Sit Down & Speak Up Book Club

Welcome to Sit Down & Speak Up Book Club!

We offer a rotating menu of book genres to peruse and choose à la carte, so pull up a chair and join our table to 'sit down and speak up' whenever a book piques your appetite!

OUR STANCE

We are an equity-focused community of readers who care deeply about the human condition. Whether through fiction or nonfiction, we actively seek works that help us better understand the diverse experiences that challenge and change individuals and shape and shift society. We explore themes and topics such as intersectional identity, power dynamics, systemic inequity, and environmental realities. To us, a good book offers entertainment and escape, while inspiring personal and social change.

OUR COMMUNITY

Our book club is an intentional space centered on receptive listening, conversational humility, relational integrity, and intentional equity. To ensure everyone is heard and the book remains our focus, our 60-minute discussions follow a structured, facilitated format rather than a casual conversation.

• Our space might be a good fit if – You practice inclusive empathy, prefer balanced sharing, value social equity, and comfortably challenge your own assumptions.
• Our space might NOT be a fit if – You prefer casual conversation, sidestep shared time boundaries, look for social circles, or find group accountability restrictive.

We view the local, public venues in Eugene where we meet as welcoming community partners. We encourage all members to support our local venues by ordering a beverage or a bite as financial means allow, and to refrain from bringing outside food or drink.

OUR AGREEMENTS & GUIDELINES

We care for our community by steadfastly upholding shared agreements and guidelines that apply equally to every single member, including our admin team, without exception. To protect the integrity of this space, all members are expected to honor both the letter and the spirit of our agreements and guidelines.

► READ BEFORE JOINING ◄

ATTENDANCE AGREEMENTS

Because our discussion tables are intimate, empty seats and unexpected absences heavily impact our community. We uphold these agreements to keep our table fair and accessible for everyone.

• Registered Members Only – To keep discussions intimate and safe, meetings are open only to registered members with an active 'Yes' RSVP. ADA service animals are always warmly welcome.
• 2-Phase RSVP Process – Many of our members balance school, work, and caretaking. To give everyone an equitable chance to secure a seat, upcoming discussions are posted 2 months in advance and we honor a 2-phase RSVP process during each monthly rollout.
• Phase 1 (1st through 14th of the month) – Members may RSVP to, or join waitlists for, a maximum of 3 discussions.
• Phase 2 (15th of the month and onward) – Members may RSVP to any remaining open spots and join any waitlist.
• Automated Waitlists – To ensure fairness, bypassing a waitlist, including showing up without a 'Yes' RSVP, is not permitted. Released seats belong solely to the automated waitlist, and these seats cannot be privately traded, reassigned, or given away.
• No-Shows & Cancellations – Reserving a spot and failing to attend, or canceling late, directly impacts our members. Because emergencies, illnesses, and mental health days happen, we use a supportive pass system to balance human compassion with group accountability.
• The Pass System – Each member receives 2 'no questions asked' passes per calendar year to cover sudden, unexpected absences. A third tallied absence within the same calendar year will result in removal from the roster and cancellation of any remaining RSVPs to open up a spot for another reader.
• No-Shows (All Meetings) – Failing to attend a registered discussion without updating your RSVP to 'No' always tallies as an absence, regardless of a meeting's waitlist status.
• Late Cancellations WITH a Waitlist – Changing your RSVP to 'No' within 7 full days before the scheduled start time of a waitlisted meeting tallies as an absence because it deprives a waitlisted member of ample time to source and read the book.
• Late Cancellations WITHOUT a Waitlist – When there is no active waitlist, a late cancellation within 7 days before the meeting does not use a pass or tally as an absence. Update your RSVP to 'No' and leave a short courtesy note for the discussion group.
• Holding Patterns – While timely cancellations do not tally up, a recurring pattern of holding spots for weeks and canceling before the 7-day mark negatively impacts our community. We ask that you only reserve a spot once you can commit to attending. Members exhibiting a pattern of holding and dropping spots may have their RSVP privileges temporarily paused by the admin team.
• Active Membership – A vibrant community thrives with active engagement and clear communication. Whether you attend once a year or once a week, your spot is secured through app RSVP activity. An absence of all RSVP activity (responding neither 'Yes' nor 'No') for 3 consecutive months will result in removal from the roster and the cancellation of any remaining RSVPs to keep our active membership roster accurate. You are always welcome to rejoin when your schedule allows, or contact the admin team in advance to request a formal hiatus.

