Detroit

A Secular Humanist Congregation

Code of Conduct

This code of conduct is intended to describe the expectations and responsibilities of volunteers, event and space renters and those from whom we rent, performers, speakers, guests, participants, members, leadership members including committee leaders, committee members, board members and officers of Sunday Assembly Detroit and all of the previously stated individuals in organizations with which we partner and work.  

As a welcoming and all-inclusive organization which celebrates life through our core values of live better, help often, and wonder more we aim to be an accessible, equitable, safe, and respectful space for all who wish to create and enjoy the Sunday Assembly movement. This specifically includes people of color, and people of all ages, abilities, gender expressions and identities, sexual orientations, educational statuses, cultural backgrounds, and religious affiliations or lack thereof. We believe all people have the right to dress and express themselves in the fashion most true to their identity.

The foundation of these expectations includes: 

  • Treating every person with dignity and respect; 
  • Being fair, considerate, and honest when interacting with all; 
  • Conducting oneself professionally; 
  • Rejecting violent and discriminatory behavior; 
  • Helping each other be right, not wrong; 
  • Look for ways to make ideas work, not for reasons that they won’t; 
  • Not making negative assumptions – about yourselves or anyone else;  
  • Offering support – and accepting it when it comes your way; 
  • Criticizing ideas, not people; 
  • Thinking about the words and actions you are using – being kind, not offensive; 
  • Considering how your words or actions may be interpreted both offline and online; 
  • Doing everything with enthusiasm; 
  • Respecting people’s time – being on time for meetings, for helping run the Assembly etc.; and 
  • Communicating if things are going well, or if they aren’t; 

Sunday Assembly Detroit will not tolerate discrimination, sexual harassment, or verbal, written, or physical abuse on its premises, or in any form. 

