As a long-standing international society, SMFS is fully committed to valuing diversity, difference and inclusivity. It opposes most vigorously any form of discrimination, bullying or harassment based on gender, gender identity, race, religion, disability or sexual orientation. It actively adopts a policy of supporting students and faculty suffering discrimination for these or other reasons and is currently developing a set of resources on this website to assist in combating discriminatory behaviors within the academy.
When complete, this location will contain definitions, information, and resources for people experiencing and/or working to end harassment and microaggression. If you would like to assist in the development of this resource, please contact Linda Mitchell at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Support Groups
Complaint (Study by Sara Ahmed)
Inspired by Sara Ahmed’s experiences helping students navigate sexual assault reporting processes at Goldmiths before her resignation, this project “involves gathering written and oral testimonies from those who have made complaints about experiences of abuse, harassment and bullying within universities as well as those who decided not to make complaints despite their experiences of abuse, harassment and bullying.” For more information, visit the Complaint website, and to share an experience (as a reporter or as an educator or administrator), emailcomplaintstudy@gmail.com.
The UK-Based 1752 Group
The 1752 Group has been established in the UK in response to the growing problem of harassment and misconduct within the UK higher education sector. The Group works with UK higher education organisations to target staff-to-student sexual misconduct and harassment. The work of the Group includes assisting with the development of policy and response frameworks within organisations to deal with incidents of harassment and misconduct that occur within their institutions. The Group also provides consulting, training, lobbying, and research services. For further information and links to further information and resources, see the Group’s webpage at: https://1752group.com/; Or, follow the Group on Twitter @1752group.
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Universities Against Gender Based Violence (UAGBV)
Universities Against Gender Based Violence (UAGBV) is a UK-based network of academics, policy makers, activists and journalists working on and researching gender-based violence in Higher Education settings.UAGBV acts as a meeting place to share information about research, conferences, policy developments, funding opportunities and to develop collaborations. The network is UK-focused but very interested in working with colleagues in other countries. It already has links with the US-based group Faculty Against Rape which performs a similar function. For further information, see the network’s webpage at: https://uagbv.wordpress.com/.
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Faculty Against Rape (FAR)
The Faculty Against Rape (FAR) mission is to involve more faculty in addressing sexual assault issues on university campuses and to protect faculty members who experience retaliation for already doing so. FAR provides: resources for faculty to best support survivors inside and outside the classroom; tools for faculty who want to get more involved in reform efforts on their campus; support for faculty who are facing retaliation for fighting sexual violence on their campus. For more information about the group and its resources you may make contact via its website at: http://www.facultyagainstrape.net/mission/.
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Submissions and Reports
Goldsmiths Centre for Feminist Research UUK Taskforce Submission2015
University of California Berkeley sexual harassment investigation reports
UC Berkeley has prepared and released a number of public records in response a public records act request to gauge how UC Berkeley had disciplined employees who violated the campus sexual harassment policy.
The report collated responses from 150,072 students across 27 US universities. This study found that graduate students were three times as vulnerable to harassment by supervisors, teachers or advisors than undergraduate students. Nearly one in six (15.8%) female graduate students had experienced sexual harassment from a teacher or advisor.
Published journal articles
Leila Whitley and Tiffany Page.Sexism at the Centre: Locating the problem of sexual harassment.New Formations, no. 86, 2015, pp. 34-53 (This article has now been available for free access, thanks to New Formations).
Sexual Harassment in Higher Education Conference (SHHE)
Read thepapersdelivered at the SHHE conference on staff-to-student sexual harassment held at Goldsmiths in December 2015.
Articles in the Media
Someone mailed feces to four philosophers: A disquisition(New York Times, 7 October 2016
Scale of sexual abuse in UK universities likened to Savile and Catholic scandals (Guardian, 6 October 2016)
Sexual harassment of students by university staff hidden by non-disclosure agreements(Guardian, 26 August 2016)
Sussex University allowed senior lecturer to continue teaching after he beat up student girlfriend(Independent, 12 August 2016)
Suspension is a feminist issue(Times Higher Education, 30 October 2014)
Sexual violence at the sociology conference, by Eric Anthony Grollman (Conditionally Acceptedblog, 31 August 2016)
Campus care advocate supports California State University, Northbridge, survivors of sexual assault(CSUN Today, 23 August 2016)
For graduate students at UW-Madison, sexual harassment sometimes comes from faculty(Wisconsin State Journal, 21 August 2016)
University of Vermont quiet on response to sexual harassment complaint, Burlington Free Press(Burlington Free Press, 18 August 2016)
UC Berkeley chancellor to resign amid controversies, including criticism of university response to sexual harassment allegations(The Washington Post, 17 August 2016)
After a professor is cleared of sexual harassment, critics fear “Culture of Silence” at Yale(New York Times, 8 July 2016)
Chicago professor resigns amid sexual misconduct investigation(New York Times, 2 February 2016)
“Honey bear”: Berkeley student details alleged sexual advances by professor, Guardian
Why It’s Harder For Grad Students to Report Sexual Harassment, The Huffington Post
Ethics and the Eye of the Beholder: Thomas Pogge, one of the world’s most prominent ethicists, stands accused of manipulating students to gain sexual advantage. Buzzfeed
This Professor fell in love with his grad student-and then fired her for it:A sexual harassment case occurring at Caltech, where the academic remains employed and is required to “undergo professional coaching” on supervising and mentoring students, Buzzfeed
Letter from Caltech President to the school community on the above case
The Consequences of Sexual Harassment in Astronomy: A six-month investigation found a decade of sexual harassment complaints against famous astronomer Geoff Marcy to be credible, The Atlantic
In Academia, there is no such thing as winning a sexual harassment complaint, The Guardian
Philosophy has a sexual harassment problem, Salon
Northwestern professor resigns after sexual harassment investigation, The Guardian
Books
Sexual Exploitation in Higher Education: A Very Private Affair
Blogs
Going Human. A Blog. An Experiment. A Life
See, in particular, the blog post by Natalie Scholtz, detailing her own experiences of harassment in the Netherlands and some strategies devised to counter them: ‘These Things Can Break You (22 May 2016)
Strategic Misogyny Collects stories of sexual harassment in higher education
Feministkilljoys Prof. Sara Ahmed’s blog, with many relevant posts
Gender, body, politics writing by Dr Alison Phipps
Tenure, She Wrote a collaborative blog devoted to chronicling the (mis)adventures of women in academia, from undergraduate to Full Professor
Academic Sexism Stories A Belgian blog also collecting stories of sexism in higher education
Being a woman in philosophy the sexual harassment archive