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Gender
Discrimination/Sexual Harassment
Policies and Procedures
(revised as of 1997)
GENDER
DISCRIMINATION/SEXUAL HARASSMENT POLICY STATEMENT
Lock Haven University is
committed to providing a learning and working environment that
enhances the dignity and worth of every member of its community.
To this end, the community must be free from
discriminatory conduct of any kind.
Thus, because such conduct subverts the well-being of the
college environment, abuse, discrimination or harassment of any
individual will not be tolerated.
Gender discrimination/sexual
harassment in any form is not only contrary to University policy
but also morally reprehensible because it undermines the dignity
of community members and often represents an unfair exploitation
of power.
As a university, we take
seriously our responsibility to educate all members of the
community about the nature of gender discrimination/sexual
harassment, its effects on both individual and communal
well-being, and the steps necessary to combat it.
Lock Haven University is committed to equality of
opportunity and freedom from discrimination for all of its
students, faculty and staff.
Gender discrimination/sexual
harassment and all forms of sexual intimidation and exploitation
are of concern to
the University. Governed
by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 which prohibits
sex discrimination in education, Title VII of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964 which prohibits sex discrimination in employment,
and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act of 1955 (and their
amendments), the University seeks to prevent and correct such
actions. Gender
discrimination/sexual harassment is unacceptable conduct and
will not be tolerated in any context at Lock Haven University,
whether it be in a faculty/student, faculty/faculty,
supervisor/employee, student/student, worker/co-worker, or other
relationship regardless
of the formal status of the persons
involved. Individuals
who engage in such behavior are subject to appropriate
corrective action which, when warranted, may include termination
of their relationship with the University.
In addition, such persons may be held personally liable
to the target of such behavior and be subject to sanctions
independent of those imposed by
the University.
Under Title IX, an individual
is the victim of gender discrimination if he/she is, on the
basis
of sex, excluded from participation in , denied the
benefits of, or subjected to discrimination under any education
program or activity operated by the University.
In addition, under Title VII an employer commits gender
discrimination if it (a) fails or refuses to hire, discharges,
or otherwise discriminates against any individual with respect
to his/her compensation, terms, conditions or privileges of
employment, because of such individual’s sex, or (b) limits,
segregates or classifies its employees or applicants for
employment in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any
individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely
affect his/her status as an employee, because of such
individual’s sex.
Sexual harassment, which is a
form of gender discrimination, occurs in a variety of situations
which share a common element:
the inappropriate introduction of sexual activities or
sexual comments into the work or learning situation.
Though not limited to the following circumstances, often
sexual harassment involves relationships of unequal power and
contains elements of coercion, for example suggestions that
academic or employment reprisals or rewards will follow the
refusal or granting of sexual favors.
For purposes of this Policy, sexual harassment is defined
as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and
other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature occurring
when:
1.
Submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or
implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s employment,
or of a student’s academic status or treatment;
2.
Submission to or rejection of such conduct by an
individual is used as the basis for academic or employment
decisions affecting such individual; or
3.
Such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably
interfering with an individual’s work or academic
performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive
working or academic environment to a reasonable person. *
Types
of behavior which may constitute sexual harassment include, but
are not limited to:
-
Sexist,
sexually suggestive or intimidating remarks or behavior;
-
Inappropriate
and offensive uninvited sexual advances;
-
Solicitation
of sexual activity or other sex-linked behavior by promise
of reward;
-
Coercion
of sexual activity by threat of punishment;
-
Sexual
assault.
SUPERVISORY CAUTIONS
Faculty and
supervisors should be aware that amorous or sexual relationships
with students
or subordinate employees are strongly discouraged
at Lock Haven University. Due
to the inherently unequal nature of a relationship in which one
party supervises, advises or evaluates the other, the apparent
consensual status of an amorous relationship between such
parties is suspect even when both parties have given voluntary
consent. In such a
situation, it is the ethical and professional responsibility of
the person in the position of power to relinquish decisions
regarding the subordinate and to remove him/herself from the
supervisory role.
In
sum, such relationships have the potential for adverse
consequences, including the filing
of charges of sexual
harassment, and thus any person in a supervisory capacity enters
at peril into amorous or sexual relations with a subordinate.
PROCEDURES FOR RESPONDING TO GENDER
DISCRIMINATION /SEXUAL HARASSMENT
All parties involved must clearly understand that
gender discrimination/sexual harassment is
not only a violation
of University Policy, it is a violation of state and federal
law. As a result,
the complainant may proceed in one of three ways:
(1) through the University procedure (described below),
(2) through the legal system (state and federal agencies and/or
the criminal justice system), or (3) through a combination of
both. The
complainant should inform the University if she/he intends to
proceed through the legal system.
Following the University procedure does not preclude
pursuing the complaint through the legal system.
The University policy seeks to encourage students and employees to express
freely, responsibly, and in an orderly fashion their opinions
and feelings about any problem
or complaint of gender
discrimination/sexual harassment. Deliberate or malicious false accusations of gender
discrimination/sexual harassment will not be tolerated.
