Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by bradleykirksey »

Skepticism and Animal Feed wrote:
naturalistic phallacy wrote:Is there any internal difference between termination of membership and resignation within NAQT? I know that there some sort of profit-sharing given to NAQT members at the end of each year's cycle. Would resignation divest a member? Or does it work like stock in that a resigned member could still profit from NAQT?

(To clarify, I've idly wondered about this for months now, just out of curiosity regarding NAQT's structure. Now it seems to be at least somewhat relevant.)
Yeah I've heard rumors that, for example, Matt Bruce has an equity or ownership stake in NAQT. If that's true, it could take mounds of paperwork to get him out and lawyers might need to get involved. They got rid of Andy Watkins pretty quickly, and he was a member, but Matt Bruce might be some kind of super-member.
IIRC, Matt Bruce graduated from Harvard law, too. I understand that everyone wants immediate resolution. But if the NAQT is wise, they'll dot their i's and cross their t's. They have months until the next official tournament. Personally, I would prefer that they do something in-depth and 1) cover themselves legally and 2) find out who knew what in leading up to this rather than just let mob-mentality rule. After all, if someone was protecting Matt, I'd want to know. And potentially the worst case scenario is a long drawn-out legal battle that results in Matt staying in the NAQT.

Obviously, everyone is shocked and angry. I know I am. A pedophile hurting children or intimidating children or committing sexual assault (as per OP of course) is horrific. It seems like the sort of hyperbole you'd expect to see on Yahoo Answers, next to people comparing each other to Hitler. I have a hard time wrapping my head around how horrible that is. And it's happened to our very close-knit community. I'd like to add my voice to the dozens of others who have expressed shock and frustration and anger. It's what we should all be feeling right now.

But, and this is probably my own naivety, while I don't know anyone in the NAQT that well, they've never been anything but kind to me. I have a hard time matching the names and faces to people who would willingly protect a pedophile. Considering the complicated legal situation that they might be in, I think that it would be best to let them try to properly and methodically clear their name.

Of course if SCT rolls around and nothing has happened and Matt is still there, I would also suggest that no one should play SCT in protest.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by mhasquin »

The Illinois High School Scholastic Bowl Coaches Association (IHSSBCA) believes in an environment that ensures that players, coaches, parents, officials, and supporters will be free from the threat of sexual assault or sexual harassment within the scholastic bowl community. The employment of Matt Bruce by National Academic Quiz Tournaments (NAQT) is in opposition to the values and the mission of the IHSSBCA. We, the members of the IHSSBCA, believe that the only course of action is to immediately boycott NAQT and all the services, materials, and tournaments that they provide, until and unless Matt Bruce is expelled from NAQT's membership. We look forward to working with NAQT again in the near future.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by Eddie »

Whereas I've downsized my quizbowl-related faculties to NAQT editorship and occasional freelancing, and no longer speak on behalf of any body, I'd like to say yeah what the FUCK and that if, after August, Matt Bruce continues to be associated with NAQT in any official or unofficial capacity, then I do not intend to continue to promote NAQT products, volunteer at NAQT events, or write and edit for NAQT.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by arjavrawal »

I doubt this is the case, but if NAQT cannot exist without Matt Bruce then it's worth shutting down the organization. Fire him now.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by Important Bird Area »

Here's a brief overview of how the grievance process specified in NAQT's bylaws works:

Step 1: a written grievance is filed against an NAQT member

Step 2: the member has the opportunity to respond in writing to the grievance

Step 3: a panel of three NAQT members is appointed to produce a written recommendation about how to deal with the content of the grievance

Step 4: the panel's recommendation is presented to NAQT's membership as a group

Step 5: if the grieved-against member wishes to appeal the panel's recommendation, a vote is held among all active NAQT members (except people already involved in step 1)

Please note that as R. mentioned in our statement earlier today:
rhentzel wrote:This process, which is defined in our bylaws, lays out a specific timeline for evidence to be gathered and a judgment rendered. NAQT will be following that procedure to ensure that the proper decisions are made in an uncontestable fashion.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by Sima Guang Hater »

On what date was the written grievance submitted? Or did I miss that in this thread?
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by bradleykirksey »

Important Bird Area wrote:Here's a brief overview of how the grievance process specified in NAQT's bylaws works:

Step 1: a written grievance is filed against an NAQT member

Step 2: the member has the opportunity to respond in writing to the grievance

Step 3: a panel of three NAQT members is appointed to produce a written recommendation about how to deal with the content of the grievance

Step 4: the panel's recommendation is presented to NAQT's membership as a group

Step 5: if the grieved-against member wishes to appeal the panel's recommendation, a vote is held among all active NAQT members (except people already involved in step 1)

Please note that as R. mentioned in our statement earlier today:
rhentzel wrote:This process, which is defined in our bylaws, lays out a specific timeline for evidence to be gathered and a judgment rendered. NAQT will be following that procedure to ensure that the proper decisions are made in an uncontestable fashion.
Thank you for posting this, Jeff. Like everyone else, I'd love for this to be over immediately, but I understand. I would also, if possible, prefer a little transparency about who is involved in step 3 and where the NAQT is in each step of the way.

