Code of Conduct

Introduction

Hack the North is a community hackathon intended for collaboration and learning in the student community. Our vision is to make it easy for anyone to dream big. We value the participation of each member of the student community and want all attendees to have an enjoyable and fulfilling experience. Accordingly, all attendees are expected to show respect and courtesy to other attendees throughout the hackathon. To make clear what is expected, all attendees at this hackathon are required to conform to the following Code of Conduct. Organizers will enforce this code throughout the Event.

Core Values

Inclusivity

• Empowering everyone to follow their dreams and furthering their goals.
• Making sure everyone feels that they have a seat at the table, even when they are not present; Showing respect to our peers and ensuring that everyone feels valued and heard.

Learning

• Learning from each other to further grow.
• “No one knows everything; together we know a lot”: Our unique experiences shape us to who we are today. As we learn from others, we gain new insights and perspectives that further develop and enhance our own experiences.

Quality

• What we gain from diverse perspectives.
• Our differences make us strong, compassionate and competitive. These differences help us further our performance and help us to create new innovations.

Self-care

• Taking care of “business” begins with first taking care of yourself: You are not the best version of yourself when you feel overworked, tired, and stressed. Everyone benefits when you are at your best - recognize when you are being stretched too thin or not being stretched enough. Remember to: Resist, rest, revitalize, repeat.

Feedback

• Be generous in both giving and accepting feedback.
• Feedback is not just about being constructive - catch people doing something right and let them know! Good feedback is kind, respectful, clear, and constructive, and focused on goals and values rather than the person itself.

Communication

• Share early and ask for feedback often.
• Be polite and friendly in all forms of communication. There is a difference between intent and impact which can be misinterpreted, especially through remote communication. Acknowledge the difference between intent and impact and be proactive in communicating with others your intent.

Listening

• Listen to understand, not to respond. Be open-minded, courteous, and stray from being defensive. Allow space for play, curiosity, and creative thinking.

Expected Behaviour

Be supportive. One of our values in Hack the North is to be generous in both giving and accepting feedback which is one of many ways you can demonstrate being supportive. We encourage our organizers and hackers to offer help if you see someone struggling and/or direct them to someone who can offer assistance

Be inclusive. In order to accomplish our vision of allowing “anyone to dream big”, we encourage all of our Sponsors, Organizers and hackers to be inclusive. This includes but is not limited to: building an environment free from cliques, avoiding slang or idioms that may not translate across different cultures and languages, and being an ally when a team member is in need.

Be collaborative. It is part of our values to share early and ask for feedback often. As an organization, we are all-hands on deck when it comes to providing a high quality and collaborative experience. We hope that this is also the case when it comes to your hack whether it be brainstorming sessions, code review, or even cup stacking!

Be kind. Being kind does not just involve being kind to others, but also being kind to yourself. This is aligned with our value of self-care where we emphasize: “taking care of “business” begins with first taking care of yourself”. Moreover, as we use several mediums to deliver information, we encourage you to be polite and courteous in all forms of communication to others.

Protected Grounds

This policy prohibits harassment or discrimination based on the following grounds, and any combination of these grounds:

• Age
• Creed (religion)
• Sex (including pregnancy and breastfeeding)
• Sexual orientation
• Gender identity
• Gender expression
• Disability (including mental, physical, developmental, or learning disability)
• Race
• Ancestry
• Place of origin
• Ethnic origin
• Citizenship
• Colour
• Any other grounds the Organizers deem inappropriate

Prohibited Behaviour

Harassment

• Treat people the way you want to be treated.
• Is defined as a course of comments or actions that are known, or ought reasonably to be known, to be unwelcome. Whether it is involving words or actions that are known or should be known to be offensive, embarrassing, humiliating, demeaning, or unwelcome; based on one or more incidents under the ground of discrimination identified by this policy.

Sexual and Gender-Based Harassment

• Respectful communication and actions.
• Every person has the right to freedom from harassment.
• Sexual harassment is a form of harassment that can include:
  • Leering or inappropriate staring
  • Gender-related verbal abuse, threats, or taunting
  • Unwelcome demands for dates
  • Requests for sexual favours
  • Displays of sexually offensive pictures, graffiti, or recordings
  • Offensive jokes or comments of sexual nature about an Organizer or attendee

Discrimination

• Inclusive to everyone.
• Every person has the right to inclusivity and equal treatment
• No person shall infringe or do, directly or indirectly, any form of unequal or different treatment onto others. It is intentional or unintentional, imposing extra burdens or denying benefits that disadvantage certain groups of people.

Abusive Behaviour and Lewd Conduct

• Respect others.
• Hackers shall not use any electronic device or electronic method of communication to engage in any illegal, lewd, offensive, indecent, sexual, or obscene act or expression (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, etc) that may lead to harassment, harassing or bullying.

Roles and Responsibilities

All individuals present at Hack the North are expected to uphold and abide by this policy, by refraining from any form of harassment or discrimination, and by cooperating fully in any investigation of a harassment or discrimination complaint. Hack the North looks to its attendees and Organizers to uphold the environment of diversity and inclusivity that is valued in the organization.

Organizers have the additional responsibility to act immediately on observations or allegations of harassment or discrimination. Organizers are responsible for creating and maintaining a harassment- and discrimination-free organization and Event, and should address potential problems before they become serious.

If a participant engages in harassing or discriminatory behaviour, Organizers may take actions they deem appropriate, including warning the offender or expelling the offender from the Event.

Major League Hacking (MLH)

Hack the North is an MLH member event. As part of our partnership, the MLH Code of Conduct also applies to all Hack the North attendees.