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University Daily Kansan / Thursday, April 23, 1992
SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT KU
Task force recommends changes in process
KU committee says rules need defining
By Jenny Martin Kansan staff writer
An ad hoc committee that spent the semester reviewing grievance procedures at the University of Kansas has drafted a report of 10 recommendations to improve sexual harassment policies and procedures.
"We're not signing in a formal way until we get comment from the community."
Cancellor Gene Budig announced his plans to form the 10-member committee in November, and the committee members were appointed in January. They met once a week throughout the semester.
Sandra Wick
Head of grievance procedure review committee
Sandra Wick, assistant director of the college honors program and head of the committee, said that the comment period would last through May 5. The committee then will make its final recommendations to Del Shankel, interim executive vice chancellor, for
final approval.
"We're not signing in a formal way until we get comment from the community," she said. "We want to make sure that students especially have the chance to look at them and give input before the semester is over."
The committee looked at the policies of several other universities in the United States before forming the recommendations.
The task force recommended that the University:
approve an amended definition of sexual harassment that includes
- increase faith that the reports, complaints and hearings of sexual harassment are taken seriously. This would include regular public reporting of outcomes of hearings or administrative actions related to sexual harassment.
define the distinction between formal and informal procedures and the consequences of each. They also said that the difference between internal KU procedures and state and federal informal procedures should be explained.
extend the time limit of 180 days for reporting a complaint of sexual
harassment to one year from the date of the incident. They also want to allow the temporary suspension of the time limit in certain instances.
centralize reporting of all complaints of sexual harassment.
compile a list of possible sanctions for sexual harassment.
- link procedures for the various grievances and provide information to the complainant.
- adopt a statement discouraging sexual relationships between students and faculty.
- protect the rights of complainants and respondents and invoke sanctions for false charges with malicious or frivolous intent.
continue to educate the KU community about sexual harassment.
Locations
The report of the task force that reviewed the University's sexual harassment policies will become available tomorrow at the following places:
Kansas Union Information Counter
Information Counter Burge Union Information Counter
Watson Reserve Desk
Watson Reserve Desk
Law School Library
Reserve Desk
Officials say policies need review
- Continued from p. 1
harassment grievance guidelines.
Their complaints were routed to a lessdefined area of University policy: the Faculty Code of Conduct.
If a complaint is filed beyond 180 days, the University can investigate the complaint as a violation of the faculty code instead of as a sexual abuse case because there are no time limits in the faculty code
But the code has no specific guidelines for dealing with faculty members who violate the rules. Each violation is examined individually, and then it is made in a make-up, as you-go along manner.
The complainants said they were unhappy, among other things, because Robert Jerry, dean of law, printed their names in a memo regarding sexual harassment that was distributed to all faculty members in the law school.
Jerry and the complainants disagree about whether the women had given permission to print their names.
They also said the University did not communicate well with them throughout the process. For instance, the women said that between Sept. 6 and Oct. 18, they were not told about the progress of their cases. The ACU issued its press release Oct. 18, and the complainants think it snurred the University to action.
They said the University moved their complaints from the office of affirmative action, which handles sexual harassment grievances, to academic affairs, which sometimes investigates violations of the faculty code, without notifying all of the complainants or explaining the reason for the move.
A University attorney defended the lack of procedures in the faculty code.
The complainants said they thought the problems they experienced resulted from a vague University policy.
The complainants said they were told by academic affairs that they would be allowed to see the professor's response to their complaints; but later, after he was given copies of their signed, written complaints, they were told by academic affairs and University general counsel that they could not see the response.
"You cannot ever predict every single way something will occur. You don't want to strait-jacket everything so that the University can't deal with concerns."
Rose Marino, associate general counsel, said, "The alleged violation might come from a faculty member, a student or an administrator, or any specific procedures to look at the situation.
But to a complainant, this "flexible" system can be discouraging.
"We have had to be plaintiff, investigator, prosecutor, jury and witnesses. Everything, to get anything done," one complainant said.
"I can't see how anyone can have faith in a system like this, when you don't know who is going to see your complaint or what is going to happen or how long it's going to take."
