Dr. Claudia Benitez-Nelson, professor in the Department of Earth Ocean and the Environment, University of South Carolina, presented Nutrient Cycling, Storm water runoff, and Communicating Science to the Public on Tuesday, March 1, 2022 via Zoom as part of SUNY ESF’s Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Spring Seminar Series. This seminar was sponsored by ESF Women’s Caucus.
Dr. Benitez-Nelson research focuses on the biogeochemical cycling of phosphorus and carbon, largely in marine environments, and how these elements are influenced by natural and anthropogenic processes. During the seminar she discussed her most recent research on inland and coastal nutrient cycling in relation to planning for stormwater surges.
Benitez-Nelson's team sought to establish the rate of sediment accumulation in stormwater ponds, determine the role these ponds play in the regional cycling of carbon and nutrients, and to identify the sources of organic matter to pond sediments in different growing urban areas in the Waccamaw watershed. “This was for us a real opportunity to truly connect more closely with the communities that we were working in” said Benitez-Nelson when explaining how their findings would benefit the homeowners close to the ponds. Her findings suggest that Particulate Organic Matter (POM) is a better proxy for liability than Dissolved Organic Matter (DOM) and may control Biological Organic Matter (BOD) loads. Her lab continues research on different topics related to aquatic organic matter.
Benitez-Nelson is often asked how she “starts to have these conversations about not just pollution, urbanization, sustainability, but talking about climate and how climate change is influencing where people are living their lives.” She shared that she is part of Science Moms, a non-partisan group of climate scientists, who also happen to be mothers, that “really talk about climate, the need collective action” as well as mitigation efforts, particularly in conversation with other mothers, for the benefit of all their children.
Dr. Benitez-Nelson received B.S. in chemistry and oceanography from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. in oceanography from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute/Massachusetts Institute of Technology Joint Program. She has an extensive publication record which includes lead authored pieces in both Science and Nature. Dr. Benitez-Nelson also serves as Associate Dean, for Instruction, Community Engagement and Research.
For more information about the WiSE Professions Series, please visit http://www.esf.edu/womenscaucus. For upcoming lectures, please visit ESF’s College Calendar at http://www.esf.edu/calendar.
As part of the course requirements for FOR797 Perspectives on Career and Gender, students share responsibility of reporting on speakers in the campus-wide Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Speaker Series. The preceding was prepared by Natasha M. Torres Ríos, MSc student, Sustainable Resources Management Department.
ESF's 6th Women's Empowerment Brunch invited participants, panelists, and keynote to consider ways to Make (or Reclaim) Space.
Emcee Emily Li (EnvStudies 2022) introduced Dr. Emily Stewart, Senior Director of Education & Curation, at Syracuse's Museum of Science and Technology who discussed the ways the MOST has become more accessible for a variety of community members, including sensory friendly exhibits; reduced admission for veterans and active military, and EBT users; as well as supporting community science educators and youth science competitions. (Families with middle schoolers: check out their partnership with TACNY, called Jr Cafe, which provides a free program with continental breakfast and free museum admission, generally 3rd Saturdays during the academic year.) Panelists Alice Olom and Martikah Williams, co-founders of Black Artist Collective; Dr. Marcelle Haddix, Distinguished Dean's Professor of Literacy, Race and
Justice in the Reading and Language Arts department in Syracuse
University's School of Education; and ESF students Sachi Segan (EnvStudies 2022) and Isabella Fiorese (EnvScience 2023) answered questions about finding space, allyship, and ways of moving forward.
Panelists shared the necessity of resting, setting boundaries, and surrounding themselves with supporting people, and the challenge and exhaustion:
of "having to act white" and the overwork of silent labor. Women and other marginalized identities have to always be ready to respond to emails, even while on vacation. One panelists who hails from a "collectivist, family-centered background" and being told by elder family members "Don't be too loud, Black and proud" for fear of risking citizenship process.
