Resource: Shaping Organizational Excellence ¡ Spring/Summer 2018 ¡ 7
Addressing Sexual Harassment and Supporting Victims and Survivors in Universities Hannah Scott, PhD, Founding Faculty Member, University of Ontario Institute of Technology Dr. Hannah Scott is a founding faculty member of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT). She received her undergraduate degrees (Psychology and Sociology) from McMaster University, Master of Sociology degree from the University of Guelph and PhD in Sociology from University of Alberta. Prior to arriving at the UOIT as an Associate Professor, she was an Assistant Professor at the University of Memphis. She was the Founding Director of the Centre for Evaluation and Survey Research; and the Founding Vice-President and, later, President of the UOIT Faculty Association. Her current projects are in the areas of workplace bullying, homelessness, drug courts, and serial and mass homicide. Dr. Scott joined Resource Magazine to discuss how universities are addressing sexual harassment and violence, and what is being done to prevent it.
there has been great discussion with staff, students and the community to look at policies and procedures and drive action. Action items like checklists are being created as a collaborative outcome between stakeholders. These will continue to improve, as the legislation requires us to review them periodically. RM: Do you believe disciplinary structures and best practices to deal with harassment have been well established in post-secondary institutions? HS: There has been a lot of thoughtful discussion on this. We should see more discussion and potential solutions, as there is more disclosure of results across universities. If more people are taking the issue seriously, there may be an increase in reporting. The more comfortable victims are about communicating about violence, the more employers and the police enforcement will need to react to different scenarios and determine how to respond to them. RM: How can the HR professional assist with this society and workplace issue?
HS: HR professionals can try to understand when parallels RM: In 2015, the Government of Ontario issued an action exist between workplaces and look for other industry paralplan to help address sexual violence on campus. Did lels that may exist so they can understand which tools can the recommendations for universities and colleges help help. Healthcare, for example, has had existing policies and minimize incidents of sexual violence? HS: Universities are a unique environment because of the student population, which is more likely to be a target for victimization. Issues can arise more frequently with this population because of a few factors that can be attributed to victimization: young, predominantly single, and more likely to engage in dating and consume alcohol and drugs. Universities try to pride themselves on being safe learning spaces, so it was a logical place to start building action plans to help address sexual violence. The new legislation required universities to be safe spaces for both staff and students. Overall, it is still too new to determine if it is working or not. Society and women in particular understand that sexual violence does exist in society and the workplace. However,
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