Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

Just want to make everyone aware... this got published to tumblr after WC:

"Dear Team Mascots,
Mascots are wonderful for upping spirit and bringing excitement to events, but there are some things I would like to share with you.
At robotics world championships this year, some of you made me very uncomfortable. I had mascots refuse to let me pass without a hug and who touched me without permission. I had a few very bad mascots who groped me. The anonymity that comes with the mascot head or mask also comes with a responsibility. You are representing your team. You need to ask permission to hug people (and that can be nonverbal). You need to represent your team positively. You need to understand that not everyone appreciates mascot interaction.
Keep bringing the spirit, just keep in mind that respect is still necessary.
It would be helpful for team members to bring this up to mascots and to mentors. Let’s keep gracious professionalism going."

This was a response posted to it:

"This was a huge problem for me at Champs. I don’t like mascots, particularly animal ones. It’s that simple. I have nothing against the people in the costumes… the costumes themselves just make me uncomfortable.
A certain mascot high-fived the team member I was walking with in the pits and as I tried to walk past, grabbed me from behind, hugged me full on, and whispered, “This is all your fault,” into my ear. It was a very creepy (and honestly almost rape-esque) thing to say. I was shaking when I walked back into our pit.
Mascots… if someone is avoiding you or not looking at you, don’t hug them. It’s not you, it’s the costume."


~At MAR Champs, there was a particular mascot that one of our students was not happy being around due to how it looked. The person inside found out, and made a big deal out of interacting with our student when [the mascot] saw him. I put my foot down when the mascot wrestled a scouting board (a match was about to start!) from the student and would not let go until i yelled into the eye holes to get his attention- he was so totally focused on being 'funny' that he didn't notice when his actions were no longer wanted and went over the line.
~I also had a student comment off-hand about the number of times she was groped this year by mascots- the fact that this number is anything but zero is a problem.

Everyone that dons a costume needs to understand what is and is not acceptable behavior. Personally, I enjoy mascots. To be fair though, in my 7 years in FIRST I have never had a bad run-in until the episode mentioned above. There are really great folks inside some of those costumes- but it seems that once again a few bad ones are ruining a lot of people's fun.
Think about this- the next time you give out an unwanted hug or physical interaction, do you really know who that person is, let alone what they are going through? What if it's the kid of your biggest sponsor? What if it is one of your sponsors?

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

Mascots and kids who try to pump everyone up need to know this. No, I do not want to give you a high five. No, I do not want to hug you. It's nothing against you or whatever team you're from, I'm just not the type of person to get all hyped with some random kid.

I especially can't stand it when these types of people try to use their "spirit" as an excuse to hug females for an unnecessarily long amount of time.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

I've heard too many stories about mascots at competitions, all of them negative, some even involve police reports. I feel that it is time for either a mascot registration process (as ridiculous as that sounds) or some kind of greater oversight. Could we require them to wear a lanyard with their real name? I trust a majority of them, but clearly there are a few bad apples out there and they are ruining it for everyone.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

It probably also doesn't help that teams sometimes (overwhelmingly) put their strangest kids in the costume (or those kids volunteer). Stop being creeps, kids. Mascots at events are usually super annoying already, it doesn't help when you interact with people who want nothing to do with you. The groping and creepy whispering account are just disturbing and gross.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

Also ban mascot costumes in the pits, they bring approaching 0 benefit to the pit environment and only cause traffic jams and problems.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

To be blunt, this type of unwanted groping is known in most jurisdictions as sexual assault. Unfortunately I've heard many stories like this from students at FRC events, both with mascot and non-mascot perpetrators (often kids giving out "free hugs", with hands that both linger and wander). I know there's a tendency to try and ignore this behaviour in an effort to avoid creating a scene, or inviting unwanted attention. However, this is serious stuff that needs to be reported so it can be stopped. I urge anyone who is a victim or witness to anything like this to please report it to a trusted mentor or volunteer at the event. FIRST has detailed policies and plans to deal with these types of situations, but unless someone is notified, they cannot be brought into action.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

Thix x 1000. If you see a mascot causing an issue, grab the nearest key volunteer (or regional/district committee member), and march them over to the mascot and the team in question.

Explain what happened and issue a formal report. Call them out on it, report them, and if you're truly uncomfortable being around them, don't ever let anyone tell you it's your fault, or your problem to avoid. Get these people AWAY from FIRST events.

