Code of Conduct

The Chi Hack Night community expects that their events:

  1. Are a safe environment, where people are free to fully express their identities.
  2. Respect the value of others and their ideas, skills, and contributions.
  3. Assume everyone has different backgrounds where Members and other attendees seek first to understand, then to be understood.
  4. Recognize that everyone has something to contribute regardless of their technical abilities.
  5. Default to open: the data, the code, and the access. Members and other attendees strive to build tools that are free for public use and incorporate open source software and open data.
  6. Are a place for collaboration, where Members and other attendees – experienced and new – work together to discuss issues and develop solutions, apps, and resources.
  7. Work to engage all Chicagoans and communities in planning, designing, and implementing open tech, especially those who are traditionally excluded.
  8. Ensure that the relationships and conversations among Members of and participants in Chi Hack Night, governments, and communities remain respectful, participatory, and productive.
  9. Provide an environment where people are free from discrimination or harassment (if you are harassed or witness harassment refer to the harassment policy below).
  10. Are fun.

Anti-Harassment Policy

If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please use the following means to contact our Code of Conduct response team to tell them what you experienced or witnessed:

Call or text message

+1 201-899-4189


Chi Hack Night is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, nationality, age, or religion.

We do not tolerate harassment of Board Members, Members, volunteers, presenters, or any attendee of Chi Hack Night in any form. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for any Chi Hack Night event, unless explicitly allowed by the Chi Hack Night Board of Directors. Anyone in violation of these policies may be expelled from Chi Hack Night events, at the discretion of the Board.

Harassment includes but is not limited to: offensive verbal or written comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion; sexual images in public spaces; deliberate intimidation; stalking; following; harassing photography or recording; sustained disruption of talks or other events; inappropriate physical contact; unwelcome sexual attention; unwarranted exclusion; and patronizing language or action.

If any attendee engages in harassing behavior, the Board may take any action they deem appropriate, including warning the offender or expelling the offender from Chi Hack Night. If a Chi Hack Night Member engages in harassing behavior and is expelled from the event, the Board will also revoke the membership of that individual.

What happens when a violation is reported

Below is the procedure we follow when a Code of Conduct violation is reported to Chi Hack Night’s Code of Conduct response team.

  1. Contact Chi Hack Night’s Code of Conduct response team using the Chi Hack Night Conduct Hotline number: +1 201-899-4189 (call or text message)
  2. Inform the response team of all the details about the incident you are reporting. The team will make responding to the report a top priority.
  3. Wait for the response team to follow up with you about the action(s) they have taken to address the report. Possible outcomes to expect from the report:
    • Minor violations: The Code of Conduct response team will reach out to the person or people being reported and issue an email warning.
    • Serious violations: The Code of Conduct response team will reach out to the person or people being reported and inform them that they have been banned from the event.

Additionally, if the incident in question was viewed by many or has been deemed worth officially commenting on by the team, the team will write a public comment to post on the website and share at the event and on Slack.

Photo policy

Before taking photographs Chi Hack Night participants, please ask for verbal approval, especially if you are posting to social media. Photos and videos of presentations are allowed.

Created collaboratively by the Chi Hack Night community, adapted from the Code for America Code of Conduct.

Version 1.3. Published on Feb 25, 2019. This Code of Conduct is licensed to the public under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. View the change history on GitHub