Participant Guidelines

CHORUS AMERICA

PARTICIPATION GUIDELINES

Chorus America is committed to recognizing and celebrating the diversity of experiences, talents, skills, cultures, and opinions that its members bring to the Chorus America community. We invite you to participate in Chorus America’s programs, meetings, and membership services in a spirit of open-mindedness, curiosity, and respect. We want Chorus America to be a safe, inclusive, and productive environment for everyone.

By participating with Chorus America, you agree to:

• Be inclusive, actively seeking and inviting diverse perspectives
• Be considerate, kind, constructive, and helpful in your language and actions
• Refrain from demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior and language
• Respect confidentiality requests by community members

Chorus America takes seriously incidents of harassment or discrimination in any form. For definitions of these terms, please click here.

The following actions and speech, whether physical, verbal, written or visual, are not welcome in Chorus America spaces. Chorus America reserves the right to revoke without refund, or deny access to programs, meetings, and/or membership. Examples of these include:

• Invasion of privacy, intimidation, or threatening behavior or language against another person
• Racist, homophobic, sexist, ableist, or otherwise discriminatory or derogatory behavior, language, or jokes about or directed at any individual, group, or class of people
• Unwelcome sexual attention. This includes sexualized comments or jokes, comments on appearance, inappropriate physical contact, and inappropriate sexual advances.
• Sustained disruption of community conversations, talks, and presentations
• Threatening or taking actions adverse to members’ interests
• Advocating for, or enabling, any of the above actions, behavior, language, or speech

Resolve peacefully

We believe peer-to-peer discussions, feedback, and corrections can help build a stronger, safer, and more inclusive community. While we assume good intentions, if you see someone behaving inappropriately, you are encouraged to respectfully discourage them from such behavior. Expect that others in the community wish to help keep the Chorus America community respectful, and welcome your input in doing so.

Apologize for mistakes

Should you catch yourself behaving inappropriately, or be confronted as such, own up to your words and actions, and apologize accordingly. No one is perfect, and even the most well-intentioned people make mistakes. What matters is how you handle them and that you avoid repeating them in the future.

Contact us to report an incident

If you experience disrespectful or other prohibited behavior and feel in any way unable to respond or resolve it respectfully (for any reason), please promptly bring it to the attention of Chorus America staff. We want to hear from you about anything that you feel is disrespectful, threatening, or uncomfortable in any way. We will listen and work to resolve the matter.

You can make a report to any Chorus America staff or board member in person, over the phone, or via email. Chorus America will investigate all incidents reported with discretion, confidentiality, and urgency.

Consequences

Participants who are asked to stop any unacceptable or harassing actions, behavior, or speech as described above are expected to comply immediately. Chorus America will seek to resolve conflicts peacefully and in a manner that is positive for the community. If, however, in Chorus America’s sole judgment the best thing to do is to ask such an individual to leave an event or Chorus America space without warning or refund, we reserve the right to do so.

Online Engagement

Chorus America takes intellectual property and privacy seriously. By participating in online programs, you agree that you will not do or share anything:

• That violates our Participation Guidelines
• That is unlawful, misleading, or fraudulent
• The infringes or violates someone else’s rights, including their intellectual property rights.

You may not upload viruses or malicious code or do anything that could disable, overburden, or impair the proper working or appearance of our programs.

You may not access or collect data using automated means (without our prior permission) or attempt to access data you do not have permission to access.

Recording

Please be aware that by participating, you are automatically authorizing Chorus America the right and permission to record video and audio. Further, you authorize Chorus America and its employees, agents, and assigns to use your photograph, voice, or other likeness for purposes related to the mission of Chorus America, including but not limited to publicity, marketing, websites, other electronic forms of media, and promotion of Chorus America and its various programs.

Harassment Definitions from Chorus America's Anti-Harassment Policy

Harassment comprises any unwelcome or objectionable, physical, visual or verbal conduct, comment or display, whether intended or unintended, that is insulting, humiliating or degrading to another person, or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment and/or is on the basis of race, ethnicity, language, financial ability, religion, gender or sexual orientation, disability or age, or any other kind of discrimination which is prohibited by particular District of Columbia/national legislation: made by an employee, volunteer, client or supplier of Chorus America;

• Directed at and offensive to any other employee, volunteer, client or supplier of Chorus America, or any other individual or group that the person knew or reasonably ought to have known would be offensive (e.g., unintended).

Sexual harassment involves unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or conduct of a sexual nature or based on gender. An aggregation of a series of incidents can constitute sexual harassment even if one of the incidents considered on its own would not be harassing. Employees are prohibited from harassing other employees whether or not the incidents of harassment occur on employer premises and whether or not the incidents occur during working hours.

Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, there are two types of sexual harassment:

1. Quid Pro Quo Sexual Harassment: Quid pro quo sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when any one of the following criteria is present:
   1. submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment; or
   2. submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as a basis for employment decisions affecting the individual.
2. Hostile Environment Sexual Harassment: Other conduct – if severe or sufficiently pervasive as to alter working conditions – may create a “hostile environment” and is also prohibited. Such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment. Unless the conduct was particularly severe or pervasive, where no warning or admonition is necessary, the person creating such an environment must have been told that the conduct is unwelcome or must stop.

Other examples of harassment include, but are not limited to:

• Threats made or perceived, that are malicious, vexatious or based on any of the prohibited grounds under Human Rights legislation
• Derogatory written or verbal communication or gestures (e.g. name-calling, slurs, taunting pictures or posters, bullying, graffiti), that are malicious, vexatious or that relate to any of the prohibited grounds under Human Rights legislation
• Cyberbullying or Cyberstalking as Harassment