► READ AFTER JOINING ◄

BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

Selected books are curated from member-recommended titles.

• Book Submissions (1st–7th) – Each member may recommend one title each month in the 'Books' tab and 'Books We Want to Read' subtab. All submissions must include a short written pitch (explaining why the book meets the criteria). To keep things fair, recommendations without a pitch will be removed from consideration. The submission window is accessible as a week-long window and closes on the 7th of each month at 10:00 PM, at which time all titles are cleared from the queue to start fresh the next month.
• Curatorial Committee – To ensure balance, equity, and variety, submissions are reviewed and selected solely by the admin team based on specific criteria: alignment with our stance, agreements, and guidelines, author diversity, literary themes, genre variety, discussion potential, reader interest, and ratings/reviews.
• 2-Month Calendar Rollout – To give everyone ample time to source and read the books, selected titles and meeting details are announced via Bookclubs 'Messages' on the last day of each month for the calendar 2 months out. Meetings officially open for RSVPs on the first day of each month, capped at 8 to 12 attendees depending on reader interest and venue capacity.

DISCUSSION GUIDELINES

60-minute discussions follow a structured, facilitated format.

• Listen attentively without interrupting others – A compassionate conversation allows everyone to complete their thoughts, free from distractions, interruptions, or disruptions.
• Always speak kindly and considerately – Discourse is often dependent upon disagreement. Offer criticism in constructive ways that open a point up for discussion rather than disrespect.
• Take turns and be mindful of total talk time – Everyone's voice is valued and will be heard. Be mindful of how often and how long you speak. An optional timer is available to budget talk time.
• Keep the discussion relevant and on topic – Brief digressions happen, as they allow us to share ideas that are relevant to a book, but don't sidetrack or derail a discussion with time-taking anecdotes or off-topic interests.

COMMUNITY AGREEMENTS

• Speak for Yourself – Speak from your own unique perspective and lived experiences. We are here to learn from other viewpoints, but we speak only for ourselves.
• Step Up, Step Back – If you tend to speak up early and often, practice stepping back to open up space for others. If you tend to stay quiet, we encourage you to step up and share your voice.
• Center Marginalized Voices – We intentionally center the experiences, knowledge, and voices of those whose intersectional identities are marginalized or underrepresented.
• Own Intent & Impact – Despite our best intentions, our words and actions can cause unintended harm. We prioritize a consistent pattern of respectful behavior over repeated cycles of apology without genuine change.
• Courage & Vulnerability – We practice the courage to hold one another accountable through kind, direct communication and commit to being receptive to constructive feedback.
• Boundaries & Privacy – Personal boundaries are different for everyone and can change over time. A member's private details are shared only by that person, and we kindly remind one another if a boundary is crossed.
• A Pressure-Free Space – To keep our community free from commercial or social exploitation, marketing or selling goods/services, self- or group promotion (including non-profits), or soliciting members (online or in person) is strictly prohibited and will result in immediate removal from the book club roster.

CLUB COMMUNICATIONS

Our volunteer admins are responsible for managing operations, protecting the collective good of the group, and ensuring our agreements and guidelines are upheld. They do their fair share of the work, while trusting fellow members to do theirs.

• General Communications – We use a public Front Desk Forum thread (in the 'Messages' tab) for general questions, suggestions, and feedback. To maintain transparency, questions or feedback sent via private DM or email will be redirected to this public thread.
• Safety & Integrity – If you directly experience or observe a violation that compromises personal safety or community integrity, contact the admin team immediately via a DM to the Sit Down & Speak Up Admins profile or email sitdownspeakupadmins@gmail.com. This channel is strictly reserved for confidential safety and integrity reporting.
• Our Commitment – To safeguard the overall safety and well-being of our community, the admin team maintains final, non-negotiable stewardship over the club roster. To protect our members from disruptive, adversarial, or harmful behavior, the admin team reserves the right to remove or block any membership at any time. To preserve the integrity of our club and protect individual privacy, roster updates are handled with strict confidentiality and are not open to public debate or group discussion.