, and community-building in the library
> technology space at large.
>
> To that end, I think an empathetic and receptive discussion of sexual
> harassment and assault is relevant, and necessary.
>
> I share many of the same concerns that a lot of people do with how Sunni's
> work emerged on the mailing list. I agree with what a lot of people have
> said about the journalism ethics issues and concerns about identifying
> contributors. But to the credit of many community members, especially
> Natasha, they have done a good job of reaching out to Sunni and
> communicating those concerns. And to Sunni's credit it seems like she's
> been receptive to those comments and will hopefully take those lessons to
> her next article.
>
> As frustrating and difficult as the thread has been, however, I think it
> would be wrong and shortsighted to use it as an excuse to shut down
> discussion of sexual harassment in our community. It happens in our
> workplaces and our departments. It happens at our conference. I like to
> think that "we" are in a better place with respect to this than many other
> similar communities, especially in light of things like the Code of Conduct
> and our use of Community Support Volunteers at the conference, but I have
> no direct evidence to know that we are "better" than anyone else. And I
> don't think there's a way we could get a sense without a frank and open
> discussion of the topic.
>
> I can't speak on behalf of those who have experienced harassment within or
> outside of our community. But I know that they are part of our community. I
> don't know how best to make Code4Lib a safe and welcoming place for them to
> share their experiences, but I know that we -- especially those of us who
> have not had these experiences -- have to do it. And I'm pretty sure that
> shutting the door on discussion of the topic is not the way.
>
> On Tue, Jul 2, 2019 at 1:55 PM Christopher R. HOFFMAN <
> [log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
> > Hi Richard, thank you for demonstrating why this is not a safe space
> > for these kinds of conversations.
> > Thanks,
> > Chris
> >
> > On Jul 2, 2019, at 10:45 AM, richard
> > <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> > >> I know many people are ready to see this thread stop, but do you know
> > of a better forum?
> > >
> > > You're a library information professional and don't have the skills to
> > identify online forums related to libraries? Yikes! The first part of the
> > name of this list is "CODE4" - that should provide adequate clue as the
> > nature of appropriate topics for posts.
> > >
> > > Finally, and this is to everyone who DOES have Internet research skills
> > and the capacity to infer proper topics for the list based on its name,
> > ignore inappropriate content that you can't regulate...DON'T FEED THE
> > TROLLS.
> >
>