Ignorance, Purview, Rights and Doing: Thoughts on PSi's Complaint Process
Hi.
I want to begin this series of observations by stating that this is a personal statement, albeit a well-informed personal statement. I may refer to PSi policy but nothing I say here should be construed AS PSi policy.
Sometimes poets and organizers mess up. They do things that are stupid or mean or downright illegal, sometimes unknowingly, sometime on purpose. They do these things at events and local venues. It sucks, but it’s true.
Fortunately, members and member readings associated with Poetry Slam, Inc. (PSi) can do something about these situations when they arise. I posted a whole thing about the Official Complaint Process in PSi’s Members forum recently and you can check it out or have a member copy and paste it for you. It’s good stuff. *
Yet even with that process in plain view there remain finer, more circumstantial points that could use some massaging. So I spent today putting this information together with the hope that it will alleviate some confusion, explain some things, and expose people to not only information but their rights. Slam may be a lot like high school, but unlike high school, we can beat the bullies up if we have to.
I could have let this issue die on the vine, like a hundred other things people think are important for a few days or weeks and after which nothing happens. This is not that kind of issue. Being able to hold each other accountable is an important aspect of building a strong, productive community. I hope this helps.
- Ignorance is not bliss.
You can’t act in an absolute way on a thing you don’t know absolutely. You cannot agree that you don’t know something but in the same breath say, “but whatever it is I don’t know? It’s only right that you tell me what it is!” At some point you have to genuinely BELIEVE that, in your ignorance of not only what was presented but investigated, offered by parties on both sides, determined and signed off by multiple people that the stuff you don’t know might mean the difference between what you think should happen and what has happened. It’s not as simple as “right is right”. You don’t have enough information to determine if what you think is right was even the issue on the table. What if the issue brought to the table turned out, upon investigation of not only the action but of purview, liability and rights of the organization, to be different at the end of the day? More on this in a minute, but remember: you shouldn’t enter a car and be a backseat driver after it’s reached its destination. There was a whole journey that took place before you slid in the back seat. Chances are we saw what you saw but, armed with more information than you, opted to take a different course.
- Purview is everything.
The EC will likely spend hours, days or weeks pouring over the information and statements a complaint generates. Things often come to light, conflict and change upon closer inspection. Most of the calls I’ve seen from people for more information or action on a recent complaint are using language and assumptions that simply do not apply to the situation we were given once all factors were considered. I know that sounds vague - and that’s intentional (again: everyone has some rights here) - but let me illustrate this point with an example:
Let’s say a poet - Poet A - comes to the EC with a charge of violence: Poet B (the SlamMaster for their venue) hit Poet A in the eye with a banana after their local slam last week in the bathroom. No one else saw the act. Poet A comes forward with a charge of assault and dammit, PSi better do something about it.
Pretty clear case of something bad going down, right? On the surface, absolutely.
But hold on:
The EC only has purview over a member in certain areas and under certain rules. None of these rules are the laws of any state. So assault - as a legal act of criminal weight - does not fall under our purview and we would tell Poet B that if they in fact wanted to file charges of assault that they should go to a law enforcement agency (the cops). PSi doesn’t arrest people or generally enforce local laws. We enforce rules and contracts that sometimes and in some ways refer to laws in certain circumstances. So don’t come to us with your assault charge…go to the cops.
Now, this doesn’t mean we can’t do ANYTHING. In fact, upon receiving such a complaint we would immediately begin investigating if this breached any of our standing rules. As it turns out, it does. Just off the top of my head and with no outstanding details: Poet A - the SlamMaster - is in breach of at least one Equal Opportunity Statement rule, possibly multiple ones. Every SM has to sign that document before we can certify their venue. (Note: It is NOT in breach of Code of Honour since that only applies to behavior of members at events or the staff overseeing events at various times.)
So the EC would likely amend the complaint from an assault complaint (which we have no standing on because it’s beyond our purview) to a breach of the EOS. Also, based on what we determine about the incident we might level any number or degree of punishments on Poet B.
Note:
If Poet A had gone to the cops, filed charges and they found Poet B in breach of some actual laws, PSi might have different ground to stand on. Depending on the situation and the position of the member, the breaking of laws might bring other documents into play. But you can’t throw terms like “assault” or “sexual harassment” or “rape” at PSi and expect us to do what the law will not. To even associate someone’s name with complaints labeled as “charges” in the vein of these crimes is negligent, wrong and possibly actionable. So don’t say stuff like “PSi doesn’t do anything about sexual harassment.” (More on this in a minute.) By most state’s definition of SH a complaint might not apply. You’re better off filing an actual crime with an actual enforcement agency and THEN bringing it to PSi because we have a lot more we can do about members breaking laws, not your interpretation of the law.