This doesn't even just go for mascots. This goes for ANYONE behaving in an inappropriate manner at events. Report them, immediately. Anyone who behaves like this, student, adult, mentor, volunteer, you name it -- shouldn't be a part of the FIRST community, and reporting issues are the only way to help solve them.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

On that note, I believe it is our responsibility as mentors and coaches to understand and educate fellow mentors and students on this subject. It is equally important to not stand idle if such actions are witnessed or brought to our attention. It is completely unacceptable to pass off such actions as "childish fun" and should not be dealt with lightly.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

As someone who has been the mentor overseeing the spirit team including the mascot I have been the one who has talked to people who have felt our mascot has been inappropriate or broke a rule without realizing it. Never anything to the extent of what has been stated here (which lets not split hairs this is sexual harassment in some cases), but I have never allowed anyone who I felt would not make our team proud behind a mask, I have seen mascots who use the ambiguity to do things they would not do without a mask.

Now as someone who was the mascot a few times as a student I can say the mascots have been abused as well. From heads being spun around, people being tripped, or even people taking inappropriate pictures around the mascot. So it is a two way street of treatment of mascots as well as mascots treatment of others.

Finally I ask any mentor who deals with reports or complaints of there mascots behavior to take it seriously and as soon as you receive it find the mascot and talk about it. For I have experienced both sides of this coin:

My first year mentoring we had one of our more socially awkward students in the suit and we started to get complaints of him being inappropriate with the other mascots, nothing uncomfortable, but more so that they were worried he would hurt the other mascots or damage them. Wrongfully I assumed that this student who did not like being touched would not do this and ignored it. The last day of competition the mascots had a "staged fight" and our mascot damaged another very expensive costume unintentionally, had I taken the reports more seriously and talked with the student it could have been avoided.

Now the other side was several different complaints from different cheerleaders brought to a competition by a team. After talking to him multiple times the decision was made to take the student out of costume for the last day of competition, and have no mascot. Surprisingly we continued to get complaints from the cheerleaders about our mascot the next day, after getting 5 of these (one of which when the student in question was standing next to me) we talked to the team who brought them and found out that the cheerleaders has been lying the whole time, so the student was allowed back into the costume and was given the most sincerest apology of my life. Had I believed the student who I trusted or talked with the team earlier the student would not have been unfairly punished.


So my advice to all teams who deal with mascots is make sure the student can be trusted, when receiving complaints take them seriously, but be sure that you get the mascots side of the story and talk to the team the person making the complaint is from to see if an event actually occurred.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

Amen. As a follow-up, I'd love to see a rule that says you can't walk around with a covered face/mask. These events are far too large for complete anonymity to be a good idea.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

I don't think we should go that far, a lot of little kids love seeing mascots at the event. At Orlando especially young kids travel with there teams and love to be around 1902's Pig, 1065's Moose, 2383's assortment of Ninjas and this year our own teams Swampy.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

Agreed. Mascots are a fun part of the event for a lot of people. If we promote accountability by reporting any incidents as Libby said, and as mentors ensure that students know that incidents will be swiftly reported, and what the consequences for this are. Knowing what things are acceptable behavior, and what aren't is an important part of being a good mascot, or a good anything else; I'd rather see the community instill this in mascots, than create more rules to fix the problem. Of course, if that doesn't work, we should do what it takes to prevent future issues.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

I might have a soft spot since I use to be one of those kids in the mascot suits and I don't want to band them from competitions but the prevalence of kids abusing the suits seems to keep getting worse.

I understand some kids abuse the anonymity of the suits to do inappropriate things (which should always be reported) but it shouldn't ruin it for the people who use the suits for spirit.
I think to help combat this a registration is needed at competition along with some safety rules regarding suits, especially for those who wear any kind of mask.

Honestly, teams should sit down with kids and explain to them what is appropriate and what isn't and punish those who do not follow those rules. (sadly, I know this will probably not happen with every team but one can dream)

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

Totally see your point here. Some people might make an untrue claim. But what if they were honestly reporting that the kid creeped them out or wouldn't leave them alone?

Take your mascot's story with a grain of salt - if any human being (marking them as girls or cheerleaders seems irrelevant and kind of unfair) comes up saying your mascot groped them, do you think the kid would own up to it?

