Mission

CS Assist — the IEEE Computer Society Committee to Assist in Reporting Ethics and Conduct Violations — acts as a resource to support members of the conference community with referring misconduct concerns, including harassment, discrimination, bullying, and other ethical policy violations, to the IEEE Ethics Reporting Line or other authorities, as necessary.

All IEEE CS conferences and events are required to abide by the IEEE Code of Ethics. If a violation of this policy occurs, IEEE CS strongly encourages reporting the incident to the IEEE Ethics Reporting Line to ensure that all CS events, attendees, and organizers are held to the highest ethical standards.

We recognize that reporting incidents can be intimidating, especially in the face of an already unpleasant experience. We have therefore established CS Assist to serve as an experienced, diverse, and empathetic group of liaisons. The spirit of the committee is to be friendly, supportive, accessible, and highly confidential.

The CS Assist Committee’s main focus is to act as support for members of the conference community who might be victims or witnesses of misconduct by providing advice on the steps necessary to have the matter further investigated by IEEE.

It is important to understand that, for the matter to be investigated, it must first be reported.

Conference Organizers

To request CS Assist program support for your conference, please fill out this form.

The committee will provide you:

• An overview slide to use in the opening plenary session
• Email communication for attendees about the program
• Active monitoring of the assist@computer.org alias throughout the conference to provide support for anyone who requests it

Responsibilities

The roles and responsibilities of the IEEE Computer Society Committee to Assist in Reporting Ethics and Conduct Violations (CS Assist) members are to:

1. Serve as trusted listeners for anyone in the conference community to express their concerns. Reports will be treated confidentially to every extent possible.
2. IEEE CS Assist members must have completed the required IEEE training course before starting service on the committee, and annually afterwards.
3. For each participating conference, the committee monitors the assist@computer.org email alias to provide a response as quickly as possible.

Please note: In the event of an emergency, contact on-site security and/or local law enforcement authorities immediately.

Composition

The CS Assist Committee consists of IEEE CS staff who receive training to help ensure that they can provide compassionate, confidential support to any member of the community who experiences harassment, discrimination, or other misconduct.

Ethics and Conflicts of Interest

CS Assist members are held to the highest standards of conduct, confidentiality, and discretion. They must abide by the IEEE Code of Ethics and all other pertinent IEEE rules. Committee members are required to keep all reported incidents confidential.

Committee members must avoid conflicts of interest. In the event that a member of the committee might have a potential conflict with the party accused of misconduct (e.g., collaborator, close friend, relative), the committee member will refer the reporter to another committee member immediately and not participate further. They must maintain the confidentiality of the reported incident at all times.

About the IEEE Ethics Reporting Line

Any individual may file a misconduct report against a member, or a non-member engaged in an IEEE activity.

The IEEE Ethics Reporting Line is available seven days a week, 24 hours a day by phone or web to provide a safe and effective means to raise a concern.

IEEE has selected an independent third party to manage the process, and the information provided will be sent to IEEE on an entirely confidential (and, if chosen, anonymous) basis.