2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

As I mentioned in a few threads, I'm interested in pushing FIRST to be more serious about addressing seating issues and harassment in general. The current policy is moderately vague and doesn't mention any actions FIRST will take to actually address any harassment reports they get. Most cons manage this just fine, and we should be able to manage at least as well as a con.

With that in mind, I've made up a pretty simple Google Forms survey to collect reports of incidents people had at the 2016 Champs, for starters:
http://goo.gl/forms/ZwrptGK2jT

I'm hoping to have a stack of unaddressed issues to wave in people's faces and make them take notice. Or maybe not. Maybe there weren't that many problems and FIRST's current system is fine. First step is gathering some (mildly unscientific) data. If you don't want to bother with the form, feel free to post in here as well. Or comment if there's something you feel I need to change on the form.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

Will you be releasing the results publicly?

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

I don't think we had to deal with any serious issues at Worlds. There were times people were in our way and we politely asked them to move and they did. Holding seats wasn't a problem because there was an abudence of free seating at our divison. At MSC, that's another story though. There were a few teams I remember that were very rude when it came to stuff.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

I'll release the anonymous info publicly. The Team Number and Years in FIRST fields are to give weight to any reports coming from veteran participants. Or rookies. Bad experience your first year at Champs is obviously a bad thing.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

You should change the "What kind of harassment did you experience?" question to a checkbox format, so that people can pick multiple.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

Should I modify this into a general purpose form? I can add a field for the competition you had a problem at. I'm mostly focusing on Champs because I want Houston Champs to run smoothly and not have these sorts of problems, and I should have some influence with a board member or two.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

What specifically do you want to see happen? We aren't supposed to save seats, but if a group of scouts is working and a few get up to go check out things, is it wrong to assume that your scouts should be able to be together so you can collect data conveniently?

We had a team whose mom's kept scooting into our row or sending students to take the empty seat every time one of our scouts would leave for a break. That made it awkward upon their return. Finally, we just left and went somewhere that general spectators didn't want to be. I think "civilians" don't understand that there are people trying to do a job in the stands. They wouldn't go in the pits and get in the way of other teams there, but they are perfectly willing to do it in the stands. I'm not sure there is a solution other than announcing that folks be aware of scouts in the stands and help them do their job by not standing in front of them or nudging them out.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

I didn't see it in St Louis but I had a long chat with our district director about the clothespin problem that I've seen happen at some events. Students will take to putting clothespins on other students in some sort of ritual tag game, which is fine if those students know each other. It's when they don't that I have a problem with it. Putting them on strangers is not acceptable and it's going to lead to a more serious problem down the road if nothing is done about it.

It's an issue and I've had more than one student feel harassed because of it. In all cases for my team it has been female students who felt harassed for having the clothespins placed on them by male students from other teams. I'm tired of dealing with it year after year personally and I plan on making a big point of it so it stops. It's unacceptable.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

I agree with the multiple-choice checkbox for 'type of harassment'. I had to write 'other' and write in just about every option.

This is the second year in a row my kids have been screamed at and shoved around over seating. We travel with a group anywhere from 45-80 people, so we understand that we take up a lot of space, and try to be as thoughtful as possible in choosing where to sit and how we behave. Is everyone on our team perfect? Certainly not, but we dang sure try to keep it gracious and professional.

Each one of our students is well-versed in the rules, both from the manual and our team's materials. For 1923's travel meetings, we say this, though in a much longer-form discussion:

-If there's someone in the seat, that is their seat. You have no right to ask them to move. (Yes, even if it's a seat you got up from earlier. You don't own it, and you left it empty. Tough luck.)
-If someone's stuff is in a seat, don't touch it - just leave it alone. If you really need somewhere to sit and that's your only option, ask that seat's neighbor if you may sit there until the other person returns.
-If there are no people or backpacks in a seat, you may sit there, as it's open.
-If someone gets in your face about it, say the following. "I'm sorry sir/ma'am, but the manual actually prevents saving seats. May we sit here while the seat is empty?"
-If that person escalates, call one of your mentors over. You will not have to deal with harassment alone.

I had written out a whole thing about our last two years of experiences, but I honestly get exhausted all over again thinking about it. It boils down to the following; My kids have been screamed at, called ungracious, pushed, shoved, and even kicked - over asking to sit down in empty seats.

Every single one of our incidents has involved an adult from another team, not a kid.