When asked how allies can make space for marginalized identities: show up and speak up! Challenge authority and speak for those who cannot. Panelists countered with "are you educating yourself? Going where you are uncomfortable so others can be more so? Thinking about and learning the details taught in Title IX training?" They also noted that the question is upsetting because folks SHOULD know what an ally is by now, and label "ally" is used performatively, without active engagement or demonstrative effort. Are so-called allies giving something up? Shifting power dynamics, leaving positions of privilege? Its an intersectional question with many layers. Fighting for Black people, Black LGBTQIA+, Black Muslims, fighting for and with. Are allies standing up for these, even when they are not in the room?
In what ways can we move forward and make space? Be honest that every day is a new challenge and that women have to fight all the time, especially Black women. Acknowledge that its OK to "just be" for a minute. Work with Cafe Sankofa and Women's Health, taking up brick and mortar with the 15th ward, understand what's happening with the I-81 project. Land acknowledgements are empty; how do they lead to reconciliation of the violence that led to the use of these spaces? BAC's mission is to interrupt, disrupt, break down barriers and speak to what's happening in our community, at any or multiple scales.
Questions from the audience: How do you physically create boundaries? Takes practice, be specific. Acknowledge what's causing you harm. Understand what YOU need to be fully present. May need to intentionality pause to figure out what your balance looks like.
When confronted with the phrases "Just take care of yourself" or "you should have said something", flip the script "I am struggling to establish boundaries, but I need them." Start small--it takes 21 days to create a habit. One panelists had to unlearn "yes" because was working self to sickness. For black women in particular, stories that are empowering but overwhelming, the protagonist is always strong. Can we be fragile or vulnerable?
If boss does not respect need for rest, it's time to go. A tip: Review your job description. If what you are asked to do is not listed, use that to negotiation. Review other people's job descriptions, and call folks out when they aren't doing their jobs. "You are director of _____; that's your job (and not _____'s).
Suggestions: Read White Fragility and How to be an AntiRacist, all of it! More POC on boards, front money and invest in people and businesses that do the work. PAY for the Training, go in with other organizations to cover the costs. 1-3 POC out of 500 is not enough.
Panelists love Gen Z, who are open and forward and use social media to call out, build up, and hold accountable.
Last thoughts: SU (academia?) has to come down from The Hill. College has a utopian aspect, and college community should be more involved in community organizations like Black Cuse pride, BAC. which are small organizations that are constantly doing the work. Bring elements back to ESF and SU.
Be a good person, be more thoughtful, leave it better than you found it.
The 2021 WEB was presented by the Baobab Society and the ESF Women's Caucus, in collaboration with The Writing Resource Center, Poetry Society, ESF Bookstore, Green Campus Initiative, and the Environmental Studies Student Organization, with support of the Undergraduate Student Association, Counseling Center, Vera House, and the Sustainability Office. Organizers particulary wish to thank Chris from Vera House and Ruth from Counseling Services for being available for anyone in need of support, Christopher from ITSmedia for sound system set up (and providing student support during the event itself), as well as Bliss Bakehouse, Fat Cat Baking, Mello Velo, Recess Coffee for working with our budgets and guidance to deliciously meet dietary and low-waste constraints.
Sue Fassler, the
Sustainable Facilities Manager at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and
Forestry, discussed her experiences in the sustainability field on Thursday,
April 16, 2020 in a webinar coordinated by ESF Open Academy.
Ms. Fassler’s first job
in the field of sustainability took her down to Hallandale Beach in south
Florida, where she became the Green Initiatives Coordinator for the city. She
was the first sustainability coordinator ever hired by the city. Her role was
to create sustainability policies for the city, essentially from scratch,
culminating in the creation of the Hallandale Beach Sustainability Action Plan.
Ms. Fassler mentions several strategies that became key takeaways from her time
spent in southern Florida.
She talked about taking
the tedious and hard work for herself in order to give more enjoyable and
engaging tasks to the rest of the team. She mentioned allowing the team members
the freedom to create their own sustainability projects which in turn gave them
a sense of project ownership. She also encouraged the inclusion of skeptics on
the team and talked about how those who were, at first, most skeptical often
became the loudest advocates. Each of these strategies were successfully
implemented to increase engagement with and passion for the projects by every
member of the team.
