NVNR Code of Conduct
New Voices New Rooms values the dignity, diversity, and inclusion of everyone with whom we interact. Our safety and anti-harassment policies are critical to ensuring that this core value guides what we do and say. All participants at NVNR events are required to adhere to NVNR’s code of conduct, as described below. This includes booksellers, NVNR staff, exhibitors, speakers/presenters, guests, sponsors, volunteers, and all affiliated attendees.
NVNR is committed to a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of race, sex, national origin, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, ethnicity, and religion. We do not tolerate harassment, discrimination, or other unwelcome or unlawful behavior on the basis of any of these characteristics.
Behaviors that violate this policy include, but are not limited to:
- Offensive verbal comments related to any protected category above
- Inappropriate physical contact
- Sexual propositions
- Unwelcome sexual attention
- Obscene jokes, remarks, or gestures
- Any other words or conduct of a sexual nature that makes the recipient or observer uncomfortable
- Intimidation, stalking, or following
- Sustained disruption of talks or other events
- Unwelcome photography or recording
- Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behavior
NVNR expects all event participants to follow established rules throughout both official event offerings and related social gatherings, including this policy.
NVNR takes any violation of this policy very seriously. Accordingly, participants who violate this policy may, in the judgment and discretion of NVNR, be asked to stop; may be expelled from a NVNR event, without refund if applicable; may be prevented from attending future NVNR events; and may have future participation privileges revoked.
If you are being harassed, observe someone else being harassed, or have concerns about potential violations of this policy, please notify NVNR event organizers immediately. In the case of an emergency, call 911. In all other cases, if an NVNR representative is not immediately available, email nvnr.org@gmail.com or text 803.450-5240 and NVNR will respond. NVNR will take all appropriate action in response to protect anyone affected by violations of this policy. All reports are confidential. If NVNR staff takes a personal report from you, they may need to involve other event staff to ensure that your report is properly managed and that the appropriate action is taken to protect you or others, but all efforts will be made to keep your report confidential. We will only involve law enforcement or security at a victim’s request.
NVNR AntiTrust Guidelines
The booksellers in the room (virtual or otherwise) are, by definition, competitors. This means that under the law, they are prohibited from discussing certain things.
Specifically:
- There can be no discussions of price or pricing policies. Competitors are never allowed to agree on the price at which merchandise is sold, or discounts at which merchandise is offered. All discussions of price and pricing policies are strictly off-limits.
- There can be no discussion of boycotts. Competitors cannot agree to cease doing business with any supplier for any reason. Nor can competitors agree to urge consumers to boycott a third competitor. It’s collusion, and is strictly prohibited.
- There can be no discussion of dividing up a market. For example, if there are two booksellers in New York City, they cannot agree that one will market only to consumers north of 57th Street while the other markets only to customers south of 57th street. This is also collusion and is prohibited.
All three of these prohibitions come to us via the Sherman Antitrust Act, which carries treble damages and jail time. All three are per se violations, which means it only has to be proved that you engaged in the activity—whether or not there was intent to harm, or actual harm caused—for you to be guilty of violating the law.