Resolution:Board Statement on Community Health (2020)

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Resolution: Board Statement on Community Health (2020)

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This resolution was approved on May 22, 2020.

Whereas, in 2016 the Board of Trustees released a statement expressing its desire for the Wikimedia Foundation to preserve and improve the health, inclusivity, and safety of Wikimedia spaces;

Whereas, the strategic direction for the Wikimedia Movement endorsed in 2017, which has served as the basis for the development of additional movement strategy recommendations, is explicitly inclusive, calling for the movement to "welcome people from every background to build strong and diverse communities" and "break down the social, political, and technical barriers preventing people from accessing and contributing to free knowledge";

Whereas, since the Board's 2016 statement, community members and Wikimedia Foundation staff have worked diligently to deliver the changes the Board asked for;

Whereas, despite those considerable efforts, the Wikimedia projects do not currently meet the Board's expectations for safe and welcoming spaces, many persistent antisocial behavior patterns persist within Wikimedia communities, and overall there is much more work needed in order to achieve the Board's goals related to community health and the elimination (to the extent practicable) of toxicity and harassment in the Wikimedia movement;

Whereas, sustainable community self-governance, shared power, and community partnership are core values of the Wikimedia Foundation and the Wikimedia projects are more successful when they have inclusive participation;

Whereas, the Board wishes to strengthen and reinforce Wikimedia communities' existing self-governance mechanisms to improve their ability to address the remaining community health and conduct issues within the Wikimedia movement;

Whereas, the Board wishes to ensure that Wikimedia Foundation staff are empowered to support the community self-governance model by taking on the burden, as needed, of establishing and enforcing a minimum standard of behavior for participation in Wikimedia spaces; and

Whereas, in order to achieve these goals, the role of staff may extend beyond the "most severe cases", as expressed in a July 2019 Board statement;

Now, therefore, it is:

RESOLVED that the Board of Trustees hereby approves a new statement on community health.

Approve

María Sefidari (Chair), Nataliia Tymkiv (Vice Chair), Esra'a Al Shafei, Shani Evenstein Sigalov, Tanya Capuano, James Heilman, Dariusz Jemielniak, Lisa Lewin, Raju Narisetti, Jimmy Wales

References

• Board Statement on Healthy Community Culture, Inclusivity, and Safe Spaces (November 2016)
• Wikimedia 2030 Strategic Direction (October 2017)
• Board statement in response to the ban of a Wikipedia administrator (July 2019)
• Board Statement on Healthy Community Culture, Inclusivity, and Safe Spaces (May 2020)