Ms. Fassler went on to
discuss her work in Onondaga county as the Save the Rain Project Coordinator.
The goal of this project was to reduce combined sewer overflow during large
rain events through the use of green infrastructure, such as gardens and
plantings. With this example, Ms. Fassler discussed the importance of
simplifying sustainability data into visual and compelling stories in order to
draw more people in and make sustainability concepts and results more
accessible to the general public. Telling stories and giving examples of
success stories also makes the project goals feel more achievable.
After working with the
Save the Rain Project, Ms.Fassler applied to become the Sustainable Facilities
Manager at SUNY-ESF. When she first saw the job posting for her current
position at SUNY-ESF she didn’t think she was ready for the job. Ms. Fassler
pushed past her initial hesitation to put together the application, regardless
of whether she would actually apply or not, and found, in doing so, that she
was in fact highly qualified for the position and the more she thought about it
the more she wanted the job. Throughout the webinar, but especially when
discussing her job at ESF, Ms. Fassler encouraged us to challenge our perceived
limits. She encouraged us to approach all aspects of a position with equal
enthusiasm, even aspects which might not align with our strengths or passions.
By pushing ourselves past our perceived strengths, we allow ourselves to grow
and succeed -- not only in a singular position but in our careers as a
whole.
Sue Fassler received her
B.S. in Environmental Studies from SUNY-ESF. She went on to complete a dual
degree masters program where she received an M.S. in Environmental Science from
SUNY-ESF and an M.S. in Public Administration from Syracuse University. She is
currently the Sustainable Facilities Manager at SUNY-ESF, where she is working
to improve campus wide recycling and composting efforts among other projects.
While currently
postponed, keep an eye out for a presentation by Sharon F. Owens, Deputy Major
for the City of Syracuse, on local lead paint remediation, and speakers in the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Speaker Series.
As part of the requirements in FOR797 Perspectives on Career and Gender, students share the responsibility of reporting on speakers that visit ESF. The preceding was prepared by Megan Hazlett, a MS student studying Fish and Wildlife Biology and Management in the Department of Environmental and Forest Biology, and Arianna Wills, a MS student studying Ecology and Ecosystems, in the Department of Sustainable Management.
…[M]ore rapid and sustained progress … is jeopardized by the persistence of sexual harassment and its adverse impact on women’s careers in … colleges and universities.
On November 9, 2018, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine offered a convocation on developing and implementing policies, procedures, and practices to prevent sexual harassment in academia. Building on the recommendations in the recent report Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Science, Engineering, and Medicine, this event brough together academic leaders, Title IX and diversity officers, ombudsmen, researchers in sexual harassment, and leaders from professional societies, foundations, and federal agencies to discuss strategies and share promising practices. Summary of, and images from, the webcast sessions follow.
Opening
Remarks from National Academies Leadership
Frazier Benya, Senior Program
Officer
NSF
was lead sponsor, joined by NASA, NIH, NIST and others, representatives from
many here today as funders also have role to play.Encourage to strive to create a culture where
it stopped before it starts.
Victor Dzau, President, NAM
Academies
bring together experts to evidence-based advice. Report has already spurred
action among a number of organizations.Each of the Academies is now examining its own policies and procedures
and defining codes of conduct.Report
found that issues aren’t limited, absolutlely must change to prevent women from
continued to be bullied out of carreer paths, and to protect integretity of institutions.IF take a public health approach, need to
address culture and climate that allow SH to continue.Medical encourages that some discomfort is to
be expected, therefore reluctance to come forward.
