LSCU Rolls Out New Code of Conduct Ahead of SCUCE

Attending one of the credit union industry’s biggest conferences is going to come with a new set of rules this year.

The League of Southeastern Credit Unions, which is hosting the Southeast Credit Union Conference and Expo (SCUCE) in Orlando, Fla. later this month, is rolling out a new code of conduct for event attendees, employees, exhibitors, speakers, sponsors and volunteers. The move comes at a time when the first waves of a rising tide in anti-harassment policies appear to be arriving on the industry’s shores, and many industry organizations are looking for ideas and information about the mechanics of developing their own anti-harassment policies.

“I see this as an ability for us to be able to hold people accountable if they’re not using good judgment themselves, and give us the basis to do it,” LSCU President and CEO Patrick LaPine told CU Times.

Some of the unacceptable behavior outlined in the new SCUCE policy included harassment, bullying, discrimination, unwanted touching, physical or verbal abuse, drunkenness, threats and stalking, inappropriate attire, certain types of verbal comments and “boisterous, lewd or offensive behavior or language.” Violators can be kicked out of the event without a refund and even banned them from future events, according to the policy, which also provided instructions on how to report bad behavior to authorities and the league.

LaPine said LSCU’s human resources team took the lead on creating the league’s new anti-harassment policy.

The objective was to have something finalized and approved in time for SCUCE, which expects to draw more than 1,000 people.

The human resources team researched other policies and came up with a draft, which then went through various editing stages that included LaPine and the league’s legal counsel.

“Once we had gotten through that process, and we had a document that we all felt comfortable with and fit with what we were trying to achieve, I called a meeting of our board governance committee,” he said.

“They approved it unanimously, and we are still going to get our full board to approve it at our next meeting, which is in conjunction with our convention. But we also are comfortable wanting to have this out there in time for the convention to move forward with it in the interim,” LaPine added.

The process took about six weeks, he said.

The policy is now part of the registration process at the conference, and it appeared on the league website in a “President’s Point” blog post at the end of May. The policy will also be on the conference app, LaPine said.

The league made its policy “a living document” that it can revise and update as needed, he noted. For now, though, LaPine seemed happy to move forward with rolling things out in their current form.

“I’m not going to sit here and worry to the extreme of all the scenarios of what-ifs, because the reality is we want to do what’s right,” he said. “I’m not going to have a watered-down policy, or not have a policy, or have a 50-page policy because I’m worried about all the what-ifs. People have to hold themselves accountable, and obviously if they can’t, then as the host organization we will.”

After SCUCE, LSCU plans to do a post-mortem and tweak the policy if necessary. LaPine said he also plans to draft a letter to league affiliates encouraging them to adopt the policy.

Other credit union industry organizations are showing interest in developing anti-harassment policies, LaPine noted.

“I was in a league president’s meeting earlier this week in Washington D.C., and actually this topic was on the agenda,” he said. Some participants requested copies of LSCU’s policy.

“I feel like we’re doing the right thing,” LaPine said. “Hopefully we’ll never have to exercise it or use it, but I at least feel like now we have something to point to. If we have a situation we can say, ‘This is our policy. This isn’t a one-off where it’s a moving target…This is what you agreed on when you registered for the event, so you have to be prepared for the implications.’”