Code of Conduct

All conference participants are expected to abide by the Code of Conduct in all events and interactions related to the conference. This includes evening events and continued interactions after the conference.

Please report problems or concerns to coc@us-rse.org. During the conference, please report problems or concerns to those wearing a “Code of Conduct Enforcer” button.

To protect the safety of all attendees and participants, USRSE’25 participants and those in conference spaces agree not to engage in harassment or abuse. Violations of this Code of Conduct may have consequences ranging from a verbal or written warning and up to removal from the conference or exclusion from conference spaces.

Code of Conduct violations include but are not limited to the following examples:

  • Harassment or abuse.
  • Actions or comments that harm participants related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neuro(a) typicality, physical appearance, body size, age, race, ethnicity, caste, religion, or other personal categories.
  • Unwanted physical contact or simulated physical contact, including inappropriate engagement in virtual spaces (e.g. textual descriptions like “backrub”) without consent or after a request to stop.
  • Non-consensual sexual comments or sharing of sexual material, in person or online.
  • Disruptive or persistent misgendering or use of ‘dead’ or rejected names or gender pronouns.
  • Patterns of inappropriate physical or social contact, such as violation of personal space or boundaries, presumption of or requests for inappropriate levels of intimacy with others, or continuing to communicate with someone against their request.
  • Sustained and/or deliberate disruption of community and organizational activities.
  • Threats of violence, deliberate intimidation, stalking, or impersonation with the intent to harass or violate privacy.
  • Incitement of violence towards any individual or groups of people, including encouraging a person to commit suicide or engage in self-harm.
  • Serious or repeated acts that harm or threaten others or the reputation and integrity of the conference.
  • Deliberately disclosing information given in private confidence, unless it is to protect vulnerable people from intentional abuse or report a violation of this code of conduct.
  • The publication of the confidential information of members or the organization without consent, except as necessary to protect vulnerable people from intentional abuse or report a violation of this code of conduct. This includes both information that is labeled as confidential or information that the publisher knows or should know is confidential.
  • Deliberate attempts to circumvent or misuse the Code of Conduct or otherwise cause harm to conference participants or sponsors.

Acknowledgment of Risk

This Code of Conduct exists to protect the USRSE’25 participants and organization from the risk of harassment or injury. To protect and mitigate damage to its reputation and that of its individual membership, USRSE’25 organizers may publicly announce any reports, conclusions, or actions taken in response to reports of violations of the Code of Conduct. By participating in USRSE’25 events or other spaces, you agree to accept the terms of the Code of Conduct and acknowledge that your voluntary involvement with this event or violation of this Code may result in reputational harm, including loss of business, loss of income, or loss of contractual advantage.

Reporting code of conduct violations

If you learn about a violation of this Code of Conduct, please inform the Code of Conduct Committee at coc@us-rse.org or reach out individually to those wearing a “Code of Conduct Enforcer” button at the conference. Anonymous reports will be accepted. We will strive to keep identifying details of reporters and reports confidential unless we receive a valid court order or have another compelling reason to disclose them. To help us respond to your report, please include as much of the following information as possible in your reports:

  • The date and location of the incident
  • A description of the events.
  • How the incident is a violation of the Code of Conduct.
  • The name or identity of the individuals involved in the incident.
  • The names or identities of any other witness to the incident.
  • Any documentation such as emails, private messages, photographs, police reports, texts, or notes related to the incident.
  • Information for your preferred method of contact from our Code of Conduct Committee if you wish to or are willing to be contacted for follow up questions.

Code of Conduct response

The Code of Conduct Committee will review all good faith reports and provide a response to the party making the report as soon as possible, barring any legal requirement that prevents it. The Code of Conduct Committee will endeavor to resolve all Code of Conduct Reports the same day of receipt of complaint whenever possible.

We will take all good faith reports of code of conduct violations by registered attendees seriously. When responding to reports, we may take into account the behavior of members outside formal conference spaces if in our judgment they are relevant to the conference interactions. USRSE’25 reserves the right to deny or revoke attendance to individuals based on past behavior, including conduct towards people who are not USRSE’25 attendees. Incidents occurring outside USRSE’25 spaces should only be reported to, and will only be considered by, the Code of Conduct Committee if they have a serious impact on the safety of the USRSE’25 attendees.

In order to preserve the integrity and health of the Code of Conduct Committee, the Code of Conduct Committee and USRSE’25 reserve the right to reject any report believed to have been made in bad faith or that is otherwise judged not relevant. Intentional false reports or reports that serve as a form of harassment/abuse or to silence legitimate criticism are themselves Code of Conduct violations.

Members of the Code of Conduct Committee who have a genuine conflict of interest or otherwise cannot provide a fair assessment of your report will recuse themselves from handling your report.

All reports to and deliberations of the Code of Conduct Committee will be kept confidential, and we will not publicly name those who report or experience suspected Code of Conduct violations, with the following limited exceptions. The USRSE’25 Code of Conduct Committee and USRSE’25 General Chairs reserve the right to publicize or inform third parties about an incident, including openly naming the offending party, if we believe that doing so is necessary to preserve the reputation and integrity of USRSE’25, will increase the safety of USRSE’25 participants, is required by a valid court order or other statutory requirement, or will increase the safety of the general public.

Once a decision has been reached all copies of the complaint and any related notes or material from investigation and deliberation will be destroyed or deleted, with the following exceptions: a summary for internal use to enforce the code of conduct going forward; a record of implemented consequences that impact an individual’s status at the conference or participation in future events, accessible to current and future conference leadership; and any document that USRSE’25 is required to retain by a valid court orders or preservation request.

Potential Response to Code of Conduct Violations

USRSE’25 and its Code of Conduct Committee reserve the right to take any action we believe is necessary to protect USRSE’25 participants or the organization from harm, including reputational and financial harms. Examples of possible responses to code of conduct violations include but are not limited to:

  • Formal warnings
  • Removal of from the conference, including physical and virtual conference spaces
  • Permanent or temporary bans from conference spaces
  • Permanent or temporary revocation of conference registration, including to future USRSE conferences
  • Reporting of violations to relevant related organizations Anonymized summaries of USRSE’25 Code of Conduct reports and decisions will be included on this page whenever possible.