Quite honestly, all it takes is a mascot 'hands to yourself' rule. Wave, put your hands in the air, whatever - but as mentors, it's our responsibility to tell our students to behave appropriately, and touching anyone else (or just being too close for comfort) should never be OK.

Again, anyone who feels like they're being harassed by a mascot (or any other human being at the event) should report it to a trusted mentor or volunteer. Harassment is harassment, and the fact that this isn't one unique story shows that we need to put a stop to this.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

There were two reasons for me including who was making the complaint:

1. To state that it was a group of individuals from outside of FIRST
2. In relation to 1 why we went back to the team because they were a group of guests who may not have known that they could go to event staff or even who to go to.

As an aside I never stated they were female infact 3 of them were Male cheerleaders you were the one who assumed they were girls.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

If mascots, or anyone else, are verbally or physically harassing anyone at a FIRST event it should be reported and dealt with in zero tolerance fashion. Do this to one of my students and the proverbial hammer is coming down!

But in 10 years this is the first I've heard of anything like this - no input from our students, no rumors from other teams, nothing. I'd like to believe these are isolated incidents. Making FIRST-wide rules about mascots seems premature and a little too PC at this juncture.

Our mascot is the actual school mascot, not a robotics student in a borrowed costume (not that there is anything wrong with that). And I think it is always a nice young lady. That is probably the best move, make the mascot female. Girls are smarter and generally more socially appropriate at high school ages.

My 2 cents...

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

This statement can't have any factual basis. Exactly how many teams have been canvassed? And what is the criteria for "strange" and "overwhelmingly". Perhaps the behavior of a few mascots is disturbing but casting wide nets in this manner is not helpful (or true).

I don't get the whole "spirit thing" (a personal fault) but we should not talk poorly of those who do enjoy cheering, mascots, dancing in the aisle etc.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

You're two cents is horrifically sexist. This isn't a gender issue. It's a issue of mentors/parents not telling their students "don't be a [expletive] creep. I've had young ladies who were just as inappropriate as young men. I don't care about the gender, harassment is harassment. Nobody deserves to feel unsafe.

If there is a complaint it must be dealt with. Preferably by sitting down with the accused party, getting their side of the story, and having a chat about what they can do to avoid situations like it in the future. Because, rarely are these complaints 100% fabrications. But they can sometimes be simple misunderstandings. Maybe it's implement a hands off policy. Maybe require a mascot handler to protect them from he said/she said type situations (third party observer). Maybe it's remove them from the costume. Have a conversation about it.

Folks, if you feel unsafe, go to a volunteer. Volunteers, if a person comes up to you and says they feel unsafe, go to a key volunteer.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

Let me get this straight - it is "horrifically sexist" to credit young women (of high school age) with being smarter and more socially appropriate than their male peers? This is not an opinion, this is science - sociology. I've raised an daughter (EE) and a son (EE and lawyer). I've worked for 20+ years with young people in various volunteer roles. My wife is a 30+ year educator and concurs, I know exactly what I'm talking about.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

It is sexist because it's as much of a generalization as saying, "All male mascots are groping creeps".

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

Ummmm...no. Just no

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

You miss the entire point. The issue here is superior judgement and decision-making, not that the harassment described here is male-female. In fact few of the complaints implied the sex of the mascot. None claimed the mascot was male.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

Incorrect, the statement is "The vast (by far) majority of groping creeps are male." Which is not sexist, but an observable fact.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

So, I should trust you and your wife, neither of whom are experts in brains and their development over discussions with folks who have made their careers studying brains? Based on these discussions* – The male brain does not develop the connections required to make adult judgements until the age of 22. The female brain: 20. Thus my assertion that NEITHER are capable of it is, in fact, correct based on the development of the brain. While I may not have 20+ years of anecdotal experience I do OCCASIONALLY know what I'm talking about.


* I'm in the process of finding a study that supports these claims, unfortunately it's relatively tangential to my efforts at work and thus likely a low priority item for me.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

Incorrect: The statement: "The vast majority of reported groping creeps are male". Which is the actual observable fact. You can't observe things that aren't seen or reported.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

Based on my own anecdotal evidence from being a student in FIRST, and closer to the age of kids in FIRST than you, I can state it as an observation. Notice how I never called something a fact.

If you want to discuss semantics via PM, feel free; otherwise, keep the thread on topic.

