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News Editor Eric Cohn raises some points of concern with Columbia’s new sexual respect program.
Recently, I contacted Dean Kromm asking her whether faculty and staff are required to go through any sort of sexual respect training, as is now required for students. In an official university statement from Associate Vice President for Media Relations Robert Hornsby, I learned that, although staff are required to go through some sort of sexual respect training, faculty are only “recommended” to do so. The university’s full statement can be read below:
“The first phase of the new sexual respect education program is geared to students. However, the University does require awareness and prevention training for staff on harassment and discrimination, which is also recommended for faculty. We are in process of reviewing and updating our training modules regarding this issue to best serve the entire campus community.”
My inquiry began after a tip sent to Bwog by a student who wished to remain anonymous alleging sexual harassment complaints against a particular professor since 2007. In addition to the concerns raised by student groups about Columbia’s new sexual respect program, this tip critiqued Columbia for its lack of a comprehensive sexual respect program for faculty and staff.
The tipster sent us a series of course reviews dating from 2003, highlighting the numerous complaints of sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior from the professor. Our tipster requested that we omit the name of the professor and his department out of concern that the department might attempt to retaliate against her.
According to the reviews, the professor inquired daily about the designs on students’ shirts, which “made several of the female students uncomfortable.” He made “inappropriate comments about student’s attire (graphic shirts, jewelry etc.),” and even pointed out that “a student might be showing more than they want…when they bend over,” which students found “not appropriate.” The professor’s lectures were also apparently laden with “racist” comments and “offensive” references to “female intuition.”
Although these student complaints are certainly problematic, they also raise questions about the reach and effectiveness of Columbia’s new sexual respect program. And our tipster’s situation is by no means an isolated incident. Within the past few years, Columbia has faced legal action from several students alleging sexual harassment from professors. In 2012, a doctoral student sued the school for ignoring his complaints against a professor at Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. In 2013, two former graduate students sued Columbia after President Bollinger’s office gave them “a runaround” following complaints against two senior Columbia faculty.
Although I recognize that the new sexual respect program is still in its early first phase, Columbia must recognize that sexual assault issues are not limited to students. Sexual harassment from professors is also a problem, and Columbia’s new efforts should address it.
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11 Comments
@Anonymous Doesn’t anyone at Bwog and Spec proof read, and spell check, and fact check articles before they go out?
@That Guy Also it’s Dean Kromm not Dean Cromm. Sorry to be that guy again.
@Eric Cohn Good catch. We appreciate your equitable policing!
@That Guy Also, I hate to be that guy again, but it’s Dean Kromm not Cromm.
http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/reslife/fya/llc/dean.php
@Right of Passage It seems that writing about sexual assault has become right of passage for all the Spectator/Bwog writers. They all have to give us their opinion on this and frankly, I don’t give a damn about their opinion. I just think that, now, this is bordering with insanity, and harassment. You are harassing us with your below average journalism.
@That Guy Rite of passage not right of passage.
@Rite/Right Thanks, you’re right.
@Anonymous This is garbage. Saying someone has a pretty blouse or I love the design in your jewelry is not sexual harassment in any way, shape, or form. Every possible complement to anyone could possibly be taken the wrong way. Soon we are all going to be faceless no communicative robots.
@anon Sexual assault and sexual harassment are not the same thing. The latter is much more nebulous, dealing with anything that somebody might find “uncomfortable” and can be attributed to something sexual. It does not involve attacking, or even necessarily touching, though it can involve aggressively putting people in dangerous situations. While I’m not trying to defend the latter, it’s clearly a different animal than the sexual assault fiasco that the university is (half-assedly) trying to address through the sexual respect program. And again, I’m not saying that it doesn’t deserve appropriate responses from the administration, but it’s not clear that those responses would resemble in any way the appropriate responses to the assault situation. This is all just to say that it’s not worth getting up in arms that this new program doesn’t do anything to address professors who comment on students’ clothing.
@Anonymous Sexual assault and sexual harassment are not the same thing, but they are symptoms of the same cultural attitudes, and both create spaces that can be threatening and exclusive. Sexist or inappropriate comments by professors or authority figures can be much more harmful than just making someone “uncomfortable,” especially in subjects that are already predominantly cis-male, like engineering- I know people who have completely stopped going to their classes because of inappropriate comments on the part of professors, which totally destroyed any sense of inclusivity that they might have felt in the class otherwise. In other words, the university absolutely has a responsibility to its students to ensure that they have a safe and inclusive space for their education. Also, because there is a large degree of overlap in demographics between those who are directly affected by the university’s sexual assault policies and those who are directly affected by the university’s sexual harassment policies, if the university ignores the issue of sexual harassment in the classroom, they are ~yet again~ demonstrating a lack of compassion or understanding for these students.
@Anonymous There are certain levels of professionalism that professors and staff members should uphold. If a prof is making a student, then that is a problem that absolutely needs to be addressed.