A brief history

In September 2017, a graduate student town hall meeting provided an opportunity for graduate students to give feedback to the Graduate Program Coordinator. Students were seeking a way to define and create a professional and safe work environment and to implement a reporting and accountability system. After the meeting, students wrote a letter to SAFS leadership encouraging changes to workplace conduct and included an appendix summarizing research on workplace conduct and misconduct.

The Graduate Program Coordinator and the Graduate Program Adviser brought this feedback to the SAFS Director. They also extended an invitation to the entire SAFS community to attend an All Hands Meeting in February 2018. A planning committee, consisting of representatives from all peer groups (i.e., undergraduate and graduate students, research and administrative staff, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty) solicited feedback from the SAFS community and drafted the meeting agenda and resulting group discussions. During the All Hands Meeting, the Graduate Program Coordinator summarized the work that had led to the meeting and facilitated peer group discussions, which identified and categorized the workplace issues most important to the community.

After the All Hands Meeting, the planning committee created a team of four co-leads (based on a list of nominations) to represent each of the SAFS peer groups and to guide the development of a SAFS Code of Conduct.

To that end, the SAFS 360 committee was formed, who have worked tireless to co-produce this Code of Conduct. The intent is to provide a cultural framework and discussion document to enable and ensure fair and equitable treatment for all members of the SAFS community. This document is not intended to be a decision tree for action against an offense or an anonymous reporting tool.