Overzealous adults are a good chunk of the problem with seating. I've very rarely seen students be rude about it. Teams need to make 'don't be a jerk' a part of their culture, and that culture needs to be explained to the parents who travel with you.

Volunteer harassment is a whole separate issue I don't want to get into on this already-ranty-post. I could write a book. Maybe more than one.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

The kids usually look really embarrassed by the adults in their team shirt making a total $@#$@#$@# of themselves.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

It was late and I was quite certain I'm not informed enough to cover anything. I'm just motivated and think I might improve things for Houston Champs if nothing else.
This has been my observation as well. And I don't think it's because the students feel intimidated or unable to protest. They just don't seem to feel nearly as protective as adults.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

Can the folks suggesting a checkbox format just PM Kevin with a list of suggested Checkboxes? That might help him out more.

Thanks for putting this together, I feel this is a great step in the right direction.

Also, I agree with marshall on this clothespin tag game.

1) I don't get it, am I out of touch with the youth already?
2) I do see kids targeting girls a lot and I find it rather annoying knowing that a student of mine may be attracting unwanted physical interaction
3) The fact that they usually sneak up on other students just seems creepy to me.

Mentors - if you see your kids doing this, kindly ask them to stop tagging strangers. If not, I will gladly break their clothespins in front of them.

Thanks,
Akash

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

I had never heard of the game until you posted this, but I did see students throwing clothespins into other teams pits when they weren't around. Seemed odd to me.

-Mike

It was certainly a thing people were doing at Champs. Teams would leave clothespins in our pit or attach them to our students.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

2481 has a standard practice with the students that any clothespins they find are taken to the pit crew for distruction/disposal. Should any other teams participating at the same event wish to drop clothespins off at the 2481 pit I'm sure the pit captain would be happy to oblige

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

It's not just pinning students, but Rick Snyder's Security(?) got tagged too. Additionally, there's a weirdly defensive justification over the practice. I never understood it as a student, and I still don't understand it as a mentor. Perhaps there's only a short period before people start putting clothes pins on paper airplanes :rolleyes:

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

Not only does this happen among students, but several volunteers including myself end up getting tagged. Personally, I'm never thrilled when I get tagged. It's a little creepy, and I don't want the tags on me.

So mentors, let's please STOP this behavior from happening.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

Thanks for tracking this. I would love to see the results with team number/identifying information removed.

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Lots of students enjoy the clothespin tagging game, on both the tagger and taggee sides. I don't want to participate, but I also don't want to ruin the game for the willing participants. Asking for consent spoils the fun. So how about explicitly identifying the tag targets? People who are happy to get pins clipped to them could wear a distinctive sash or wristband. Anyone not displaying the "target consent" item would be out of bounds.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

Some of our students did that one year at some event... I feel like it just brought more of them out though.

[rant]
I am just sick of dealing with this though. I have to take time away from my own students and go track down the other team involved, find a reasonably astute student or an adult, explain to them that they need to stop it while holding some level of self-control so I don't scream at them to stop perpetuating a culture of invading the personal space of others. Meanwhile my students felt threatened, intimidated, and I'm sure a little embarrassed that they have a mentor having these conversations. And then after I've done it, I have to deal with the eye rolling... yeah, I'm the guy in zebra-striped pajama pants and grease covered hands who just told your team to stop harassing my students!!!! It irritates the crap out of me!!!! #TSINMFD
[/rant]

If I had to guess it started because some team brought in clothespins as their team giveaway/button substitute and then boredom took over and now we have a lame tradition that shows no respect for personal space.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

I really like this idea. Needs some thought, but you could probably wrap the target identifier into a team giveaway or something.

In the original vein of this thread, I really like this idea, Kevin. Hopefully the results of this survey can be leveraged into meaningful change.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

I hadn't heard/seen this "game" before (haven't been to Champs yet either) and I was curious, so did some digging as I tend to do. I found a couple of links talking about it, one from 2011 as a family game that apparently the blogger remembers being played for years and another from Vex Champs in 2013.

https://shanehalbach.com/2011/12/08/...othespin-game/

https://www.facebook.com/events/439479122807499/

Like many activities, this probably started out as the innocent thing between people that know each other/family and has now spread out. With the current environment, this sounds like it is approaching (or already has with some of the posts here) the mascot "hugging" level (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...71#post1386771). I'm easily imagining a clothes-pinning attempt not going well and the "victim" being creeped out by it something fierce. It would really suck to find out that is why someone decided to stop participating in this life-directing program when it didn't need to happen at all.