Thanks to you and R for keeping us posted.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by Amiable Vitriol »

I obviously can't speak for everyone participating in the boycott, but I personally view it as a means to let NAQT members know what the vast majority of the quizbowl community is hoping for from the investigation process, rather than as an instant solution forgoing all established standards. A instant solution would be nice, though. If it is physically (legally?) impossible to expel Matt Bruce from NAQT in under ninety days, please share that with us. Otherwise I think I speak for everyone when I say that this process should take place as quickly as possible so as not to needlessly endanger more young people. It's hard for those of us with little knowledge of the bylaws or legal experience to understand why what seems like such a black and white issue (we have a man whose full name and birth year is listed on a preserved website delineating his sexual desire towards tweens and teens, admitting fully to ogling children as young as 11!) would require drawn out nuance, but we're willing to listen.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by Sima Guang Hater »

I'm tracking the boycotts in a spreadsheet here, to show what percent of the 2018 ICT field is boycotting: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

I will add a column for individuals later. I'm really quite exhausted by everything that's happening today.

UPDATE: Now, fully 50% of both the D1 and D2 ICT fields are part of the boycott, not including individual quizbowlers whose institutions haven't signed on. Truly, a momentous step forward.
Last edited by Sima Guang Hater on Thu May 31, 2018 7:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by Lily »

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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by Borrowing 100,000 Arrows »

Lily wrote:Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that this is not the first time that NAQT has attempted to save face by not publicly addressing incidents related to its reputation. Although I am unsure of the exact details of the situation, when in 2012 a player was accused of cheating by viewing NAQT questions in advance but claims that he merely made a computer program to gather past public tournament questions that looped the process, NAQT banned him and did not attempt to clarify his side what happened. They did not issue an official statement clearing him of cheating, saying "The proposed text would also do irreparable and permanent damage to NAQT's reputation and integrity, which is simply not an option.” (You can read the official statement from Joshua Alman here: http://joshalman.com/naqt_statement.pdf)
I don't think that you know all the details about the Josh Alman situation. There was clear and overwhelming evidence that Josh had cheated. He exhibited extremely suspect improvement -- iirc, he went from putting up sub-10ppg on a A-set as a senior in high school to having the second highest number of powers on D1 ICT his first year in college. Furthermore, the only tournaments he played during that 2013 season just so happened to be the tournaments where he also had advance access to the questions. So, there was pretty clear evidence of cheating, and the excuse he provided about a vaguely-described computer program was very unconvincing. Presumably, NAQT did not wish to publish a statement from Josh falsely accusing them of conducting a negligent investigation.

P.S. We proud native sons of Matt's home state would also like to see him gone.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by Calculus? »

Sima Guang Hater wrote:I'm tracking the boycotts in a spreadsheet here, to show what percent of the 2018 ICT field is boycotting: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

I will add a column for individuals later. I'm really quite exhausted by everything that's happening today.
You can add Toronto A to that list.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by Antrobus63 »

While this obviously won't cover everything, here is one concrete thing that can be done, going forward:

At the beginning of each year, every quizbowl organization, tournament host, etc. can request that everyone who staffs an event undergo a criminal & child abuse background check and submit the results well before the tournament, so these can be publicly displayed or, at least, produced upon request. This is not a laborious or costly process and should be relatively easy for NAQT, PACE, NHBB, schools, and coach's organizations to implement; indeed, this is a job requirement for teachers and members of other organizations that work with kids.

It may be harder for college & grad students, or other interested parties (non-teacher parents and other qb volunteers) to get used to doing this, since it is not yet an integral part of their routine, but this should become second-nature after a while.

Again, this won't cover blog posts or allegations, but it's a verifiable step that we can all take.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by Cheynem »

I would be strongly opposed to publicly displaying a person's criminal record (yes, I know these are public records). Obviously, if a criminal record turns up something disqualifying (such as child sexual abuse), that person should be disqualified from staffing and be "red-flagged." But I would bet those instances would be rare. There are also people who have criminal records who are not dangerous or threatening in the slightest and should not have embarrassing misdeeds (or actions) publicly posted (for example, in grad school I knew people who were arrested and convicted for some petty crimes while protesting).

Also, this system unfortunately would not have caught Matt.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by MahoningQuizBowler »

For what it's worth, I believe this step is needed to appear on the NASSP list of approved programs.

Standards: https://www.nassp.org/news-and-resource ... standards/

List: https://www.nassp.org/news-and-resource ... -programs/
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by Important Bird Area »

Important Bird Area wrote:Here's a brief overview of how the grievance process specified in NAQT's bylaws works:

Step 1: a written grievance is filed against an NAQT member

Step 2: the member has the opportunity to respond in writing to the grievance

Step 3: a panel of three NAQT members is appointed to produce a written recommendation about how to deal with the content of the grievance

Step 4: the panel's recommendation is presented to NAQT's membership as a group

Step 5: if the grieved-against member wishes to appeal the panel's recommendation, a vote is held among all active NAQT members (except people already involved in step 1)
The formal grievance was filed yesterday, May 30th. Matt has responded in writing.

NAQT has now appointed a panel to consider the grievance. That panel consists of Emily Pike (Vice President of Operations), Jeff Hoppes (Vice President for Communication), and Seth Teitler (Chief Editor).

Our panel has begun drafting a written recommendation for the rest of NAQT's membership (step 4 in my summary of our process above). I will post an additional statement here when our grievance process has reached its end.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by CometsCoach »

The Iowa Quiz Bowl League has suspended its business relationship with NAQT effective immediately. I have informed Mr. Hentzel that any decision that NAQT makes as a result of its grievance process is no guarantee that we will be amenable to resuming that business relationship.