Soon after the ACLU news release, both students and faculty at the law school responded to students' perceptions that the University's complaint procedures were not working.
On Oct. 31, a letter signed by six law school
professors was made available for students who had concerns about coming forward with their complaints
One of the professors, Elinor Schreeder, said professors were hearing about students who had sexual harassment complaints but were not coming forward.
"Our concern was that, for whichever reason, some students might have thought that the system wasn't working," she said. "With the letter, to the extent possible, we wanted to get across the idea that we believe that the University's complaint procedures will work and explain what we could do to help."
In November, Lucy Mason, third-year law student, helped draft a letter that was signed by 78 other students and given to Jerry and Chancellor Gene Budig.
"It is now November, and serious allegations raised last May have not been finally resolved," the letter said. "From the student's perspective, this inordinate delay creates a perception that sexual harassment will not only be tolerated at KU, but may be covered up."
That same month, the federal government becameinvolved.
In response to a Nov. 14 complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Education by one of the women, the department is investigating the way the University handled the complaints. The department's findings are scheduled to be released May1.
Amid the unrest, Budig decided to create a committee of students, faculty, staff and administrators to examine the University's procedures. The committee yesterday released its findings and recommendations for changes soon.
Sandra Wick, assistant director of the college honors program and head of the committee, said the committee was looking at many issues, including confidentiality, the 180-day time limit and protection of complainants' interests during a hearing.
Some other universities — including Anita Hill's employer, the University of Oklahoma — have completed extensive research on sexual harassment and have developed policies reflecting those findings.
Gwen Wilburn, assistant affirmative action officer at Oklahoma, said a task force spent three years developing that university's sexual harassment procedures, which were enacted in 1990. Complaints have 360 days to file.
"The policy has been utilized quite a bit in the past two and a half years," she said. "People have become more knowledgeable of their rights. They are not so afraid to speak out."
"We all wish we had forsight to improve them and publicize them and dramatize them years ago," Shankel said. "I think our policies are probably as good as the policies used at most universities like us. But they are clearly not as focused and as adequate as we hoped they were, given the way the world is changing."
KU administrators said that because of increased awareness of sexual harassment, it is important to provide support.
Marino said, "I don't think anybody would argue now, after Anita Hill, that the conscience of this country is the same. The time is right to assess how well the sexual harassment guidelines have served and where they can be improved."
Tom Berger, acting director of the office of affirmative action, said he did not think that an overhaul of the grievance system was the solution.
"An administration is doing what it's supposed to be doing well when they review these policies from time to time," he said.
"But let's not have a knee-jerk reaction. That's not the way you deal with civil rights You don't change the overall judicial system — or do you? — because sometimes justice doesn't happen."
Helen Remick, the equal employment officer at the University of Washington, said students' perceptions of an institution's procedures had a direct impact on the number of victims who came forward.
Vague policies can stifle some complaints rather than help students solve their problems.
"How complaints are handled determines whether others will bring complaints and whether legal action will follow," she said. "Bungled complaints will discourage potential complainants from seeking on-campus relief and signal to harassers that they can continue their behaviors with impunity."
"There is no reason in the world that any student should come to any University and feel jeopardized," said Del Brinkman, director of academic affairs.
KU administrators insist that students should not be afraid to come forward.
"You know when human beings get together that there are going to be some that take advantage of others, and when that happens there is a lot of pressure on the reality of being able to deal with that," he said.
The law school complainants thought their experiences illustrated that the University was
Burger said that when complaints were filed at the end of a semester, as in the law students' cases, reaching a resolution be even more difficult than a conflict, and getting organized is difficult.
But many students fear retaliation from a professor and wait to seek help at semester's end, when they are less vulnerable to a professor's grading system.
"In law school your class rank and your GPA are the watermarks of you as a person in the law school," one complainant said. "If you're in the top 10 percent, you can have the pick of whatever job you want. There is this hierarchy that what is final is to finish as high in the class as possible."
They have suggested a sensitivity seminar for faculty, an in-house contact for law students wishing to report allegations of misconduct and more education for students about the procedures they could use for grievances.
Although it may have been difficult for the law students to settle their grievances, the women said they came forward to try to affect change.