Where, when and what’s been done are key elements in determining what PSi can do about a complaint. Here’s a handy list that any member can use to get a rough idea of what PSi covers. This should not be interpreted as an official document or process! I present it based more on trends than policy. The EC reserves the right to get in that ass in any number of ways.
If:
- Poet acts a fool at their local venue, we have little standing.
- SlamMaster acts a fool at their local venue, we have a lot of standing.
- SlamMaster doesn’t handle poet who acts a fool at their venue, we might have some standing.
-
- Poet acts a fool at a PSi event, you’re dead.
- SlamMaster acts a fool at a PSi event, you’re dead.
- Host City staff member acts a fool while working a PSi event, you’re dead.
- Volunteer, MC or BM acts a fool at a PSi event, you’re dead.
- Host City Coordinator acts a fool anywhere - home, venue, street, business - before or during a PSi event while representing PSi business, you’re dead. If we haven’t closed the books on your event and your job as HC coordinator is still on the books, you might still be dead.
- Poet acts a fool at your team meeting, not much we can do.
- SlamMaster acts a fool at your team meeting, maybe.
- Coach who isn’t a member of PSi, your SM or a poet, not much we can do. (Who IS that guy anyway, and why does he keep showing up at our rehearsals?)
Got all that? It’s not absolute…it’s just a starting point. Actual details may change your options. You might have a case and don’t know it. If there is ANY doubt, ask an EC member to help you determine if you have a case. We are willing to do this off the record at any time.
- A process is designed to protect people AND rights.
We all have rights, even when we mess up. And you, as a member of an organization, only have so many rights. What rights you do have you are not allowed to impose on another individual because of what you THINK they’ve done. Hell, there are things I can’t impose even when I KNOW what someone has done. It’s not because I’m weak or the process is broken. It’s because there is a limit to purview - what area of control and rights the organization can exercise - and beyond that it’s out of our hands. PSi could be liable where you are not.
An issue related to this point is what people can or should be told about the results of a complaint. I had a lot to say about this in the PSi forums and I stand by those numerous and long-winded positions. Go there to see what I had to say about this. Not a member? Ask a member to access it for you. It’s not a secret. The short version is that if a complaint happens in private space it is unlikely to be presented publicly unless there’s a compelling reason to do so. That said, the parties involved in a complaint may share that information, within reason. But PSi has different liabilities so we’re less likely to do so with a sensitive issue. Because we have to enforce whatever rulings we come up with we have to do SOME sharing but that’s largely confined to areas of PSi action…which are unlikely to include a forum that anyone can access.
One final platform:
- You should do what a process can’t.
An organization is accountable to its processes and processes have responsibilities. You are accountable to your conscience (and slander/libel laws). If someone is creating problems in your community, there is nothing preventing you from saying as much publicly. PSi is unlikely to punish you for doing so unless someone file a complaint. A genuine asshole is unlikely to file a complaint with PSi because we’d have to dig around a bit and, as I mentioned earlier, we reserve the right to amplify and amend your charges upon further investigation. There are people in our larger community that have no problem calling people on their shit. To my knowledge, none of them has been in court and I can verify that none of them have had complaints filed on them with PSi.
Associated with this point is the concept of public knowledge, which is a funny argument to me. I roll my eyes at this a lot. Let’s not act like PSi is somehow holding back public perception. It isn’t. More times than not a story has already made the rounds by the time we get the complaint. Anybody waiting on PSi’s official word on something (a measure of which we will give upon request by a member) is being coy. The Slam grapevine is so strong you could make 100 year old wine out of it right off the vine. Don’t be coy. I hate coy.
In closing:
The community is stronger than any one person. This is a tenet of Slam and it is a tenet of communities, art or otherwise. If someone is a jerk, they’re a jerk. But if someone is damaging people, bust a move. You are not powerless. You have options. Understand and respect what you don’t know about a situation. Whatever case you think you’re making someone on the EC probably made it too. We are not monolithic in thought and we’re only 7-8 people, and we try real hard to do the right thing but as many people as possible all the time. But this isn’t about the EC. It’s about you and your community being strong and building something good.
No community should be afraid of any one person in it.
==============
* If you can't read it, become a member and get access. That's one of the perks of PSi membership: you get to see my cool posts and shit.
