Post From A19 Con Chair

My name is Daniel Eareckson and I am the Convention Chairperson for Arisia 2019.

I have taken too long to make this public statement; I apologize for that. Between now and the convention, I intend to frequently put out messages like this one indicating what we are doing to make Arisia a safer place. Likely turning into a weekly update.

Several actions have already been taken:

- Noel Rosenberg will not be on staff and is banned from attending Arisia 2019.

- Another staffer will not be volunteering for Arisia 2019.

- I have asked the Eboard to open or reopen investigations into any incidents that get requested as well as any that may arise from people coming forward.

- We are reaching out to third party specialists to review our Code of Conduct and Policies regarding Incident Responses. As these recommendations become solidified, we will share them with you.

- The Eboard has approved refunds for Arisia 2019 memberships to anyone who no longer wishes to attend this convention.

I will announce more actions as they are taken; and recognize that these initial steps are not enough to produce lasting change. I encourage your input. Emailing eboard@arisia.org or conchair@arisia.org is the best way to make sure that people see your suggestions. Although there are a lot of people working on this right now, we may not be able to reply to every individual message, though each message is read and considered.

I want everyone to know what goes on in our meetings and how to be part of making things change. I invite everyone to please come to the next Arisia Corporate meeting on November 11th at 2pm at the Somerville Armory and the Convention Committee meeting on November 18th at 4pm at NESFA to learn about what we do, how we do it, and to become involved directly.

Our structure and Policies are at https://corp.arisia.org/documents. Improving our Policies is one way we can make changes last and prevent mistakes in the future.

I am personally committed to addressing the issues raised by the people who chose to come forward, and to seeing that Arisia 2019 takes place in a environment where people can feel safe. I want you all to feel that this convention is worthy of attending, that we as a convention can learn from and recover from our past mistakes, that we can improve and exceed the level that is expected of us.

Daniel Eareckson

Arisia 2019 Conchair (conchair@arisia.org)