Members of the Society for American Archaeology have voted to prevent individuals who have been found to have committed sexual harassment or other miconduct from attending the group's meetings, Science reports.
According to Science, the issue arose earlier this year when David Yesner, a former professor at the University of Alaska in Anchorage, registered and attended the SAA annual meeting. As Insider Higher Ed reported at the time, the meeting came days after the University of Alaska banned Yesner from its campus and events following an investigation into instances of sexual misconduct. It adds that SAA was faulted for not revoking Yesner's registration even after individuals who identified themselves as targets of Yesner's harassment brought the matter to its attention.
Since then, a society working group wrote a petition to change the organization's bylaws so that it could bar individuals who had been found to have committed sexual harassment by a university or court from SAA events, Science says. It adds that the society's board of directors also put an expanded version that included the ability to bar people sanctioned for bullying and other misconduct from the organization up for a vote. However, that proposal said it "may bar" offenders rather than that offenders "will be barred," as the member-proposed version did.
Science reports that the board's version passed.