Also, I find it ironic you call me out for casting a wide net.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

Who better to know the practical development of the brain than an teacher? You don't need to be a neuroscientist to understand how males and females, particularly at the high school age, approach interaction differently. While the statements may have been generalizations, they aren't "horrifically sexist."

Un-hijacking this thread, I'd like to point out that the harassment we are talking about here isn't purely physical, it can be verbal as well. My team has dealt at least a few times with other students, mentors, and once an entire team and the way they were interacting with our largely female student population. The important thing is to bring event staff attention to it, because if they don't know then the occurrence doesn't get tracked and everyone thinks everything is just fine.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

Unless this gets back on topic it is heading to a very bad place so if this continues I am certain that this thread will be closed or deleted and this thread deserves to to be seen and discussed civilly.

So if we could get back on track and continue the arguments by private message I am sure we all would appreciate it.

I think what every post wants and every team should do is educate the mascots on appropriate behavior and rules and when those rules are broken respond swiftly and decisively

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

^^ Apologies - I wasn't specifically assigning my use of 'girls' to your story, and I could have been clearer about that. I'm more generally talking about the tendency to assign a girl as the victim in this story and a guy as the creepy mascot.

I think we just need to all remember the point here: that any human touching another human without their consent needs to straight-up stop, and we need to work on our internal FIRST community culture to end it. Maybe we could all continue the discussion without so much personal calling-out?

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

Would it be possible for kickoff venues to run workshops on stuff like this, or for FIRST to put out a video guideline? I know most universities would be ok with sending the student that's their mascot by to talk to kids, and if FIRST put out a real guideline, it's more clear-cut as to "follow the guideline, or no mascot for you".

I think the easiest thing to do would be to require that teams have at least one trusted person accompany the mascot at all times, as I believe was mentioned earlier. This would allow teams to have that person ready to 1) stop the mascot from doing anything improper; 2) stop other people from harassing the mascot; 3) have a trusted person from the team ready to confirm or deny or work out any reports of mascot wrongdoing.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

There are the YPP guidelines ...

With the Youth Protection Program gaining steam at HQ and beyond, it is critical that we all treat safety and security with high priority. If you have been subjected to inappropriate advances, there are three people I would think need to know about the situation:
1. Your adult team leader
2. The mascot's adult team leader
3. The event coordinator
If you are uncomfortable approaching (2) - and there's no shame in that - I'm sure that (1) and/or (3) would handle the situation in a delicate yet firm way, while protecting your anonymity.
I know if something like that happened at an event to which I have connections, I'd want to know immediately, for personal, professional, and legal reasons. As would my building adminstration. Not necessarily for disciplinary reasons, but for ethical and legal ones.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

Can we cool it with the ridiculous derailment about which gender is or isn't more likely to be a victim or a perpetrator of sexual harassment? We don't need screams of "NOT ALL MEN ARE LIKE THAT" every time we ever talk about an issue that involves gender. Yes, it's possible for a woman to sexually harass a man too. Are we done now?

How many reported incidents of sexual harassment does it take for rules about mascots to stop being premature and "PC"?

I'm sure that this kind of thing happens far more often than it is reported. To a victim, reporting something like this can seem embarrassing or worse, pointless. There is a perceived stigma against "creating drama" on many teams and in many cases the victim may pay a social penalty of sorts for coming forward, particularly if the perpetrator was well liked and had many friends on the team.

We need to do more than just be reactive to cases of harassment - we need to be proactive. Teams need to make sure their mascots and the rest of their team knows that no means no and to NEVER touch someone else unprompted or otherwise without consent. In the cases where this sort of thing is reported, we need absolutely zero tolerance for this behavior. The student should be removed from the team and the venue (by team managment preferably). We simply can't afford to allow FIRST to be a place where anyone feels violated or otherwise unsafe (not in the "safety glasses" sense).

Just a week ago we were all scratching our heads about how we could make robotics more welcoming to women. Pretty much the least welcoming thing we could do is be complicit with harassment. Even isolated incidents can drive a student away for good, or worse, leave them with emotional trauma. While I'm not suggesting we would be able to prevent all cases of harassment, if we establish a visible and firm culture of respect, consent, and boundaries, people will be less hesitant to speak out when these situations do happen.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

I think you said it pretty darn good. This sums up my opinions as well.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

The answer is one and only one - is there one? Is there a single official reported case of harassment by a mascot at a FIRST event? Others in this thread are encouraging victims to come forward and make reports to FIRST officials or to law enforcement officials - I totally agree. Tell me about it and I'll chase it down and follow it up myself. But all we have now are anonymous-ish, but serious, complaints made in social media forums. This is America (I think) - should we be making observations about teams putting their "strangest kids" in costume w/o any guidelines? Almost all FIRST teams are from a high school and the students are bound by the "Code of Conduct".

