Title IX and Support for Sexual Harassment Complaints
Hi friends of women in science,
We've discussed TItle IX from time to time (see here) and how effective it has been in opening up opportunities in women's athletics but how it has not been applied in the same way to other arenas, although the language by no means limits its use to athletics.
I was interested to see the cover story in Yale Alumni Magazine recently was about women who have filed complaints against Yale and several other universities based on Title IX, because of the way the universities have been handling sexual harassment complaints. The rules were confusing and there were overlapping authorities. Often it appeared that nothing was done in response to egregious events, although the schools contend that such matters are protected by confidentiality rules. At Yale, 16 students and alumnae filed the complaint charging that Yale is a hostile atmosphere for women because of how these matters have been brushed under the rug or shuttled between authorities none of which wanted to take up remediate measures. The title of the article in the magazine, "confusion and silence," was the typical response that women felt they received to sexual harassment complaints. And Yale has prided itself on the advancement of women, but recently had a horrific incident with a fraternity chanting "No means yes," and then claiming the protection of free speech.
What do you think about this use of Title IX? Have you seen any evidence of this new arena where it can be applied?
cheers,
Laura
Hi Helen and Ileana,
Yes, I think people who report do suffer more than they should often, and sometimes their relationships with others at work never recover. And I agree with Helen about the seriousness of agreeing to keep rape hidden. However, one of my good friends was raped several years ago, and I heard from her something about how talking about it can seem almost as bad as the event itself. I believe it has to be her own decision whether or not she can put up with the indignities and invasions of an investigation. Of course, if she cannot, it is in some ways enabling the man to continue his bad behavior. But if she cannot take on the burden of challenging him, I don't want to heap blame on her.
cheers,
Laura
I agreed that everyone will find out and likely her career in science will be over if she reports an allegation against a faculty member. As I have heard many times "No one likes a troublemaker."
But rape is a criminal offense and rises above the seemingly accepted mis-use of power to date students at different levels or to promote a culture of general sexual harassment with pornographic materials/leering/repeated requests for dates, etc. I would hope that any institution would be accepting of such a case. If that is not happening, then this is much, much worse than I certainly perceived. And certainly for an individual's mental health she needs to decide if staying in such an environment is really worth it.
I can tell you that they are right to feel less safe if they file the grievance. The community would find out about it (it seems impossible to stop leaks of this kind of material, especially in small colleges) and her life would become vastly more complicated. There is no appropriate response to "I'm sorry you were raped." People will stay away from the victim because they don't know what to say, or will say something like that, so the woman has to be constantly on guard to tell people not to say these things or she'll spin out of control. It's exhausting and debilitating. So better to suffer in silence. Although maybe not really.
Hi Helen,
It does seem like institutions are either unable to make it clear what should be done or have never set up clear procedures. I hate the idea that the response generally seems to be "confusion and silence" although in the past, when I served as an official to whom sexual harassment could be reported, I thought the procedures looked good on paper. In real life, women often came to tell me of incidents that they were NOT willing to make a complaint about, and then they got mad that I did not do anything about it. Sometimes I had talked with the person in question but I was unable to tell them because of confidentiality provisions of our code. But if they had made the complaint, they would have known more but felt less safe. There is something wrong with that, but I couldn't figure out how to fix it.
cheers,
Laura
It's an interesting use of the law, although I'm not sure how they will craft their argument that it applies to this situation. Certainly knowing that an institution is not going to handle these complaints in an appropriate fashion keeps the behavior ongoing. And it can be quite damaging.
I have never been to an institution that I thought handled such claims regarding science faculty appropriately, and I see disregard for sexual harassment claims being important as another sign of culture of science today. A culture which we all agree needs to change.
I think the government is not willing to pressure physics and engineering departments at Harvard, etc, unless there is a lot of pressure on them from women there. So some of the onus is on us for accepting application of TItle IX just to sports.
Hi Laura,
I have to say I've seen it in an institution I'm connected with because of Yale, but only indirectly. I hope this new use catches on, but as you've said before, the power of government funding could do so much to diversify physics, comp sci, etc departments if Title IX were applied to them. It's still hampered by lack of vision, IMHO.
