OIE Team Member Co-Authors Perspective Paper on Early Interventions for Faculty Sexual Harassment Cases
Sexual harassment by faculty is a widespread problem in higher education, and research demonstrates that appropriate and effective institutional responses to the faculty members responsible and transparency in those responses are critical for building an organizational climate that is demonstrably intolerant of sexual harassment, works to prevent that behavior, and seeks to reduce experiences of institutional betrayal. Senior Investigator and Policy Analyst for the Office for Institutional Equity, Ericka Lewis, formed part of the National Academies' Response Working Group of the Action Collaborative on Preventing Sexual Harassment in Higher Education to produce a paper that lays out the challenges and current landscape for how higher education deals with harassment by faculty members. They also draw attention to the need for research on available sanctions for faculty found responsible for sexual harassment or other early interventions for faculty accused of sexual harassment. The paper encourages institutions to continue the research agenda on the current challenges in higher education for responding to sexual harassment, with a focus on coordination, transparency, consistency, and correcting behavior through accountability. The paper was presented by two of the authors, Karen Stubaus (Rutgers) and Sarah Rankin (MIT) during a session at the Fourth Annual Action Collaborative’s Public Summit on October 19th.
2021-2022 Annual Report, Rubric, and New Descriptions of Work
The Action Collaborative on Preventing Sexual Harassment in Higher Education released its third annual report and rubric, as well as over 40 descriptions of work from Member Organizations and Partner Network Organizations. The Action Collaborative brings together leaders from academic and research institutions and key stakeholders to work toward and share targeted, collective action on addressing and preventing sexual harassment across all disciplines and among all people in higher education.
- The annual report details products and publications released by the Action Collaborative during the past year, summarizes work done by members and partner network organizations, and identifies priorities for the coming year.
- The rubric helps organizations identify and assess where they are doing work that is consistent with the findings and recommendations from the National Academies’ 2018 report on the Sexual Harassment of Women, and serves as a tool for organizations to identify opportunities to innovate and pilot new approaches.
- The new descriptions of work can be found in the Action Collaborative’s online Repository of work – a filterable and searchable public archive containing descriptions of significant and innovative policies, practices, and programs that institutions have developed and implemented since the Collaborative was established.
© 2022 Duke Office for Institutional Equity & National Academies