And why does this subject have to be sexual? I never implied that it was sexual - you made that assumption. We have young persons on our team with conditions where any kind of contact is excruciating, it has zero to do with gender. In fact the original complaint in this thread sounded like such a condition.

I like the idea of a mascot having an escort has merit. And I still like the idea of preferring female mascots. Our mascot always has an escort though I think it is because the costume makes it hard to see rather that to monitor harassment claims and counter-claims. And FIRST could include guidelines in the pre-season communications to team captains and co-captains.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

The OP's post referred to a student complaining about groping. The "hug from behind" example featured an implied threat and victim-blaming language for not being receptive to advances. Other posters in the thread referred to this conduct as sexual harassment or assault.

I was mainly using your line as a jumping off point, rather than the entirety of my post being a direct response to things you said. I realize my post wasn't really structured in a manner that made this apparent and I apologize for that.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

Honestly, I don't know why people have their mascots roaming the pits... you don't see mascots at football games roaming the locker rooms or getting in the way of the team on the sidelines! At sporting events, mascots are used to help raise the energy and pump up the crowd and fans. Why do we do it differently in FIRST?

IMO, mascots should be relegated almost exclusively to the side of the field. Lead the stands in cheers, participate in dances between matches, and get people out there pumped up. Here in MN we try to have a "Mascot alley" between the field and the stands when we can (some venues aren't great for it, sometimes the field/field reset needs more room and it gets pushed back,etc). It's the perfect place for a mascot to enjoy the matches and raise the energy in the building. I know our mascot is almost always either there or with our team in the stands. The mascot doesn't roam around interacting with other teams very much... that's what the drive team, pit crew, and scouting reps are for!

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

No worries, you make many excellent points and our team will emphasize them at our next team meeting. I apologize also.

Thanks!

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

I know of two officially reported cases of mascots sexually harassing/assaulting victims at FRC events. I also know of numerous more reported and unreported incidents of unwanted sexual touching at FRC events. Focusing on mascot behaviour is casting far too narrow of a net. In general we need to be educating all members about proper behaviour at events, as well as encouraging all members to report any inappropriate behaviour that they witness or fall victim to.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

Personally, as sort of my team's mascot, all I think the mascot is for cheering, bringing team spirit and making our team look good. I don't mascots should even be hugging. Mascots should only be doing things like cheering, dancing, and giving high-five to team members when they win.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

Girls on our team have had problems with creepy mascots as well. In some cases, it isn't the costume, it's the person inside who thinks they can get away with anything when they're hidden behind a mask.

One of the biggest problems is who this behavior should be reported to. Our team has had issues with non-mascot harassment as well and we never knew who in FIRST we should even contact. It's important to remember that this kind of thing can also happen at off-season events. In our case, it ended up becoming a police matter.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

I know of 3 others that have have occurred between 2011 and 2014, each one featured different teams and students involved. Both males and females have been identified as the perpetrator in the cases I have been present for.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

I don't think that prohibition or record-keeping by FIRST is a reasonable solution. The former is a collective punishment for the transgressions of a few. The second is cumbersome and expensive, with unclear benefits.

A better approach would be to have a discussion with team members about the boundaries of acceptable conduct, and how to promote good conduct through social norms (in effect, peer pressure) without unduly limiting perfectly reasonable emotions and enthusiasm. That could also include a direct warning to costumed team members that their anonymity isn't a licence to take liberties with other people.

The psychology of misbehaviour is something with which teachers ought to be generally familiar, and as such, they should actively discourage placing team members in roles which are ill-suited to their personality traits—"creepy" being one of those red flags. Practically speaking, it's hard to do this perfectly, and mistakes will be made.


