The Conduct Committee, established March 2015, is served by a dedicated group of Fireflies that have received specialized training from the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center, have been vetted by the board of directors as well as the Firefly community, and have signed a confidentiality agreement in order to receive and investigate reports of misconduct in the Firefly community.
See the report of Conduct Committee activity for 2018
Our 2016 Year in Review presentation is also available (pdf).
Conduct Committee Priorities
- Community Safety
- Confidentiality
- Clear Process
- Communication
Mission
The Conduct Committee is guided by the Firefly Arts Collective’s Code of Conduct, which was established by the board. Our mission is to protect our community from unsafe behavior and ensure the community’s ability to hold our annual Festival and other events.
The responsibilities of the Conduct Committee include:
- Refine the process for investigation of reports under our Code of Conduct
- Suggest changes, when needed, to the Code of Conduct to the Board of Directors
- Investigate reports in a thorough, confidential, and respectful manner
- Resolve reports by making recommendations to the Board of Directors
How Conduct Committee Works
For more information please peruse the Conduct Committee procedures, policies, and FAQ page.
Admins
Receives reports from the community, creates and assigns cases as necessary.
- Darren Torpey
- Dan Snyder
Members
- Ampersandy
- Beth Manes
- Cait Riley
- Courtney Kottman
- Dan Snyder
- Darren Torpey
- Grace Lichaa
- Sage Kochavi
We would like to invite community members–Fireflies–to take part in this important work by serving for a year-long term on the Conduct Committee. If you’re interested in serving on the Conduct Committee please read the Conduct Committee Call for Members.
Origin of the Conduct Committee
In order to make our community and events safer and more transparent, the members of the Board of Firefly Arts Collective developed a Code of Conduct and related policies and procedures. These were originally drafted by Sadiya Akasha and Dan Snyder. The policies and procedures were reviewed by the Firefly Arts Collective Board of Directors, representatives of the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC), several lawyers, alt sex community hosts and moderators, and other Fireflies. The policies were also informed by Zay Thompson’s investigatory procedures for incidents in Burner communities, as well as policies recently adopted by local conventions such as Readercon and Arisia.
In order to resolve open reports the Board acted as Interim Conduct Committee in the month leading up to the 2014 Firefly Festival. Experience on the Interim Conduct Committee suggests that having a separate group of Fireflies dedicated to this function would be prudent.