The Iowa Quiz Bowl League expresses great concern for anyone who has been impacted by this very distressing situation, and we encourage all of the quiz bowl community to work together to ensure that all who are associated with quiz bowl are valued and respected both inside and out of competition.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by peyrin »

In this particular case, NAQT has the summer offsesaon to conduct its formal grievance process, but what happens if (God forbid) concerns surface while the circuit is active? I sincerely hope NAQT and other organizations work to establish a more rapid internal process to address concerns about student safety so that the community never has to be left waiting again, especially if tournaments are happening during the investigation.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by naan/steak-holding toll »

peyrin wrote:In this particular case, NAQT has the summer offsesaon to conduct its formal grievance process, but what happens if (God forbid) concerns surface while the circuit is active? I sincerely hope NAQT and other organizations work to establish a more rapid internal process to address concerns about student safety so that the community never has to be left waiting again, especially if tournaments are happening during the investigation.
Formal procedures exist because investigation, evidence, and legal considerations are extremely important. Firing people does not happen like on The Apprentice - important procedural decisions that involve thousands of dollars, multiple business relationships, and people's livelihoods are governed by these to ensure a measure of stability. I don't recall a similar situation happening previously at NAQT, so if there is a delay (I highly doubt NAQT is dawdling on this, given that hundreds of thousands of dollars are clearly at stake here) then I would suspect it's mostly due to not executing this routinely. Throwing these aside on account of a cacophony of forum posts, regardless of how obviously facially guilty a party is, would be unwise. Regardless if the "community is left waiting," NAQT is doing the right thing here.

As a side note - regardless of how disturbing Matt Bruce's blog posts are, can we please stop with the dehumanization? Yes, Matt is clearly a creepy pedophile. He may be guilty of sexual assault. There may be further horrifying proof that he actually acted on his pedophilic instincts - and there may not be. But he's not a murderer or serial killer. He's not a psychopath like Mao Zedong, Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot, or Adolf Hitler. He's a deeply flawed human being. Stop calling him a "thing."
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by peyrin »

Periplus of the Erythraean Sea wrote:
peyrin wrote:In this particular case, NAQT has the summer offsesaon to conduct its formal grievance process, but what happens if (God forbid) concerns surface while the circuit is active? I sincerely hope NAQT and other organizations work to establish a more rapid internal process to address concerns about student safety so that the community never has to be left waiting again, especially if tournaments are happening during the investigation.
Formal procedures exist because investigation, evidence, and legal considerations are extremely important. Firing people does not happen like on The Apprentice - important procedural decisions that involve thousands of dollars, multiple business relationships, and people's livelihoods are governed by these to ensure a measure of stability. I don't recall a similar situation happening previously at NAQT, so if there is a delay (I highly doubt NAQT is dawdling on this, given that hundreds of thousands of dollars are clearly at stake here) then I would suspect it's mostly due to not executing this routinely. Throwing these aside on account of a cacophony of forum posts, regardless of how obviously facially guilty a party is, would be unwise. Regardless if the "community is left waiting," NAQT is doing the right thing here.
Not disputing that NAQT is justified in taking the time to properly resolve the case at hand, but the current procedure has an upper bound of 90 days. That's unacceptable if we're dealing with the safety of students, especially if concerns arise during the season when tournaments are happening every weekend.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by Skepticism and Animal Feed »

Doing the right thing in the wrong way is, unfortunately, something that a corporation (or government, or other formally organized entity) can get in trouble for. Note that NAQT has already suspended Matt Bruce from going to its tournaments, even in a non team facing role.

I don't think you need a business or law degree to figure out that, yeah, of course NAQT is going to expel Matt Bruce and disassociate with him as much as they possibly can. It's the only decision that makes any business or moral sense. But at this point in the process, Jeff Hoppes or R. Hentzel can't say "oh yeah, he gone" or even "oh yeah, he's gonna be gone at the end of this 90 day process" because it would expose NAQT to legal risk and possibly even create avenues for a sufficiently litigious Matt Bruce to extend his stay in NAQT.

As quizbowl grows more professional there will be more bureaucratic processes like this in its future.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by bradleykirksey »

peyrin wrote:In this particular case, NAQT has the summer offsesaon to conduct its formal grievance process, but what happens if (God forbid) concerns surface while the circuit is active? I sincerely hope NAQT and other organizations work to establish a more rapid internal process to address concerns about student safety so that the community never has to be left waiting again, especially if tournaments are happening during the investigation.
If it works anything like sports or church scandals, you have one of two options. No matter how inconvenient it is, you need to do your investigation right or you get sued for wrongful termination. If you have sports ball games, church services, or QB matches you need to, depending in what you know, how you think it's going to shake out, and the amount of public outcry you are getting 1) suspend them with pay until the end of the investigation or 2) let them stay in public until the end of the investigation.

You can't shorten the process, even if it would be more convenient "b/c ICT," because that exposes you to wrongful termination suits. Those are stunningly common from pastors who cheat or embezzle money if the powers that be don't give the obviously guilty person due process.

The NAQT, so far, is 2/2 in keeping Matt and Andy away from civilization during scandal, so I'd imagine that they'd almost certainly go option 1 and unofficially suspend someone if this happened mid-season. It would basically be like this, but with Matt being banned from staffing SCT or what have you. It wouldn't be satisfying and there might be boycotts, but the NAQT would probably have their hands tied.

For a sports ball example of why it works this way, we got case 1A with Ruben Foster earlier this month.

