Even as graduate enrollment in STEM fields is at an all-time high, postdoctoral appointments, applications, and awards have continued to decline, following a decade of stagnation. Surveys of the postdoctoral community indicate dissatisfaction among postdoctoral scholars, including complaints related to pay, benefits, and long hours. Amongst those complaints, postdoctoral scholars indicated that workplace bullying, harassment, and discrimination were chief concerns. In addition, the National Academies’ 2018 report on the Sexual Harassment of Women indicated that the “hierarchical and dependent relationships between faculty and their trainees (e.g., students, postdoctoral fellows, residents)” may be a significant risk factor for sexual harassment.

Building on the findings and recommendations in the 2018 report, individuals from the Response Working Group within the Action Collaborative on Preventing Sexual Harassment in Higher Education will examine key considerations and challenges in supporting postdoctoral scholars experiencing sexual harassment in higher education. Specifically, the authors will:

• Review and synthesize the existing research on factors contributing to the sexual harassment of postdoctoral scholars, including power dynamics based on career status, financial status, or citizenship status among others, dyadic relationship models, social isolation, and lack of structural resources;
• Describe the landscape of campus policies and practices and federal and state-level laws and regulations that influence postdoctoral scholars’ vulnerability to sexual harassment, willingness to seek resources, and pursue institutional interventions (e.g., visa requirements);
• Analyze examples from institutions of higher education of efforts to prevent, respond to, remediate, or otherwise address the sexual harassment of postdoctoral scholars; and
• Explore ways in which existing efforts to address the sexual harassment of graduate students may be applicable to postdoctoral scholars.

Where data exists, the analysis of all items above will describe: (a) the experiences of those with marginalized identities (e.g. women of color and sexual and gender diverse people); (b) the co-occurrence and compounding effects of sexual and other forms of harassment; and (c) the experiences and needs of international scholars, who are estimated to make up over 50% of all postdoctoral scholars in the United States.

The paper will serve as a research-based resource for higher education administrators; practitioners; faculty, staff, and student leaders to explore the challenges and potential resolutions around postdoctoral scholars’ experiences of sexual harassment. With an improved understanding of this population’s vulnerability and existing efforts to support them, institutions of higher education can better support postdoctoral scholars within their own communities.