Dear members,

In light of Rupert Till’s resignation as chair of IASPM, the Executive Committee wants to report on temporary operating measures while we decide how to find a new chair. Given the wide range of urgent tasks that need to be solved, as an emergency measure, the Committee members decided to take on the tasks of the management collectively. We will operate as a collegiate body where individual members will be responsible for specific tasks. This will give us time to work on very urgent matters that require our immediate attention, including the Daegu 2022 international conference that will happen in 5 weeks, the ethics investigation into the sexual harassment allegations, the construction of a code of ethics for our members, and a social media policy. As explained in previous communications, these tasks are being addressed most seriously and professionally, including hiring a sexual-violence consultancy firm to develop the investigation and creating an ethics committee to establish a code of ethics and other protocols to avoid repetition.

In the meantime, we will explore options for deciding on a new chair. We have begun talking to members who have been involved in similar situations in the past when Chairs have not completed their term to find out what was done then and how well it worked. We will keep you informed of any decisions made and invite any input you might have into this.

Chris Anderton (treasurer)
Andrea Dankić (Member-at-large) 
Ali C. Gedik (Member-at-large)
Beatriz Goubert (General Secretary)
Kimi Kärki (Web/Publications)
Keewoong Lee (Daegu Conference representative)
Andrew Mall (United States Conference representative)
Bernhard Steinbrecher (Membership secretary)
Catherine Strong (Member-at-large) 

Dear IASPM members,

it is with great regret than I announce my resignation as Chair of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM).

I have written and rewritten this email numerous times. It is rather long, perhaps you only need to read the sentence above, but I felt the need to explain my perspective.

Dear IASPM Members,             

As many of you know, extremely serious allegations regarding sexual misconduct by IASPM members at IASPM conferences were disclosed last week on IASPM’s Facebook page. As an executive committee, we take the allegations raised extremely seriously. We do not tolerate any type of violence, (gender, class, race, nationality, sexual orientation, etc), and that we are committed to creating a space free of violence of any kind.

A post was published on Facebook, followed by series of comments, which I took down, acting as a page moderator/admin. I’d like to apologise to IASPM members for taking down the post, in hindsight there should have been consultation between all Facebook admins and within the Executive Committee (EC) as to what action to take, which I think would have led to a different response. 

As an executive committee, we take the allegations raised extremely seriously, and want to outline some of the activities we have been engaged in as a response. We are seeking a specialist consultant to undertake an ethics/disciplinary report into the allegations that have been made, and to advise us on best practice in how we address any future complaints. The report will allow us to take  actions within our organization. An EC member is reaching out to the original poster to offer support, and we have consulted with the IASPM Facebook page administrators regarding how such disclosures should be dealt with in the future. 

Dear members,

The Executive Committee would like to make an official statement regarding the serious allegations of sexual assault against senior members of the group published in the last 48 hours on the public Facebook page for our organisation.The post was deleted by an admin to de-escalate tensions in the comments to the post. This action has since been criticised by a number of our members, and we hear the concerns that are being raised. It is not our intention to silence discussion of assault or abuse that may have occurred at IASPM events, or between our members, and we apologise for any part of the response that made it seem as though we were doing so in this instance. This type of public post was not a situation that had come up before and we had no clear ways of dealing with it available. We recognize that IASPM needs to address the allegations and develop strategies to deal with these types of accusations in a responsible way. We also wish to ensure that our members feel safe, and that there are mechanisms in place to support them if they do not. We acknowledge, however, that it would be remiss to commit to specific plans in relation to these goals quickly or lightly.

As such, we propose to undertake a period of consultation with experts in the field of sexual violence and disclosure of abuse to address these accusations, and develop properly thought out guidelines and procedures for dealing with any such situations in the future. This will also enable us to improve our understanding of what the legal implications might be for the organisation in relation to these matters. We will invite all IASPM branches to participate in planning the new policies.

IASPM is well known for its collegial culture. It is our hope that we can use this moment as an opportunity to ensure that collegiality is as much about taking care for the wellbeing of all members and participants at our events as it is about good scholarship.

More correspondence on this matter will be forthcoming soon.

Yours truly,
Rupert Till

On behalf of the Executive Committee of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music.