Dan Mote, NAE.Engineering has long struggled to find
talented people to study.To this end,
working to increase recruitment of women, but progress has been too slow. SH is
a serious impediment, plus morally reprehensible in the first place.Cannot reach full potentional in engineerring
or are pushed out all together.Must
implement system wide change.Firmness
on this matter is mandatory for future of engineering.IEEE Spectrum Op-Ed, enthusiatic endorsed by
editorial team.“Will and need to make
substational changes are here, so lets do it. “
Myth Busting: responding to
the most common misperception[s] about sexual harassment
Kathryn Clancy, Associate Prof. of Anthropology, U Illinois; Lilia
Cortina, Prof. of Psychology & Women’s Studies, UMich; Vicki Magley, Professor
of Psychology, UConn
Myth:misplaced romantic feeling,
physical SH is worst type
Sexual harassment (SH) omes
in three forms:
sexual coercion (SC), e.g., quid pro quo, stereotypical “sleep with
me or fired”
unwanted sexual attention (USA), i.e., touching, hugging, repeated
requests for dates or kisses, sometimes assault
gender harassment (GH), “a
broad range of verbal and nonverbal behaviors not aimed at sexual cooperation
but that convey insulting, hostile, and degrading attitudes” that convey that women don’t belong or
aren’t smart enough to succeed, also sabotage.
Not about romance or conquest. About contempt.
Only 37% of women faculty
hadn’t experienced any SH in the two years prior to survey.Most experienced some type of GH.GH is the most common form of SH encountered
by women students.GH rates vary by discipline,
and medicine encourters most.Engineering experinces more sexist GH.Think of it like an iceberg (see image).Put
downs (and out), not come ons. SH because based on sex or gender.Is it true that verbal harassment is not
nearly as “bad” as physical?None of
assumptions held up to scientific scrutiny (See Figure 2).
While SC and USA lead to
more lawsuits and bad publicity, they are low frequency.GH is pervasive.
Myth:SH is no big deal, but
false accusations are a big deal (see next paragraph for this part).
Can’t you just suck it
up?No.Rude behaviors of malicious intent are directed more at women
of
color.Low level, unchallenged behaviors
have a massive cumulative effect.Looked at impact of being the “only.”We have to hire more…., but have to keep up our standards?Implies the Other person there is not =>
internal gaslighting. Uncertainty permeates.When not the Only, develop meta awareness and cognition that it’s not
them.Students ARE standing up for faculty
and checking in on them, but what does that say about the institution that they
are the only ones that do?
Fig 2. Impact of gender harassment on health and satisfaction.
Myth: False accusations are a really big deal.They do happen, but do so in every type of
crime.Why do we care so much more about
false accusations here?How much effort
is put into questioning credibility of robbery victims?2-8% of reports are false, while 14-40% of
men are sexually harassed in the workplace, so men are far more likely to be a victim of harassment themselves than to be
falsely accused!!!
False reporting red
flags:know accuser, have prior
relationships, no severe, young victim, inconsistent details.What science tells us is that these are
normative!
When over worry about false
reports, results in poorer mentoring—leads to closed door meetings, failure to
engage students, one on one conversations, treating women differently.Can also make you a bad administrator, as
bad risk management to avoid perpetrator lawsuits rather than future victim
lawsuits.
Myths:there are Magic bullets
to try to fix the situations
Harassment Reporting:If institution gets it right, investigates
perfectly, then will end SH affliction!So, if really happened, will report, and no negative ramifications-not
scary, or hard.Research doesn’t
support.In reality, SH reporting is a
LAST resort.Most likely to Avoid, seek
social support, relabel, appease harassers, self-blame, endure, deny.Across 20 years:formal reporting remains about 6%.Hasn’t increased with empowerment of women,
so should we focus here?Research on
labeling of SH experiences.Assume people
are naming behavior as SH, but most are not.Does labeling matter?Yes (see Fig 3), but focusing
on the experiences is more important that reporting or the label.Relevant facts:both professional and social
retaliation (see Table).Fear of retaliation is the #1
reason not to report.
