APSA is dedicated to the continued evaluation and review of existing policies and procedures regarding professional misconduct and harassment. To that end, last spring, Rogers Smith, the immediate past APSA president appointed an Ad Hoc Committee on Policies and Procedures that will review APSA’s current policies and consider recommendations to the APSA Council for revisions and additions to these policies, especially as it pertains to professional misconduct. This committee is chaired by council member Colleen Shogan. We welcome your feedback and suggestions regarding the work of this committee, which can be provided to the committee by emailing any one of us by email or via the
ethics@apsanet.org email address.
We would like to thank you for voicing your concerns, especially those who have contacted us directly via email. APSA takes very seriously the review and investigation of all complaints and witness accounts that it receives regarding possible violations of its ethics guidelines or annual meeting anti-harassment policy. Each complaint is handled individually, based on the claims made and information obtained during the review or investigation. Each complaint is addressed in a manner consistent with the process set forth by the APSA Council in the relevant policy and APSA governing documents and the relevant procedures. The determination about sanctions imposed, including what disclosures are made, is also determined on a case-by-case basis based on the specifics of the complaint and investigation. We appreciate the concerns you have expressed as well as the desire to know more. Under our established procedures and policies, we do, however, have legal constraints that our counsel has advised us to respect. Under these circumstances, we believe that APSA has proceeded in a thoughtful and appropriate manner in addressing recent complaints and witness accounts that we have received.
Below we offer some information regarding existing APSA resources, policies and procedures.
The APSA Annual Meeting Ombuds
A point about the APSA Annual Meeting Ombuds resource: The APSA Ombuds is a resource that can provide information to an individual about an organization’s resources and reporting mechanisms and the range of options available to them. APSA follows the International Ombuds Association Code of Conduct which states that the ombuds is an independent, impartial, confidential and informal resource. Thus, the APSA Meetings Ombuds plays no formal role in APSA’s sexual harassment procedures. The Ombuds does not provide legal advice and is not authorized to be an office of notice for APSA. This is a standard approach to the organizational ombuds role. To learn more about the APSA Annual Meeting Ombuds, please visit
https://www.apsanet.org/ombuds.
Submitting a Complaint or Grievance
If an individual decides to submit a formal complaint regarding a possible violation of professional ethics or an alleged incident of harassment or misconduct, there are two ways to do so:
- Email ethics@apsanet.org.
- Submit a report using APSA EthicsPoint incident reporting online platform or telephone hotline.
What is EthicsPoint? EthicsPoint is a comprehensive and confidential reporting tool to assist APSA with managing reports of harassment from meeting, conference, and workshop attendees, individuals with professional ethics grievances, and general ethics inquiries, related to an APSA entity or event, from APSA members and non-members. EthicsPoint accepts reports from individuals who choose to use their identity or those who choose to submit anonymously.
If you are onsite at an APSA meeting, conference or workshop and believe you have experienced sexual harassment or have concerns about violations of the sexual harassment provisions of the APSA anti-harassment policy; and you want advice about whether to pursue one of APSA’s options for reporting and responding to the incident, you can contact the Sexual Harassment Intake Advisor (IA). The IA is a staff member trained in support and advising in relation to experiences of sexual harassment and can provide detailed information about the options for pursuing a sexual harassment complaint within the procedures of APSA. You may also contact an any other APSA staff member or council member, who will then inform the APSA IA.
Once you have spoke to the IA, there are two options through which you can pursue a complaint of sexual harassment Option 1. Advisory or Option 2. Formal Complaint.
Under Option 1, the harassment committee would issue an advisory that does not include a fact finding stage. In this event, the Executive Director (or designated member of APSA staff) will inform the person whose behavior is in question that a complaint has been made, remind them of the anti-harassment policy, and/or point the individual toward existing resources for recognizing what constitutes sexual harassment as needed. With this advisory, no further action will be taken.
Under Option 2, the president and the executive director will establish a harassment committee to investigate the claim. Additional Information on reporting sexual harassment onsite at the annual meeting can be found in the Procedures for Violations of the Sexual Harassment Provisions.
Range of Sanctions
1. Warning the harasser to cease their behavior;
2. Termination of any APSA meeting, conference, or workshop participation, as well as any ongoing APSA responsibilities and appointments held by the harasser;
3. Barring the harasser from assuming any future governance positions within APSA;
4. Barring the harasser from future APSA meetings, conferences, and/or workshops;
5. Recommend to Council revoking APSA membership.
Paula D. McClain, Duke University
President (2019-2020)
Janet Box-Steffensmeier, The Ohio State University
President-Elect (2019-2020)
Rogers Smith, University of Pennsylvania
Past-President (2019-2020)
Steven Rathgeb Smith, APSA
Executive Director