If a crime has been committed (or you have reason to suspect a crime has been committed), we encourage people to report the crime to the police.
In the future I’d also be happy to talk with community members about the codes of conducts and other processes that CEA and the wider EA community has in place, and listen to their suggestions.
Larger events or groups are more likely to have a code of conduct — for example the code of conduct at CEA events makes clear that unwanted sexual attention does not belong at these events. Our conferences also have at least one community contact person available on site to help with any personal or interpersonal problems that come up. We encourage anyone experiencing uncomfortable treatment at one of these conferences to let us know so we can address it.
Smaller EA events and groups are less likely to have these formal systems. Whether there are formal systems or not, culture is shaped largely through more informal interactions, the vibe set by organizers, etc. For group organizers, we encourage reading these community health resources. And we hope everyone in EA spaces will think about how each of us shapes the culture.
It’s true that in past years I was the main person working on these kinds of cultural things, but at this point the community health team has (thankfully!) grown. The CEA groups team and events team also think about these issues, and want to support events and groups (whether run by CEA or not) as healthy spaces.
As Catherine said, we’re happy to talk more about ideas that community members have about shaping the culture and ideas you have for preventing and addressing problems.
I’m so sorry to hear about your negative experiences in EA community meetups. It is totally not okay for people to feel pressured or manipulated into sexual relationships. The community health team at CEA is available to talk, and will try to help resolve the situation. You can use this form to contact the team (you can be anonymous) or contact Julia Wise julia.wise@centreforeffectivealtruism.org or Catherine Low catherine@centreforeffectivealtruism.org directly.
If a crime has been committed (or you have reason to suspect a crime has been committed), we encourage people to report the crime to the police.
In the future I’d also be happy to talk with community members about the codes of conducts and other processes that CEA and the wider EA community has in place, and listen to their suggestions.
Additional thoughts as Catherine’s colleague:
Larger events or groups are more likely to have a code of conduct — for example the code of conduct at CEA events makes clear that unwanted sexual attention does not belong at these events. Our conferences also have at least one community contact person available on site to help with any personal or interpersonal problems that come up. We encourage anyone experiencing uncomfortable treatment at one of these conferences to let us know so we can address it.
Smaller EA events and groups are less likely to have these formal systems. Whether there are formal systems or not, culture is shaped largely through more informal interactions, the vibe set by organizers, etc. For group organizers, we encourage reading these community health resources. And we hope everyone in EA spaces will think about how each of us shapes the culture.
It’s true that in past years I was the main person working on these kinds of cultural things, but at this point the community health team has (thankfully!) grown. The CEA groups team and events team also think about these issues, and want to support events and groups (whether run by CEA or not) as healthy spaces.
As Catherine said, we’re happy to talk more about ideas that community members have about shaping the culture and ideas you have for preventing and addressing problems.