UN I V E R S I T Y D A I L Y K A N S A N
Tuesday, May 4, 1993
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3B
Sexual harassment attitudes
What to do if you think you're a victim
The University suggests trying informal measures before taking any formal action.
**CONFRONT** the offending party directly, making it clear that the offending behavior is unacceptable. Be sure to document the situations, and explain why the behavior is out of line.
TALK with the offending party's supervisor if the behavior doesn't stop, and ask for assistance. Other staff members should have the Office of Affirmative Action, the University Ombudsman or the Student Assistance Center.
DOCUMENT carefully all incidents, noting dates, specific behaviors and any witnesses.
Documentation will be valuable if you decide to pursue a formal grievance with the University.
Formal grievance procedures
CONTACT the Office of Affirmative Action, 313 Strong Hall, and discuss the situation with a mediator. Prior to this conference, organize your thoughts. Decide what you believe is an acceptable resolution. If the situation cannot be resolved through mediation, you may file a formal complaint. The Office of Affirmative Action will give you specific information about the procedure.
ENFORCEMENT agencies are another option for a formal complaint. For employment cases, see the Kansas Commission on Civil Rights or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. If you are a student, then go to the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Education. There are specific requirements for filing these complaints. The Office of Affirmative Action can tell you where to start. In addition, actions can be taken through the court system.
Don't accept harassment
If you know someone who is being harassed, you may be an important support. Encourage the person to take action, or report it yourself. Don't accept harassment. If someone you know has conducted sexual harassment is difficult and takes courage, it is important that we all do what we can to address this issue.
When compliments are off limits
Source: University Policy on Sexual Harassment
By Ben Grove Kansan staff writer
Todd Moore, Lennox senior, says that a remark such as "You look nice today" is a compliment.
But "That skirt really hugs your ass," he said, would be sexual harassment.
Somewhere in between, though, it gets a little busy
"There is a difference between making a comment about aesthetics and being graphic," Moore said.
So when is a compliment harassment and at what point should men check their remarks?
In a survey for the Kansan, respondents opinions varied when answering questions about the issue of compliment.
'My general rule is that compliments are fine until I sense the motives are covert '
if motives for giving the compliment are not meant to make the person feel good," said Shelly Witt, president of the KU National Organization for Women.
What constitutes a compliment and what constitutes harassment also depends on what people define as sexual harassment, said Charlene Muehlenhard, associate professor of women's studies.
She said definitions would vary depending on the context of the relationship, be it personal or professional.
"But I would never make any remarks about someone's body," she said.
She might compliment another professor's blouse, for instance, and say it was a beautiful color.
She said compliments were more easily given in a relationship where there was equal power, say between two professors.
"When I am with a student, I have to be
careful not to abuse that power," she said.
Muehlenhard said she had a male friend in her department with whom she was close enough that kidding would never be miscontrued.
"We joke around and there are a lot of double entendre and so on," she said. "I'm cool with it and he's cool with it, but I wouldn't do that with anyone else in the department."
Sandra Wick, assistant director of the honors program, is head of the Task Force that has reviewed the University's sexual harassment policy. She said that if women were experiencing comments they deemed to be sexually harassing they had the responsibility to tell the harasser.
"It comes down to having mutual respect in any relationship," she said.
Is this harassment?
Sexual harassment survey participants were asked to comment on hypothetical scenarios. Please use a graphic for more survey information.
An instructor makes numerous comments about how nice a student looks that day. Is this sexual harassment?
YES 46%
NO 54%
A fellow student makes numerous comments about how nice another student looks that day. Is this sexual harassment?
YES 23%
NO 77%
Instructors also are victims, survey says
By Jess DeHaven
Kansan staff writer
Sexual harassment allegations at the University have been brought to the forefront by the dismissal hearings for law professor Emil Tonkovich, but many people do not realize harassment between faculty and students can work both ways.
"There was a situation a few years ago
Allegations that Tonkovich sexually harassed female law students has focused attention on instructors harassing students, but according to a recent survey for the Kansan 18 percent of the students surveyed said they had witnessed students harassing their instructors.
Tom Berger, acting director of affirmative action, said harassment of faculty was not as uncommon as people might think. He said the numbers reflected by the KU survey were similar to those reported by national surveys.
Betty Campbell, assistant professor of English, said she had been harassed by a student once and knew of half a dozen other faculty members who had been harassed by students.
"The number of faculty reporting harassment has certainly been on the rise over the last few years," he said. "Most of the complaints we get come from GTAs."
with a male TA who was followed everywhere by a female student," she said. "He finally had to get a court order to keep her away, but she still followed and just kept outside the boundaries set by the court."