That's my guess anyways. I could end up being totally wrong.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by peyrin »

Let me clarify that I'm not calling for Matt Bruce to be expelled right away simply because of how damning everything in this thread is. In fact, I'm completely in favor of NAQT going through a formal procedure, especially when allegations are as serious as they are here.

However, while NAQT did eventually remove Matt from all staffing positions, he was initially still slated for control room/statistical tasks. Although we're now being updated on the formal grievance process, the status of the investigation was uncertain (at least to me) for quite a while. This is completely understandable because much of this is new territory and I can appreciate that NAQT is in a very difficult position here, but at the same time, I fear that unless more bureaucratic and transparent procedures are implemented for similar investigations in the future, we'll be dealing with boycotts during the regular season.

And to clarify - if an investigation takes 90 days to ensure that everything is done legally and correctly, that's completely fine. What's not fine is if, for example, during those 90 days, the individual in question is still staffing tournaments, even in control room capacities. Or if it isn't made very clear to the community that the investigation is ongoing. These are the procedures I hope will be formalized so that everyone can be informed and not be made uncomfortable while concerns are being addressed.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by ShorterPearson »

Folks, this sucks. There is no sugar-coating anything right now.

For the two regions I represent:

- Dren Rollins announced earlier today that East Tennessee Quiz Bowl is a signatory to the NAQT boycott, and that the SuMO IV event to be held at Roane State on June 30th is no longer using the SSNCT set as previously planned. Dren will take the point on further announcements on behalf of ETQB.

- The coaches and coordinators of the Southwest Virginia Academic Team Alliance are still moving a bit more slowly on discussions and have not signed in any capacity as yet. However, we have made a communication to participants in our group, which reads in part:

"Coaches, staffers and other leadership in the Southwest Virginia Academic Team Alliance (SWATA) are aware of sexual misconduct allegations made against a member/shareholder of National Academic Quiz Tournaments (NAQT), the primary provider of questions for SWATA tournaments, the provider of questions for the Virginia High School League Scholastic Bowl program for the 2017-2018 season, and the organizer of national championships SWATA teams have attended. We are also aware that a number of state and regional organizations, as well as a number of specific high schools and colleges, have declared a boycott of NAQT until such a time as that all affiliation between that member and NAQT is dissolved, and potentially beyond.

"This member of NAQT has staffed national tournaments in the past, but did not staff this year’s High School National Championship Tournament, in which Tazewell and Gate City participated. The contact SWATA players have had with this member is, as far we are aware, effectively zero - beyond questions in packets which he wrote or edited.

"Conversations have been initiated in which we are discussing our options as a regional circuit, up to and including a boycott of NAQT until we feel the company has appropriately resolved this situation. We want to be sure those conversations come to a complete conclusion before we make any definitive statements. We are an alliance, and we want our statement to be as unified as possible, which is why we are being careful with our dialogue here...

"The #GirlsInQuizbowl movement that gained prominence during this year’s nationals season is a message that we have allowed toxic voices to maintain prominence in this game for too long, and those voices have prevented the game from becoming truly accessible to the widest population possible. As educators from various walks of life, we are committed to every voice seeking knowledge to receive maximum representation, and we will seek to align ourselves going forward with people who share the same commitment. Regardless of the outcome of this episode, we will continuously review our relationships with the aim of making everyone welcome and keeping everyone safe - in every way - in the game that we love.

"Those with further questions are encouraged to reach out to Chuck Pearson ([email protected], text/SMS on 706 409 2741, facebook.com/chuck.pearson, @ShorterPearson on Twitter and Instagram)."

We will say more as a group in due course.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by bradleykirksey »

peyrin wrote:Let me clarify that I'm not calling for Matt Bruce to be expelled right away simply because of how damning everything in this thread is. In fact, I'm completely in favor of NAQT going through a formal procedure, especially when allegations are as serious as they are here.

However, while NAQT did eventually remove Matt from all staffing positions, he was initially still slated for control room/statistical tasks. Although we're now being updated on the formal grievance process, the status of the investigation was uncertain (at least to me) for quite a while. This is completely understandable because much of this is new territory and I can appreciate that NAQT is in a very difficult position here, but at the same time, I fear that unless more bureaucratic and transparent procedures are implemented for similar investigations in the future, we'll be dealing with boycotts during the regular season.

And to clarify - if an investigation takes 90 days to ensure that everything is done legally and correctly, that's completely fine. What's not fine is if, for example, during those 90 days, the individual in question is still staffing tournaments, even in control room capacities. Or if it isn't made very clear to the community that the investigation is ongoing. These are the procedures I hope will be formalized so that everyone can be informed and not be made uncomfortable while concerns are being addressed.
I meant to say all of this but I didn't because I'm dumb. I appreciate you saying that and I hope that I didn't misinterpret what you said the first time.

Obviously NAQT is in a tight spot. But I deeply hope (should there be a next time) that they could go out of their way to be more transparent and to remove the offender the first time that something is obviously wrong. Maybe, hopefully, the takeaway (other than the obvious "assault and pedophilia are bad and we need to address this in quiz bowl") might be that an open and transparent addressing of the offending issue (as best as legally feasible) is better than retweeting #WomenInQuizBowl all day like maybe that will help people forget. Quiz Bowl is too tight, insular, and engaged for that sort of thing to work.

