[Pasig-discuss] STATEMENT: OR2015 Conference Stands Behind Commitment to Ensure All Participants are Treated With Respect

[Carol Minton Morris]

*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*

April 3, 2015

Read it online: http://www.or2015.net/open-to-all/
Contact: http://www.or2015.net/contact-us/

*Open Repositories, Open to All: OR2015 Conference Stands Behind Commitment
to Ensure All Participants are Treated With Respect*

Indianapolis, IN  The Open Repositories 2015 <http://www.or2015.net/>
conference will take place June 8-11 in Indianapolis and is wholly
committed to creating an open and inclusive conference environment. As
expressed in its Code of Conduct, OR is dedicated to providing a welcoming
and positive experience for everyone and to having an environment in which
all colleagues are treated with dignity and respect. The three host
institutions for OR2015, Indiana University, University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign, and Virginia Tech, share these values and are likewise
committed to diversity and inclusion.

OR2015 organizers and OR Steering Committee members share the concerns
expressed by many about Indiana's controversial Religious Freedom
Restoration Act (RFRA), now amended from its original form. We are grateful
that the amendments begin to address many but not all of those concerns.
With these concerns in mind, we have decided to continue with OR2015 in
Indianapolis for several reasons:

   1.

   To continue our goal of providing an international forum for the
   discussion of important issues confronting the repository community and
   ensuring that, at a time of significant change in research and scholarly
   communication practices, open repositories continue to play a key role in
   supporting, shaping and sharing those changes and an open agenda for
   research and scholarship
   2.

   To recognise the many members of the OR community who have made a
   significant investment in time and expense to prepare and review conference
   submissions and make travel plans to attend the conference in Indianapolis
   3.

   To support the Indianapolis community, which has shown a strong
   commitment to non-discrimination through its response to RFRA
   4.

   To take the opportunity to work with and support local businesses that
   oppose discrimination and open their doors to everyone

Conference organizers plan to enforce the Open Repositories Code of Conduct
that applies to all conference vendors and suppliers:
http://www.or2015.net/code-of-conduct/. Here are the steps that conference
organizers will take immediately:

   1.

   All associated conference vendors including host institutions, hotel,
   banquet venue, and service providers will be required to convey written
   commitments of non-discrimination.
   2.

   We will make information available at the conference and via the
   conference website about restaurants and other local businesses who are
   opposed to discrimination and open their doors to serve everyone, in
   connection with the Open for Service initiative:
   http://openforservice.org/
   3.

   Conference badges will include the tagline “Open Repositories, Open to
   All” to reflect Open Repositories’ commitment to its core values of dignity
   and respect

As the 10th annual International Conference on Open Repositories, OR2015
represents a key milestone for the community. We look forward to welcoming
participants to Indianapolis to reflect on and celebrate the transformative
changes in repositories, scholarly communication and research data that
have taken place over the last decade and, more importantly,  to look
forward and prepare for the challenges of the next one.

The OR steering committee and OR2015 organizers would like to hear from you
with any questions or concerns. Please feel free to send messages via
http://www.or2015.net/contact-us/, via twitter to @OR2015Indy or hashtag
#OR2015, or directly to the Open Repositories list:
open-repositories at googlegroups.com

*Links:*

Open Repositories Code of Conduct: http://www.or2015.net/code-of-conduct/

Indiana University Non-Discrimination Policy:
http://trustees.iu.edu/resources/non-discrimination-policy.shtml

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Diversity Values Statement:
http://inclusiveillinois.illinois.edu/mission.html

Virginia Tech Principles of Community:
http://www.diversity.vt.edu/principles-of-community/principles.html
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