Anti-Harassment Policy
Our Annual Meeting is convened for the purposes of professional development and scholarly educational interchange in the spirit of free inquiry and free expression. Harassment of colleagues, students, hotel staff or other conference participants undermines the principle of equity at the heart of these professional fora and is inconsistent with the principles of free inquiry and free expression. Consequently, SSS considers harassment to be a serious form of professional misconduct.
The following Anti-Harassment Policy outlines expectations for all those who attend or participate in SSS meetings. It reminds SSS meeting participants that all professional academic ethics and norms apply as standards of behavior and interaction at these meetings.
Purpose
SSS is committed to providing a safe and welcoming conference environment for all participants, free from harassment based on age, race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, language, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, disability, health conditions, socioeconomic status, marital status, domestic status, or parental status (hereafter, simply harassment).
“Participant” in this policy refers to anyone present at SSS meetings, including staff, contractors, vendors, exhibitors, venue staff, SSS members, and all other attendees.
Expected Behavior
All participants at SSS meetings are expected to abide by this Anti-Harassment Policy in all meeting venues including ancillary events as well as official and unofficial social gatherings.
- Follow the norms of professional respect that are necessary to promote the conditions for free academic interchange.
- If you witness potential harm to a conference participant, be proactive in helping to mitigate or avoid that harm.
- Alert conference security personnel or law enforcement if you see a situation in which someone might be in imminent physical danger.
Unacceptable Behavior
Harassment of any participant is unethical behavior under the American Sociological Association Code of Ethics, which offer guiding principles for how sociologists should conduct themselves in all professional activities both in person and online. Harassment consists of a single intense and severe act or of multiple persistent or pervasive acts which are demeaning, abusive, offensive, or create a hostile professional or workplace environment. Harassment may include sexual solicitation, physical advance, or verbal or non-verbal conduct that is sexual in nature; it may also include threatening, intimidating, or hostile acts; circulation of written or graphic material that denigrates or shows hostility toward an individual or group; epithets, slurs, or negative stereotyping based on group identity.
Attendees are encouraged to immediately report instances of harassment during the Annual Meeting to one of the antiharassment advocates listed below. To read the American Sociological Association Code of Ethics in its entirety, visit www.asanet.org.
SSS Harassment Report/Advocate Request
To report an incident of harassment related to membership and participation in the Southern Sociological Society or request support from SSS advocates, please fill out the following form: https://forms.gle/tHTxmhyEpRhAny6G7.
Anti-harassment Advocates
- Melanie Escue, Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina at Pembroke: melanie.escue@uncp.edu
- Eucharia Nkem Ozoemenam, Graduate Student, North Carolina State University: euchariankem22@gmail.com
- Elizabeth Wroten, Graduate Student, University of Delaware: edsuofd@udel.edu