Again, I appreciate R and Jeff updating us and I'm hoping for an easy, quick, and transparent end to all of this.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by Algeria »

Yeah uh is there some way for NAQT to place Matt Bruce on indefinite leave / suspension or something? I get that they have to go through an official Process before firing him, but placing him on leave seems like a pretty low-cost way to demonstrate good faith toward the community.
It's disturbing to me that members of NAQT (or people affiliated with NAQT in some form) knew about this blog and did nothing (as mentioned upthread) for such a long time
I also strongly agree with this. It feels like his removal is way overdue.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by crbirdx »

The Ohio Quiz Bowl Alliance will boycott NAQT events/ products until Matt Bruce is gone from their organization.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by Maxwell Sniffingwell »

Northwestern University Quizbowl will not participate in or host NAQT events until Matt has been removed.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by jagluski »

NAQT has a legally binding set of bylaws that each member agrees to and formally signs on to when they accept membership in the company. In order for NAQT to remove a member, we have to follow the established grievance procedure that everyone has agreed to. If we do not do this, it opens our process up to legal challenges and could cause outcomes that no one wants, even if the case appears black and white. Similarly, the panel appointed by the Vice President of Operations that hears the grievance has to be independent and judge the facts of the case presented impartially. Displaying no evidence of a priori prejudice (in either direction) is also the reason that NAQT members can't post their personal opinions on the forums.


(Edited to fix formatting)
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by merv1618 »

Periplus of the Erythraean Sea wrote: As a side note - regardless of how disturbing Matt Bruce's blog posts are, can we please stop with the dehumanization? Yes, Matt is clearly a creepy pedophile. He may be guilty of sexual assault. There may be further horrifying proof that he actually acted on his pedophilic instincts - and there may not be. But he's not a murderer or serial killer. He's not a psychopath like Mao Zedong, Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot, or Adolf Hitler. He's a deeply flawed human being. Stop calling him a "thing."
Nobody looks like a bad person compared to dictators responsible for millions of human deaths. The purpose of these proceedings isn't to destroy the reputation of Matt Bruce, they're to ensure the safety and comfort of hundreds (thousands?) of present and future quiz bowlers participating in the activity we all hold dear.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by naan/steak-holding toll »

The Bold Ideas of Bernie Sanders (I-VT) wrote:
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea wrote: As a side note - regardless of how disturbing Matt Bruce's blog posts are, can we please stop with the dehumanization? Yes, Matt is clearly a creepy pedophile. He may be guilty of sexual assault. There may be further horrifying proof that he actually acted on his pedophilic instincts - and there may not be. But he's not a murderer or serial killer. He's not a psychopath like Mao Zedong, Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot, or Adolf Hitler. He's a deeply flawed human being. Stop calling him a "thing."
Nobody looks like a bad person compared to dictators responsible for millions of human deaths. The purpose of these proceedings isn't to destroy the reputation of Matt Bruce, they're to ensure the safety and comfort of hundreds (thousands?) of present and future quiz bowlers participating in the activity we all hold dear.
I don't disagree. The point of my triggering of Godwin's Law isn't to imply that people are directly comparing Matt Bruce to such people - the point is to call into question the employment of dehumanizing language. If we're to employ dehumanizing language at all when discussing people (a whole different can of worms) then it seems to me that it should be employed against people who have engaged in the mass destruction of humanity. Everybody in this thread is concerned about the safety of participants in quizbowl, thinks that Matt Bruce is awful, and thinks that parents, coaches, and players are right to be concerned about his behavior - and nobody thinks he is nearly as awful as the aforementioned greatest villains of our species.

I don't think pointing this out constitutes an attempt at concern trolling, nor an attempt to divert the discussion away from serious questions about why Matt's patterns of behavior were not noticed earlier, nor (God forbid) an attempt to defend Matt Bruce. These are legitimate discussions to have. Words matter, even if they are spoken in justified indignation at disgusting behavior. Collective catharsis and the accompanying outrage justify strong and decisive language, the kind that most of us have indeed been employing - but I don't it means "say whatever you want, about whoever you want, just because they suck." I made my post because think there are dangerous potential consequences to the latter attitude. I know there are people who agree.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by bradleykirksey »

jagluski wrote:NAQT has a legally binding set of bylaws that each member agrees to and formally signs on to when they accept membership in the company. In order for NAQT to remove a member, we have to follow the established grievance procedure that everyone has agreed to. If we do not do this, it opens our process up to legal challenges and could cause outcomes that no one wants, even if the case appears black and white. Similarly, the panel appointed by the Vice President of Operations that hears the grievance has to be independent and judge the facts of the case presented impartially. Displaying no evidence of a priori prejudice (in either direction) is also the reason that NAQT members can't post their personal opinions on the forums.
I was deeply hoping that this would be the answer (rather than, say, silence meaning that the NAQT just intends to wait it out and hope we forget.) I'm glad to hear that this is the reason for perceived silence, and I appreciate that this has been posted. Legally binding bylaws are significant, and I think that everyone understands that.

The boycott is getting very sizable. Fortunately, this should have some sort of resolution by SCT in 8 months from now. Assuming a good resolution, that should be fine, I think. However, I'd imagine the NAQT does things year round. I don't know what you can/can't say, but if I can ask, how would you forsee a boycott and a sizable investigation impacting the circuit or the next year of Quiz Bowl?
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by jagluski »

bradleykirksey wrote:
jagluski wrote:NAQT has a legally binding set of bylaws that each member agrees to and formally signs on to when they accept membership in the company. In order for NAQT to remove a member, we have to follow the established grievance procedure that everyone has agreed to. If we do not do this, it opens our process up to legal challenges and could cause outcomes that no one wants, even if the case appears black and white. Similarly, the panel appointed by the Vice President of Operations that hears the grievance has to be independent and judge the facts of the case presented impartially. Displaying no evidence of a priori prejudice (in either direction) is also the reason that NAQT members can't post their personal opinions on the forums.
I was deeply hoping that this would be the answer (rather than, say, silence meaning that the NAQT just intends to wait it out and hope we forget.) I'm glad to hear that this is the reason for perceived silence, and I appreciate that this has been posted. Legally binding bylaws are significant, and I think that everyone understands that.

