Subcommittee Timeline Information

We tweeted from WisCon's twitter account last week about the timeline for the subcommittee discussing complaints brought against Jim Frenkel. This information was posted in response to a number of questions we had been receiving:

 

Each harassment subcommittee will produce a public statement after it has concluded.

The Frenkel subcommittee hopes to have a decision by 7/11, private informing of involved parties by 7/15, and a public announcement by 7/18.

Now that the Frenkel subcommittee has established a process for other subcommittees to follow, the Bergmann subcommittee is in the process of being formed, and has not yet started to meet.

 

Apologies for not posting this to our other 4 social media presences sooner - the social media team was away from the internet over the holiday weekend.

Statement from Joanna Lowenstein, WisCon 38 Co-Chair

I want to apologize to the WisCon 37 co-chairs, Gretchen Treu, Jackie Lee, and Kafryn W. Lieder, and to the WisCon community, both personally and as one of the co-chairs of WisCon 38.

I apologize for not reconsidering allowing Jim Frenkel to attend WisCon 38, after having received Elise Matthesen’s report from the WisCon 37 co-chairs and Lauren Jankowski’s report via email. In retrospect, having specifically solicited our members to make reports when we were ill-equipped to respond to them appropriately was a huge mistake, and I join others in apologizing for it. My hope is that the new Safety procedures, the Member Advocate, and the Harassment Policies Committee will fix this problem for the future.

I also apologize for not working more quickly to establish the Harassment Policies Committee and revise WisCon's procedures and policies for responding to harassment reports. Because of serious personal health issues, I had to step back from active chairing in the fall and winter, which meant that the Harassment Policies Committee fell through the cracks until April, and that is something I personally regret.

Again, I want to express my apologies both personally and as a WisCon 38 co-chair.
 
-Joanna Lowenstein, WisCon 38 Co-Chair