SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND CONSENSUAL RELATIONSHIPS

SCOPE

This policy applies to faculty, staff and students in all offices and divisions of GallaudetUniversity.

POLICY

Sexual harassment is a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended. The University is committed to providing an environment that is free of unlawful sexual harassment and does not condone sexual harassment in any form. Reports of sexual harassment are investigated thoroughly, promptly and objectively.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidelines define sexual harassment as follows:

"Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitutes sexual harassment when:

 

1. submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term orcondition of an individual's employment;

    

2. submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis foremployment decisions affecting that individual; or

    

3. such conduct has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with anindividual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensiveworking environment."

All levels of management are accountable for the implementation of the Sexual Harassment and Consensual Relationships procedure appended to this policy. Any employee or student who is guilty of or responsible for acts of sexual harassment is subject to appropriate disciplinary action.

Incidents of sexual harassment or sexual misconduct related to minors will be governed by Pre-College policies and procedures and/or by District of Columbia code.

 

1. SEXUAL HARASSMENT

    

   1. Rationale

       

      1. Sexual harassment is a form, either direct or indirect of sexualdiscrimination and will not be tolerated by the University. It subverts themission of the University and threatens the careers, educational experience,and well-being of students, faculty and staff. Relationships involvingsexual harassment or discrimination have no place within the University. In both obvious and subtle ways, the very possibility of sexual harassmentis destructive to individual students, faculty, staff, and the academiccommunity as a whole. When, through fear or reprisal, a student, facultyor staff members submits or is pressured to submit to unwanted sexualattention, the University's ability to carry out its mission is undermined.

          

      2. Sexual harassment is especially serious when it threatens relationshipsbetween teacher and student or supervisor and subordinate. In suchsituations, sexual harassment exploits unfairly the power inherent in afaculty member's or supervisor's position. Through grades, wageincreases, recommendations for graduate study, promotion, and the like, ateacher or supervisor can have a decisive influence on a student's or facultyor staff member's career at the University and beyond.

          

      3. While sexual harassment most often takes place in situations of powerdifferential between the persons involved, the University also recognizesthat sexual harassment may occur between persons of the same Universitystatus. The University does not tolerate behavior between or amongmembers of the University community that create an unacceptableworking or educational environment.

       

   2. Prohibited Acts

      No member of the University community may engage in sexual harassment. Forthe purpose of this policy, sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome advances,requests for sexual favors, or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual naturewhen:

       

      1. submission to such conduct is made explicitly a term or condition of anindividual's employment or status in a course, program or activity;

          

      2. submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as abasis for an employment or educational decision affecting that individual; or

          

      3. such conduct has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with an individual'swork or educational performance or of creating an intimidating, hostile oroffensive working or learning environment.

       

   3. Examples of Sexual Harassment

       

      1. Direct or implied threats that include all forms of communication (verbal, nonverbal,signed, written, and physical).

          

      2. Direct or indirect propositions.

          

      3. Subtle pressure for sexual activity, an element of which may be conductsuch as repeated and unwanted staring.

          

      4. A pattern of conduct (not legitimately related to the subject matter of acourse in which one is involved) intended to discomfort or humiliate areasonable person that includes one or more of the following: (a) commentsof a sexual nature; (b) sexually explicit statements, questions, jokes, oranecdotes; (c) unnecessary stalking, including repeated unwarrantedappearances anywhere on campus; (d) remarks of a sexual nature about a person's clothing or body; (e) remarks about sexual activity orspeculations about sexual experiences; (f) physical touches of a sexualnature; (g) sexual pictures, calendars, graffiti, or objects; (h) offensivelanguage or gestures.

       

   4. Isolated and Inadvertent Offenses

      Members of the University community who, without establishing a pattern ofdoing so, engage in isolated conduct of the kind described in C4 or who exhibit apattern of engaging in such conduct but fail to realize that their actions discomfortor humiliate, demonstrate an insensitivity that warrants remedial measures. Whensuch activities occur, all members of the campus community have a responsibility,especially within their peer group, to point out the offense.

    

2. CONSENSUAL RELATIONSHIPS

    

   1. Definition

      The terms faculty and faculty member, as used in this section in the instructionalcontext, mean all those who teach at the University including staff, graduatestudents with teaching responsibilities, and other instructional personnel.