The boycott is getting very sizable. Fortunately, this should have some sort of resolution by SCT in 8 months from now. Assuming a good resolution, that should be fine, I think. However, I'd imagine the NAQT does things year round. I don't know what you can/can't say, but if I can ask, how would you forsee a boycott and a sizable investigation impacting the circuit or the next year of Quiz Bowl?


I'm not going to directly answer your question, but as Jeff Hoppes noted earlier, the grievance committee has 60 days from the date of its creation (Wednesday) to issue a report. That means the latest a report can be issued would be the end of July.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by Father of the Ragdoll »

The Academic Buzzer Team has decided to cease participation in, or hosting of, NAQT events until Matt Bruce is no longer a part of the organization.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by Lily »

0
Last edited by Lily on Tue Sep 15, 2020 1:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by matthewspatrick »

Lily wrote:Would it be possible to release the formal grievance and Matt’s response to the public?
With respect, this is simply not a reasonable request to make. Companies generally have to be very circumspect in the public release of documents related to personnel matters. This is not like deciding whether or not to allow someone to remain in a club; the NAQT membership is bound by the legal agreements they are a party to, and various laws related to corporations and employment. No doubt when this process is concluded there will be a formal statement from NAQT.

Please note that while I am a Member Emeritus of NAQT, that is an honorary title. This is not an "NAQT response", and I do not ever in any way speak for NAQT. It's been roughly 20 years since I have had a voice or a vote in company matters.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by jagluski »

Lily wrote:
Important Bird Area wrote:
Important Bird Area wrote:Here's a brief overview of how the grievance process specified in NAQT's bylaws works:

Step 1: a written grievance is filed against an NAQT member

Step 2: the member has the opportunity to respond in writing to the grievance

Step 3: a panel of three NAQT members is appointed to produce a written recommendation about how to deal with the content of the grievance

Step 4: the panel's recommendation is presented to NAQT's membership as a group

Step 5: if the grieved-against member wishes to appeal the panel's recommendation, a vote is held among all active NAQT members (except people already involved in step 1)
The formal grievance was filed yesterday, May 30th. Matt has responded in writing.

NAQT has now appointed a panel to consider the grievance. That panel consists of Emily Pike (Vice President of Operations), Jeff Hoppes (Vice President for Communication), and Seth Teitler (Chief Editor).

Our panel has begun drafting a written recommendation for the rest of NAQT's membership (step 4 in my summary of our process above). I will post an additional statement here when our grievance process has reached its end.
Would it be possible to release the formal grievance and Matt’s response to the public?

NAQT's members consider the greivance process to be an internal affair. We are planning to release a statement to the public as soon as possible after the grievance committee makes its recommendation to the full membership of NAQT.



(Edited to fix typo only)
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) »

I certainly hope the complaint accounts for the fact that this is not a phenomenon isolated to a defunct blog in 2002, but rather something that has continued to resonate into the more recent past on Facebook. This is the only example I have on hand given that I am not Matt Bruce's Facebook friend, but as alluded to above, there's been plenty of other disgusting content posted there.

This is the link - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0583520/. It takes you to an episode of Friends with the plot detail "Ross is challenged to name the five celebrities he'd like to sleep with most."
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault)

Post by jxxii »

Slightly Less British wrote:British player here. We haven't sent any teams to ICT in a long while, but still use 2-3 adapted NAQT sets a year (SCT D1 for our nationals, an intramural set for Oxbridge intercollegiate games and apart from last year an adapted collegiate novice set). I'm also not currently in any position of any authority whatsoever to make decisions on behalf of Oxford or any other British quiz organisations.

That being said, I cannot personally condone playing, rewriting or moderating on any set that earns NAQT money while Matt Bruce continues to be involved with the organisation. If NAQT continue to be largely silent on this issue through the summer, I would urge all British quiz societies to source or, if necessary, write, other questions for these tournaments. Even though none of the things Matt Bruce claims to have done or has been accused of doing have happened in this country, I don't feel we should be exempt from holding NAQT to account as best we can.
OUQS has now met formally as a society, and we entirely endorse this sentiment. We may not attend NAQT tournaments much, but we do engage with it through its question-writing: we cannot continue to do so while Matt Bruce remains a part of NAQT. We encourage other UK quiz societies to also join this boycott; the geographical distance should not lessen our responsibility to ensure that quizbowl is a safe community. We hope that NAQT resolves this issue as soon as is possible, and that, beyond the immediate case, all of us who participate in this community act to expose, acknowledge, and confront the problems that it has.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by DumbJaques »

I'm assuming that Bruce Arthur is right about the certainty of NAQT's decision, given that I have no reason to think that the people at NAQT are idiotic troglodytes, and only an idiotic troglodyte would consider employing Matt Bruce at a company that runs events for children. I understand that it's hard to be patient in these situations - it is difficult for me to be patient, and my instinct is to simply start shouting and probably breaking things. But I also know that the individuals on the grievance committee are good people, who have earned the trust of the community. I do have confidence that they're working as fast and as diligently as they possibly can. But given that NAQT (and most especially, it's chief leadership) is increasingly earning a reputation for being slow and neglectful in responding to queries, I think they ought to do a bit more attentive job reassuring the community's confidence here (as the posts in this thread seem to bear out).

