Hello Comrades, I recommend you VOTE YES on this Resolution which I am sponsoring. A group of eleven members collaborated to create it, and I’m grateful I was able to work alongside a member with experience professionally handling grievance & disciplinary processes in multiple organizations, a Title IX lawyer, and a mental health professional.
As our highest elected body and our highest decision-making body between General Body Meetings, the Steering Committee is empowered to review and vote on Harassment & Grievance investigations, as well as Code of Conduct violations, membership suspensions and expulsions. However, while DSA nationally has bylaws, procedures, and standards such as our Unified Grievance Policy, there currently are no expectations or requirements that Steering Committee members receive training on these rules. This is incredibly serious, given that harms such as sexual harassment, abuse & misconduct are endemic to patriarchal capitalist society, and have already taken place within our organization.
This resolution would establish the standard that anyone seeking election to our chapter’s Steering Committee must participate in national trainings on DSA’s Grievance Policy, as well as conflict resolution, offered periodically by the national Committee of Grievance Officers (CGO), in order to deliberate on disciplinary actions. If passed, anyone running for Steering would have sixty days before and sixty days after the election date to participate in these national trainings, meaning a period of approximately four months in total, with the window extended to ninety days for Steering Committee members immediately seeking reelection. If trainings are not listed on the CGO website for the sixty days following the end date of the election, the current Steering Committee members must reach out to the national CGO to schedule them for our chapter. The resolution also encourages Steering Committee members to pursue additional training in confidentiality, conflict deescalation, restorative justice, and centering the voices and experiences of survivors of harassment and abuse, which are not currently offered by the CGO.
The resolution requires Steering Committee members who have not pursued these trainings to recuse themselves from participating in such disciplinary proceedings. Additionally, it affirms the Grievance Policy’s provisions around recusal due to conflicts of interest and also applies it to our Code of Conduct process. Finally, the resolution requests that the Steering Committee reach out to the national CGO to hold these required trainings for any interested members and incorporate an appropriate version of them into New Member Cohorts, so our members would have a greater awareness of our policies.
This resolution’s requirements for Steering and efforts for new member education respectively can also help prevent secondary victimization, a term referring to the harm survivors who come forward can experience as a result of poor responses from institutions, leaders, or peers. Those who experience harassment or abuse have already had their agency violated, and a failure to abide by survivor-centered practices & maintain confidentiality can leave survivors with choosing between silence or retraumatization. Many will quietly withdraw from a community rather than knowingly risk further harm. Passing this resolution to ensure Steering Committee competence, and encourage member education, may help prevent secondary victimization, repair harm, and empower people who experience harm to come forward in the first place.
I believe that DSA is the only organization capable of becoming an alternative to the Republicans and Democrats. But we do not merely seek to replace capitalist institutions; we seek to lead a socialist transformation of society towards a just future for all. If we are serious about our task, it is imperative that our organization’s leaders are equipped to soundly and fairly make crucial decisions that affect our chapter as a whole, in line with our democratically established policies; and that our members are familiar with the policies set up to protect them.
Please join me in voting yes on this resolution!