The Elon University Staff Advisory Council and Academic Council devised a new bias and discrimination policy inclusive of all types of harassment and discrimination, offering clarification for the process of reporting an incident of harassment. The Academic Council proposed the policy to faculty and staff and will vote on the policy Feb. 17.
The policy shows the victim that there are procedures in place to provide support, said Ann Cahill, philosophy professor and chair of Sexual Assault and Gender Issues Council.
“It’s a much more holistic approach and much more comprehensive,” she said.
While the previous policy only discussed sexual harassment, the revisions incorporate bias of any categories that exist in the faculty and staff handbook. The proposed bias and discrimination policy also details degrees of confidentiality for all parties involved during the process.
Cahill and SAGIC began revising the policy in 2010, but a 2011 “dear colleague” letter from the Office of Civil Rights detailing standards for addressing acts of sexual harassment, coupled with the racial slur incidents in the fall galvanized the university to address instances of bias more readily, she said.
“(The fall incidents) concerned a lot of people,” said Cassie Kircher, associate professor of English and chair of Academic Council. “We have to do this better.”
Changes reflect requirements according to Title IX legislation, which describes necessary procedures for sexual harrassment incidents, but Elon's policy applies such laws to all forms of discrimination and bias.
“It’s not my goal in working hard on these policies and procedures to necessarily change behavior,” Cahill said. “I don’t think behavior is changed necessarily by policies and procedures.”
Instead, the proposed revisions communicate that the university will not tolerate any acts of discrimination and harassment, she said.
“This is more about our institutional responsibility to ensure we have a safelearning environment to all of our students and that anyone that has experienced anything that disadvantages them or limits access to opportunities here will know where to go and will know what to expect,” Cahill said.
Instances of harassment among faculty and staff are reported infrequently, according to Brooke Barnett, assistant to the president, but it is unknown how many times such incidents occur and go unreported.
“The focus is making sure we have processes in place that will address these issues,” said Ron Klepcyk, director of human resources.
Cahill said she feared that difficulty reporting a concern and lack of clarity about the procedure deterred instances from being reported, she said.
“The policies were very hard to find and understand,” she said. “I like to think that I am not too intimidated with legal language and I had a hard time making heads and tails for it. In making them accessible and easy to understand as we can is really important.”
The university's hope is that the revision of the policy makes it more accessible, Barnett said. A higher number of reports would not translate to a higher number of instances, but instead indicate that procedures are more available.
“This is a tricky area, legally, because the university has a legal authority to respond to charges of harassment and ensure a hostile environment is not being created,” Cahill said. “What we’ve done is we very clearly stated in the policy is that the university will respect the confidentiality of all parties involved until other legal obligations kick-in.”
The proposed policy names individuals with high degrees of confidentiality and offices so people can go to make a formal report of harassment. Elizabeth Nelson, associate director for health promotions and coordinator for inter-personal relations and community wellbeing, coordinated a bias and discrimination team consisting of both an education and response team trained to respond to instances in the community, according to Barnett.
“It’s really expanded the level of response and support in addition to proactive educational programs for the campus,” said Smith Jackson, vice president and dean of student life.
Elon University faculty members proposed the revised bias and discrimination policy to staff members Monday Feb. 13 and to faculty members Tuesday Feb. 14. Academic Council alone, a body composed of 16 individuals, can pass non-bylaw changes, but faculty and Academic Council vote on bylaw changes.
“It’s a much more healthy response to say we are a community made up of many, many individuals, so these problems will arise and given that they will arise we need to think proactively instead of saying, ‘we are a community welcoming of diversity (discrimination) won’t happen,’” Cahill said. “It will happen.”