Campbell said she thought it was easier to deal with students harassing instructors than instructors harassing students.
Campbell said she would take direct
"This situation is certainly much easier to take care of because it has to do with power," she said. "When you have instructors harassing students, it's more difficult to stop because the instructor has the power and the student feels he or she can do nothing."
action when harassed by a student.
"I would warn the student first that I knew what he or she was doing and that I considered it sexual harassment," she said. "If it went any further, I would tell the student that I was going to report it and then I would."
Campbell said she did not consider student to faculty harassment any different than harassment between faculty members.
"If I were being harassed by a student, I would go through the same procedures that I would go through if it were another faculty member," she said. "I would not be lenient just because it was a student."
More education is first step
Continued from Page 1.
"Generally, University students are thought of as more sensitive to this than those who are out in the so-called real world," he said. "But I wouldn't want to generalize and say that this (survey) is reflective of anything other than attitudes here."
Sypher said that not all the respondents to the survey chose to answer every question. A 4 percent error rate should be considered when reviewing the results, he said.
Sandra Wick, assistant director of the college honors program, was head of a task force that examined and submitted recommendations to the executive vice chancellor for revising the University's sexual harassment policy. She said sexual harassment had to do with power that was manifested sexually.
She said that there were parallels between the sexual harassment that people experienced in the work force and what they experienced in the classroom.
"The power dynamics are the same," she said. "It's just the specifics that are different."
KU established a sexual harassment policy in 1979. Wick said the University decided to review the policy because attitudes toward sexual harassment had changed in the last decade.
"In the current policy there is nothing about sanctions or consensual relations," she said.
Wick said that the new guidelines would better define sexual harassment but said it would not put an end to the problem.
"One of the negative aspects of the process is setting up rules and regulations," she said. "If you setup strict guidelines, then people will say, 'Well I can get away with this,' and they find ways to get around the system."
Tom Berger, acting director of affirmative action at KU, said the problem of sexual harassment was more widespread than is often thought. He said many people did not report harassment because of fears of revenge or of losing privacy and a perception that nothing will be done to correct the problem.
"Power almost always plays a role in harassment," he said. "There are often dominance needs and insecrections on the part of the
harasser."
Berger said the key to understanding and ending harassment was education.
"Education is the first step," he said. "Also, it is necessary to deal with the problem directly with the individuals who are involved."
Betty Campbell, assistant professor of English, suggested special sessions at student orientation and staff training to teach people at the University about harassment.
"We need to make sure people realize this is important." she said.
"The harassment sessions could give clear definitions of exactly what constitutes harassment."
Charlene Muehlenhard, associate professor of women's studies, said she was encouraged that sexual harassment was a topic that would be talked about more and more, even after the press had gotten tired of it. She said that national coverage and discussions about sexual harassment in the wake of the Anita Hill hearings and the U.S. Navy's Tailhook scandal were positive signs.
"I think there will be more attention paid to it," she said. "Part of that is thinking. Part of that is hoping."
Definitions vary between genders
Continued from Page 1.
Shelly Witt, president of KU's National Organization for Women, said she understood why people found it so hard to agree on a definition for sexual harassment.
"Everybody's definition of sexual harassment varies," she said. "Some think it's very blatant, like physical touching, but other people think it is as slight as staring."
Charlene Muehlenhard, associate professor of women's studies, said that a pervading factor of sexual harassment was using power to get what you want.
"It's making people feel uncomfortable as a signal to show them they're not wanted there," she said.
Campbell said part of the reason sexual harassment was so difficult to define was because men and women often had different ideas of what should be considered harassment.
She said that most men at KU were aware of what harassment was but that some people still made comments that could be considered harassing.
"Most women would say that if it makes them feel uncomfortable, it's harassment," she said. "Men tend to see only the major things as harassment, and they may not include speech as a problem."
"There are some men around here who still talk about dumb blondes and put women down," she said.
Wick said that although men often claimed not to know when or in what way they were sexually harassing a woman, most knew what they were doing.
"They know and they don't want to deal with it," she said. "They don't want to bother with having to change their habits.
"The definition of sexual harassment is all about how harassment is perceived."
Berger said determining victims of harassment also served to complicate the issue.
"Women harass men, and there's also same-sex harassment," he said. "You don't hear as much in terms of numbers about the other two, so we tend to focus on just women. But there are all kinds of harassment."
University definition of sexual harassment
For students and employees, the University has adopted the following definition of sexual harassment.
When submission to unwelcome advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature are made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment or education;
When submission to or rejection of unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature are used as the basis for employment or academic decisions affecting an individual; or
When unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature have the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with work or academic performance, or of creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working or educational environment.
Source: University Policy on Sexual Harassment
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