Clarion West Integrity and Ethics Policy

• Maintain professionalism, integrity, and civility in public life and career
• Avoid conflicts of interest
• Act responsibly toward the communities that we serve
• Be responsible, honest, transparent, and accountable for actions
• Commit to creative excellence
• Treat every individual with dignity and respect

Types of activities that would constitute misconduct and violate our Integrity and Ethics Policy include, but are not limited to: 

• Bullying and harassment, online or in person (for more, see our Harassment Policy)
• Statements made publicly or privately that condone harm against others, especially members of underrepresented and marginalized groups; or perpetuate stereotypes or discrimination against such groups
• Plagiarized or derivative work in any medium
  • Examples include:
    • The inclusion of more than a single phrase from another’s work without the use of quotation marks and acknowledgment of the source
    • Copying, tracing, editing, re-imagining and other various forms of appropriation of copywritten work or the work of a living author or artist without attribution or consent
      • see recommended reading #1 “DeviantArt Submissions”
    • Commission, collusion, or submission of others’ work as one’s own work for Six-Week Workshop application submissions 
• The use of a generative AI writing tool (for example, ChatGPT, Copymatic, Jasper.ai, Sudowrite, etc.) to create any portion of a story submitted to Clarion West
  • Examples include any story where AI apps or generators wrote or drafted any portion of its text
  • Exceptions include spell-check, grammar-check, and the use of AI-generated prompts to spark an idea for an original story, and/or AI-assisted tools in service of writers with a disability.
• Directly or indirectly acting against the Core Workshop Values

Violations

Guidelines for Board & Staff

Clarion West board and staff members are expected to understand and uphold the values and mission of the organization and follow our Integrity and Ethics Policy in their public life and careers.

A minor incidence of poor judgment may be deemed by the executive director and/or the board of directors as inadvertent and may warrant a discussion or a written warning, with a written response of understanding and agreement to follow the Integrity and Ethics Policy moving forward. 

If the executive director or the board consider the grievance to be greater, or upon a second offense, the circumstances will be made known to the board of directors and a committee will review the offense. If deemed appropriate, the committee may ask the staff or board member to step down from their position or be given notice of dismissal. The committee will put forth their decision in writing and clearly stipulate the ethics violation, when the dismissal will take effect, and any other details appropriate for the situation. 

Guidelines for Instructors

Clarion West instructors are selected for their excellence in the field, their subject knowledge, and their community engagement, and as such, are expected to understand and uphold the values and mission of the organization, and follow our Integrity and Ethics Policy in their public life and careers. 

A minor incidence of poor judgment may be deemed by the workshop staff, executive director, and/or the board of directors as inadvertent and may warrant a discussion or a written warning, with a written response of understanding and agreement to follow the Integrity and Ethics Policy moving forward. 

If the staff or the board consider the grievance to be greater, or upon a second offense, the workshop staff and executive director will review the offense. If deemed appropriate, the instructor will be given a written notice of dismissal, clearly stipulating the ethics violation, when the dismissal will take effect, and any other details appropriate for the situation. 

Guidelines for Students

The mission of Clarion West is to support emerging and underrepresented writers, and the organization recognizes that a violation of our Integrity and Ethics Policy may sometimes be inadvertent and due to lack of experience. 

Thus the staff and instructors are expected to help participants understand our Integrity and Ethics Policy and have them clearly stated on the website and in class materials. Workshop students are expected to read the Integrity and Ethics Policy and ask questions. 

A minor incidence of poor judgment may be deemed by the workshop staff as inadvertent and may warrant a discussion or a written warning, with a written response of understanding and agreement to follow the Integrity and Ethics Policy moving forward. 

If the staff considers the grievance to be greater, or upon a second offense, the workshop staff and executive director will review the offense. If deemed appropriate, the participant will be given a written notice of dismissal, clearly stipulating the ethics violation, when the dismissal will take effect, and any other details appropriate for the situation. Learn more in our Submission and Workshop Guidelines. 

Process for Reporting and Reviewing Ethics Violations

If you believe that a board or staff member of the organization, an instructor, or another participant has violated the Clarion West Integrity and Ethics Policy and wish to make the organization aware of your concerns, you may reach out to the following individuals: 

Workshop Coordinator: workshop@clarionwest.org

Executive Director: director@clarionwest.org

Board HR Chair: report@clarionwest.org 

Please state the following in your email: 

• The name of the person you believe has violated the Integrity and Ethics Policy
• Describe the situation
• List any public information available about the incident, such as social media posts, documentation, or corresponding emails
• Any personal relationship you have with the individual or situation or any potential conflict of interest you may have
• How to contact you if you wish to learn about the organization’s findings
• Indicate if you wish to remain anonymous through the reporting process

Clarion West has a Whistleblower Policy set forth to protect anyone who wishes to report a violation of the organization’s policies.

Clarion West is committed to transparency and integrity through every part of this process and will review and resolve all cases in a timely manner appropriate to the circumstance. All parties involved will be notified about the process. Those under review will be given a written notification including: 

• A deadline for written agreements
• Advance notice for meeting requests and options for scheduling during a time reasonable to both parties
• An estimated amount of time for review and decisions

Resources & Recommended Reading: 

• https://www.deviantartsupport.com/en/article/fair-use-and-your-submissions
• https://foundrylawgroup.com/copyright-copywrong-what-are-derivative-and-transformative-works/
• https://www.oif.ala.org/copyright-and-fanfiction-a-primer/ 
• https://academygo.com/code-of-ethics
• https://www.guitarsintheclassroom.org/code-of-ethics-policy.html 
• https://www.dundee.ac.uk/corporate-information/code-practice-academic-misconduct-students
• https://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/submissions/
• https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/ai-artificial-intelligence-chatbots-emily-m-bender.html
• https://medium.com/@emilymenonbender/policy-makers-please-dont-fall-for-the-distractions-of-aihype-e03fa80ddbf1

Submission Guidelines

Clarion West and AI Writing

We want your original work. The Clarion West Six-Week Workshop is designed to help writers dig deep into the craft of writing stories and to more deeply explore the topics they love. It’s a disservice to yourself and your fellow writers if the work you apply with and bring to class isn’t your own.

To quote Beneath Ceaseless Skies, “We are not interested in stories for which the ‘traditional elements of authorship,’ as the U.S. Copyright Office describes it, were performed by AI or machine learning. Spell-check, grammar-check, and AI-generated prompts that you then wrote your own story from are fine, but we are not interested in any story where AI apps or generators wrote or drafted any portion of its text.

“(We want stories written through the author’s unique sensibilities and passions. AI mines the sensibilities and passions of others, using training data that may have biases and may be infringing on the copyrights of other writers. We’re not interested in that.)”

Applications determined to be written using AI software will be rejected outright with no refund of fees. The applicant will be issued a written warning, and a second violation will ban them from being eligible to attend any Clarion West workshops that use a submissions process. If a student of the Six-Week Workshop is found to have submitted a story written using AI software to the class, actions may be taken, up to and including expulsion from the Workshop with no refund.

Clarion West and Plagiarism

Clarion West has a zero tolerance policy for plagiarized submissions (see the above Integrity and Ethics Policy for a full definition of what constitutes plagiarism). If a portion or the entirety of a submitted work is found to have been plagiarized, the application will be rejected outright with no refund of fees. The applicant will be issued a written warning, and a second violation will ban them from being eligible to attend any Clarion West workshops that use a submissions process.