Exploring Policies to Prevent "Passing the Harasser" in Higher Education (2023)
Chapter: Conclusions
Conclusions
It is our hope as authors of this paper, that leaders and administrators in higher education will be able to use these examples as a starting place for conversations about establishing anti-passing-the-harasser policies at their own institutions. Even if IHEs cannot implement these policies proactively, having conversations about what one would look like can better prepare staff to react efficiently if needed, such as in response to new state mandates or intense media scrutiny. For those who are considering developing an anti-passing-the-harasser policy, the following steps may be useful in organizing an approach:
- Contextual research. Assess state and local laws for the topics related to passing the harasser, such as data privacy, employment protections, and civil liability. Identify any union contract requirements or recommendations from member associations and professional societies to which your institution or faculty members belong.
- Institutional coordination. Identify and convene relevant stakeholders to participate in the conversation, including staff who are likely to be involved in implementing the policy and leaders with enough authority to advocate for establishing these policies. Examples include provosts, general counsel, human resources, and representatives of faculty senates.
- Establish buy-in. Identify the reason(s) for adopting an anti-passing-the-harasser policy. These may include being proactive in preventing harm, committing in a visible way to a high standard of conduct for faculty and staff, managing liability, being responsive to media attention and public concern, or wanting to align with peer institutions. Ensure that key stakeholders understand these reasons.
- Identify examples. Examine policies from comparable institutions and consider each of the decision points identified in Tables 1–3 to determine which approaches most closely match your institutional needs, values, and resources.
Finally, it is our hope that IHEs will consider how best to evaluate the success of these policies and any inadvertent effects they have on applicants, their students, and the higher education community broadly with particular respect to intersectionality. While anti-passing-the-harasser policies constitute an innovative and intuitive approach to responding to sexual harassment and preventing continued harm within the community, it is only through data collection and evaluation that we can determine which policies are effective and under which conditions they are most successful.