       

   2. Rationale

       

      1. The University's educational mission is promoted by professionalism infaculty/staff-student relationships. Professionalism is fostered by anatmosphere of mutual trust and respect; it is incumbent upon faculty andstaff members to foster a spirit of academic and personal integrity at alltimes. Actions of faculty or staff members and students that harm thisatmosphere undermine professionalism and hinder fulfillment of theUniversity's educational mission. Trust and respect are diminished whenthose in positions of authority abuse or appear to abuse their power. Those who abuse or appear to abuse their power in such a context violatetheir duty to the University community.

          

      2. Faculty members exercise power over students, whether in giving thempraise or criticism, evaluating them, making recommendations to further theirstudies or their future employment, or conferring any otherbenefits on them. Amorous relationships between faculty and students arewrong when the faculty member has professional responsibility for thestudent. Such situations greatly increase the chances that the facultymember will abuse his/her power and sexually exploit the student. Voluntary consent by the student in such a relationship is suspect, giventhe fundamentally unequal nature of the relationship. Moreover, otherstudents and faculty may be affected by such unprofessional behaviorbecause it places the faulty member in a position to favor or advance onestudent's interest at the expense of others and suggests that obtainingbenefits may be contingent on amorous or sexual favors. Therefore, theUniversity views it as unethical if faculty members engage in amorousrelationships with students who are enrolled in their classes or subject totheir supervision, even when both parties appear to have consented to therelationship.

       

   3. Consensual Relationship in the Instructional Context

      No faculty member may have an amorous relationship (consensual or otherwise)with a student who is enrolled in a course being taught by the faculty memberwhose academic work (including work as a teaching assistant) is being supervisedby the faculty member.

       

   4. Consensual Relationship Outside of the Instructional Context

      Amorous relationships between faculty or staff members and students occurring outside the instructional context may lead to difficulties. Particularly when the faculty or staffmember and student are in the same academic unit or in units that areacademically allied, relationships and the parties view as consensual may appear toothers to be exploitive. Further, in such situations (and others that cannot beanticipated), the faculty or staff member may face serious conflicts of interestand should be careful to distance himself/herself from any decisions that mayreward or penalize the students involved. A faculty or staff member who fails towithdraw from participation in activities or decisions that may reward or penalize a student with whom the faculty or staff member has or has had an amorous relationshipwill be deemed to have violated his/her ethical obligation to the student, to otherstudents, to colleagues, and to the University.

       

   5. Violations

      Alleged violations of Section II may be filed by any person, or the process maybe initiated by the appropriate administrative officer.

    

3. SEXUAL HARASSMENT PROCEDURES

    

   1. Informal Complaint

       

      1. Employees or University students who wish the matter to be handledinformally should contact the employee's unit administrator,administrative officer, the EEO officer (Special Assistant to the Presidentfor Diversity and Community Relations) or the Director of HumanResources, preferably within 10 working days of the incident. Universitystudents should also consult with appropriate student support personnelfor advice and counseling. Students who have a complaint against anotherstudent should contact the Director of Judicial affairs.

          

      2. The person to whom the complaint is brought will, within 10 workingdays (unless there are extenuating circumstances) and without directlyaccusing and without divulging the name of the accuser (unless authorizedby the complainant), counsel the employee or student and caution him/herabout offensive and inappropriate behaviors and actions or will take otherappropriate action to resolve the complaint informally (e.g., removeoffensive pictures).

       

   2. Formal Complaint

       

      1. An employee or University student who wishes the matter to receive aformal investigation and review should contact the EEO officer (SpecialAssistant to the President for Diversity and Community Relations).Students who wish to make a formal complaint against another studentshould contact the Director of Judicial Affairs.

          

      2. The EEO officer, in consultation with the appropriate administrativeofficer, or the Director of Judicial Affairs, will determine the method bywhich the investigation will be conducted. The purpose of theinvestigation is to establish whether there is a reasonable basis for believingthat an alleged violation of this policy has occurred. In conducting theinvestigation, the EEO officer and/or the appropriate administrative officer(or his/her designee) or the Director of Judicial Affairs may interview thecomplainant, the accused, and other persons believed to have pertinentfactual knowledge. At all times, the administrator conducting theinvestigation will take steps to ensure confidentiality.