  1. The following are expressly prohibited by Sunday Assembly Detroit: 
    1. Discrimination or bias-related harassment, based on actual or perceived age, ability, race, gender expression or identity, immigration status, sexual orientation, religious beliefs and practices or lack thereof, education status, accent, or nationality. 
    2. All forms of harassment, including: 
      1. Verbal; 
      2. Physical; 
      3. Visual; or 
      4. Written. 
      5. Written. 
    3. Sexual misconduct, including, but not limited to: 
      1. Creating a hostile environment; 
        • e.g., boasting or bragging about sexual activity, non-consensual lewd communications, spreading of sexual rumors, non-consensual touching of any kind (even in non-gentelia areas), or non-consensual flirting or “hitting on” another person. 
      2. Quid pro quo (“this for that”) transactional sexual harassment; 
      3. Sexual misconduct, as defined by Michigan Law; 
      4. Sexual harassment; 
      5. Non-consensual sexual intercourse; 
      6. Non-consensual sexual contact 
      7. Sexual exploitation;  
        • (e.g., sexual voyeurism, recording or photography of sexual activity, or dissemination thereof, without consent; engaging in sexual activity while knowingly infected with STI and without informing the other person; or administering alcohol or drugs to another person without their knowledge or consent.) 
      8. Intimate partner or relationship violence; and 
      9. Stalking 
    4. Generally, any suggested, threatened, or actually harmful non-consensual actions toward an individual or protected group. That is, actions involving another person or group of people that the effected person reports caused them physical and/or emotional pain/discomfort, and to which the effected person didn’t give consent. 
      1. Consent is defined as, “engaging in activity with clear, enthusiastic, and current permission from the person(s) with whom you’re interacting. Note that previously established consent doesn’t necessarily mean current consent. 
      2. For a more thorough understanding of consent see: https://www.rainn.org/articles/what-is-consent 
    5. Conduct endangering the life, safety, health, or well-being of others; and  
    6. Wanton and deliberate destruction of Sunday Assembly Detroit property, or another community member’s personal property. 
    7. Disruption of Sunday Assembly Detroit activities 
    8. Actions that diminish the appeal of Sunday Assembly Detroit to potential or existing members, including but not limited to:
      1. Not performing agreed-upon duties; 
      2. Disregard for the procedures of a committee 
      3. Using the organization for personal monetary gain, such as soliciting members for business. 
    9. Soliciting or accepting gifts, gratuities, free trips, honoraria, personal property, or any other item of value from any person or entity as a direct or indirect inducement to provide special treatment to such donor with respect to matters pertaining to Sunday Assembly Detroit without fully disclosing such items to the Board of directors and leadership 
      1. Further, Board Members and Leadership members must provide full disclosure to the Board and leadership, and receive advance approval, if the Board member or leadership member wants to provides goods or services to Sunday Assembly Detroit as a paid vendor. 
    10. Engaging in any outside business, professional or other activities that would directly or indirectly materially adversely affect Sunday Assembly Detroit. 
  2. Protocol for Addressing Harassment: (Potter, 2019) 
    1. In situations requiring an immediate response, please ensure the following steps are taken: 
      1. De-escalate the situation to the best of you ability (i.e., speak in calm tones with compassionate language, utilize emotional grounding techniques) 
        1. If this is not possible, take reasonable steps to remove the violating party from the situation or premises. 
      2. Actively listen to what is being conveyed 
      3. Ask the aggrieved party what they would prefer you do: 
        1. Keep an eye out and ensure a distinct separation of space; 
        2. Talk to the individual and try and sort out the situation; or 
        3. Remove the individual from the space. 
    2. If necessary, Sunday Assembly Detroit may choose to utilize further conflict resolution procedures, as described below. 
  3. Reportees: 
    1. Mandatory Reporters. Anything abuse related told to Mandatory Reporters will have to be told to Child Protective Services or Adult Protestive Services if applicable. 
    2. Overall: 
      • President 
      • Vice President 
      • Treasurer 
    3. Designated Board Members: 
      • Board Member 1 
      • Board Member 2 
    4. Committee leaders: 
      • Assembly Committee Leader 
      • Help Often Committee Leader 
      • Wonder More Committee Leader 
      • Live Better Committee Leader 
      • Finance Committee Leader 
  4. Notice Is Required of Concurrently Developing Intimate Relationships: 
    1. i.e. those in which a direct supervisory power imbalance exists, such as board member / member or leadership member / member or board member / leadership member. 
    2. Such relationships should be promptly reported to the two designated board members and either the president or vice president. 
      • While all involved individuals may provide notice, the onus is on the individual with supervisory or higher power to report the relationship. 
      • The Reportees must then confirm the consensual nature of the relationship with the other individual involved. 
  5. Reporting Protocol: 
    1. Report: 
      1. “Reporter” is the person submitting the report. 
        • Any individual (i.e., member of the public) may be a Reporter. 
        • Access to this route of recourse does not require being a signatory to this code. 
        • The Reporter may choose to submit the report verbally or in writing. 
      2. “Reportee” is the person receiving the report. 
        • In order to ease and burden on the Reporter, the Reportee has the responsibility to compile all information relevant in the original report and later investigations, as described below. 
