Student allegedly harassed at game

Sexual harassment doesn’t just happen at the office. It can happen in the classroom, the… Sexual harassment doesn’t just happen at the office. It can happen in the classroom, the cafeteria or even a sports complex.

“You never assume anything like that is going to happen to you, so when it happens, you just kind of shut down,” said Lucy, a Penn State student who asked that her actual name not be used. Lucy said that a guard at Heinz Field sexually harassed her when she attended a Pitt football game last fall.

But although sexual harassment can happen just about everywhere, you don’t have to take it anywhere.

“Sexual harassment is unwelcome and it’s sexual in nature,” said Elaine Frampton, associate director for Pitt’s Office of Affirmative Action. This definition covers a broad range of cases.

According to Pitt’s official definition, sexual harassment can occur when there is a power differential between the people involved, or when they have the same status. It can occur between people of different genders, or people of the same gender. For instance, in 2002 the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received 14,396 complaints about sexual harassment, 14.9 percent of which were filed by men. It can occur on University premises or off campus at University-sponsored events, as was the case when Lucy visited Heinz Field.

Sexual harassment can fall into two categories, said Mary Koch Ruiz, coordinator of Pitt’s Sexual Assault Services. According to Pitt’s definition, one form occurs when conduct of a sexual nature unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work or academic performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.

Pitt’s definition also states that unwanted sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature qualify as sexual harassment when submission to such conduct becomes a condition of employment or academic success.

This also includes instances when the acceptance or rejection of such conduct becomes the basis for an academic or employment decision. Ruiz explained that this form of harassment is known as “quid pro quo” or “something for something.”

“Most of the cases involve hostile environments,” Frampton said. “Very few are something for something.”

“Among the undergrad students, the most common type of sexual harassment is peer harassment,” Koch Ruiz said, adding that the most common form of peer harassment was group harassment. For example, she explained that when she was an undergrad, a group of men would call out ratings on a scale from one to 10 as she and her friends walked past their table in the cafeteria.

“What was interesting was that no one defined that as sexual harassment at that time,” Ruiz said, “but it was so intimidating to be rated as you walked by that particular table.”

Consensual relationships between faculty and students can also become related to sexual harassment. Pitt’s policy on consensual relationships prohibits intimate relationships between a faculty member and a student whose research, academic work or teaching is being evaluated or supervised by that faculty member.

Frampton explained that when these consensual relationships do develop, the student is supposed to remove himself or herself from the class or, in some cases, to get a new adviser.

“If either side is not having a problem, then we don’t interfere with personal relationships,” Frampton said. She explained that, in many cases, complaints about consensual relationships come from third parties who notice that a professor or student is treating a certain student differently.

“The [sexual harassment] cases that are more serious start as consensual relationships that go sour,” she added.

Pitt’s Sexual Harassment Task Force advises that any faculty, student or staff member who thinks that he or she is being sexually harassed should tell the harasser directly that the behavior is offensive and needs to stop. The student should also keep a record of the harasser’s behavior, noting when and where it took place, and should also seek support from a trusted friend or a counselor.

Moreover, any member of the Pitt community who feels that he or she has been harassed should contact a department chair, dean, director, supervisor, the Office of Affirmative Action, the Office of Human Resources, the Office of the Provost, or the coordinator of Pitt’s Student Judicial System.

Koch Ruiz explained that the University Judicial System handles student-to-student sexual harassment charges, while the Office of Affirmative Action handles cases involving harassment between students and faculty or teaching assistants.

Any student, or faculty or staff member interested in learning more about sexual harassment can take the free Preventing Sexual Harassment Online Course at http://www.newmedialearning.com/psh/pitt/index.htm. New Medial Learning creates online courses for many businesses and universities, including this one, geared specifically towards Pitt campus life. They provide information on legislation, as well as mini-quizzes and specific examples to help people identify what actions qualify as sexual harassment.