However,
any act by a student or University employee of
reprisal, interference, restraint, penalty, discrimination,
coercion, or harassment—overtly or covertly—against a
student or employee for responsibly using this Policy and its
Procedures may itself be a violation of the Policy subjecting
the perpetrator to disciplinary action under this Policy if
appropriate.
PROCEDURES FOR RESPONDING TO
GENDER DISCRIMINATION/SEXUAL
HARASSMENT:
The University
endorses a strong, widely disseminated and consistently enforced
policy against gender discrimination/sexual harassment.
As such, each University dean, director, department
chairperson, search committee chairperson, administrator and
supervisor is responsible within his/her area of jurisdiction
for making appropriate referrals of complaints to the
individuals identified in this policy.
The University will annually publicize this policy in the
Student Handbook; forward copies of it to all department
chairpersons, deans, managers, and labor union leaders; and make
announcements of any new procedure(s) in the campus newspaper
and other means of existing communication.
THE UNIVERSITY
PROCEDURE
Volunteers from
the faculty and staff (representing bargaining units, including
AFSCME and APSCUF) and student body will be recommended by their
respective constituencies and appointed by the President or
his/her designee to constitute:
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a
seven-member Gender Discrimination/Sexual Harassment Board
of Advisors
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a
five-member Panel on Gender Discrimination/Sexual Harassment
(in addition, the Panel will have a non-voting Chair as
detailed below)
New members appointed to either group will undergo a mandatory training
program, including sensitivity to issues of confidentiality as
well as listening and communication skills, before assuming
their responsibilities. Names
of members of both groups will be publicized widely by the
University. Members
of both groups shall be recused from acting in a given matter
when appropriate for conflict-of-interest or prejudice.
A.
Gender Discrimination/Sexual Harassment Board of Advisors
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Membership on the Board of Advisors
should include faculty, staff, and students, and should
represent bargaining units including AFSCME and APSCUF.
The terms of membership will be as follows: three members of the Board will accept an initial three-year
term; the remaining four members will accept a two-year
term; thereafter, the term of membership will be two years.
The tasks of the Board will be as follows:
1.
to implement a program to educate the campus about sexual
harassment;
2.
to ensure that the institution’s policy and procedures
are widely publicized;
3.
to offer informal consultation and information to
employees or students of the
University who believe they have
been sexually harassed or discriminated against
because of their gender;
4.
to outline procedures that might be employed against an
alleged harasser or alleged
discriminator if the employee or
student does not wish to institute a formal complaint.
B.
Panel on Gender Discrimination/Sexual Harassment
The Director of
Social Equity, or his/her designee in cases of
conflict-of-interest, will act as the non-voting Chair of the
Panel. The
membership of the Panel should include faculty, staff, and
students, and should represent bargaining units, including
AFSCME and APSCUF. The
terms of membership will be as follows: two members of the Panel will accept an initial three-year
term; the remaining three members will accept a two-year term;
thereafter the term of membership will be two years.
The task of the Panel will be to review and investigate
gender discrimination/sexual harassment complaints at the formal
level, and to make findings of fact and report to the President
concerning such complaints.
C.
Procedure
Complaints will be
heard in compliance with the following procedures:
Informal
Process:
Employees or
students of the University who believe they have been sexually
harassed or discriminated against because of their gender
(“the complainant”) may approach a member of the Gender
Discrimination/Sexual Harassment Board of Advisors.
Tasks of the Advisor will only involve offering
consultation, information and attempted informal resolution.
In attempting to achieve an informal resolution, the
Advisor should act neutrally.
The Advisor will immediately notify the Director of
Social Equity as soon as he or she is approached by a
complainant. The Advisor will hear the complaint, provide needed
information (including channels both inside and outside the
university through which complaints may be filed), and attempt
to resolve the problem by informal means.
Any informal resolution will be voluntary for both
complainant and the respondent. Under this informal process, the University will impose no
involuntary sanctions or discipline.
Once the informal processing of a complaint is completed,
all informal notes and records relative thereto, if any, are to
be kept centrally and confidentially in the Office of the
Director of Social Equity.
Formal Process:
If the informal
process seems inappropriate, or if no formal resolution can be
achieved, the complainant may formulate the complaint in writing
and contact the Chair of the Gender Discrimination/Sexual
Harassment Panel (who is also the Director of Social Equity) to
file a formal complaint. Panel
members meeting as a whole will then review and investigate the
complaint, interviewing both parties to it, as well as any
relevant witnesses or persons having knowledge of the situation.
The Panel may meet as frequently as necessary to complete
the investigation. Individual
members of the panel will not conduct the investigation
separately. Instead,
the investigation will be performed by the Panel together as a
whole. All
interviews, meetings, telephone calls and other activities
relating to the complaint will be carefully documented and
clearly dated by the Panel.
