Mission
CS Assist, the IEEE Computer Society Committee to assist in Reporting Ethics and Conduct Violations (CS Assist) acts as a resource to Assist 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 encourages reporting of the incident to the IEEE Ethics Reporting Line to ensure that all CS events are held to the highest ethical standards.
We recognize that reporting incidents to a conference chair, or to an IEEE CS staff member, 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 within the IEEE CS community. The spirit of the committee is to be friendly, supportive, accessible, and highly confidential.
The main focus of the CS Assist Committee 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.
Responsibilities
The roles and responsibilities of the IEEE Computer Society Committee to Assist in Reporting Ethics and Conduct Violations (CS Assist) members are to:
- Serve as trusted listeners for anyone in the conference community to express their concerns. Reports will be treated confidentially to the extent possible.
- IEEE CS Assist members must have completed the required IEEE training course before starting service on the committee, and annually afterwards.
- For each participating conference, the committee will have at least two members present, either in person or via remote office hours.
- The committee will provide a post-conference report that lists the committee members and an anonymized summary report of the activities, including the number of individuals they assisted.
- In the event of an emergency, onsite security and local law enforcement authorities should be contacted immediately.
Composition
Each conference CS Assist committee consists of IEEE CS members in good standing who are respected community members. Anyone may suggest potential members to serve on the committee, and self nominations are accepted. It is CS’ goal that members represent the diversity of the CS community.
Prospective CS Assist members will be vetted by the committee chair(s), IEEE CS staff, and the IEEE Legal & Compliance Department. If approved, members will be required to complete a training course. Only after this process will new members be invited to serve.
For more information or to start a CS Assist program for your conference, please contact assist@computer.org.
Ethics and Conflicts of Interest
CS Assist members will be held to the highest standards of conduct, confidentiality and discretion. They must abide by the IEEE Code of Ethics and any other pertinent IEEE rules. Committee members must keep all reported incidents confidential. IEEE CS reserves the right to remove or suspend members from the committee should they engage in misconduct.
Committee members must avoid conflicts of interest. In the event a member of the committee has a potential conflict with the party accused of misconduct (e.g., advisor/advisee, collaborator, same institution, close friend, relative), the committee member will refer the reporter to another committee member immediately and not participate further.
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.
