Have you ever witnessed bullying, harassment, or an uncomfortable encounter in a professional context and wished you knew how to intervene? It can be challenging to know what to say or do on the spot. The DLF Code of Conduct invites participants to be Active Bystanders, but what does that really mean?

In October 2019, DLF’s Committee on Equity and Inclusion held a live Active Bystander Orientation session over Zoom. The session was recorded and is now available for viewing. After an introduction to bystander intervention and an overview of strategies, they thought together about how to apply active bystander strategies to situations that might happen in professional or social contexts. 

To prepare for the orientation session, you can read the Code of Conduct, watch this brief video, read one or more of the three short articles about bystander interventions linked below, and reflect on the following scenarios:

• Someone addresses another person using the wrong pronoun.
• In a lively discussion, someone is continually interrupting someone else.
• You overhear someone make a comment about someone else’s appearance or body size.
• Someone makes a remark that is commonly used in rhetoric against a marginalized group.
• A question from the audience in a session seems intended to embarrass the presenter; when the presenter tries to answer, the audience member interrupts to ask it in a different way.

 Suggested Readings:

• • Bystander Resources from hollaback: https://www.ihollaback.org/resources/bystander-resources/
  • “What Is Your Responsibility as a Bystander to a Colleague Having Problems?” from the Chronicle of Higher Education: https://www.chronicle.com/article/What-Is-Your-Responsibility-as/244287
  • Bystander Intervention Do’s and Don’ts  from American Friends Service Committee: https://www.afsc.org/bystanderintervention

Recording of Active Bystander Orientation:

Recording available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/oHUfMpqxK8Y

Zoom meeting chat transcript available here.

Presentation slides available here.

Resources:

Shared notetaking document: http://bit.ly/dlfactivebystanders

DLF Code of Conduct video: https://youtu.be/dD9UevmQjl8