Complainants may be requested by the Panel, but not
required, to face the respondent in a fact-finding meeting.
Furthermore, neither a complainant nor a respondent may
be compelled to attend a fact-finding meeting, though such
meetings can be held in their absence if they choose not to
attend and a determination made on the basis of the evidence
before the Panel. During
this process both the complainant and the respondent may be
accompanied by an advocate whose role will be advisory only;
advocate will not address the Panel directly.
The fact-finding process is intended to be an
investigation, not a adjudication, and the strict rules of
evidence and criminal or civil procedure applicable in the
external legal system do not apply.
After the Panel
has declared that the investigation is complete, the Panel will
prepare a written report which shall include the following:
a. A statement of the
findings of fact;
b.
A statement of the conclusions, if any, which the Panel
has drawn;
c.
Any other relevant information deemed appropriate to the
findings of fact.
The report will be
completed and sent to the University President, or his/her
designee in cases of conflict-of-interest, within fourteen
working days of the conclusion of the Panel’s investigation.
If the Panel does not reach a consensus, the report to
the President should state that fact.
In that event, a minority as well as majority report may
be submitted.
Upon receiving the
report form the Panel, the President will review it and
determine a resolution. The
final decision as to the outcome of the investigation and what,
if any, action to be taken shall be the President’s.
The President shall have absolute discretion to accept or
reject the findings and/or conclusions in the report in whole or
in part, and shall have the authority to seek additional
information as she/he deems appropriate.
Any resolution by the President will be determined after
she/he has conducted any required pre-disciplinary hearing(s). If the decision goes against the respondent, the President
may take disciplinary action against him or her.
Possible sanctions include, but are not limited to,
written or oral reprimand, demotion, suspension or leave of
absence without pay, temporary or permanent debarment from
university functions, activities and memberships, or termination
from the University. The
President will inform the complainant and the respondent of
his/her decision in writing within thirty working days of
receipt of the Panel’s report.
Full disclosure of the President’s decision will be
given to the complainant, including any resulting disciplinary
action. All such
disclosed information is to be kept confidential by both
parties. The
decision of the President shall be final within the University.
All records of the
formal process (including the complaint, records of the
Panel’s hearings, the report to the President and the
President’s decision) will be secured in the Office of the
Director of Social Equity.
In the event that the President takes disciplinary action
against the respondent, a copy of the President’s decision
shall be placed in the respondent’s personnel file, in
accordance with the terms of any applicable Collective
Bargaining Agreement.
At the end of each
academic year, statistics concerning the number of sexual
harassment complaints filed and a general description of
dispositions (preserving the confidentiality of the parties
involved and not including any personally identifiable
information) will be made public by the Director of Social
Equity.
Confidentiality
Because of the
University’s commitment to a discrimination-free environment,
the resolution
of the complaint will involve a thorough
investigation and appropriate actions as indicated by the
results of that investigation. Although every effort will be made to protect the identity of
the complainant during the investigation, sometimes that is not
possible.
During informal
resolution, all reasonable efforts will be made to ensure the
confidentiality
of information received, including the
identities of the parties. Since no sanctions will be recommended or imposed on the
accused in the informal resolution stage, the identity of the
complainant will be disclosed to the accused only if the
complainant gives permission.
If,
due to the circumstances of the alleged harassment,
it is not possible to conduct a review of,
or resolve, the
complaint and at the same time maintain confidentiality, the
complainant will be informed and will be given the option of
proceeding or withdrawing from the process.
During formal investigation the identity of the
complainant will be made known to the accused party; every
reasonable effort will be made to protect the privacy rights of
all parties, but confidentiality cannot be guaranteed.
Timeline
Time constraints
will go into effect beginning with the filing of the formal
complaint, which must be filed within
180 days (including weekends and summer) of the alleged
discrimination or harassing incident.
Upon the filing of a formal written complaint by the
complainant with the Chair of the Panel (Director of Social
Equity), the Panel will have a maximum
of 30 working days to complete investigation of the
complaint. The
Panel’s report will be sent to the President or his/her
designee within 14
working days after the investigation has been declared
closed by the Panel. Within 30 working days from the receipt of the Panel’s report, the
President will review the complaint and determine a resolution;
copies of his/her determination will sent to both parties. These time frames may be extended through mutual agreement of
the University (acting by the Director of Social Equity), the
complainant and the respondent. The University (acting by the Director of Social Equity)
may also unilaterally extend any stage of the proceedings for
good cause for up to 30 days beyond the time frames specified
herein. Such a
unilateral extension may occur no more than twice in the
processing of any given complaint.
Working days shall
be defined for these purposes as weekdays (excluding weekends
and holidays, but including the summer).
The complainant
should be aware that if she/he intends to file a complaint
outside the University with the Office of Civil Rights or the
Pennsylvania Human Relations Board, such complaint must be filed
within 180 days (including
weekends and summer) of the alleged discrimination or harassing
incident.
Last
Updated
10/13/2006
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