Sexual Harassment

Statement of Policy on Sexual Harassment

UIW strives to provide a working and educational environment for all faculty, administration, staff, and students that is free from sexual harassment. Sexual harassment in any form is unacceptable behavior and will not be tolerated. It is a form of misconduct that undermines the institutional mission.

Definition: Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The 1972 amendment to the 1964 Civil Rights Act (Title IX), prohibits sexual discrimination and sexual harassment of students and all employees in academic institutions. This applies to students who are harassed whenever they are working for UIW, either on or off campus.

A. Sexual harassment may be defined as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other verbal or physical conduct, or written communication of a sexual nature when:

• Submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an indivi-dual's employment or educational experience;
• Submission to or rejection of such conduct is used as the basis for employment or academic decisions affecting an individual; and
• Such conduct has the purpose or effect of interfering with an individual's work, academic performance, participation in extracurricular activities, or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working or learning environment.

B. Sexual harassment includes any interpersonal attention of a sexual nature that is unwanted and unwelcome. Examples may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Physical assault which in this sense includes any physical touching of any kind that is sexual in nature; or
• Direct or implied threats that submission to sexual advances may favorably affect employment, work status, promotion, grades, or letters of recommendation or that rejection of sexual advances may negatively affect the same; or
• Direct propositions of sexual nature; or
• Subtle pressure for sexual activity, one element of which may be conduct such as repeated and unwanted leering; or
• A pattern of conduct (not legitimately related to the subject matter of the course, if a course is involved, or to employment if employment is involved) that tends to bring discomfort and/or humiliation, which may include comments of a sexual nature, or sexually explicit jokes, statements, questions, or anecdotes; or
• A pattern of conduct that would tend to bring discomfort or humiliation to a reasonable person at whom the conduct was directed, which may include unnecessary touching, patting, hugging, or brushing against a person's body; remarks of a sexual nature regard- ing a person's clothing or body; or remarks about sexual activity or speculation about previous sexual experience.

Statement on Consensual Relationships

Faculty and staff are cautioned as to the problematic nature of an apparently consenting relationship with students and/or subordinates. The respect and trust accorded a faculty or staff member by a student/subordinate, as well as the power exercised by a faculty or staff member in giving grades, recommendations, services, praise or blame, greatly diminish the individual's actual freedom of choice should inappropriate favors be requested.

Any faculty or staff who enters into a sexual relationship with a student, or subordinate must realize that, if a charge of sexual harassment is subsequently lodged, it will be exceedingly difficult to prove immunity on grounds of mutual consent. Such a charge will be addressed under procedures of the University's Policy on Sexual Harassment.

Campus Awareness: Education and Prevention

The Vice Presidents are responsible for informing persons under their supervision about this policy.

Reporting Process

Any person in the academic community may initiate the complaint process. The following procedures represent the internal institutional process. Individuals may also file a written complaint with outside government agencies, for example, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or the Office for Civil Rights. UIW encourages faculty, staff, and students to use the internal system before exploring external means.

General

1. Trained campus resource people are available to discuss the informal and formal complaint processes. These persons will discuss the incident occasioning the complaint and help the individual decide what, if any, action to take. Trained people are available in each of the following areas:
   1. Student Life and Residence Life;
   2. Student Peer Educators and Resident Advisors;
   3. Personnel Office;
   4. Academic Affairs Office;
   5. Counseling Center, Health Office, Campus Ministry;
   A list of names and phone numbers of all campus resource people will be available at the Human Resources Office, the Office of the Academic Vice President, and the Office of Student Life .
   
   
2. Complaints will be responded to promptly. Failure to process a complaint is a violation of this policy.
3. The rights of confidentiality for all parties involved in a sexual harassment charge shall be strictly observed.
4. Filing a complaint or otherwise reporting sexual harassment shall not affect the individual's current status as a student, faculty member, administrator, or staff member, nor shall it affect future employment, compensation, work assignment, or evaluation of the individual. Retaliation against a person filing a complaint is grounds for a subseuent harassment complaint.
5. The person accused of sexual harassment is considered innocent until such a time as the charges may be substantiated by an investigation. Retaliation against the offending party is grounds for a subsequent harassment complaint.
6. A false allegation of sexual harassment is a violation of this policy and is itself subject to the procedures and sanctions mentioned later in this policy. To constitute such a violation, however, the complaint would ordinarily need to be false as to specific allegation of fact. The standard to determine if a complaint is a violation will be based on evidence of conscious and willful intent to distort or exaggerate the allegation and damage the accused party. The investigating party or committee may agree on factual matters alleged but differ in their judgement or interpretation of the incident and conclude that it did not constitute sexual harassment. This situation would not necessarily make the complaint a violation apart from the standard previously cited.

Informal Process

In most cases, complaints of sexual harassment can be dealt with informally. Informal resolution may take place in one of two ways. It should be noted that attempts at direct resolution are strictly voluntary on the part of the complainant. There is no requirement that the informal process be used.

