Allegations of harassment by a faculty member and reporting?

Question

This issue is about a university in a third-world country.

I friend of mine, "Zelda," is a faculty member at a reputable university. During one of her sittings with an undergrad student, "Alice," she learned that another faculty member, "Thomas" is sending Alice some inappropriate text messages and emails.

Alice also mentioned that she has heard similar things from another student about Thomas. Alice offered to show some texts to Zelda, who refused, but told Alice the office of student affairs handles such matters. However, Alice is reluctant to report, and just wants to graduate ASAP, and thinks that Thomas might damage her, as he is quite powerful within school administration.

I am convinced that, given Alice is not the only student who is being harassed, "T" will misuse his position and will continue his inappropriate behavior. And I am also convinced that office of student affairs will take action, if notified. I guess that Zelda does not want to be a whistleblower, although she believe Alice.

I think that keeping quiet will only make things bad for other vulnerable students. Please mind that for a woman, going to university in that country is a privilege.

Thomas' behavior is not on the university's radar. So, I am thinking of dropping an anonymous email to office of student affairs. Is it OK to do such a thing? I have no affiliation with the university, Alice, or Thomas.

Is it OK for someone, who has nothing to do with Alice, to drop an email asking administration to take a look into these allegations?

Answer 1

As Allure points out, opinions on this matter will vary, so let me note some points that I think are important here, and also offer an opinion that is slightly to the contrary of some other answers. (For brevity, these points are framed as an answer to the person you are talking about who is the academic dealing with these students.)

• Academics have a duty of care to students: Students at university are adults, but they mostly are still young and inexperienced. In my humble opinion, academics should generally err on the side of pushing for assistance in cases like these, even if the students are reluctant. Students are generally young adults who may be intimidated by the positions and standing of older adults who have attained academic success and institutional power. Having another academic push the matter forward may be helpful in overcoming this disparity.

• Harassers thrive on the "I won't make a fuss" mentality: Without making any assumption about whether or not harassment has actually occurred in this case, it is worth noting that cases of harassment tend to be done over and over again by a small number of individuals, and tend to proliferate because each person who is being harassed thinks it is only them, and they don't want to make a fuss and risk retribution by a powerful person. In cases where a victim of harassment reports the conduct, it is not unusual for this to precipitate an avalanche of other allegations against the same harasser. Recent events in Hollywood (e.g., Harvey Weinstein) testify to this fact, as do many other cases of sexual harassment.

• Merely referring an allegation is not "accusatory": Reporting an allegation for it to be investigated need not presume the truth of the allegation, and need not be "accusatory". That is the point of an investigation - to get to the truth from a starting point of it being unknown. It is perfectly legitimate to report allegations you have heard on to the administration, while taking no position on whether they are true or false, but still asking the university to consider whatever investigation into the matter is warranted by the allegations. There is no contradiction between wanting to bring this matter to the attention of the administration, and also wanting to avoid a false accusation. Just make sure that if you do send an email to the administration, you write it in a neutral way that does not presume that misconduct has occurred.

• In the end, evidence will be required: While it is legitimate to report hearsay allegations for the purpose of bringing a matter to the attention of the administration, you should bear in mind that your hearsay is not evidence. Unless one of the affected students is willing to speak to the university administration about this, the university will probably be very limited in its ability to investigate the matter. That is perfectly legitimate - after all, people should not be subject to negative proceeding against them without evidence, and hearsay evidence is weak evidence.

• With this in mind, the contribution you can make here is to bring the allegation to the attention of the administration, leading to contact with the students, and giving them an opportunity to report this matter formally. By acting as the initial referrer of the allegation, you can also show your students that actions are louder than words - you are willing to get involved, so maybe that will make them more willing. Still, at the end of the day it will depend on them. In my view even this step might be a good idea, even if the students ultimately decide not to proceed. I don't agree with the recommendation to do nothing.

• Have the courage to put your name to the referral: Think carefully about whether it is appropriate to report this anonymously. If it is justifiable to refer the matter to the university administration, and if you frame your email in a fair way that does not presume misconduct, then you ought to have the courage to put your name to it, and stand by your own actions. Reports of harassment are generally treated in confidence (at least up to the point where the accused is able to face the accusations), and this is an opportunity to set an example for your students and show that you are willing to act on your own principles. If a grown-up academic can't show the backbone to make a report about a colleague, without hiding behind anonymity, why should younger students show the courage that is absent in their elders?

Anyway, that is my two-cents. I can see that there are others with contrary opinions and I think their answers are also reasonable, though not what I would do. It may be helpful to consider all these different ideas on this matter before making your decision.

Answer 2

This is going to vary massively based on opinion. Still, my reaction is to do nothing. A or B have to stand up for themselves, otherwise for others it's a case of wanting to help but not being able to do so. Imagine what happens if an uninvolved third party writes to the administration asking them to act:

1. The administration has to take the allegations seriously. To convince them of that, you need to provide evidence. It seems like you don't have any solid evidence, only 2nd-hand information.
2. Assuming the administration takes the allegations seriously, they're likely to want to interview A and B. If A and B refuse to cooperate, the administration can't proceed.
3. For the administration to proceed, they need to make A and B cooperate even though they've stated (at least in A's case she has) that they don't want to. Are you sure that you want to put them through this?

Another thing to mention is that you could be accused of betrayal of trust. Z can plausibly argue that she told you this expecting that you will keep it confidential (it is likely A told Z expecting Z to keep it confidential, too). If you report to the administration and they press you about this, what can you say?

I would talk to A & B, argue that they should raise the issue to the administration both for themselves and for others, but also defer to their decision.

Answer 3

I don't think you can do anything, ethically. At least not in the way you are considering.

You write that "accusing anyone wrongly has serious consequences", and "students and the university will be at the receiving end", but have you considered the consequences for the student "A" and for your friend "Z"?

The student "A" has said that she does not want the stress and possible problems that reporting the faculty member "T" would cause. Maybe she should report him, for the sake of other students, but she has decided that she doesn't want to, or perhaps can't. Do you want to force her to this, possibly even ruining her education? Who knows how she will react? It should be her choice, not yours, so you shouldn't name her.

Your friend "Z" didn't want to see the evidence, and doesn't want to get involved. "Z" has made a similar decision as "A", for unknown reasons. Again, her choice, not yours.

It seems to me that what your anonymous letter should then say is something like this:

Hi, I am an unidentified person, who heard from an unidentified faculty member at your university that an unidentified student at the university claims that faculty member "T" is sending harassing text messages.

I don't think that will be very helpful.

You can, however, encourage your friend to take a more active interest, and try to get the student to report the harasser, perhaps waiting until after she has graduated.

Answer 4

Is it ok for a person, who has nothing to do with any of characters in the story, to drop an email asking administration to take a look into these allegations?

Since the country isn't listed, there is no way to provide any definitive legal or even cultural answer to this question.

However, aside from any legal or cultural specifics, this is a matter of conscience for "Z" to deal with personally. "Z" should consider whether they can live with their decision after considering the possible ramifications of their decision.

• If "Z" does nothing, is "Z" prepared to accept that there may be future students that will be subject to such harassment that could have been prevented?
• If "Z" does nothing, is "Z" prepared to accept that such harassment (either now or in the future) may escalate beyond inappropriate texts/emails that could have been prevented?
• Is "Z" prepared for the possibility that this becomes a public scandal in the future and that "A" may make public statements that they confided in "Z" and that "Z" did nothing?

If "Z" cannot comfortably answer yes to these questions, they really should report the allegations to the office of student affairs.