Paired up with the Making STEM a better place for women (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...01#post1571301) thread, we probably need to work on making sure the environment stays safe, inviting, and comfortable for all participants.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

This is a good compromise provided that people know and follow it. A simple thing I thought about was having a clothespin on the upper, front part of your torso. It would be very difficult to get that on someone without their knowledge and easy to see for other willing participants.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

Our team participates in the clothspin game, but we hardly ever actually need to establish any rules about it. They are simply non-verbally understood to be something along the lines of:
1) If you know the person, and the person is not offended by the act, it is OK.
2) If the person is wearing large amounts of spirit wear (our team wears fluffy white YETI hats, I have seen other people wearing capes and fedoras) it is probably okay to pin to that (I have walked around the pits for hours without noticing clothespins sticking straight up from my YETIs ears)
3) If the person has clothspinned you or your friends while walking past your pit, it is DEFINETLY okay to walk by their pit and go for a targeted stealth pinning.
You make some other points about how it is a non-consensual act, and I agree in a perfect world we should all agree about how we treat each other, but I have never observed this specifically. This is partly because the clothspinner is trying to not be noticed. People can really only be pinned on spirit wear or the ends of very long clothing without the person clearly overstepping their boundries (If a person can not understand that walking up to a stranger and pinching tight clothing to put a clothespin on is inappropriate, we need to take more then just clothespins away from them). If the person feels violated afterwards, then the person doing the clipping already violated how close the clippee like to be within people. What I am saying is not that clipping is an okay substitute for direct inappropriate touching, but that clipping should be treated like a direct touch. I have had my YETI hat pet more times then I probably know about it, and I am okay with that. I have also been hugged more times then I have wanted (usually by team members, but I still am not a hugging person and "did not consent/reciprocate"), and that is okay.

I would just like to remind you that physical contact is not even required to make someone feel uncomfortable. (Noting that this situation is gender neutral, because this applies to everybody) A stranger trying to start a conversation with you may be absolutely fine, because you love to talk, or terrifying. But either way, we do not consider this stranger with good intentions rude. It is only if they continue their social interaction past the point where it should be understood that they should stop talking and leave that they are rude.

For better or worse: We do not require people to wear "I am comfortable with spontaneous social interaction" signs

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

Its an utterly pointless thing to do at events and if you started to ask around you'll have more people against clothespins than for them. It adds a little humor but mostly annoyance or discomfort.

Teams have been asked not to bring certain giveaways with them before I see no reason why they can't extend into clothespins.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

The difference between clothespins and something like noisemakers is that pinning someone is a one-on-one action. It does not affect anyone who doesn't get pinned. When respecting personal space can be made part of the culture, banning an item entirely is an overreaction. Instead of outlawing the entire clothespinning game, it would be good for all involved to actually embrace the game and set clear guidelines for its players.

And once the "explicit consent" idea is made part of the game, it can then be institutionalized and extended to other personal-space actions: mascot hugs, shoulder rubs, hair touching, etc.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

Someone across from our pit brought an entire kit tote full of clothespins and made a game with twitter out of it - it probably weighed 30 pounds. We were so close in proximity that we got tagged more than a hundred times easily. I have to agree that it is obnoxious when not moderated and that my team will never bring pegs to competition but I do not think we will go as far as dismantling them since I do see some kids having harmless fun with them.

I think 1v1 student confrontation over them is a problem if the students who are tagging have questionable character and behave inappropriately with them because most of the time it is harmless. The mistakes of a few ruin it for all.

I would not be opposed to a collective ban on them at competitions because there are other ways to have fun at the events. Seating harassment was way worse this year but since the venues will shrink next year the problem will hopefully shrink along with it.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

I do not get it, why is anyone offended by the pins? Seems like a harmless game (which my team didn't partake in).

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This could only work if it were in any way enforcable. If you tagged someone who did not consent, how would you be punished or for that matter get caught. I think this solution would actually make a meta-game about who can tag the most non-consenting people and get away with it. Frankly I think it would hurt more than help.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

For me, it's the fact that I am helping to make a robotics event happen and teams to perform their best and I do not want to distracted by someone putting a clothespin on me. I also agree with the points on personal space.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

I don't like being touched without my consent, especially by strangers.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

It really is the worst feeling if you haven't experienced it.