Fig. 3
Relevant
Fact:Reporting can breed retaliation
Professional
Retaliation
Social Retaliation
Given less favorable job duties
Shunned or excluded by others at work
Unfairly demoted
Slighted or ignored by others at work
Denied a promotion I deserved
Gossiped about in an unkind way
Denied an opportunity for training I deserved
Threatened
Given unfair poor job performance appraisals
Criticized for complaining about the situation
Transferred to a less desirable job
Blamed for the situation
Considered a troublemaker
Cortina &Magley (2003, Jn Occupational Health Psy)
(Note: table
text has been transcribed from a photo)
Myth:training is the other
silver bullet. Because WE care, our training works. Because
we have low reports, must be working. One and done! Lots of
support for training, Very little
published on training efficacy. Training
increases certainty, but not percentage of correct responses to knowledge
questions. Only one question that
trained people did do better: on
legality. Untrained people are more
likely to say “I don’t know.” Trained
were more certain that they answered right, even though they scored the same. They are slightly more likely to response
that SH is trivial and expect false/exaggerated reports. What we want is for behaviors to cease.
Employee cynicism
matters.
Employees are good at
sniffing out when only directed at compliance, which affects perceptions of
tolerance.Need to work on best
approaches, assessing impact, reducing cynicism.
Questions:As long as institutions aren’t paying women
as much as men, how are men expected to respect us as much?Uncertain how to respond, because Amen.Pay inequity is an example of GH.Data based on the people still there, but
doesn’t capture those lost (lost willingly or fired in retaliation).
Reporting is necessary, but
insufficient, puts excessive burden on victims, and ignores their
(justifiable!) fears.Need to dispel
belief that it is only appropriate for most egregious acts, set appropriate
sanctions and enforce.
Labelling of behavior—“I
would never grope, etc.” without recognizing that they engage in “put down”
behaviors.Absolutely don’t want SC and
unwanted sexual attention, but also need to deal with rest of the iceberg.Remediation doesn’t need to be limited to those
things above the bar of legal definition of SH.
Trainings that allow for
more perspective taking, theater based, are more impactful than online
knowledge based.
Glad we did this first
today, as first thing need to deal with!
Need to consider retaliation aspect more—who happens to, and when. Happening as a deterrent, before and during
reporting as well as after. Institutions
haven’t figured out best practices to intervene. Much of the time its social retaliation-shut
out, shunned. And institutions don’t
know what to do about those. Example of
a successful practice: At moment of
report, management team should set up a non-retaliation plan. Not much on best practices: hope afternoon sessions (not webcast) will address.
When universities respond, there is a large swell of volunteers. And perpetrators situate themselves in on
those committees. Make look like good
apples when not. Shift framework. Workforce and pipeline development: anecdotally, hear that women can be harder
than men on bringing certain subjects forward.
Is there a real difference? Anyone is capable of harm; women also soak
up the lessons of patriarchy and culture norms.
May push women to complete studies faster and get out situation, rather
than fixing the situation. For women, 98%
of perpetrators are men. For men,
~50%. Which doesn’t bear out that women
are harder on women than men are.
Title IX coordinators are
working within a troubled construct to begin with-recommendations are
ignored.Livelihoods and careers of the
victims are on the line.Google last two
cases at Univ of Illinois, didn’t rise to legal threshold but sanctions
recommended, but were not levied.Think of Title IX—think legal, investigation,adjudication, not the
counseling concerns and mental health ramifications.PhD student—if I go forward with complaint
against renowned scientist, my own future screwed.Training slides were disheartening!If more and more training, will you still see?Look at what is significant difference.When focusing on prevention and leadership
responses, will see.Right now, going
through traumatizing experience that often doesn’t help the victim.Diffusing the power network for the student also
improves outcomes.
Moving Beyond Legal
Compliance and Toward Prevention
Lynn
Pasquerella, President, Association of American Colleges and Universities;
Lorelle Espinosa, Assistant VP, Center for Policy Research and Strategy; Lorelle
Espinosa, Vice President for Research, American Council on Education; Kimberlee
Eberle-Sudre, Director of Policy Research, Association of American Universities;
Kacy Redd, Assistant Vice President of STEM Education Policy, Association of
Public and Land-grant Universities
At
doctoral granting institutions, 20% have women presidents, considerably less
than percentage at all US colleges and universities. When you look at all
institutions, only 5% of presidents are women of color.Looking for parity by 2030, to move on action
rather than just talking about it.Do we
actually have data that women presidents do better?NSF INCLUDES research.Diversifying faculty remains a concern.
