noisebridge/bureaucracy — pull request #34 by dharlette (2014-04-14 06:45:14+00:00)
Title: Ban Michael P.

Michael P. is banned for violating the anti-harassment policy by looking up Naomi's skirt.

Description: Michael P. is described as "a young Russian fellow" with "light brown/blonde,
curly hair. Very young looking."

Naomi's description of the event is as follows (copied from a NB-discuss) email thread.

"Hi all,

I had to ask a young Russian fellow to leave this evening at roughly
11:15pm. He left without complaint. The full story follows:

In a random conversation after the meeting, at which this guy had been
obviously distracted and seemingly drunk, he professed to have been at
Noisebridge for 5 or 6 days straight, 24 hours a day.

I said "that's not cool". He replied, "it IS cool." A lot more of
that kind of dialog took place, and Josh (the tall Josh with the
guitar) came into the conversation.

It turned out this was also his first time at Noisebridge. We gave
him the benefit of the doubt, that no one had yet schooled him on what
we consider Excellent behavior.

However, his behavior was, as several put it, "creepy" and "erratic".
His eyes were bugged out and he couldn't seem to control his facial
expressions. He repeatedly told Josh, "I'm not even listening to what
you're saying", as if that was an acceptable conversational tool.

The breaking point for me was when, in the middle of my offering him a
"deal", he looked up my skirt and stuck out his tongue and giggled.

I felt like slapping him, but instead I asked Josh, JC, and [helpful
fellow who does Burning Man related stuff] to back me up in asking him
to leave.

I asked this guy to leave, and he did so quietly, without complaint.
I did not tell him to come back to a Tuesday meeting; we just
entreated him to get some sleep.

Duly reported to the community,
Naomi"

Several women in the community have come forward to express support of removing him permanently from the community, including: Hannah, Liz, Merlin, & Lupita.

"I don't feel comfortable being at NB if I don't have either a picture of this guy, or an assurance that his presence will be announced (or he'll be kicked out) if he shows up again." - Merlin

"I think for the sake of all women feeling welcomed, he should have an unconditional ban." - Lupita

"I don't think giving 2nd and 3rd chances to someone who behaves like this is going to be useful." - Liz