Meanwhile, the contention that a zero-tolerance approach is required strikes me as unfair. There's a continuum of bad acts ranging from obstruction and taunting to assault and battery (including of a sexual nature), and the motivations for those acts are similarly diverse. For the administrators who are responsible for resolving the situation, the solution is not to arrest and charge every idiot who does something wrong—it's to attempt to get to the bottom of the incident and choose the appropriate response. If the decision is to involve the police, it should be done with an understanding of the ramifications of that decision, and the potential for further injustices that lie beyond your control.¹ If the decision is to handle it using internal disciplinary procedures and rehabilitation, you have to weigh the possibility that it will be perceived as an inadequate slap on the wrist. Again, mistakes will be made, but you're still responsible for doing everything reasonable to avoid them.

The victims have a much smaller duty² to ensure that the perpetrators are treated even-handedly—but as a good citizen, they should understand that there's a chance that the situation will spiral out of control. If the incident is not particularly severe, report it to a trusted person and (if comfortable doing so) discuss the situation carefully to ensure a fair outcome without involving the torch-and-pitchfork brigade. But if the incident is severe, report it with a clear conscience, and trust that the authorities will handle it appropriately.

¹ For example, the record of an arrest or a criminal charge, even if unproven or dismissed, is often used to draw adverse inferences, even many years later. And certainly the detriments of being justly convicted are manifold, yet not necessarily just in their own right. One of your many competing responsibilities is to avoid injustice—even injustices committed against a bad person—so think hard before you bring the hammer down.
² The adage that life isn't fair is often used to justify negligence or minor misconduct. But perhaps that statement rings truer if we accept that even victims are burdened with a small measure of moral responsibility towards attackers.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

Because mascots tend to change from competition to competition I think it's just that much harder to control what goes on. Would it be possible to have a "mascot meeting" like how the drivers have a "drivers" meeting? To discuss what is and is not appropriate at a competition? But I also feel that this should not apply to just mascots but all members as well.
And for the reporting of these incidents (from the point of view of somebody who has gone through a situation similar to this) I'm sure many don't get reported mostly because we fear that it will bring a bad reputation to our teams. We don't want to be looked as that team who brought the competition down. Would there be any way to anonymously but effectively report these cases?

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

Wow - I had no idea. It is time to let the hounds loose then, something must be done. Do most events have a law enforcement presence? These actions, as described, are criminal behavior. Mentors, teachers and event personnel can provide guidelines and educate students. But once the harassment, assault or battery takes place it should be reported to local law enforcement - full transparency is a must.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

Find the nearest key volunteer (LRI, Lead Pit Admin, or Lead Queuer are probably the easiest to find). They can contact the appropriate event personnel to report it up the chain and make sure an incident form is filled out. If you can't find one of those individuals, just find the nearest volunteer - they'll help you find someone higher up real quick (lets face it... most volunteers won't want to deal with something like this, and will be eager to hand it off to someone else).

I agree that some situations do call for the police, but before we jump the gun we should recognize that each incident is different and unique, and should be handled on a case by case basis. Someone giving out "free hugs" that last a little too long for comfort is a lot different from someone inappropriately briefly groping someone else, which is a lot different from some other forms of assault/abuse we can imagine. Before jumping straight to the police, report it to the appropriate event personnel, and allow them to handle it. They can talk with the victim, the perpetrator, and the lead mentor for the team (hopefully separately so the victims identity can be protected) and potentially reach a solution that is both fair to the victim and appropriately harsh to the perpetrator. Obviously, if the situation warrants it or the victim requests it, the event personnel can then raise the matter to the police. They can also do so in a discrete way, having already pulled aside the perpetrator and a team mentor, rather than asking the police to storm into the pits to find the kid. The event also has on file all of the student registration information (which I believe includes parent contact info), which the police will want.

While it doesn't necessarily work with everyone, calling parents and making them leave work to pick up their kid in the middle of the day for this sort of behavior can have a lasting impression on the kid and help them learn whats appropriate. Appropriate team punishments (not allowing them to letter, or at worst removing them from the team altogether) can help add additional peer pressure to help the kid change. Ultimately, I think it's behavior change we're looking for, rather than a serious legal punishment that could affect the kids entire life (something like this would have the potential to affect college admission or job opportunities down the line).