          

      3. The investigation will afford the accused a full opportunity to respond tothe allegations.

          

      4. Possible outcomes of the investigation are: (a) a judgment that theallegations are not warranted; (b) a negotiated settlement of the complaint;or (c) formal disciplinary action.

       

   3. Protection of Complainant and Others

       

      1. Formal investigations of complaints will be initiated only with thecomplainant's consent. The complainant will be informed fully of stepstaken during the investigation.

          

      2. All reasonable action will be taken to assure that the complainant andthose testifying on behalf of the complainant or supporting thecomplainant in other ways will suffer no retaliation as a result of theiractivities in regard to the process. Steps to avoid retaliation may include:(a) lateral transfers of one or more of the parties in an employment settingand a comparable move if a classroom setting is involved; and (b)arrangements that academic and/or employment evaluations concerning thecomplainant or others be made by the appropriate individual otherthan the accused.

          

      3. In extraordinary circumstances, the administrative officer may suspend afaculty or staff member or teaching assistant accused of sexual harassmentuntil the matter is resolved.

       

   4. Protection of the Accused

       

      1. At the time a formal complaint is issued, the accused will be informed ofthe allegations, the identity of the complainant, and the facts surroundingthe allegations.

          

      2. In the event the allegations are not substantiated, all reasonable steps willbe taken to restore the reputation of the accused if it was damaged by theproceeding.

          

      3. A complainant found to have been intentionally dishonest in making theallegations or to have made them maliciously will be subject to disciplinaryaction.

       

   5. Protecting Both Parties

       

      1. To the extent possible, formal proceedings will be conducted in a way toprotect the confidentiality interests of both parties.

          

      2. After the investigation, the parties will be informed of the facts developedin the course of the investigation.

          

      3. The parties will be informed promptly of the outcome of the proceedings.

       

   6. Process of Taking Formal Disciplinary Action

       

      1. If, after the investigation, there is a reasonable basis for believing that analleged violation of this policy has occurred and a negotiated settlementcannot be reached, formal disciplinary action may be taken.

          

      2. The decision to take formal disciplinary action will be made by theappropriate administrative officer.

       

   7. Formal Disciplinary Action

      Formal disciplinary action may range from a reprimand to termination ofemployment. Except as specifically modified by other provisions of this policy,formal action involving allegations of:

       

      1. Violations of this policy and any appeals by faculty members (notincluding teaching assistants or staff) will be governed by Universityfaculty guidelines and by-laws. Upon motion from one of the partiesmade before the start of the hearing process, the hearing panel will close allor part of any hearing held under this policy. Upon motion from one ofthe parties after the hearing has started or from some other interestedparty, the hearing panel may close all or part of the hearing held under thisprocedure.

          

      2. Violations of this policy by staff members will be processed by theappropriate administrative officer or his/her designee and may be appealedthrough the dispute resolution procedure.

          

      3. Violations of this policy by students will be governed by the studentjudicial program.

       

   8. Preparation and Dissemination of Information

      The EEO officer (Special Assistant to the President for Diversity and CommunityRelations) will ensure that this policy is available to all members of the campuscommunity and to all those who join the community in the future. An annualletter will be sent to all faculty and staff to remind them of the contents of thispolicy. Copies of this policy will be available at appropriate offices. Additionally, the EEO officer (Special Assistant to the President for Diversityand Community Relations) will offer training sessions for persons who are likelyto receive complaints that this policy has been violated.

    

4. SEXUAL MISCONDUCT

   For the purpose of this policy, sexual misconduct includes, but is not necessarily limitedto, sexual contact without consent or against the will of the alleged victim including forcedviewing, unwanted touching, rape, sodomy and penetration with objects.

   The University's primary concern with respect to any incident of sexual misconduct isthe safety and well-being of the victim. Should any incident of sexual misconduct occur,faculty and staff are encouraged to go to a place where they are in no immediate dangerand to seek medical attention if needed. Faculty or staff may contact the Department ofSafety and Security for assistance. Reports of sexual misconduct should be reported tothe Department of Safety and Security as soon as possible. The Department of Safetyand Security will work with the EEO officer and the appropriate administrative officer asdescribed in Section III above in addressing a formal complaint.

   Detailed procedures for University students for reporting sexual misconduct are availablefrom student support offices.

Note: This document is based on the sexual harassment policy of the University of Iowa. It is reprinted here, in whole and in part, with the permission of the University of Iowa.