harassment training
So a few days ago I got an email reminding me of my scheduled training for sexual harassment. Which was a bit funny, since I didn't remember that I'd signed up for any training for sexual harassment. Turns out, I hadn't. But the university provides training for sexual harassment every three years for 'supervisors,' 'managers,' and faculty. Since the scheduled time happened to fit my schedule, I went, rather than putting this off for another six months or whatever.
Anyway, 20 minutes into the training, I was engaged in the issues the presenter was presenting, and I was wondering whether as faculty we're required to report instances of suspected student-to-student harassment. (We are.) And I was wondering about cases where instructors choose content that is intentionally intended to force students to confront their attitudes about sex: can that be perceived as 'harassing'? (Yes, but it's protected as academic discourse if there's a sound educational reason for it.) So while I was sitting there, imaging a case where a teacher might be asking students to participate in some type of sexually uncomfortable exercise, I realized the presenter had presented me with a question. Of course I had no idea what the question was, since I was extending my knowledge and positing scenarios and such. So I asked her to repeat the question. And then she accused me of being zoned out (which I was), and then she asked me a different question, to see if I even realized it was a different question (which I didn't, since I had been totally zoned out). Of course I answered the question, which apparently confirmed to her and made it abundantly clear to everybody else that I was totally zoned out. Then she asked me the original question, which was why the number of cases of female harassers was increasing. I said, "Because women are becoming more aggressive"--an answer which probably sounded totally sexist but was also totally supported by my recent reading of Generation Me. The "right" answer, of course, was that women were increasingly in positions of power--from which they had more control to harass subordinates.
Aside from the complete embarrassment of this part of the training, I actually learned quite a bit. Much more useful than the training I received as a grad student, which essentially was this brilliant advice: "UW doesn't have a policy prohibiting you from sleeping with your students. We don't recommend it, but if you do sleep with a student, don't say anything that will give the impression that their grade is contingent on quality/quantity/duration of sexual relations."
In completely unrelated news, I think the neighbors got a new dog, which they let out to crap in their backyard. But of course the barky dog insists on barking rabidly the entire time it's out in the backyard, which is eight feet from my bedroom window. This is not the high point of my evening, or of my morning.
Anyway, 20 minutes into the training, I was engaged in the issues the presenter was presenting, and I was wondering whether as faculty we're required to report instances of suspected student-to-student harassment. (We are.) And I was wondering about cases where instructors choose content that is intentionally intended to force students to confront their attitudes about sex: can that be perceived as 'harassing'? (Yes, but it's protected as academic discourse if there's a sound educational reason for it.) So while I was sitting there, imaging a case where a teacher might be asking students to participate in some type of sexually uncomfortable exercise, I realized the presenter had presented me with a question. Of course I had no idea what the question was, since I was extending my knowledge and positing scenarios and such. So I asked her to repeat the question. And then she accused me of being zoned out (which I was), and then she asked me a different question, to see if I even realized it was a different question (which I didn't, since I had been totally zoned out). Of course I answered the question, which apparently confirmed to her and made it abundantly clear to everybody else that I was totally zoned out. Then she asked me the original question, which was why the number of cases of female harassers was increasing. I said, "Because women are becoming more aggressive"--an answer which probably sounded totally sexist but was also totally supported by my recent reading of Generation Me. The "right" answer, of course, was that women were increasingly in positions of power--from which they had more control to harass subordinates.
Aside from the complete embarrassment of this part of the training, I actually learned quite a bit. Much more useful than the training I received as a grad student, which essentially was this brilliant advice: "UW doesn't have a policy prohibiting you from sleeping with your students. We don't recommend it, but if you do sleep with a student, don't say anything that will give the impression that their grade is contingent on quality/quantity/duration of sexual relations."
In completely unrelated news, I think the neighbors got a new dog, which they let out to crap in their backyard. But of course the barky dog insists on barking rabidly the entire time it's out in the backyard, which is eight feet from my bedroom window. This is not the high point of my evening, or of my morning.
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