      3. Those who experience, or witness, violations to this code should report the violation to any listed Reportee as promptly as possible. 
      4. This report (either verbal or written) should include descriptions of: 
        • The situation;  
        • The wrongful behavior; 
        • The impact it had on you (the Reporter); 
        • How you (the Reporter) want the behavior of the accused to change; 
        • What you (the Reportee) believe to be the appropriate consequences if the behavior does not change; and 
          • Sunday Assembly Detroit recognizes that this may evolve over time. 
          • If so, reasonable measures should be taken to inform the relevant Reportees. 
        • If you (the Reporter) prefer to follow an informal (§5b), or formal (§5c), conflict resolution procedure. 
      5. The Reportee must then forward a written description of the report to other relevant Reportees, depending on the expressed preferred resolution procedure, as described below. 
        • One Reportee must be someone with organizational authority, and come from the “Overall” Reportee category. 
        • Best efforts should be made for relevant Reportees to be: 
        • From differing Reportee categories; and 
        • Removed from the immediate situation 
        • The Reporter’s input will carry much weight as to who the desired relevant Reportees should be. 
        • If necessary, this team will include an independent third party with subject matter expertise. 
      6. If necessary, upon receipt of the report, Sunday Assembly Detroit may immediately implement remedial and responsive, or protective, actions including, but not limited to: 
        • No contact orders; 
        • Interim suspension upon investigation; 
        • Scheduling or role assignment accommodations; 
        • Limitations of access to Sunday Assembly Detroit facilities and other spaces managed and used by Sunday Assembly Detroit for programming and or other special events; or 
        • Contract cancellation. 
    2. Informal Resolution: 
      1. Involving informal discussion, or mediation, in a neutral environment with at least two Reportees present. 
      2. Upon successful completion of the informal mediation session, in which the complaint is satisfied, or wrongful behavior is addressed, the attending Reportees will inform the parties involved, as well as the Sunday Assembly Detroit Board and leadership, in writing of completion, and provide any further recommendations. 
      3. The attending Reportees will recommend to the Sunday Assembly Detroit Board and leadership, in writing, that the formal resolution procedure (§5c) should be followed, if: 
        • The attempted informal mediation fails; 
        • The complaint is not satisfied; 
        • The Reportees do not come to a unanimous decision. 
    3. Formal Resolution: 
      1. The Sunday Assembly Detroit Board of Review, consisting of at least three Reportees not within the same reporting category, will investigate and review testimony, receive in private interviews, as to the wrongful behavior. 
      2. If necessary, a third-party mediator may be enlisted. 
      3. The Board of Review will submit a written report to all involved parties, as well as the Sunday Assembly Board and leadership, as to the findings and unanimously recommended outcome. 
    4. The Reportees involved in the investigation have the authority to charge Sunday Assembly Detroit Board and leadership with implementing the unanimously recommended outcome. 
    5. Retaliation or intimidation directed at any person who reports the occurrence of harassment or discrimination is not acceptable and will be considered a breach of this code. 
    6. The confidentiality and privacy of those involved will be respected throughout the investigation and conflict resolution process. Any relevant documents created in the duration of an informal or formal conflict resolution procedure will be destroyed, after a three-year retention period upon final resolution, depending on the severity of the outcome. 
    7. Anyone who is determined, after reasonable speedy investigation, to have engaged in harassment or discrimination, or otherwise wrongful behavior in violation of these policies, or fails to cooperate with investigations, will see the consequence of up to complete severance of all relationships with Sunday Assembly Detroit, depending on the facts. 
  6. Severability: If any part of this code is declared unenforceable or invalid, the remainder will continue to be valid and enforceable. 
  7. Conclusion: Sunday Assembly Detroit establishes this code of conduct to hold ourselves to high standards of communication, collaboration, and community. It is meant to detail the principles we wish to model and exemplify in our everyday practice. However, we recognize this code unfortunately cannot contain answers and procedures for all situations that may arise, and the various complex and nuanced matters involved. The provisions included within this code will be carried out to the extent that is allowed under law. This document is intended to be reviewed, critiqued, and amended periodically to reflect the evolving nature of the secular and, particularly, the Sunday Assembly Detroit community. 

This form is mostly copied from “Making Spaces Safer: A Guide to Giving Harassment the Boot Wherever You Work, Play, and Gather” by Shawna Potter and modified for relevance. Other influences were the code of conduct from three places: Sunday Assembly Los Angeles, Nashville, and National. 

References:   

  • Potter, S. (2019). Theater X Code of Conduct. In Making spaces safer: A Guide to Giving Harassment the Boot Wherever You Work, Play, and Gather (pp. 200-212). Edinburgh: AK Press. 
  • Beebe, S.A. & Masterson, J.T. (2003). Communicating in Small Groups. Boston, MA: Pearson.  
  • Fisher,  R. & Ury, W. (1991). Getting To Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.   
  • Goldberg, A. & Larson, C. (1975). Group Communication: Discussion Processes and Applications. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.   
  • Hirokawa, R. (1985). Discussion procedures and decision-making performance: A test of the functional perspective. Human Communication Research, 12, 203-224.