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

As stated in earlier post I think it is mandatory for not just mascots but all team members including coaches and mentors to be informed about this kind of thing. I know we had a problem once were a student from another team wouldn't not leave another one of our students alone. It got to the point that a parent had to step in and pretended to be the students mother and asked the student who was bothering our team member to leave
Also I have seen at other FIRST events where gracious professionalism was out the window by coaches and students. So I also ask that teams remember that we are all human and granted that we build robots. We sadly aren't robots so please respect the refs, judges, safety, an other FIRST personnel. Also treat teams with the utmost respect regardless of their ranking/position. We are all here to learn and have fun! ( sorry not trying to hijack thread)

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

At the FIRST Finale one of our younger male members was being harassed by a young woman. She had been bothering him for quite some time and he told her explicitly to stop bothering him. She then went to our coach and started trying to get him in trouble by saying he was being mean to her and swearing at her, luckily our coach saw her bothering our student and handled the situation well, but my point is that some people can unfortunately try to abuse reporting people and that any resulting investigations must not be taken lightly.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

^This.

1923 has defined behavior standards at events as well as in our build site and at outreach activities. If you don't follow them, you get a talking-to from the mentors, which may or may not involve your parents depending on the situation. (Examples: ungracious behavior, not following the mentors' instructions, being on your phone during opening/closing ceremonies or at outreach events)

If you stomp-all-over-the-line and break very serious rules (think sneaking out, bringing something on the trip you're not supposed to, or just generally not being a good teammate), we call your parent/guardian, and they have to come get you. District, DCMP, or Championship - doesn't matter. You're not coming home on the bus, and you may not even be on the team anymore. Fortunately, in our 9-year history we've only had to do this once. I think inappropriate behavior such as what's being discussed in this thread would fall under this category.

It's up to each team to keep this sort of culture within themselves - and I think this thread, making people aware of incidents, isn't a bad way to start spreading that message.

However, if an incident really is that serious, as you mentioned above - it absolutely should go to that level. Reporting it at-the-event is the right way to go, because the event staff can help move it up the chain as necessary, including to the FIRST YPP.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

I would like to make an observation here. Many of the people I have seen in the costumes are not trained and therefore have little or no experience. They are merely "lent" the mascot costume by their school and a student(s) is asked to volunteer to wear the costume. Consequently, the wearer often doesn't know how to handle movement in crowds and may not know where parts of the costume may make contact with animate or inanimate objects in confined spaces. Pros at theme parks are given extensive training on how to move, interact with patrons and always have a handler whispering in their ear and assisting them as they move through the park. If you think something was inappropriate, please report it. If you don't want a hug, please say "No Thank You" or simply wave as I do.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

Whether or not you're wearing a mascot suit, RESPECT THE "NO".

I had an uncomfortable encounter with a highly creepy bear mascot in St. Louis. He/she/it ignored me as I escalated my protests from "No hug, thanks" to "Do not hug me" to "Leave me alone", even following me and attempting to corner me behind the inspection table. The idea of a literal bear hug might be cute, but the reality is that some people DO NOT WANT TO BE HUGGED.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

Truth - this thread has evolved to include reports of things that are not criminal. But it is important for a trained individual, a person with real authority, to make this decision (is it criminal behavior or not). Multiple well-meaning mentors, teachers and event volunteers will make different decisions. A professional law enforcement officer can make a decision about the complaint and let it be handled internally (by the event or team reps) or make it a criminal matter.

Think of the liabilities - does a typical volunteer, mentor or teacher want to be responsible for the future actions of a person they choose to reprimand or warn rather than refer to a law enforcement officer?

I had no idea things had gotten this bad (and initially advocated a nuanced approach) but I believe every report from Karthik. Harassment at FIRST events now requires an over-reaction. FIRST must get on the other side of this issue, not leave it short. (forgive the golf analogy)

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

wireties, you'll notice that I didn't say it should be handled by just any mentor, teacher or event volunteer - it needs to be handled by the appropriate event personnel - in other words, those in charge of the whole event. By bringing it to the attention of your key volunteers, they will pull in the individual(s) who need to be involved from the event (chairman of the regional planning committee, volunteer coordinator, FTA, or the ShowReady individual responsible for running the event come to mind). You don't leave it up to some random individual who happens to be manning the safety glasses table.

