GSC to Sponsor Student Forum on Harrasment

   By Sarah Y. Keightley
   
   Executive Editor
   
   The Graduate Student Council will sponsor a student-run panel
   Wednesday to discuss the Institute's recently-abridged policies and
   procedures concerning harassment.
   
   "After the [harassment] guide came out, there was a fair amount of
   discussion ... but there was not enough discussion between people who
   had somewhat opposing views to see what middle ground could be
   reached," said Anand Mehta G, the event's organizer.
   
   The main goal of the forum is "to try to go forward -- understand what
   exists now and [see] how to improve it," said Mehta, who is also a
   former GSC president.
   
   The panelists will include Jennifer E. Carson '94, a member of
   Students against Sexual Harassment; Adam L. Dershowitz G, a member of
   the Student Association for Freedom of Expression; and Anne S. Tsao
   '94, Undergraduate Association vice president. There will also be one
   panelist who has attended one of the training sessions that was
   created along with harassment guide last fall.
   
   The forum will take place in 6-120, from 5 to 7:30 p.m.
   
  DISCUSSION TO CLARIFY PROCESS
  
   
   
   The panelists will try to clarify the policies and procedures which
   address harassment, Mehta said.
   
   One main policy concern is the distinction between harassment and a
   restriction on the freedom of expression.
   
   Students have complained that harassment procedures are lacking, with
   respect to a centralized complaint-handling office, a mechanism for
   formal grievance procedures, and centralized record keeping of
   harassment cases, Mehta said. There is nothing comparable to the
   Committee on Discipline for harassment, he added.
   
   During a training session for supervisors, Associate Provost of
   Institute Life Samuel J. Keyser gave some reasons for MIT's
   decentralized system for dealing with harassment, Mehta said.
   
   Keyser explained that a centralized office of five to 10 people would
   easily be overworked, according to Mehta. The community would shift
   most of the responsibility and burden to the office, and it would be
   more difficult to stop milder forms of harassment that handle could be
   settled on a supervisor level.
   
   The forum seeks to resolve this and other student concerns by finding
   a "middle ground," Mehta said.
   
   Tsao hopes the forum will raise awareness, along with constructive
   discussion and debate. They want to hear what students believe the
   harassment guide does not satisfy, she said.
   
   Mehta organized the event, with help from the GSC Housing and
   Community Affairs Committee. The GSC invited several administrators to
   the forum, and it is open to everyone in the MIT community.
   
   Since the inception of the supervisor training program, five students
   have gone through training and are legally qualified mediators, Mehta
   said. But, he continued, Keyser said they cannot act as complaint
   handlers for legal reasons.
   

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Copyright 1994 by The Tech. All rights reserved.
This story was published on  Tuesday,  February 15, 1994.
Volume 114, Number 6
The story was printed on page  7.
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