Mine was comparatively mild: I worked USC football games as a fundraiser for 4901. It's hot and sweaty work in big (drunken) crowds, but it's good money. I was on the ramps probably 30 minutes to kickoff, eyes towards the thousands pouring into the stadium, when someone came up on my blind side and just started playing with my sideburns (which were already a little disgusting from the heat and exertion) before continuing on up the ramp. I didn't have means to stop them, nor did it feel like it was worth my efforts to do so, but It Was Not Okay.

If you're going to clothespin, do it with consent or don't do it at all.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

You could. Im not going to call any teams out because what happened is over, but I noticed the team sitting behind us didn't have their bleachers full and I only watched matches whenever we were up since I was the pit boss. It was nice to take a break every once in awhile. So I asked if I could sit in the spots and somebody said sure, but their team would be back soon. I let them know when they do get back, I'll be happy to move but I should be gone before then. So a friend and I sat there for a bit and I thought I saw somebody from their team so I got ready to move. As I was shuffling seats, I got in the way of another team for maybe 10 seconds and it's like I just slapped their team captain. They started yelling at me saying how I was in their way and how I'm blocking their match. I moved but they could have been a little more polite. I realized that the other team I was sitting by wasn't coming back so I went back to where I was sitting at the end of the match. About 2 minutes later, a man came and started yelling at my friend and I for sitting in their seats. So we stood up and the team that yelled at us before, yelled at us again. So we were getting yelled at by two teams at once. Thinking about it, I don't know what really could have happened to prevent them from getting so mad at us besides them learning manners.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

This brings to mind a policy I've seen at a con (GeekGirlCon specifically although others may have it as well).

If there was a sticker that people could put on their badge to allow them to opt out of touching, pinning, etc, it might make this more tolerable, as long as people will take the time to look for opt-outs and respect them.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

Shouldn't this be more of an opt-in?

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The clothespin game doesn't bug me anymore than that dopey ninja game the kids enjoy playing so much. The free hugs thing concerns me. It's a sexual harassment suit waiting to happen.

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Yes, the general population should not be assumed to be a part of the clothespin tagging game. I would propose something similar to humans vs zombies games played on college campuses-- a clear armband or headband (hey, that sounds like a cool team giveaway!), no involving bystanders.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

I like to keep my lanyard and ID clean, I think it looks better, I would not like to have to put a sticker on it that says "I choose to retain my right to personal space".

Side note: I can understand people not wanting to be photographed, but I believe that most FIRST events (and I believe most cons) operate under a policy of you are allowing us to photograph you by choosing to be here. That is stated in the release I agree to each year and I have seen signs to that effect at events.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

Two things about the Clothespin "Game"

1. How do you make sure everyone understands you can only do it to certain people? It isn't like FIRST will put out a message, put up signs, and let anyone holding a clothespin the rules.

2. I personally don't find it fun. Last year it made me uncomfortable. People on my team who thought it was fun would do it to me. I asked them to stop. When I did they asked me why I was trying to "kill their fun" I didn't have anything else I could say which really frustrated me.

To some it is harmless fun, to others it isn't. How you make the distinction between those who want to play and who don't is incredibly important, and not nearly as simple as people make it out to be.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

There is so much to do at any competition that there isn't a legitimate argument that I've seen for allowing it at all. Why keep something going on if it makes anyone uncomfortable? When anyone says "This makes me uncomfortable", that is the end of it, the behavior must stop.

I was slightly on edge about this throughout competitions because I don't want someone doing something to me without my knowledge. It is like a prank. Would you pull a prank on someone you don't know? Would you throw glitter on the heads of strangers without their consent or knowledge? Don't put things on people, because you never know if they want you to do so unless you ask them.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

Some people get uncomfortable from being looked at, talked to, seeing a mascot, being surrounded by a lot of people, hearing grinding gears, and seeing messy wiring. A lot of little things make a few people uncomfortable but shouldn't necessarily be banned.

Real harassment can happen at events. Complaining this much about clothes pinning, which is usually just mildly annoying, is an insult to victims of actual harassment.

