Community Agreement

At Barnard’s Design Center, we are committed to building communities of practice that affirm the design work and identities of Center users. We’ve created this community agreement to hold our members, including the Design Center team, accountable. Completing our Safety Orientation includes agreeing to align with and practice these community guidelines when participating in our makerspace community. All Design Center users must complete a safety orientation before working in the Center.

As part of the Milstein Center's community, including the library, we contribute to the existing agreements of atmosphere, care and accountability. Design Center staff are especially committed to facilitating a welcoming environment that is free of racist, sexist, homophobic, ableist, and unjust attitudes, comments, behaviors, and actions. For more information, please see Barnard’s Notice of Nondiscrimination.

Safety and Tool Use

By completing our safety orientation, you are agreeing to abide by Design Center safety rules. You are required to ask for training from a Design Center staff member if you don’t know how to use a tool, have never used that specific tool before, or need a refresher on handling it. You must be trained by a Design Center staff member to use any tools in the Group 3 category and the laser cutter (a Group 2 tool).

The Design Center team may periodically ask you questions as you’re working in the space to help ensure you’re working knowledgeably and responsibly. You should be willing and prepared to answer questions about whether you’ve received training on specific tools, whether you’ve used a given tool before, and provide details about any project(s) you’re working on in the Center.

The Design Center team is happy to assist with tasks like changing 3D printing filament or nozzles, re-threading the serger, and changing parts on tools. Please ask a staff member for help with changing tool parts.

Accountability

Together, our community will work to create an environment that supports the work we listed above. If any portion of the Safety and Tool Use agreement is violated:

Staff will work with you to address proper tool use in accordance with our policies and safety training. Staff may refer you for more training, without further use of the tool until that is completed.

If unsafe tool use continues, staff will respectfully request that you be re-trained on how to use said equipment. You will not be able to use that tool or equipment until this process has been completed.

If unsafe tool use or your behavior verges on recklessness that puts the physical safety of yourself or other users at risk, the Design Center staff will immediately ask you to leave. If you refuse to leave, staff will contact a Public Safety Officer to escort you safely from the premises. Additionally, staff will confer with the Dean of the Library and appropriate College provosts to assess whether additional action needs to be taken.

Fabrication Guidelines

No one is permitted to create material that is:

Prohibited by local, state, or federal law. This includes weapons or life-like replicas, parts of weapons, ammunition, and defensive as well as offensive weapons. If you are not sure what constitutes a weapon, please consult a staff member.
Unsafe, harmful, dangerous, or poses an immediate threat to the well-being of others.
Obscene or otherwise inappropriate for the college’s environment.
Subject to copyright, patent, or trademark protection.
Produced for sale for fundraising purposes.

Please note that the Design Center reserves the right to not fabricate any materials that are deemed inappropriate. By submitting content or objects, the student agrees to assume all responsibility for, and shall hold Barnard College harmless in, all matters related to patented, trademarked, or copyrighted materials. The Design Center is not responsible for any damage, loss, or security of data arising from the use of its computers or network, nor for the functionality or quality of content produced on our equipment.