In a college classroom, a young male faculty kneels next to seated female student to explain an assignment. He puts one arm over her shoulder and a hand on her writing hand.
It is the description of a visual situation from the Orientation to College Teaching website to provide information and support to the teaching staff and faculty at the university level.
At San Francisco State, the Human Resource Center has notified the employees with one or more supervisory responsibilities to complete mandatory sexual harassment prevention training after Jan. 1.
“'I like that dress on you' is different from saying 'nice dress',” said Rafael Martinez, a SF State sexual harassment advisor, as an example of one of the situations explored in the two-hour sexual harassment training.
Passed and signed in 2004, Assembly Bill 1825 (AB1825), California's new harassment training law, requires California employers of 50 or more to provide supervisors with at least two hours of sexual harassment training every two years.
Legal protection, education and information are the purposes of the two-hour AB1825 sexual harassment training for supervisors, exploring a variety of real–life scenarios where participants are tested and questioned about the situation involving sexual harassment.
According to The Fair Employment and Housing Act the term supervisor broadly includes “any individual having the authority . . . to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or the responsibility to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or effectively to recommend that action, if, in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of that authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment."
However, the term supervisor doesn't necessarily include instructors - those with the most contact with students.
Nearly two-thirds of students experience sexual harassment at some point during college according to report released on Jan. 24, 2006 by the American Association of University Woman.
The research report, "Drawing the Line: Sexual Harassment on Campus," was a
nationally representative survey conducted in spring 2005 to undergraduate college students.
Statistics also presented by SF State Sexual Abuse Free Environment Place state that 15-30 percent of men report experiencing some type of sexual harassment in the school.
Although, SF state provides specific information on sexual harassment, such as, rights, responsibilities and resources, people don’t pay too much attention to the issue, according to Martinez.
“A lot of people don’t know about it until they need it,” Martinez said.
According to information on sexual harassment at SF State, sexual harassment is an illegal form of discrimination that violates campus policies and laws under the Title IX of the Educations Amendments of 1972, and the Title VII of the Civil Rights act of 1964.
“Sexual harassment creates crisis like not finishing school or it can also affect grades,” said Karla Castillo, the SAFE Place center prevention education specialist.
According to Castillo, the SAFE Place is a resource center that provides information, intervention and prevention services related to sexual assault, sexual harassment and domestic violence.
News on the sexual harassment prevention training were posted on March 2006, but apparently not all new staff of faculty were required to attend the course.
Other places are also available for support and information to students seeking help and orientation like the Legal Resource Center, cited Martinez.
Martinez also made clear that sexual harassment happens to everybody and not only to students.
“Sometimes students can sexually harass teachers. It is the other way around, too,” Martinez said.
And staff, faculty and administration can also be served with information intervention and prevention services provided by The SAFE Place.
“If you feel uncomfortable, let the teacher know,” Martinez said about the importance of how to respond on sexual harassment.