Don't teach everyone not to have a little harmless fun. Teach creeps not to creep.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

I had a team at champs, who will go unnamed, kick me out of my seat. As I left, I heard an adult yell a racist term, as I am not white. I was taken aback and looked back at them, where the adult and some other mentors stoood snickering.

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Why can't districts/regionals/events take these types of things into their own hands? HQ clearly has not addressed this reoccurring issue. There is enough email traffic from these people already, why can't we ask them to address their teams prior to competition. Why can't this be addressed with the whole consent and release form process? Not all events have security, and although there is an established protocol in the manual but clearly not everyone reads the manual.

Arguing with another person over the rights to sit in an unclaimed seat is verbal abuse if it goes beyond a "hey, I was sitting there and I went to the bathroom type statement"

Clothespin Game is harassment. It can also turn into sexual harassment. It can turn into sexual assault in the wrong circumstances. In the popular case of targeting a law enforcement officer, its ASSAULTING A POLICE OFFICER.

Solicitation of Free Hugs is harassment. It can also turn into sexual harassment. It can turn into sexual assault in the wrong circumstances.

Specifically in both of these cases targeting an individual without consent is harassment. Unless you have written consent you are going to have a very difficult time winning a he-said she-said argument in court.

End the practice now, before someone ruins events for all of us. You can't treat these events as a free for all. We might have teenagers at these events but in the court system they can, and will be treated like adults.

I hope HQ finds an appropriate response to indemnify themselves from future risk.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

The things you've listed as making people uncomfortable are things that are not being forced on people. If they don't like grinding gears or messy wiring, they can stay out of the pits. If they don't want to talk, they can say "sorry, I need some quiet" or even just find a quiet place to sit for a little while.

Clothespinning is something that is being forced on people. Yes, some (perhaps many) people aren't bothered by it. But forcing somebody to accept deliberate violation of their personal space is harassment.

Yes, we should be striving to teach students "not to creep" aka respect boundaries. I see this as part of it. Some of my students were clothespinned in St. Louis last week, and while some shrugged it off, others were bothered by it. One of my girls had already had to deal with mentors yelling at her while she was pit scouting as well as students from another team throwing things at her while her friends helped her calm down from the incidents with the mentors. She was not exactly thrilled to have somebody sticking things to her.

I recognize that whoever had the clothespin didn't know about what happened to her. But that's part of the problem - you don't know what's going on with a stranger, and you don't know which stranger is the one who will be distressed by what you only intend as a harmless prank.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

I'm going to piggyback on this (which, if done literally, could be considered harassment) and say that many forms of "real" harassment are similar to having a clothespin clipped on your clothes. Hugging, inappropriate touching and clothespinning all include violating a personal bubble and initiating contact without consent, the latter two are often done while trying to not be detected. To say that this is not actual harassment is to not respect the people who want their physical space respected.

Re: 2016 Championship Harassment Survey
 

Man, poking hornet's nests is always fun. Sorry for the inattention today, I was busy getting de-cyborged and recovering from that. (Long medical story.)

First off, added clothespinning and unwanted physical attention to the harassment types, which is now checkboxes to avoid "Other: this, and this, and this" responses. Only 38 responses so far, but that plus this thread is still pretty informative. So far ~40% of issues are seating related.

Second, to marshall and others annoyed by having to deal with these things themselves: This is obviously entirely the purpose of having a real and enforced harassment policy. The interaction with the harasser or their team gets put into official hands, where there's better odds of the message sticking anyways. Yes, this is even more volunteers that we're going to need, and specialized ones at that. I'm still thinking about that side of the problem.

To those that think clothespinning is harmless fun, it's really not. Secretly invading someone's personal space is not cool. Imagine if you will that the clothespins have fun messages like "I'm watching you." or "See you tonight." There is a non-zero percentage of the population that will interpret a sleath clothespin in this manner. It is sending the message "I can get close to you and touch you without you ever noticing." For some people, this is going to be a spine-chilling moment, especially if they've previously been traumatized. And you do NOT know that they haven't.

Clothespinning TL;DR: You're literally terrifying an unknown number of people for your own amusement. Stop it because that's an awful thing to do.

Final note: I'm mostly expecting this thread to be consolidating reports of incidents, etc. For instance, I'd forgotten clothespinning was a thing. Discussion of why things are problems is also understandable. I'm planning on starting up a new thread for working on policy and ideas for dealing with these issues in a few days, after I pull some links and ideas together I've run across in the blogosphere.