More importantly, I think there is one thing NAQT can and must address in the meantime - the question of who at NAQT was aware of these posts and found them acceptable. There are apparently indications that Dwight Kidder, at the very least, was demonstrably aware of the content, and I think anyone at NAQT who also saw it needs to own up. I would not necessarily agree that these people should be fired - I don't think not realizing why something is problematic is necessarily grounds for termination, and it would certainly depend which comments were seen, and when. I don't believe it would be ultimately productive to go after these people as if they are on par with Matt Bruce as obvious safety concerns for children - they are not, and lumping them into that category will dilute just how egregious Matt's posts really are.

Assuming Matt's eventual termination (and good lord, I hope we can), the central issue will shift to NAQT rebuilding trust with the community. And make no mistake, our trust in the organization has been severely shaken by this incident - if this isn't apparent to the folks at NAQT, I don't know what else could possibly make it so. I think it's important for NAQT to acknowledge if its membership knew about Matt's posts - not to sharpen the pitchforks, but so NAQT can be straight with the community, and so that we can have an actual conversation about things these people should have realized and why they did not realize them.

Building a safe environment and ending sexual harassment/assault is not just about identifying and ousting predators (though it of course very much must also be about that). It's also about people who don't understand why things are scary/violent/harmful improving their compassion and awareness. I think it would go a long way toward restoring community trust if the people in NAQT who had some knowledge of this stuff - and maybe there really is nobody, beyond Dwight - could admit their mistake and engage in some sort of dialogue.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by Ent »

Sorry to burst in here late, but I have a concern.

I have read this thread front to back now several times, and it is indeed disturbing. I have full faith in the NAQT leadership that the proper action regarding Matt will be taken. And while this whole process has been choppy at times, I think it is good that we are ultimately discovering this and that action will be taken one way or the other to strengthen the community.

I am still trying to wrap my head around some of the accusations being made about NAQT personnel, vis-a-vis their knowledge of Matt's thoughts and feelings. From what I could gather, Harry White reported that Matt said that I know a fair number of TRASH people read this weblog, as do NAQT folk.. Is there any evidence of this being valid?

Another point that Harry raised was I know that Dwight has linked to his blog (and presumably read it). I am assuming that Harry has read things from Dwight, and seen links leading back to Matt's blog. I have no reason to doubt this. However, is there any evidence that Dwight read any entries that were damning of Matt? I say this because I rarely ever read an entire person's blog ... I am usually only focused on one or two articles. If there is evidence that Dwight might have known something because he read some of the damning posts, then that is one thing ... but short of evidence, I am deeply concerned that there may be a rush to judgement. I am speaking from a perspective of ignorance, and I don't claim to have any special knowledge of the situation. I noticed that we went from Harry's post about Dwight immediately to John Marvin's post which stated that Matt's thoughts were well-known to at least Dwight Kidder. I keep thinking I may have missed something, but if I didn't, it seems like we went to "Dwight had contact with the material" to "Dwight knew all along".

My own concern stems from a false accusation leveled against me three years ago that could have cost me my career had I not had sane and critically thinking administrators.

This is not a call for leniency. No community should make room for people who seem to be communicating behavior as has surfaced with Matt. When there is evidence, proper, lawful action is needed. I just hope that there is not a rush to judge in an absence of evidence against other people. Quite a few people have noted cromulent and normal emotional reactions to this, and I would bet quite a few more have felt this without posting. It sickens me! That said, I hope we don't shut down thinking things through, in case someone else who might be innocent gets damaged along the way.

If I have missed something, I will apologize in advance.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by Dominator »

Ent wrote:My own concern stems from a false accusation leveled against me three years ago that could have cost me my career had I not had sane and critically thinking administrators.
This also happened to me. I am a big fan of sanity and critical thinking.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by jmarvin_ »

Ent wrote:From what I could gather, Harry White reported that Matt said that I know a fair number of TRASH people read this weblog, as do NAQT folk.. Is there any evidence of this being valid?
Another point that Harry raised was I know that Dwight has linked to his blog (and presumably read it)... is there any evidence that Dwight read any entries that were damning of Matt? ...we went from Harry's post about Dwight immediately to John Marvin's post which stated that Matt's thoughts were well-known to at least Dwight Kidder.
I think it's worth clarifying this a bit. You're right to say that, and I'll admit that in writing that post I was speaking strongly (with good purpose) in a way that could be seen as implying that certain conclusions were already confirmed, when they are not. However, the outrage which led to such statements was, in fact, a response characterized by reason and critical thinking, as you are right to want here. Allow me to explain:

As for the first question, yes, there is evidence for "NAQT folk" reading his blog. We have direct evidence of at least one person, namely Dwight Kidder, who linked to the blog not just once but multiple times on his own blog, reading it. By employing what we call in Biblical studies "the criterion of coherence," it is reasonable to infer that it's likely true, as follows: consider that Bruce said that "a fair number of... NAQT folk" read his blog—why would he say this if it were false? Then, since at least one NAQT person, namely Dwight, certainly did, we have enough to build a picture here. The most coherent and likely theory would have it be true that, in fact, NAQT people did read the blog. It would require more evidence and a harder argument to demonstrate or support any contrary vision, like ONLY Dwight reading it, or like Matt Bruce making up his readers for no discernable reason.

