The women of Hollywood have taken it upon themselves to establish organizations that work toward equality and offer legal recourse to survivors of harassment and assault, both through a defense fund and drafting legislation. But the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is at least trying to lend a hand, having passed a new code of conduct for members back in December. And now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the organization has passed new procedures for making claims of misconduct.
The Academy’s board of governors passed new rules for reporting instances of misconduct over the weekend as part of a general meeting. Claims can now be submitted through a “secure link on the Academy website or by phone call to the Academy’s membership department.” The new procedures also call for “supporting evidence such as a second witness, a second party who was told of the violation, a contemporaneous written report or evidence that the claim is part of an established pattern.” From there, the grievances are forwarded to the Academy’s membership and administration committee, which then gets to decide “to take no action or to notify the subject of the claim that he or she has ten business days to respond to the charges.” This committee also has the power to decide whether “remedial action is necessary or if the matter should be referred to the board of governors,” but ultimately only the board can suspend or expel a member, as they did with Harvey Weinstein after the first wave of allegations broke.
Academy CEO Dawn Hudson tells THR that AMPAS isn’t trying to act as “an investigative body, but rather ensure that when a grievance is made, it will go through a fair and methodical process. This process will determine whether a claim will be brought to the board for possible action regarding membership status.”