In July 2013 Apereo adopted a
Welcoming Policy that by its plain language applies to Apereo projects
> This policy prohibits harassment of any kind within the projects, events, and working groups affiliated with or sponsored by Apereo
(not just events. projects and working groups too.)
and that committed the Foundation to designate contacts whereby a community participant might actuate the policy.
> Apereo will designate two Board members to receive complaints. At Apereo Foundation events, two members of the Board or the event committee will be designated to receive complaints. Designated individuals are called "Duty Officers".
(events as an exceptional situation in which someone other than Board members might serve as Duty Officers, not as the only context in which there might be Duty Officers.)
As far as I know, Apereo didn't designate these Duty Officers. (This is somewhat akin to the phenomena of formally adopting a Code of Conduct but not operationalizing it and so adopting a posture that's arguably worse than admitting that you just don't have a Code of Conduct.)
This was brought to the Board's attention in June 2017 > I am following up with the Board about this
when uPortal tried to rely upon the Apereo Welcoming Policy as a code of conduct (and thereby reduce the cost of code of conduct operationalization within the uPortal project itself. Deriving value from the Apereo organizational context.)
In
October 2017 the Foundation undertook a formal policy review.
This question of whether the Policy might apply to projects and working groups, and not just events, was particularly called out in this review process:
> The Apereo Welcoming Policy was originally developed for Apereo events. It has been suggested that the policy might have broader and general applicability. Feedback and perspectives on the policy would be particularly valuable in this respect.
The
Apereo website has been updated to reflect the conclusion of the policy review period in November 2017, and setting an expected timeline for next steps:
> The Apereo Foundation Board of Directors is reviewing contributions, and will enact any policy and bylaw changes at the Board AGM on February 20 2017.
It is now two months after that February 20 date.
Is the Foundation now ready to designate Duty Officers and to otherwise operationalize the Welcoming Policy adopted in 2013? Or is there a new timeline on which the Foundation might make progress on this?
As I see it, while there may be opportunities for further improvement, the most immediate next step here is to do what Apereo said it would do in June 2013, that is name the two Duty Officers, and thereby the status quo Welcoming Policy becomes minimally viable. Can we at least take that small step?
-Andrew