He eventually agreed to bring her case to the Administrative Board (Ad Board), which must approve course withdrawals. He then wrote her a letter informing her that the Ad Board approved her request. The ambiguously-worded instruction--such as one section that stated that it "would be completely inappropriate for you to interject the specifics of your 'special circumstances' in future discussions within the University"--worried the student. She feared the letter--an official part of her University records--implied psychological problems on her part rather than a straightforward case of sexual harassment. She asked her senior tutor to rewrite it, making it more specific, but he refused. The letter, she says, gave her the chilling feeling that she was being hushed up;she eventually spoke to the head tutor of her department and other women anyway.
Ruth Hubbard, professor of Biology, who teaches courses on women's issues, questioned the administration's policy of keeping the cases strictly confidential if a woman student wants to talk. Keeping the case under wraps, she argues, protects only the Faculty. "Enough students have been hurt because Faculty members have stood up for each other," Hubbard says. To protect students, Hubbard believes "publicity and expose" are most effective. Disciplinary action, although sometimes necessary, is not as important as publicizing the cases because "spotlighting will eliminate the vast majority of the cases," Hubbard says.
Walzer defends the need for confidentiality, however. "Students do need that protection, not simply against accusations of slander, but against everyone knowing the details of their personal life," she says. She adds professors should also be given the courtesy of confidentiality while a charge is investigated. Rosovsky agrees, adding, "we're not out to protect anyone."
One graduate student told of the repercussions of speaking out. In her senior year here, she attended a dinner at a professor's home along with the professor's colleagues and graduate students. After the dinner, she says the professor humiliated her by "coming on to me sexually in front of his peers." The student talked to Walzer and others. Word got gack to the professor, who falsely accused her of taking official faculty action against him and told others in the department she was an hysterical woman, not to be trusted. When she requested a recommendation from him--he is a key scholar in her field--he delayed until the last moment, then sent her a "very ugly" letter saying he had written the recommendation but reprimanding her for "mistreating him."
Other harassment may take the form of embarrassing the student without making an advance. Allyson A. Gonzalez '83, says when she went to see a professor in his office, he insisted on using the bathroom while still talking to her, leaving the door open. Gonzalez and other students say from now on, if they need to visit his office, they will bring someone with them.
Many "sexual harassment" cases are less clear cut. Professors' requests to "go for coffee" are often no more than a simple gesture of friendship, a desire to know students on an informal basis. In these cases, most students resolve the problem by either speaking directly to the professor or negotiating through the senior tutor.
On the other end of the spectrum are the clearly offensive cases Faw of these incidents involve physical sexual harassment beyond a kiss. In these cases, however, the students were able to get away befor the advances escalated.
Cynthia Dahlin, a graduate student and member of the Women Students' Coalition (WSC) is working on a graduate student survey on sexual discrimination, including cases of sexual harassment. In speaking with women through her affiliation with WSC, she noted a tendency among women at the University to look on their problem as an isolated case. "They don't understand it's a pervasive pattern. They see it as a personal thing."
When women begin to publicly discuss and compare their experiences, they begin to see that pattern. Lundeen and others, however, say speaking openly can easily degenerate into "destructive gossip." But most women who have encountered sexual harassment at the University are more interested in having it stop than they are in smearing a professor's name. As Farrar says, "My goal was not to get him (the professor) into trouble; my goal was to get out of it unscathed."