I want to begin this series of observations by stating that this is a personal statement, albeit a well-informed personal statement. I may refer to PSi policy but nothing I say here should be construed AS PSi policy.
Sometimes poets and organizers mess up. They do things that are stupid or mean or downright illegal, sometimes unknowingly, sometime on purpose. They do these things at events and local venues. It sucks, but it’s true.
Fortunately, members and member readings associated with Poetry Slam, Inc. (PSi) can do something about these situations when they arise. I posted a whole thing about the Official Complaint Process in PSi’s Members forum recently and you can check it out or have a member copy and paste it for you. It’s good stuff. *
Yet even with that process in plain view there remain finer, more circumstantial points that could use some massaging. So I spent today putting this information together with the hope that it will alleviate some confusion, explain some things, and expose people to not only information but their rights. Slam may be a lot like high school, but unlike high school, we can beat the bullies up if we have to.
I could have let this issue die on the vine, like a hundred other things people think are important for a few days or weeks and after which nothing happens. This is not that kind of issue. Being able to hold each other accountable is an important aspect of building a strong, productive community. I hope this helps.
- Ignorance is not bliss.
You can’t act in an absolute way on a thing you don’t know absolutely. You cannot agree that you don’t know something but in the same breath say, “but whatever it is I don’t know? It’s only right that you tell me what it is!” At some point you have to genuinely BELIEVE that, in your ignorance of not only what was presented but investigated, offered by parties on both sides, determined and signed off by multiple people that the stuff you don’t know might mean the difference between what you think should happen and what has happened. It’s not as simple as “right is right”. You don’t have enough information to determine if what you think is right was even the issue on the table. What if the issue brought to the table turned out, upon investigation of not only the action but of purview, liability and rights of the organization, to be different at the end of the day? More on this in a minute, but remember: you shouldn’t enter a car and be a backseat driver after it’s reached its destination. There was a whole journey that took place before you slid in the back seat. Chances are we saw what you saw but, armed with more information than you, opted to take a different course.
- Purview is everything.
The EC will likely spend hours, days or weeks pouring over the information and statements a complaint generates. Things often come to light, conflict and change upon closer inspection. Most of the calls I’ve seen from people for more information or action on a recent complaint are using language and assumptions that simply do not apply to the situation we were given once all factors were considered. I know that sounds vague - and that’s intentional (again: everyone has some rights here) - but let me illustrate this point with an example:
Let’s say a poet - Poet A - comes to the EC with a charge of violence: Poet B (the SlamMaster for their venue) hit Poet A in the eye with a banana after their local slam last week in the bathroom. No one else saw the act. Poet A comes forward with a charge of assault and dammit, PSi better do something about it.
Pretty clear case of something bad going down, right? On the surface, absolutely.
But hold on:
The EC only has purview over a member in certain areas and under certain rules. None of these rules are the laws of any state. So assault - as a legal act of criminal weight - does not fall under our purview and we would tell Poet B that if they in fact wanted to file charges of assault that they should go to a law enforcement agency (the cops). PSi doesn’t arrest people or generally enforce local laws. We enforce rules and contracts that sometimes and in some ways refer to laws in certain circumstances. So don’t come to us with your assault charge…go to the cops.
Now, this doesn’t mean we can’t do ANYTHING. In fact, upon receiving such a complaint we would immediately begin investigating if this breached any of our standing rules. As it turns out, it does. Just off the top of my head and with no outstanding details: Poet A - the SlamMaster - is in breach of at least one Equal Opportunity Statement rule, possibly multiple ones. Every SM has to sign that document before we can certify their venue. (Note: It is NOT in breach of Code of Honour since that only applies to behavior of members at events or the staff overseeing events at various times.)
So the EC would likely amend the complaint from an assault complaint (which we have no standing on because it’s beyond our purview) to a breach of the EOS. Also, based on what we determine about the incident we might level any number or degree of punishments on Poet B.
Note:
If Poet A had gone to the cops, filed charges and they found Poet B in breach of some actual laws, PSi might have different ground to stand on. Depending on the situation and the position of the member, the breaking of laws might bring other documents into play. But you can’t throw terms like “assault” or “sexual harassment” or “rape” at PSi and expect us to do what the law will not. To even associate someone’s name with complaints labeled as “charges” in the vein of these crimes is negligent, wrong and possibly actionable. So don’t say stuff like “PSi doesn’t do anything about sexual harassment.” (More on this in a minute.) By most state’s definition of SH a complaint might not apply. You’re better off filing an actual crime with an actual enforcement agency and THEN bringing it to PSi because we have a lot more we can do about members breaking laws, not your interpretation of the law.
