diff --git a/.rubocop_fixme.yml b/.rubocop_fixme.yml
index a35f7a1182..1d6063fb0b 100644
--- a/.rubocop_fixme.yml
+++ b/.rubocop_fixme.yml
@@ -148,3 +148,35 @@ RSpec/AnyInstance:
     - 'spec/services/hyrax/workflow/sipity_actions_generator_spec.rb'
     - 'spec/services/hyrax/workflow/state_machine_generator_spec.rb'
     - 'spec/services/hyrax/workflow/workflow_permissions_generator_spec.rb'
+
+# Offense count: 51
+RSpec/ExpectInHook:
+  Enabled: false
+
+# Offense count: 31
+RSpec/LetBeforeExamples:
+  Exclude:
+    - 'spec/forms/hyrax/forms/collection_form_spec.rb'
+    - 'spec/presenters/hyrax/collection_presenter_spec.rb'
+    - 'spec/presenters/hyrax/trophy_presenter_spec.rb'
+    - 'spec/services/hyrax/query_service_spec.rb'
+    - 'spec/services/hyrax/workflow/action_taken_service_spec.rb'
+    - 'spec/services/hyrax/workflow/notification_service_spec.rb'
+
+# Offense count: 27
+# Configuration parameters: EnforcedStyle, SupportedStyles.
+# SupportedStyles: and_return, block
+RSpec/ReturnFromStub:
+  Exclude:
+    - 'spec/controllers/hyrax/api/items_controller_spec.rb'
+    - 'spec/controllers/hyrax/file_sets_controller_spec.rb'
+    - 'spec/lib/hyrax/arkivo/create_subscription_job_spec.rb'
+    - 'spec/models/file_set_spec.rb'
+    - 'spec/presenters/hyrax/admin_set_options_presenter_spec.rb'
+    - 'spec/routing/api_route_spec.rb'
+    - 'spec/views/_user_util_links.html.erb_spec.rb'
+    - 'spec/views/hyrax/base/_attributes.html.erb_spec.rb'
+    - 'spec/views/hyrax/base/_form.html.erb_spec.rb'
+    - 'spec/views/hyrax/base/file_manager.html.erb_spec.rb'
+    - 'spec/views/hyrax/dashboard/profiles/edit.html.erb_spec.rb'
+    - 'spec/views/hyrax/users/_user_info.html.erb_spec.rb'
diff --git a/hyrax.gemspec b/hyrax.gemspec
index a4c4a20cd8..bccd6a2d9b 100644
--- a/hyrax.gemspec
+++ b/hyrax.gemspec
@@ -40,8 +40,8 @@ EOF
   spec.add_dependency 'blacklight-gallery', '~> 0.7'
   spec.add_dependency 'tinymce-rails', '~> 4.1'
   spec.add_dependency 'font-awesome-rails', '~> 4.2'
-  spec.add_dependency 'select2-rails', '~> 3.5.9'
-  spec.add_dependency 'json-schema' # for Arkivio
+  spec.add_dependency 'select2-rails', '~> 3.5'
+  spec.add_dependency 'json-schema' # for Arkivo
   spec.add_dependency 'nest', '~> 2.0'
   spec.add_dependency 'mailboxer', '~> 0.12'
   spec.add_dependency 'carrierwave', '~> 1.0'
@@ -51,18 +51,20 @@ EOF
   spec.add_dependency 'legato', '~> 0.3'
   spec.add_dependency 'posix-spawn'
   spec.add_dependency 'jquery-ui-rails', '~> 5.0'
-  spec.add_dependency 'redis-namespace', '~> 1.5.2'
+  spec.add_dependency 'redis-namespace', '~> 1.5'
+  # Pin more tightly because 0.x gems are potentially unstable
   spec.add_dependency 'flot-rails', '~> 0.0.6'
   spec.add_dependency 'almond-rails', '~> 0.1'
   spec.add_dependency 'qa', '~> 1.0' # questioning_authority
   spec.add_dependency 'flipflop', '~> 2.3'
-  spec.add_dependency 'jquery-datatables-rails', '~> 3.4.0'
+  spec.add_dependency 'jquery-datatables-rails', '~> 3.4'
   spec.add_dependency 'rdf-rdfxml' # controlled vocabulary importer
   spec.add_dependency 'clipboard-rails', '~> 1.5'
   spec.add_dependency 'rails_autolink', '~> 1.1'
   spec.add_dependency 'active_fedora-noid', '~> 2.0', '>= 2.0.2'
   spec.add_dependency 'awesome_nested_set', '~> 3.1'
   spec.add_dependency 'breadcrumbs_on_rails', '~> 3.0'
+  # Pin more tightly because 0.x gems are potentially unstable
   spec.add_dependency 'kaminari_route_prefix', '~> 0.1.1'
   spec.add_dependency 'power_converter', '~> 0.1', '>= 0.1.2'
   spec.add_dependency 'dry-validation', '~> 0.9'
@@ -88,8 +90,18 @@ EOF
   spec.add_development_dependency "factory_girl_rails", '~> 4.4'
   spec.add_development_dependency "equivalent-xml", '~> 0.5'
   spec.add_development_dependency "jasmine", '~> 2.3'
+  # Pin rubocop and rubocop-rspec tightly. Minor-level version bumps
+  # in these gems cause Rubocop violations, and those violations cause
+  # continuous integration builds to fail, and those failures prevent
+  # us from merging pull requests. As a community, we have decided
+  # that it is not reasonable to manage style violations to be dealt
+  # with in a pull request *unless* said pull request's intent is to
+  # bring the codebase in further alignment with community style
+  # conventions. This allows us to take a managed approach to code
+  # style -- we choose to update style when we wish, not when a
+  # minor-level version bump in a dependency comes out.
   spec.add_development_dependency 'rubocop', '~> 0.49.1'
-  spec.add_development_dependency 'rubocop-rspec', '~> 1.15.0'
+  spec.add_development_dependency 'rubocop-rspec', '~> 1.16.0'
   spec.add_development_dependency 'shoulda-matchers', '~> 3.1'
   spec.add_development_dependency 'rails-controller-testing', '~> 0'
   spec.add_development_dependency 'webmock'
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper.rb b/spec/spec_helper.rb
index e48c29844a..4f759aac03 100644
--- a/spec/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ def main_app
     Hyrax.config.enable_noids = false
   end
 
-  config.before :each do |example|
+  config.before do |example|
     if example.metadata[:type] == :feature && Capybara.current_driver != :rack_test
       DatabaseCleaner.strategy = :truncation
     else
diff --git a/spec/tasks/rake_spec.rb b/spec/tasks/rake_spec.rb
index b3a33742e5..5b2cf09e77 100644
--- a/spec/tasks/rake_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/tasks/rake_spec.rb
@@ -11,15 +11,15 @@
 
     it "creates a file" do
       run_task "hyrax:user:list_emails"
-      expect(File.exist?("user_emails.txt")).to be_truthy
+      expect(File).to exist("user_emails.txt")
       expect(IO.read("user_emails.txt")).to include(user1.email, user2.email)
       File.delete("user_emails.txt")
     end
 
     it "creates a file I give it" do
       run_task "hyrax:user:list_emails", "abc123.txt"
-      expect(File.exist?("user_emails.txt")).not_to be_truthy
-      expect(File.exist?("abc123.txt")).to be_truthy
+      expect(File).not_to exist("user_emails.txt")
+      expect(File).to exist("abc123.txt")
       expect(IO.read("abc123.txt")).to include(user1.email, user2.email)
       File.delete("abc123.txt")
     end