Secondly, as for Dwight, you're right to say that he probably did not read every single post, and probably was not reading what he did read fully attentively all the time—but this is not even close to the necessary condition for him to be aware that Matt was saying creepy stuff! We know from Dwight's blog that he read enough of Matt's blog to link to it a handful of times, over a relatively wide chronological swathe, with relative chronological consistency. If this is the case, I think it's quite reasonable to assume he was somewhat of a regular reader. He need not read every post to encounter at least one problematic thing—heck, with the amount we've found, he probably need not even read every tenth post! It seems logical that Dwight probably read at least one questionable entry at some point.

While this is not certainly true, I think it is reasonable to believe, given the evidence, that it is true. If we demand certainties, the whole operation of justice can be deconstructed by cynical gadflies. Nobody here is calling for the public tar and feathering of Dwight for a probability, but we are—quite reasonably!—calling for an explanation. Why, Dwight, did you not say anything, or do anything, when you saw these posts? There are many understandable—but inexcusable—reasons, like respect for a friendship, or dismissing him as just being somewhat of a creep. If he did not encounter this, and the probabilities swing the other way, then we'd like to know this too, and be given some reason to think this claim is true that is more satisfying than the current evidence that it is not.

I apologize if it seemed like I was lobbing accusations as certainties, but we don't need to be certain to have a good, reasonable idea of the truth.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by Important Bird Area »

In November 2017 NAQT learned about allegations of serious misconduct against NAQT member Matt Bruce, concerning an incident that allegedly took place at Boston University in the late 1990s. As of June 7, 2018, despite our efforts, we have not discovered any information that substantiates the accusations that were made concerning this alleged misconduct.

In the course of our investigation, NAQT became aware of a number of inappropriate writings made by Matt Bruce on his blogs in the early 2000s. In late May 2018 NAQT assembled a grievance panel (in accordance with NAQT's operating agreement) to produce a written report about Matt's conduct and to decide on his future status with NAQT.

NAQT's primary business is conducting quiz bowl tournaments, including events for high school and middle school students. Comments such as those found during the course of our investigation are absolutely unacceptable coming from anyone who represents NAQT. Those who attend NAQT events have the right to expect that our tournament staff, and especially our members, will conduct themselves in a way that is professional, respectful, and welcoming to everyone.

NAQT's operating agreement states that:

"Members owe the company and each other: ... the duty to represent with honor and dignity the company, all other members, and the schools which participate in NAQT events."

The grievance panel determined that Matt's writings were not in line with this portion of the operating agreement and that NAQT could no longer meet its obligation to provide a welcoming and respectful environment for the teams that attend our tournaments—and by extension, for those who attend events that use our questions—while Matt continued as a member of our company.

Thus, following the grievance panel's recommendation, NAQT has terminated Matt Bruce's membership effective immediately. This includes both the termination of Matt's entire financial interest in the company and the permanent loss of Matt's ability to participate in the management and operations of the company in any capacity.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by Important Bird Area »

Matt Bruce became a member of NAQT in 1999; members of limited liability corporations (like NAQT) are part-owners of the company with voting and profit-sharing rights. Given this ownership interest, changing Matt's relationship with NAQT was not as simple as it would be with analogous concerns involving an at-will employee or most contract workers; NAQT has a formal grievance procedure for addressing serious concerns about the conduct of an NAQT member, and that procedure was followed carefully to ensure that NAQT's decision could not be challenged on procedural grounds.
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by Important Bird Area »

NAQT fully realizes that our work on this issue is not done. NAQT is saddened by all of the developments discussed in this thread, and in the hope of avoiding such things in the future we have begun an examination of what led us to this point; we will also examine our internal procedures for reporting and responding to misconduct. We expect that this process will take some time, as we want to ensure that our response is methodical and thorough. NAQT thanks the community for its patience as we carefully consider the issues at hand.
Jeff Hoppes
President, Northern California Quiz Bowl Alliance
former HSQB Chief Admin (2012-13)
VP for Communication and history subject editor, NAQT
Editor emeritus, ACF

"I wish to make some kind of joke about Jeff's love of birds, but I always fear he'll turn them on me Hitchcock-style." -Fred
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tksaleija
Wakka
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by tksaleija »

From me (and likely a very large majority of the quiz bowl community), thank you, Jeff, and thank you NAQT for moving in the right direction. I look forward to a brighter, safer, inclusive, and fun 2018-2019 season.
Aleija Rodriguez
University of Michigan 202x
MCMC/MCCC 2019
Jack
Lulu
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Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by Jack »

In the spirit of full disclosure and ensuring all its customers are aware of the decision, will NAQT also be issuing this statement on its website or social media accounts?
Jack
Bermudian Springs HS
Princeton University '21
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tksaleija
Wakka
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Joined: Fri Jun 30, 2017 8:27 pm

Re: Matt Bruce (cw: sexual assault, pedophilia)

Post by tksaleija »

jacke wrote:In the spirit of full disclosure and ensuring all its customers are aware of the decision, will NAQT also be issuing this statement on its website or social media accounts?
I will say that the statement is already available on their website under "News from NAQT" area.
Aleija Rodriguez
University of Michigan 202x
MCMC/MCCC 2019
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