Those people responsible for overseeing the entire event will escalate things as appropriate, and will know/follow FIRST's guidelines for these types of incidents. Further, FIRST has incident report forms that do need to be filled out by the event personnel when something like this happens so that FIRST, as an organization, is aware of it. The last thing you want is an overeager individual calling the police and creating a large public incident without the knowledge of the event personnel. Please don't try to skirt the system that's already in place - raise the issue with the appropriate individuals at the event and allow them to follow the established process.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

You make many excellent points and they are good first steps but a volunteer can find themselves in a sticky wicket. For example the fellow that runs the Dallas regional is a VP from Lockheed. I've worked with him helping to run the quick build sessions and he is one of my favorite FIRST people. He is a fantastic AE and executive but what does he know about the criminality of harassment/assault incidents? Perhaps a preferred sequence is to take these things directly to a law enforcement officer? If it is criminal, it gets handled properly and there is no liability for FIRST volunteers (at any level). If it is not, FIRST guidelines determine the appropriate sanction.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

Then I would say allow him to do that - bring the issue to his attention, and encourage him to bring in the police. Regardless of the outcome, he needs to be involved from the beginning in order to manage the interaction and avoid disrupting the event. He can ensure that the police and those involved meet in a more private area to handle things, rather than just calling them in and having it all explode in the pits. We really have to make sure that we're looking at this both from the stand point of addressing the issue AND keeping the event running smoothly, and that would be one of his roles if the police are needed.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

At official events, an incident of this type would cause a notification trigger (similar to an incident requiring an EMT). To begin the process to create an event trigger, the appropriate course of action would be to talk to Pit Admin let the know you may have a security incident and would like to speak to the Event Manager or if there is no Event Manager, the RD. Those people have access to the appropriate personnel necesary to address the issue and will bring in the appropriate law enforcement as necessary, additionally they will make sure the process is handled professionally to not cause further issues at the event. These types of incidents are covered in their training and there are document procedures for what they should do in these in these instances.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

Conor nailed it.

The Event Managers and RDs have oodles and oodles of documentation on what to do in cases like these, and that's exactly why they're the right people to go to.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

I have to agree with the others on this, but I will add one thing. If following the normal procedure and reporting the incident to FIRST officials or coordinators does not yield a result (and you feel that it is a criminal matter) you should then inform the official/coordinator that you will be contacting police and to expect their arrival.

Not doing so brings to mind the Penn State incident of a couple years ago. Allegations were made, but the officials refused to escalate the situation. In that case, it falls to the observers to make sure something is done.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

This is accurate, but a lot of participants may not know these people by sight and sometimes the managers/ RDs are in the event office and unavailable to teams. I recommend you find a person with a head set radio (except refs, of course). Anyone at an event with a radio can quickly get in touch with the appropriate party to handle the incident.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

I can see the logic in not creating a scene at the event. And I appreciate the fact that there are FIRST volunteers with relevant training. But what sort of authority exists for any mentor, teacher or FIRST representative? No event volunteer in any position can detain or question a student (w/o incurring some sort of liability). Heck, in most of the USA a teacher can't do that in the classroom. Even if the decision is to remove a student from the arena for simply running in the pits, one should have a law enforcement officer do the evicting.

There are a lot of great ideas in this thread. I would caution having a mentor or teacher or FIRST representative forced to exercise judgment or authority where, in fact, none exists. That rarely ends well. Start with a person who does have the authority. I'm not talking about squad cars pulling up in front of the building and stopping the proceedings. I'm talking about hired officers who are already integrated with the event leadership team.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

Thank you. I totally agree that one of the most effective measures in this situation would just be a daily reminder to mascots to not get carried away and to keep their hands to themselves. High school kids often have trouble discerning the boundary of funny and creepy, I know I do. Robotics competitions are a fun time for most FIRSTers and its easy to get carried away.

TL;DR Guidelines help.

Re: Attention Mascots (and teams with one)
 

^This right here. I don't want to take away from the point here, because it is wrong to grope and such, and if a mascot does it intentional they should be promptly dealt with, but it may not ALWAYS be intentional. When you get a brand new car, and are driving it for the first time, you don't want to immediately go and parallel park, because you don't know the size and area of the car yet, same with costumes, some of the incidents might have been unintentional. It's rude to generalize and blame immediately

I like the idea of name tags that the mascots MUST wear at all times with their real name and team number on them, in addition to a "mascot meeting" type event, because then they have immediate identification for the mascot in question and some form of training. It's wrong to bar mascots from giving hugs or, because I am not in to the spirit side very much, but I'll give a mascot a hug, but they should also know when to not give a hug and when it is too long.