Addressing Harassment 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.

RM: In 2015, the Government of Ontario issued an action plan to help address sexual violence on campus. Did the recommendations for universities and colleges help 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, 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 exist between workplaces and look for other industry parallels that may exist so they can understand which tools can help. Healthcare, for example, has had existing policies and

procedures on how to address harassment and violence in the workplace, as it is an industry that has had to deal with these society issues frequently. Tools such as the Power and Control Wheel have been used to help victims validate their feelings and communicate them to others in order to raise their concerns.

HR professionals can also seek to understand how abusive situations and power dynamics can manifest in the workplace. There is a movement to believe survivors in society and in the workplace, and we should be taking every claim seriously and following up. Investigators may need to dig deeper than an individual level, and may need look into team and culture dynamics.

RM: Who is the best person to investigate when an employee has been named as the accused and why?

HS: The best person to investigate would be the person who does not have a conflict of interest. Depending on the situation, there may be inherent bias for management or HR, and a third-party investigator may need to conduct the investigation.

Investigations need to be conducted fairly and thoroughly, as there may even be a criminal activity. Since workplaces have ignored it in the past, legislation helps with creating a mandated process for creating safe and healthy workplaces.

RM: There are many sexual incidents not reported. Do you believe this is the same with violence and harassment being under reported?

HS: This could be the same issue with violence and harassment being under reported. There are many examples in the workplace where culture plays an important part in promoting escalation of concerns and reporting incidents. One example is the Westray Mine disaster, one of Canada’s largest mining disasters. It was found that the employer subjected the workers to mistreatment and many safety standards were not upheld. There was a lack of safety concern, and it was difficult for the workers to raise issues because of a culture of fear. If there is a culture of not protecting those who bring issues to light, victims may not report them.

Another factor that may influence under reporting is the ability to identify the feelings a victim may be having in order to report them. As a previous domestic violence counsellor, I often used a Power and Control Wheel that was for domestic violence to help victims identify with the behaviours that they were experiencing. It was a way to name the type of violence and behaviours in order for a victim to feel comfortable with reporting.

In the previous mining example, there are parallels between domestic abuse behaviours and the safety concern behaviours that the employer was exhibiting. This accommodation to violence is a concern for victims and being able to put names to feelings is a powerful tool in order to not have under reporting occur.

RM: What preventative measures can be put in place to minimize this problem?

HS: Most importantly, having open and honest discussions is the most effective measure to minimize this problem. Using tools like the wheel should help create discussion and validate some of the feelings that victims may have and open up channels of communication.

It also opens up communication for abusers, to identify their own behaviours and create more self-awareness for their destructive behaviours. HR professionals and supervisors can guide conversations and create open discussions.

The other important preventative measure is creating safe spaces for victims to report. In universities, students need to feel like action will be taken. We should believe that the claim is real and valid, and accommodate the victim (and offender, if reasonable) based on the situation. Actions may include giving offenders sensitivity training to prevent future behaviours from occurring.