Code of Conduct for the CHARA Consortium 

Principles 

The CHARA Consortium is committed to providing a safe and respectful work environment, free of any form of harassment. The CHARA Consortium welcomes and respects all Consortium members, regardless of race, ethnic origin, nationality, religious beliefs, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, age, body size, family status, socio-economic status, or cultural background. 

The success of CHARA, its participants, and members relies on vigorous scientific and technical discourse within a framework of respect for all participants, including scientists, engineers, support staff at the Array, contractors working with CHARA, and prospective external collaborators and members. Interactions among CHARA participants occur in many different contexts, including observing (in-person or remotely), annual science meetings, virtual meetings, email exchanges on or off the CHARA email lists, in-person exchanges, and discussions on electronic channels (discord, slack, etc). This Code of Conduct states the Consortium’s expectation of respect and appropriate behavior in all of these interactions and outlines courses of action when this expectation is violated. 

The CHARA Consortium will not tolerate harassment, bullying, or persistent unwelcome behavior of one individual or group against another. The Consortium aims to nurture the careers of junior scientists and protect their stature and scientific freedom within the Consortium. We expect the CHARA community to follow the Code of Ethics adopted by the American Astronomical Society, the Code of Conduct adopted by the International Astronomical Union, and the NOIRLab Code of Conduct for time awarded through the CHARA open access program. 

Definitions 

We quote below the definition of harassment adopted by the International Astronomical Union, which applies within the CHARA Consortium. 

Harassment 

In general, harassment is conduct that exerts unwelcome pressure or intimidation. Such conduct includes, but is not limited to: epithets, slurs or stereotyping; threatening, intimidating or hostile acts; denigrating jokes and display or circulation of written or graphic material that denigrates or shows hostility or aversion towards an individual or group. 

Sexual harassment refers to unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. Sexual harassment does not refer to occasional compliments or actions of a socially acceptable nature. It instead refers to behavior that is not welcome and is personally offensive. 

Reporting 

An individual who wishes to raise a concern about inappropriate behavior or violation of this Code of Conduct can do so by contacting the CHARA Director (Douglas Gies), CHARA Array Director (Gail Schaefer), any of the Instrument Team Lead Investigators (Stefan Kraus, John Monnier, Denis Mourard, and Peter Tuthill), or the CHARA Liaison at NOIRLab (Jayadev Rajagopal). 

Concerns will be treated confidentially unless the person raising them agrees to have them communicated further or if the person contacted is required to report a misconduct allegation by institutional rules or by law. Issues arising under this Code of Conduct will be treated with discretion to the extent practical, but if the complainant wishes to pursue a consideration of formal remedial actions this will necessarily involve some information sharing with relevant members of the project, consortium management, and institutional compliance offices. 

All reports of violations to the CHARA Directors or Instrument Leads will be acknowledged within seven days, and complainants will be informed of who is the Point of Contact for their case (if different from the person they contacted) so that they can inquire about the status of their complaint. 

Enforcement 

Consequences for abusive, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behavior will include the following, depending on the nature and severity of the violation: 

  • In cases where a violation of the Code of Conduct occurred but did not cause serious personal and/or professional harm, a written reprimand from one of the CHARA Directors or Instrument Leads will be sent to the respondent. The warning will provide clarity around the nature of the violation and include an explanation of why the behavior was inappropriate. If requested by the complainant, an acknowledgment or apology from the respondent may be requested. 
  • A serious violation, including sustained inappropriate behavior, harassment of an individual, or aggression toward or disparagement of classes of individuals would result in one or more of the following: 
  • Restrictions on interacting with the people involved, including in community spaces during meetings, observing, or online. 
  • Removal from CHARA email lists, discord channels, or slack workspaces. 
  • Loss of the privilege of visiting the CHARA Array. 
  • Loss of the privilege of attending CHARA meetings. 
  • Ineligibility to apply for internal observing time. 
  • Removal from CHARA co-author lists. 

In addition, the CHARA Directors or Instrument Leads may have a responsibility to notify the individual’s home institution of the allegations and their findings. The most serious behavior may be beyond their scope and training to investigate, and in such instances the Point of Contact will be available to support the complainant if they choose to report to their own institution, the respondent’s institution, or other entities as appropriate. In severe cases, the CHARA Directors and Instrument Leads will consider withdrawing the individual from the Consortium. 

If CHARA/GSU staff are found to be in violation of the Code of Conduct, the CHARA Directors or Manager of the Employee will file an Internal Complaint and follow the disciplinary procedures outlined in the GSU Employee Handbook in the section on Employee Conduct and Performance (pages 63-69). Depending on the nature and severity of the violation, disciplinary actions will include a verbal warning, written reprimand, development of a performance improvement plan, suspension, or termination. Incident reports against CHARA/GSU staff can also be filed by all members of the Georgia State University community (students, faculty, and staff, as well as contractors, vendors, visitors, and guests) following the procedures outlined in Georgia State’s Equal Opportunity, Non-Discrimination, and Anti-Harassment Policy. CHARA Directors and Managers will work with individuals in an effort to minimize stress and trauma experienced during their interactions within the CHARA Consortium.   

References 

The CHARA Code of Conduct has been adapted from the SDSS Code of Conduct with insights from the AAS Code of Ethics, IAU Code of Conduct, NOIRLab Code of Conduct, GSU Office of Equity & Civil Rights Compliance, GSU Equal Opportunity, Non-Discrimination, and Anti-Harassment Policy, and GSU Employee Handbook.