American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Creates Ombuds Program, Opens Search

The academic society for historical humanities research has adopted a new Policy on Harassment, which will lead to the appointment of an Ombuds for members and conference attendees. Although the policy does not outline the standards for the new Ombuds, the ASECS Executive Board is beginning the search for an External Ombuds.

The ASECS Policy on Harassment, adopted July 28, 2020, provides in relevant part:

IV. Appointment of an External Ombuds

The Society is establishing two separate ways of addressing harassment: the appointment of an Ombuds and the establishment of a Committee on Harassment.

Immediately upon the approval of this policy by the ASECS Executive Board, the Executive Board will begin a process to appoint a trained, experienced Ombuds who is not a member of the Society. This person will attend the Annual Meeting, during which time they will be available to consult privately with Society members who seek advice or wish to begin a process to report cases of harassment that have occurred during Society gatherings and activities. The Ombuds will also be available at other times during the year to consult with Society members on issues of harassment as defined by this policy. The Ombuds’s consultations with ASECS members will be kept strictly confidential. In addition, the Ombuds will provide appropriate training in the resolution of harassment matters to the members of the Society’s Committee on Harassment, as defined below.

Within two months after the conclusion of the Society’s Annual Meeting each year, the Ombuds will provide an anonymized report to the Executive Director, who will then report to the Executive Board on the activities of the Ombuds during the previous year and the costs to the Society of the Ombuds’s activities. The Executive Director will make a recommendation to the Board as to whether the Society’s relation with the Ombuds should be continued during the following year or whether a new external Ombuds should be sought. Should the position of external Ombuds fall vacant, a member of the Committee on Harassment will serve as interim Ombuds. At no time, however, will the Society allow the position of external Ombuds to fall vacant for more than two months. An interim Ombuds from the Committee on Harassment should not also serve on the committee adjudicating a complaint referred by the interim Ombuds.

Details of the search have not yet been announced. (ASECS Policy.)

Related posts: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Endorses Ombuds for Higher Ed's Sexual Harassment Problem; Ombuds as Part of a Social Justice Framework for Associations.