AACU.Results of undergraduate student surveys were
sobering, showing much higher rates of assault than had official reporting
mechanisms.“I don’t report because I
don’t know where to go.”
How
do organizations support change makers?APLU has been action oriented, bringing institutions together to
work.Bringing in more diverse faculty.Look at institutional culture to be more
welcoming and supportive. Hiring faculty that support that.Looking at intervention.Looking at bias training in search
committees, how are you using exit interviews.Each institution has a plan to work through.How are you connecting these?Some institutions looking at departmental
climates.Regional summits and moving
to online formats to deliver content to people wherever they are.Bring disparate leaders together to do
situational and table top discussions.Campuses are more comfortable with diversity conversations than equity,
as they don’t understand what that means. Have been looking at things as if
they don’t permeate classroom environment.Don’t want to “unnecessarily lengthen the syllabus.”People don’t see themselves as fundamentally
part of the picture.Its other people.
But It is part of the learning environment.Microaggressions—address in the moment or after class?Need strategies.LGBT+ students experienced the most
harassment.80% of schools said they “changed
it” for a specific populations.Not all
inclusive.Leadership on campus can do a
lot through rhetoric, accountability and monetarily.More we can equip graduate students with the
skills to be compassionate faculty members, those are game changers.Networks, need to be top down.Reaching into disciplinary societies.Need to include all levels in the
conversation.
Questions: Structures to address are institution
based. But experience and research show
that local institutions are not equipped to deal across all interactions. Are there opportunities among your
organizations to develop a collaborative system to investigate, something that
institutions could buy into? You are talking to many different layers. An independent entity that could adjudicate? Sounds really smart. EEOC.
Grants and agencies also hold people accountable. Think critically
important not to impose hetero/cis paradigm.
What do we do with larger community issues? Leaked memo from NYT that defines biological
sex. All of the panel organizations have
an advocacy role. Campuses can set the
tone and ensure it permeates through campus.
Modeling dialog, empowering student voices. What is the role of the Offices of General
Counsel? They can be
conservatizing. They provide info on the
law, but can also provide us with info of what we see in our job. Former General Counsel in audience shared
personal story: asked who is the client? Was fired for asking for an GC
investigation. What role has GCs played
to make sure past crimes were not shared with the public?
Try
to find institutions that are ahead of the pack, and nucleate others around
them. Are we putting as much energy into proactive measures?SH is about power.What are other places doing about relating to
SH intervention?Compounded by social
media—stalking takes multiple forms.Looking at using technology as safe forms of reportings.Calisto for example.Chat Box.Transphobia can take the form of SH, and SH is not a women’s issue but a
gender affected issue.NSF INCLUDES,
IGEN,Onus needs not to be put on people
of color or LGBT because tend to me more junior.
Thoughts
and guidance for postdocs, fellows, medical residents who aren’t easily tracked
because so many different possible titles and capacities, but not captured
under student, faculty or staff umbrellas. Many are concentrated in medical
centers.Also subject to all of
retaliation.
The Role of Federal Agencies
Kelley Bonner,
Workplace Violence Prevention & Response Program Manager, NOAA; David
Chambers, Equal Opportunity Program Manager, NASA; Rhonda Davis, Head, Office
of Diversity and Inclusion, NSF; Lawrence Tabak, Principal Deputy Director,
NIH; Rachel Gettler, General Attorney, Office of Civil Rights, Department of
Education
University
Title IX perception “Fox guarding the chicken coop.” Can go directly to any grant reporting
agency—they all have their own title IX coordinator, and can report there
within 180 days of incident and have adjudicated more fairly. But limited resources, so smart action is
“shotgun approach” to multiple agencies.
