Davis students discuss the UC’s revised sexual harassment and sexual violence policy
‘If the policies of this were more public, people would be outraged’
January 1st, while we were all on Christmas Break, the University of California system implemented a new and “improved” Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence Policy for campus employees.
The policy was discussed last week, May 26th, in Voorhies amongst concerned UC Davis students and was sponsored by UAW 2865 (student workers union), UAW 5810 (union for postdoctoral students) and LGBTQIA Resource Center.
Emily
Emily Breuninger, Head Steward at UAW 2865, criticized the new policies.
She recalled different cases of Sexual Abuse amongst faculty where the UC system had misused. An example is Geoff Marcy at UC Berkeley who received a “slap on the wrist” for assaulting for women and only resigned after Buzzfeed published an article about his trespasses in 2010. This shows how the system needed to be changed. It did, but arguably not in the best way.
The new system has two major changes: “Responsible Employees” and Online Training. These changes are the major areas of complaint among those organized.
In regards to the “Responsible Employees”, it requires employees to report cases of Sexual Assault they hear about. The problems with this provision stem, according to Emily, from the fact that we are “talking about adults.” And it triggers an “Article IX investigation that is against the survivors will” which also disregards confidentiality. While the provision of employees being required to tell higher authority of the situation sounds good, it brings about the point of ethics, in a way.
If a person confides in someone something very personal there’s a certain moral code most feel to keep the secret. A level of mutual respect and trust. But that would be broken by the faculty member reporting it. This can be avoided, however, by the employee recognizing that something personal is about to be shared and saying something along the lines of, “I am not a confidential resource, so be careful what you share with me”, and then point them in the direction to other resources on campus.
Marco
The UC system, as brought up by Marco, didn’t, “talk to us [the unions] even though it’s against their policy not to.” He furthermore stated “We refuse to accept the responsible employee designation.”
Anke
These and other issues were brought up by Anke, who was a part of a bargaining agreement this past Tuesday, who said the four top complaints she has with the UC system and its policies were:
- Timelines
- Fair and independent investigation of all claims
- Representation at all steps of the complaint process
- Interim measures while investigation is going on. Academic credit, rec letters, transfer to a new section.
She further added “We don’t have really any good experience with the Title IX office… at any UC, really.”
The online training portion of the new provision is the other area of conflict. Emily said it was, “not compliant with state law” and “overly vague.” I myself have taken the course and can attest to this. It is also a program that can easily not be taken seriously and simply skimmed over without learning much. It is also outsourced to another company called Law Room.
Emily added that the program is, “being designed to protect the university and their faculty, rather than the students and student advisors/ TAS. The whole program is just designed to cover themselves legally. We’re only here for a few years so it’s more advantageous to them to protect the faculty than student workers.”
The last part is in reference to the faculty whom the UC system protected over the students.
B.B.
One other area of concern was how the new provisions neglect to recognize LGBTQIA people. This was brought up by B.B., Head Steward UAW 2865. They said, “Sexual harassment is a queer issue. Very hetero and cis focused. Disproportional… Trans women don’t get talked about, and their issues aren’t brought to the forefront.” Basically, voices are being left out.
B.B. further clarified by saying, “We tend to focus on the male-female dynamic… the Heterosexual Model… Which is largely not the case”. The new provisions fail to recognize a significant portion of our university.
The movement for an improved Sexual Violence policy is underway and there are strong voices behind it. Only time will tell in regards to their overall success.