Biophysical Society Bulletin | June 2023

Communities

No Tolerance for Harassment

with regret and apology. While we have limited ability to ad dress actions outside of BPS events, our policies do support our ability to bar someone from meetings, remove them from membership, and revoke awards if there is an official finding against them by a third party. One report of harassment during a poster presentation occurred during our virtual meeting in 2021 when a member was Zoom-bombed with racial slurs and horrible remarks at an open Zoom presentation. Unfortunately, we were unable to identify the harasser, but all BPS virtual events now require registration and access is restricted to minimize opportunities for any similar occurrences. The other two reports of harass ment during posters were addressed swiftly per our investi gative procedures and disciplinary action was rendered. The experience from these events also informed adjustments to our processes and highlighted the need for additional com munication about our Code of Conduct at our events. While we’ve had more than 9,600 poster presentations in the last four years, three reports of harassment during those presentations are three too many. As a global, professional organization, BPS is committed to equal opportunity and respectful treatment for all, regardless of national or ethnic origin, citizenship, religion or religious belief, gender, gender identity or expression, race, color, age, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, veteran status, or any other reason. BPS thrives from the diversity of our members, and we aspire to create an inclusive and equitable community in which members collaborate and cooperate. Moreover, we aim to support the education and development of future generations of biophysicists, and we take seriously our responsibility of creating a safe environment, especially for individuals who are particularly vulnerable due to a minority status or a power differential. We want 100% of our poster presenters, speakers, meeting attendees, members—anyone who engages with our com munity—to have a safe, welcoming experience. We will con tinue to promote and enforce our policies and expectations as well as refine our programs in support of harassment-free experiences. We welcome your feedback and suggestions regarding our efforts and encourage you to help us make BPS, and the bio physics community at large, a place where everyone demon strates respect for each other and holds ourselves and each other accountable for respectful and courteous conduct.

In response to the 2018 National Academies report “Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine,” we con vened a task force and updated BPS’s Code of Conduct policy (https:/www.biophysics.org/code-of-conduct). The Code be gins with our commitment “to providing an environment that encourages the free expression and exchange of scientific ideas” with the aim of promoting “an environment that is free of inappropriate behavior and harassment by or toward all attendees and participants of Society events.” The Code was implemented prior to the 2020 BPS Annual Meeting along with a mechanism for reporting violations of the policy. To further communicate loudly and clearly that BPS does not tolerate harassment of any kind and that we will take an active role in helping to end harassment, we held President’s Symposia “Scientific Societies and Grassroots Movements: What We All Can Do to Combat Sexual Harassment” and “Building a Welcoming & Inclusive Research Community” during our Annual Meetings in 2020 and 2021 and held relat ed webinars. In 2021, another task force created the BPS Eth ics Guidelines (https:/www.biophysics.org/about-bps/gov ernance/ethics-guidelines) and the BPS Awards and Fellows Revocation Policy (https:/www.biophysics.org/about-bps/ governance/awards-and-fellows-revocation-policy). Both further reinforce our anti-harassment stance and outline ex pectations for behavior and ramifications for non-compliance. Individuals running for BPS Council or selected to receive BPS Society Awards must attest to statements of adherence to these policies. So codes, policies, and programming supporting anti-ha rassment are important, but are we walking the talk at BPS when issues arise? Yes, we are. We are adhering firmly to the policies we’ve set and addressing all reports of harassment we receive with expediency. Since the Code of Conduct was revised four Annual Meetings ago, we’ve received two reports of offensive remarks made during talks, three reports of ha rassment of poster presenters, and three reports of harass ment occurring outside of BPS events. The individuals who made offensive remarks during BPS meeting talks were attended to immediately and responded

June 2023

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