American Pharmacists Association (APhA) is committed to providing a safe, productive, and welcoming environment for all individuals who participate in its meetings, based on the full range of dimensions of diversity, including but not limited to: age, citizenship, disability, ethnicity, gender or gender identity, genetic information, national origin, physical appearance, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, veteran status or other characteristic (“personal characteristics”).
APhA meetings allow for the collegial exchange of ideas and discussion of issues related to the APhA community. Civil discourse that includes and acknowledges a diversity of opinions and experiences is vital. APhA encourages meeting participants including staff to seek first to understand another individual's position before jumping to conclusions about their intent. In any situation, inappropriate behavior of any kind is not tolerated.
APhA prohibits and will not tolerate any form of incivility, harassment, bullying, or microaggressions at its events, whether in person, online, or hybrid format. APhA will not tolerate inappropriate language or disparaging remarks about or toward any individual(s), group(s), or organization(s) or situations where participants attempt to inappropriately direct conversations to other topics.
Participants are expected to:
- Be respectful
- Listen actively
- Be collaborative
- Respect diversity, including communication differences
- Respect privacy of participants
- Ask for consent for audio-visual recordings, quotes, or photography
- Be aware of language diversity
- Handle disagreement constructively
- Act fairly, honestly, and in good faith with other participants
All forms of bullying, discrimination, and harassment are prohibited as is the promoting or encouraging of such behavior in any APhA or APhA-managed meeting or activity. It is a violation of this policy to retaliate against an individual for reporting bullying, discrimination or harassment or to intentionally file a false report of bullying, discrimination, or harassment.
This code of conduct applies to every individual at the meeting, whether attendee, speaker, facilitator, guest, APhA staff, contractor or other. It applies to all APHA meetings and related events, including those sponsored by organizations other than APhA that are held in conjunction with APhA events, on public or private platforms.
Violation of this Code of Conduct may result in an individual being asked to leave the event at which the incident occurred, without warning or refund; being barred from attending events in the future; and, if relevant, being barred from or revocation of membership in the Association. Event security and/or local police may be contacted if the Code of Conduct violator poses an imminent threat to others or is disrupting the event. This also applies to online or hybrid events.