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MLH Incident Response Guide

The following is a guide of actions to be taken in the case of a Code of Conduct Violation.

Contact Your On-Site MLHer

You should have an MLHer on-site at your Member Event Hackathon. They are responsible for addressing violations of the Code of Conduct and following MLH's procedures. If someone comes to you with a concern, you politely connect them with your MLHer for further resolution.

Below are the rough steps that MLHers will go through.

Ensure Everyone's Safety, Privacy, and Comfort

Our staff prioritize attendee safety over process when necessary. Beyond that, they will do their best to ensure that everyone's privacy is respected and they are comfortable throughout the resolution process.

Initial Report

Prepare an initial report of the situation. Depending on the severity/details of the incident, please follow these guidelines:

  • If there is any general threat to attendees or the safety of anyone including conference staff is in doubt, summon security or police.
  • Offer the victim a private place to sit.
  • Ask "is there a friend or trusted person who you would like to be with you?" (if so, arrange for someone to fetch this person).
  • Ask them "how can I help?"
  • Provide them with your list of emergency contacts if they need help later.
  • If everyone is presently physically safe, involve law enforcement or security only at a victim's request.

Try to get as much of the incident in written form by the reporter. If you cannot, transcribe it yourself as it was told to you. The important information to gather include the following:

  • Identifying information (name, etc.) of the participant doing the harassing
  • The behavior that was in violation
  • The approximate time of the behavior (if different than the time the report was made)
  • The circumstances surrounding the incident
  • Other people involved in the incident
  • Other people who know of the incident

There are also some guidelines as to what not to do as an initial response:

  • Do not overtly invite them to withdraw the complaint or mention that withdrawal is OK. This suggests that you want them to do so, and is therefore coercive. "If you're OK with it [pursuing the complaint]" suggests that you are by default pursuing it and is not coercive.
  • Do not ask for their advice on how to deal with the complaint. This is a staff responsibility
  • Do not offer them input into penalties. This is the staff's responsibility

Contact the MLH Incidents Team

Once something is reported to a staff member, immediately contact the incident response team via one of the reporting phone numbers. The main objectives of this meeting are to find out the following:

  • What happened?

  • Who did the actions?

  • When did it occur?

  • Are we doing anything about it?

  • North America General Reporting - +1 (409) 202-6060, [email protected]

  • Europe General Reporting - +44 80 0808 5675, [email protected]

  • APAC General Reporting - +91 80004 02492, [email protected]

Once the incident response team has been contacted, they will work with the staff member to loop in the event organizer if they are not already involved.

Some things our team can consider when dealing with Code of Conduct offenders:

  • Warning the harasser to cease their behavior and that any further reports will result in sanctions
  • Requiring that the harasser avoid any interaction with, and physical proximity to, their victim for the remainder of the event
  • Immediately ending any event volunteer responsibilities and privileges the harasser holds
  • Requiring that the harasser not volunteer for future events MLH runs (either indefinitely or for a certain time period)
  • Requiring that the harasser immediately leave the event and not return
  • Banning the harasser from future events (either indefinitely or for a certain time period)

Response

The incidents response team will decide on a course of action with the on-site MLHer and event organizers. Your MLHer will ask the alleged harrasser to speak in a private space, and summarize the report that was made against them. They will then notify them what decision the incident reponse team has decided on.

If the alleged harasser has a different understanding of the situation. Allow them to give their side of the story, but our course of action will stand until an incident reponse team member says otherwise.

It is very important how we deal with the incident publicly. Our policy is to make sure that everyone aware of the initial incident is also made aware that it is not according to policy and that official action has been taken - while still respecting the privacy of individual attendees. When speaking to individuals (those who are aware of the incident, but were not involved with the incident) about the incident it is a good idea to keep the details out.

Depending on the incident, the MLH Incident Response Team may decide to make one or more public announcements. If necessary, this will be done with a short announcement. No one other than MLH or someone delegated authority from MLH should make any announcements.

If some attendees were angered by the incident, it is best to apologize to them that the incident occurred to begin with. If there are residual hard feelings, suggest to them to write an email to MLH.

Last Revised: 2022-05-11