Sexual Harassment Fliers Facilitate Conversation

Students may have noticed the "Talk It Up" fliers around campus about sexual harassment. The possibility of an inappropriate relationship between a faculty or staff member and a student is an issue many students are aware of.

"The point of the fliers is to get students, faculty and staff talking among themselves and becoming more aware of this and related phenomena that can proliferate in hierarchies such as universities," said Sarah Hoagland, Professor of Philosophy and Women's Studies.

Hoagland is helping to promote awareness and to get the campus community to understand the dynamics more clearly. Sexual harassment has a ripple effect and does not only affect the individuals involved but also fellow students, faculty and staff.

"More often than not, these structures maintain the status quo because they are designed to protect institutions, not individuals. So rather than going up the hierarchy for protection, my work and the work of those whose efforts I take up involve resistance at street level, on the ground, going down the hierarchy to generate interaction among students. I advocate women students relying on each other," says Hoagland.

However, she states that men are also affected by sexual harassment, as seen in recent news about David Letterman for example that, "...male students who do not get selected attention and male employees who do not get airtime (on the Letterman show) also are hurt. The atmosphere in the classroom changes, and generally the atmosphere of a learning environment is undermined for most students."

The people who have been posting the fliers up have chosen to remain anonymous because of the possibility that if they are known the impact will be diverted by the attention placed on them as individuals and not the effect of the issue at hand. One of the main reasons Hoagland says she is involved is to empower students because, "Abuse of power is the problem, silence is its handmaiden," says Hoagland. This, however, is not the first time that the issue of sexual harassment has arisen at NEIU. In the 1970's, the Women's Studies department recognized the problem and put together testimony collected from women students. "Out of that we developed Northeastern's first sexual harassment policy, and President Ronald Williams was happy to adopt and promote the policy. To my knowledge, that was the beginning of Northeastern's efforts at addressing the problem," said Hoagland.

For more information regarding sexual harassment, contact Roberto Sanabria of the Affirmative Action Office at 773-442-5416 or Laurie Fuller, Coordinator of Women's Studies at 773-442-4552.