1. The complaining individual may immediately voice concern, either face-to-face or in writing, to the person whose actions are unwelcome. Writing a letter, while not necessary, establishes an initial level of documentation of the incident. If this route is chosen, a third party (colleague or faculty advisor) should accompany the complainant when hand-delivering the letter to provide independent verification that a letter was delivered on a particular date should further action become necessary. A written record of a verbal attempt at resolution should be kept.
2. The complaining party may seek assistance from the administrative head of the unit in which the complaining individual is an employee or student. The head administrator will contact the offending party and notify his/her supervisor of this action. The administrator will meet with the complainant and the offending party together within 10 working days from the complaint. A written record of this attempt at resolution will be kept.

Whatever option is selected, the complainant should make the following points in communicating with the accused party either verbally or in writing:

1. The date, time, and place the incident of harassment is alleged to have occurred;
   
2. The specific behavior of the accused party which the complainant found offensive;
   
3. The effect the behavior had on the complainant;
   • How the complainant felt (e.g., embarrassed, uncomfortable, humiliated, etc.).
   • What were the real consequences for the complainant.
   • What the complainant did or considered doing as a result of feeling this way (e.g., dropped a class, performed poorly on an exam, paper or work assignment, lost sleep, had difficulty concentrating).

When complaints are judged valid and are resolved informally, the accused party should be cautioned that repetition of such conduct could lead to a formal investigation and sanctions. When complaints are found not to constitute harassment, the complaining party will receive an explanation concerning the reason for the decision.

The purpose of informal consultation is to resolve problems, heighten awareness and achieve changes in behavior without resorting to formal investigatory or disciplinary proceedings. Nothing in this section should be construed as discouraging more formal procedures. Serious or repetitive behavior makes the formal process a more appropriate course of action or when the complaining party is not satisfied with the proposed resolution.

Formal Process

1. Filing Complaint
   
   A person who wishes to file a formal complaint of sexual harassment must submit a written description of the unwelcome behavior and the circumstances surrounding it to the Dean of Student Life, the Director of Personnel, or the Academic Vice-President. The complaint should be filed within six months from the date of the incident. The admin-istrator will notify the accused party and provide him/her with a copy of the statement and the identity of the party making the complaint and request a written response to the complaint.
2. Investigative Team
   
   A three-person investigative team (two members of which must be the same gender as the complainant) will be appointed as follows:
   1. For allegations against faculty members, the three members of the investigative team will be selected by the Academic Council. When the complaint is brought by a student, one of the members will be a student selected by the Vice President for Student Affairs.
   2. For allegations against administrators or staff, the investigative team will be composed of three persons chosen by the Vice President with administrative responsibility for the accused party. When the complaint is brought by a student, one of the team members will be a student appointed by the Vice President for Student Affairs.
   3. For allegations against students, by students, the investigation and determination of sanctions will be handled under the existing policies stated in the Student Code of Conduct found in the Student Handbook.
   4. For allegations against students by faculty, administration or staff, the investigative team will be composed of three persons chosen by Vice President for Student Affairs. One of the team members will be a student.
3. Investigation
   
   The purpose of the investigation is to establish whether there is a reasonable basis for believing that the alleged violation of this policy has occurred.
   
   The investigative team will meet within 10 working days of receiving the written complaint.
   
   The team may conduct its own inquiry, including setting up a hearing, calling witnesses, and gathering whatever information it deems necessary to assist it in reaching a determination as to the merits of the allegation.
4. Hearing
   
   The parties to the dispute shall be invited to appear together before the team. The hearing must be a private hearing and no public statements should be made about the case by the investigative team or the parties involved.
   
   The team conducts the hearing, calls witnesses and questions them, and attempts to certify the facts.
   
   In no event will the lack of a written response to the allegation or failure to appear at the hearing on the part of the accused party delay the proceedings.
5. Record of Hearing
   
   The investigative team must see that an adequate record is made regarding the hearing, its proceed-ings, findings, and recommendations.
6. Report of the Investigative Team
   
   The investigative team will report its findings and recommendations as soon as possible and in no case more than 30 days following the written complaint. The findings and recommendations will be reported to the Vice President with administrative responsibility for the accused party.
   
   All reports of the investigative team will be filed with the Director of Personnel and the supervising Vice President's office.
7. Action
   
   Where allegations are found valid, the supervising Vice President is responsible for taking appropriate action, including changes in employment or academic status. Such action will be immediately communicated to the investigative team, the complainant and the accused.
   
   Final decisions by the supervising Vice President may be appealed by the investigative team to the President of the University.

Sanctions

Where the charge of sexual harassment is found to be valid, the offending individual will be subject to the following action, such as:

1. Initial and ongoing, sustained counseling by a professional counselor;
2. Letter of reprimand (a copy of which must become a part of the offending individual's record);
3. Change in employment status or enforced withdrawal (for students) for repeated, but less serious harassments;
4. Non-issurance of contract or termination of appointment (for employees) or expulsion (for students) for flagrant and/or repeated serious offenses.

Appeals

An appeal may be filed by the complainant or the offending party. Appeals are filed using the established grievance procedures as outlined in the Faculty Handbook (Chapter V, Article V), Administrator/Staff Guidelines (Chapter 12), or the Appeals section of the Student Handbook.

For faculty, if the recommended sanction is termination of appointment for adequate cause, the appeal process is outlined in Chapter III, section XII of the Faculty Handbook.