Pay equity, EEOC is the best bet instead. How to ensure harassers don’t have access? NSF director sent out to 3000+ institutions that SH would not be tolerated. Put
together a task force, and met every two weeks as launching, now
bimonthly. Went into effect in October
if there is a SH violation, and they are
unable to carry out terms of grant, working on that process now.
NIH
has Indirect and direct approaches.Indirect—extensive anti-harassment program that they hope is a model,
with option for anonymous reporting, central investigations, will issue a
survey of all NIH staff in 2019 about workplace environment. Issued a federal register note to indicate
to institution that speaks to what employees and grantees can do to
pursue. Support much needed
research. In December, will launch a
working group/advisory council on this topic.
Frazier Benya spoke to packed audience not that long ago. External
funding: always had policy that if an
individual’s status policy changes, the institution is obligated to notify the
NIH. Typically by VP of research. Reflex is to take away the grant, which has
collateral damage, particularly taking away support of the individual that reported. Work with university. Truthfully, agencies don’t make a big deal
where a PI has been removed because of legal framework issues—speaking about
someone else’s employee.
NASA
has a robust anti-harassment process.Pre-award, there is a civil rights assurance form, compliance
reviews.Indirectly, try to focus on the
environment that allows harassment to breed.Do you show gender diversity on your website?Do you also recruit at Society of Women
Engineers and Association of Women in Science? Promote promising practices as well as compliance? Title IX requires self-evaluation. Are you using GRE math score as
gateway criteria which shuts out those with tremendous experience and references, reducing diversity)?Mediation with wronged party rather than
invoking title ix "broken" investigation process could empower them while educating the aggressor. (this could work IN SOME CASES, but without also fixing other aspects of system, how to reduce retaliation?)
NIGMS
has announced that there must be an anti-harassment training and dual mentoring
to distribute power and achieve results that are more favorable.Series of initiatives to diversify the work
place in terms of gender, race and ethnicity.Improved early investigative stage.Diversifying panels—not just old white guys, but post docs, young
professionals.
What
is one thing you will invite colleges and universities to do to help efforts?
·Have Research Office communicate with Title IX office.Be intentional about culture change
efforts.Be honest and forthright.
Questions?
Do
you have policies to prevent supervisors from have sexual relationships with
supervisees? NIH does, and has a
mandatory reporting requirement. Adjudicate each situation, and if truly
consensual, readjust the reporting relationship. How do you define consensual? Getting ready to get married (really?!) Nat.
Academy staff has new training on the way.
Recommend providing flexible funding for grad students to diffuse power
structure. But not generally allowed to
pool funding. Parental leave concern: Usually can extend for a year
for family issues. Having child as a
woman, negative impact, for man, positive impact (how was he unaware of this
prior to this study). Some societies are
redefining scientific misconduct to include sexual harassment.
Reporting
has to be the silver bullet for the agencies, as otherwise they cannot act. How
do respond?Still report, but bypass the
institution.Title IX didn’t anticipate
influence of today’s social media.Tremendous strength in numbers.What if a PI or co-PI came and said we had to remove an individual
because of harassment?Not stopping at
those levels. If we hear of something through another form would follow up to
confirm safety of parties and determine if institution can still fulfil terms
of grant. Could be delayed by loss of lower levels as well, but don’t have to
notify. Accommodations could be made.
How
does anonymous reporting actually work?Hire a contract organization so there are none of our employees are involved,
and use a system of checks and balances for web forms or phone call.With an anonymous report, may not get enough
info to proceed.Reporter may come back
later, but cannot seek.With regard to
Title IX structure and review—if there are issues, does that trigger a review of
what the office should be?
Don’t
think the report highlights an “emerging threat.”Problematic behavior has been present a long
time and limiting performance.Need to
increase inclusive practices across the board to tamp down bullying,
Compliance
isn’t enough, but it has to be part of it.What can institutions be doing beyond reporting?Can be diversifying senior leadership and
throughout organizations.Ensure equity,
review every department for equity measures and tie institutional reward system
to it.
Recordings are now available at: https://vimeo.com/album/5561695 Afternoon Concurrent
sessions and closing plenary were not webcast.
