In January a process was created to deal with a case of harassment and manipulative behavior from former Co-chair Nate R.
Nate was a member of DSA SD (co-chair until October 2020) and a member of the Revolutionary Marxist Caucus (RMC) within DSA SD.
The subject of his harassment (hereafter called the ORP, short for “original reporting person”) confronted Nate about his actions and shortly after he resigned from DSA. Soon after this, his actions came to light and he was expelled from RMC. The chapter Harassment and Grievance Officer (HGO) was informed and investigated his actions. This investigation concluded with Nate being barred from rejoining DSA. An internal announcement was made of this decision.
Nate agreed to engage in a restorative justice process to address his behavior, created by the HGO with input from the ORP and RMC. Within this process Nate drafted a statement of accountability (attached) and worked on requests from RMC such as writing a code of conduct for engaging with comrades, and requests from the ORP, such as analyzing how his behaviors were influenced by the works of Robert Greene.
Nate’s statement can be accessed here.
While the process was originally planned to be one year long, all involved have decided it is best to end it with Nate’s statement. Nate was barred from rejoining DSA, and the process was created to give him a possible pathway back to membership. However, Nate has stated that he doesn’t intend to come back to DSA at this time. The process is left without a goal. Additionally it was not designed to take into account new mental health diagnosis and treatment he is undergoing and is inadequate to address this in a way that supports Nate and doesn’t put undue labor on others in the process.
Those involved in the process do not believe Nate is irredeemable. Nate has made strides in the process and we hope he continues to do the work of unlearning toxic behavior.
The ORP has asked that the specifics not be discussed and we choose to honor that. If there are other questions or concerns the HGO can be contacted at sandiegohgo@gmail.com