Almost a year later, these women say they have seen attempts to improve the atmosphere in Green Hall. Law school administrators and students have been called upon to policy statements to rectify the situation.
I have no regrets about coming forward, but the whole process has been very victimizing," one woman said. "Not just the incident itself but having to go through the process, dealing with individuals who do not understand what women
If you've been harassed...
The University has specific procedures to help you solve a harassment problem. The problem can be resolved at any point in this process:
COMPLAINANT
Places a complainant can go:
University Ombudsman
the Student Assistance Center
the department chair or dean of the school
network office
office of affirmative action
An OA-I representative who conducts the investigation and tries to settle the complaint
MEDIATOR
- Informs the complainant of a planned schedule.
Conducts an investigation of the complaint
■ Establishes reasonable deadline for receiving relevant information, treats the information received confidentially; may discuss relevant information with either party and with other parties as necessary in order to seek a resolution
RESPONDENT
Works with mediator to resolve the situation
DISCRIMINATION HEARING BOARD
Comprises students, faculty, staff and administrators who review procedures and organize formal hearings.
- Complaint may request a formal hearing from the DHB by filing a written formal complaint within 180 days of the incident
- A copy of the written complaint is sent to the head of the DIB and to the respondent
  - The respondent must return a written complaint in the head of the DIB and the complainant
  - If the board determines that probable existence beyond a shadow of a doubt,
■ If the board determines that probable cause exists beyond a shadow of a doubt, the board recommends sanctions
FACULTY CODE OF CONDUCT
Rules and regulations for faculty members...
Has no time limitations
■ If the complaint comes forward more than 180 days after the act, the University can investigate the incident as a violation of the Faculty Code of Conduct.
■ The code has no specific guidelines for investigating complaints, it is handled on a case-by-case basis.
Almee Brainard, Dallam Kansan go through after being sexually harassed."
Source: the University policy on sexual harassment, Faculty Code of Conduct
go through after being sexually harassed.
The women continue to wait for a resolution
The women continue to wait for a resolution. And other would-be complainants wait for policy-makers to devise a system sensitive to their concerns.
"I think with the procedures they have, any victim will drop their complaint because they will get so discouraged," one complained said. There are a lot of untold stories out there."
Victims now may sue for compensation
By Jenny Martin Kansan staff writer
Before a recent Supreme Court decision, the courts had failed to clearly define whether a student who endured sexual harassment could receive monetary compensation.
A February Supreme Court ruling makes clear that students can sue their schools and school officials for monetary damages and may increase the attention public institutions give to sexual harassment complaints.
Few laws specifically prohibit sexual harassment at universities, but usually, sexual harassment is challenged within the structure of existing sex discrimination laws, under Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, which forbids sex discrimination against students and employees at public and private institutions that receive federal monies through grants, loans or contracts.
Prior to February's decision, civilis suits filed under Title IX could seek injunctive relief, which meant stopping the harassment in some manner. Now, because of the recent Supreme Court rulings, a student can sue for a full range of compensatory damages, which is compensation for injured feelings such as shame, hurt, humiliation, disgrace or mental languish.
Elinor Schroeder, professor of law at the University of Kansas, said that before the decision, avenues for redress had limited benefits for the student.
Prior to the decision, a student also could file a sexual-harassment complaint with the Office of Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education, which is the primary enforcement agency of Title IX. If the university is found to be discriminatory by the Office of Civil Rights, the only sanction available is the removal of federal financial aid from the university.
"This does not happen often, and even then it would be the University against the federal government," she said. "The complainant would only be a witness, it wouldn't be her case anymore."
Schroeder said the 1992 Supreme Court decision made schools face the prospect of paying monetary damages, which could be an incentive for them to take complaints even more seriously.
"The risk of getting a verdict for damages causes institutions to change their behavior," she said. "The threat of having to pay out a lot of money makes you pay attention."
MyrI Duncan, professor of law at Washburn University, said that the recent Supreme Court decision might encourage some sexual assault victims to come forward but that he did not expect a flood of new complaints.
"We saw what happened to Anita Hill when she came forward. These are hard cases to win," he said. "Women have to know from watching that that they're going to get beat up."
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