Sexual Harassment Among Faculty, Staff, and Students

In one Lantern article, “Sexual harassment poses threat to women on college campuses” (1991) emphasizes the overlooked issue of sexual harassment of women in particular, at all positions of OSU (Lowe, 1-2). The article reports that in 1990, there were 30 formal complaints of sexual harassment filed at the Office of Affirmative Action, on top of 69 phone calls to the office requesting “information or advice on sexual harassment but did not file a formal report” (Lowe, 1). Willa N. Young, program coordinator of Women’s Student Service is cited throughout the article. She says that sexual harassment can occur across job position lines (i.e. instructors harassing students, faculty harassing staff), but the individuals who are practicing sexual harassment are usually men, where women are the one’s being sexually harassed; this is because sexual harassment is rooted in sexism (Lowe, 1). Young also states that certain categories of women are more vulnerable to sexual harassment than others, such as minority women. She references the  Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas  hearings, also pointing out how negative reactions are common when women speak out against sexual harassment, which is also a major reason why most women do not file a formal complaint at OSU’s Office of Affirmative Action (Lowe, 2).

In the very same newspaper printed next to “Sexual harassment poses threat to women on college campuses”, was an article titled, “Two Organizations examine OSU Women’s Issues in Depth”. The two organizations cited were the Women’s Grassroots Network and President’s Commission on Women, that held forums and meetings in discussing the issues women’s face on campus, with a major one being sexual harassment continually referenced in both group’s meetings, but also issues such as “…career advancement, equity for women of color on campus, dependent care, tenure and promotion, dual career families and retention” (Low, 1). The grassroots network consisted of about 500 faculty, staff and administrative members, and the commission consisted of 23 members appointed by then President Gee (Low, 1-2). One member of the commission spoke about the need for a “new, comprehensive sexual harassment policy on campus” because she believed “…policies [were] widely misunderstood” (Low, 1). Both groups gave recommendations to administration.

Also next to both of the aforementioned articles was the “police beat” shown below…Coincidence or not ?

“Police Beat” featured in Lantern Newspaper (Giorgini 1991, 2)

 

Works Cited

Giorgini, William. “Police Beat.” The Lantern [Columbus] 29 Oct. 1991: 2. Print.

Lowe, Lori. “Two Organizations Examine OSU Women’s Issues.” The Lantern[Columbus] 29 Oct. 1991: 1-2. Print.

Low, Julie M. “Sexual Harassment Poses Threat to Women On College Campuses.”The Lantern [Columbus] 29 Oct. 1991: 1-2. Print.

 

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