Where, when and what’s been done are key elements in determining what PSi can do about a complaint. Here’s a handy list that any member can use to get a rough idea of what PSi covers. This should not be interpreted as an official document or process! I present it based more on trends than policy. The EC reserves the right to get in that ass in any number of ways.
If:
- Poet acts a fool at their local venue, we have little standing.
- SlamMaster acts a fool at their local venue, we have a lot of standing.
- SlamMaster doesn’t handle poet who acts a fool at their venue, we might have some standing.
-
- Poet acts a fool at a PSi event, you’re dead.
- SlamMaster acts a fool at a PSi event, you’re dead.
- Host City staff member acts a fool while working a PSi event, you’re dead.
- Volunteer, MC or BM acts a fool at a PSi event, you’re dead.
- Host City Coordinator acts a fool anywhere - home, venue, street, business - before or during a PSi event while representing PSi business, you’re dead. If we haven’t closed the books on your event and your job as HC coordinator is still on the books, you might still be dead.
- Poet acts a fool at your team meeting, not much we can do.
- SlamMaster acts a fool at your team meeting, maybe.
- Coach who isn’t a member of PSi, your SM or a poet, not much we can do. (Who IS that guy anyway, and why does he keep showing up at our rehearsals?)
Got all that? It’s not absolute…it’s just a starting point. Actual details may change your options. You might have a case and don’t know it. If there is ANY doubt, ask an EC member to help you determine if you have a case. We are willing to do this off the record at any time.
- A process is designed to protect people AND rights.
We all have rights, even when we mess up. And you, as a member of an organization, only have so many rights. What rights you do have you are not allowed to impose on another individual because of what you THINK they’ve done. Hell, there are things I can’t impose even when I KNOW what someone has done. It’s not because I’m weak or the process is broken. It’s because there is a limit to purview - what area of control and rights the organization can exercise - and beyond that it’s out of our hands. PSi could be liable where you are not.
An issue related to this point is what people can or should be told about the results of a complaint. I had a lot to say about this in the PSi forums and I stand by those numerous and long-winded positions. Go there to see what I had to say about this. Not a member? Ask a member to access it for you. It’s not a secret. The short version is that if a complaint happens in private space it is unlikely to be presented publicly unless there’s a compelling reason to do so. That said, the parties involved in a complaint may share that information, within reason. But PSi has different liabilities so we’re less likely to do so with a sensitive issue. Because we have to enforce whatever rulings we come up with we have to do SOME sharing but that’s largely confined to areas of PSi action…which are unlikely to include a forum that anyone can access.
One final platform:
- You should do what a process can’t.
An organization is accountable to its processes and processes have responsibilities. You are accountable to your conscience (and slander/libel laws). If someone is creating problems in your community, there is nothing preventing you from saying as much publicly. PSi is unlikely to punish you for doing so unless someone file a complaint. A genuine asshole is unlikely to file a complaint with PSi because we’d have to dig around a bit and, as I mentioned earlier, we reserve the right to amplify and amend your charges upon further investigation. There are people in our larger community that have no problem calling people on their shit. To my knowledge, none of them has been in court and I can verify that none of them have had complaints filed on them with PSi.
Associated with this point is the concept of public knowledge, which is a funny argument to me. I roll my eyes at this a lot. Let’s not act like PSi is somehow holding back public perception. It isn’t. More times than not a story has already made the rounds by the time we get the complaint. Anybody waiting on PSi’s official word on something (a measure of which we will give upon request by a member) is being coy. The Slam grapevine is so strong you could make 100 year old wine out of it right off the vine. Don’t be coy. I hate coy.
In closing:
The community is stronger than any one person. This is a tenet of Slam and it is a tenet of communities, art or otherwise. If someone is a jerk, they’re a jerk. But if someone is damaging people, bust a move. You are not powerless. You have options. Understand and respect what you don’t know about a situation. Whatever case you think you’re making someone on the EC probably made it too. We are not monolithic in thought and we’re only 7-8 people, and we try real hard to do the right thing but as many people as possible all the time. But this isn’t about the EC. It’s about you and your community being strong and building something good.
No community should be afraid of any one person in it.
==============
* If you can't read it, become a member and get access. That's one of the perks of PSi membership: you get to see my cool posts and shit.