Where We Stand
Section: Higher Education - Continuing
Policy: Gender-Based Violence and Discrimination in Higher Education
Appendix R

Gender-Based Violence and Discrimination in Higher Education

DEFINITIONS:

Sexual harassment is a form of discrimination that includes gender harassment (verbal and nonverbal behaviors that convey hostility to, objectification of, exclusion of, or second-class status about members of one gender), unwanted sexual attention (verbally or physically unwelcome sexual advances, which can include assault), and sexual coercion (when favorable professional or educational treatment is conditioned on sexual activity) (NASEM, 2018). Importantly, pervasive sexual harassment that creates a hostile work environment can constitute illegal discrimination (MacKinnon, 1979; USEEOC, 1980).

Gender-based violence refers to harmful acts directed at an individual based on their gender. It is rooted in gender inequality, the abuse of power and harmful norms.

Culture survey refers to a survey that elicits information about the collectively held beliefs, assumptions, and values held by organizational members regarding sexual harassment and gender-based violence. Culture guides and sets the tone for the climate that members of an organization experience.

Climate survey refers to a survey that elicits information about the shared perceptions within an organization regarding incidence of sexual harassment and gender-based violence, organizational policy surrounding sexual harassment and gender-based violence, as well as the reporting process. Climate reflects and supports the culture of the organization.

The iceberg refers to a metaphor for gender-based violence and sexual harassment in the public consciousness. Namely, this metaphor points out how only the most egregious incidences of gender-based violence (rape, professional rewards for sexual favors, etc.) attract public attention, but more subtle aggressions which constitute the majority of sexual harassment within institutions go unnoticed. (For more information, please see below).

Mandatory reporters are required by state law to report specific instances of abuse as defined by the state of Oregon to state authorities.

Designated reporters are required by their institutions to report any information they receive regarding sexual harassment or sexual violence to the Title IX Coordinator.

Assisting employees are not required by their institutions to share disclosures of prohibited discrimination unless the information conveyed suggests a threat to the health or safety of any person. They are required to provide the person making the disclosure with information about reporting options and support resources.

Confidential Employees will maintain confidentiality while offering information, resources, and reporting options.

CDC, “Preventing Sexual Violence,” Feb. 5, 2021, https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/sexualviolence/fastfact.html

The original range of 25-85% reported in these surveys was widely divergent. The investigators found that when they did not define sexual harassment in the survey, only 25% of women reported sexual harassment in the workplace. When they defined specific acts that constitute sexual harassment, however, 75-85% of women reported sexual harassment in the workplace.

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, “Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace,” June 2016, https://www.eeoc.gov/select-task-force-study-harassment-workplace#_Toc453686298

Krebs, et. al., “The Campus Sexual Assault Study,” National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Grant No. 2004-WG-BX-0010, https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/221153.pdf

Johnson, Widnall, Benya, Ed. “ Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine,” National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, 2018, https://doi.org/10.17226/24994.

McClain et. al., “Sexual Harassment Among Medical Students: Prevalence, Prediction, and Correlated Outcomes,” Workplace Health and Safety, Dec. 2020, doi: 10.1177/2165079920969402.

Oregon Medical Association, “Where we stand.”

Franklin, Taylor, Baytagh, “Addressing Conflicts of Interest in the Context of Campus Sexual Violence,” Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal, 2017, https://digitalcommons.law.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1392&context=elj.

Rachel E. Morgan, Ph.D., and Jennifer L. Truman, Ph.D., “Criminal Victimization, 2019,” U.S. Department of Justice, September 2020, pg 8, https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cv19.pdf.

Sarah Nesbitt, Sage Carson, Sonia Ghura, and Josephine O’Brien, “The Cost of Reporting: Perpetrator Retaliation, Institutional Betrayal, and Student Survivor Pushout,” Know Your IX, 2013.

University of Oregon, Help for Victims and Survivors, https://safe.uoregon.edu/.

National Academies, Guidance for Measuring Sexual Harassment Prevalence Using Campus Climate Surveys, https://www.nationalacademies.org/news/2021/09/guidance-for-measuring-sexual-harassment-prevalence-using-campus-climate-surveys.

United Nations: Women, https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/faqs/types-of-violence.

National Academies, Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/24994/chapter/8.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/24994.

National Academies, Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/24994/chapter/8.

National Academies Infographic: The Iceberg of Sexual Harassment https://nap.nationalacademies.org/visualizations/sexual-harassment-iceberg/

Employee responsibilities, University of Oregon, https://investigations.uoregon.edu/employee-responsibilities.

Where We Stand Section: Higher Education - Continuing Policy: Gender-Based Violence and Discrimination in Higher Education Appendix R

Gender-Based Violence and Discrimination in Higher Education

Where We Stand
Section: Higher Education - Continuing
Policy: Gender-Based Violence and Discrimination in Higher Education
Appendix R