Students Fear Retaliation for Speaking Out

By Sadaf Syed

On March 11, 2011

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Northeastern Illinois University may be known as the most diverse university in the Midwest, but now it may be known for something more notorious. Over the past few years there have been students and professors alike who were allegedly retaliated against because of alleged sexual harassment suits they have filed against professors of various departments. Unfortunately, neither party's names can be mentioned due to the parameters of legal dispute, and also for fear of retaliation towards the students who came forward to discuss the issues at hand.

According to the NEIU fiscal agent handbook, which has policies and procedures for various departments, including human resources, to follow, it states that, "Harassment on the basis of sex is a violation of Sec. 703 of Title VII. Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when (1) submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment, (2) submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting such individual, or (3) such conduct has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment." In this case, the sexual harassment created a hostile or offensive working environment for the students and professor involved, which, based on the reports, did not seem to be thoroughly investigated.

According to an official legal document submitted to the university, the professor who was allegedly sexually harassing the students did so verbally by asking if they would be willing to present themselves sexually to another professor and then report back on it. The student didn't take the suggestion seriously initially, however when asked again by the same professor they felt uncomfortable by the professor's persistence, hence made official claims. An attempt was made to contact the professor for a comment, but there was no response.

An NEIU Media Relations representative made the following statement in response to our inquiry, "Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) was informed that two students filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights. NEIU and the students now submit this joint statement to acknowledge the matter has been resolved, the complaints have been withdrawn in their entirety, and that neither has any further comment."

Despite this statement, we were given the lead on this incident. There are students who are worried about retaliation if they speak out against their professors, because they have seen their peers retaliated against. There is currently a federal lawsuit in the works. There are, however, students who were brave enough to come forward and discuss the incidents but have asked to remain anonymous for reasons stated above. From what was said, it seems that these issues are kept out of general student body communication because of the severe consequences that may be faced by the administration to admit what has allegedly taken place.

Many students may never think about the possibility of sexual harassment from the faculty and staff that they trust, but this goes to show that even Northeastern Illinois University is capable of having faculty and staff who abuse their power and trust. The occurrence of sexual harassment is not always easy to pin-point but it can, and does, happen – even at the most diverse university in the mid-west.