Sexual Harassment Support
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Sexual Harassment in Education
Sexual harassment in higher education:  In higher education, the issue of sexual harassment has
been met with a resistance-to-change by many seasoned professors.  Because of our modern,
politically-correct conscience,  academic institutions are increasingly under fire for infringing on the
academic freedoms traditionally guaranteed for professors, and sexual harassment policies and
legislation are considered by many to be in violation of these freedoms, particularly the right to free
speech.   Moreover, the power structure tends to encourage the exploitation of students for their
assistance and labor in a professor's academic work.  However,  this attitude can become distorted in
the minds of many professors, and can encourage them to sexually exploit their students, as well.   Most
unfortunately, access to students for sexual purposes is considered by many to be one of those
protected academic freedoms and "perks" that go along with being a professor, and is a  "right" that
many simply do not want to give up.  

Legal Definitions for Sexual Harassment in Education

Similar to the definitions established in employment law, the U.S. Department of Education has defined
two types of sexual harassment in their Guidance under Title IX:  

    "Quid Pro Quo Harassment--A school employee explicitly or implicitly conditions a student's
    participation in an education program or activity or bases an educational decision on the
    student's submission to unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other
    verbal, nonverbal, or physical conduct of a sexual nature. Quid pro quo harassment is equally
    unlawful whether the student resists and suffers the threatened harm or submits and thus
    avoids the threatened harm.

    Hostile Environment Sexual Harassment--Sexually harassing conduct (which can include
    unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal, nonverbal, or physical
    conduct of a sexual nature) by an employee, by another student, or by a third party that is
    sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive to limit a student's ability to participate in or benefit
    from an education program or activity, or to create a hostile or abusive educational environment."

More Statistics on Sexual Harassment in Education

A survey conducted by the AAUW (2002) on 2064 students in 8th through 11th grade:

  • 83% of girls have been sexually harassed
  • 79% of boys have been sexually harassed
  • 38% of the students were harassed by teachers or school employees
  • 36% of school employees or teachers were harassed by students
  • 42% of school employees or teachers had been harassed by each other

In their recent study (2006) on sexual harassment at colleges and universities, the AAUW reported:

  • 62% and of female college students and 61%  of male college students report having been
    sexually harassed at their university.
  • 66%  of college students know someone who was harassed.
  • 80% of reported sexual harassment is peer-to-peer
  • 51% of male college students admit to sexually harassing someone in college, with 22%
    admitting to harassing someone often or occasionally.
  • 31% of female college students admit to harassing someone in college.

In their recent study, the AAUW reported the following impact on the students who had been harassed:  

Physical and emotional:

  • 68% of female students felt very or somewhat upset by sexual harassment they experienced;
    only 6% were not upset.
  • 57% of female students who have been sexually harassed reported feeling self-conscious or
    embarrassed.
  • 55% of female students who have been sexually harassed reported feeling angry.
  • 32% female students who have been sexually harassed reported feeling afraid or scared.

Academics and achievement:

  • 16% of female students who have been sexually harassed found it hard to study or pay attention
    in class.
  • 9% of female students dropped a course or skipped a class in response to sexual harassment.
  • 27% of female students stay away from particular buildings or places on campus as a result of
    sexual harassment.

A survey on stalking conducted by the National Institute of Justice on 223 colleges and universities:

  • 13% of college women had been stalked and average of two months
  • 3 out of 10 reported being injured physically or emotionally
  • In 10.3% of incidents, the victim reported that the stalker forced or attempted sexual contact


Under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) and it's regulations, no individual may
be discriminated against on the basis of sex in any education program or activity receiving Federal
financial assistance. Sexual harassment of students is a form of prohibited sex discrimination
under the circumstances described in the Department of Education Guidance.  Retaliation  against a
student who complains is also illegal.   If you are being sexually harassed at school, visit our page
for information on what you can do.  

For more information on sexual harassment in education, see to the Resource Center at the support
forum.

To read stories about sexual harassment in education, or share your own, click here.



Sources: 6, 7, 8, 11,12, 13, 15,16, 23,24, 25, 26, 47, 55, 56, 59,69
"The silence
surrounding
sexual
harassment  is
incongruous in
light of the last
two noisy
decades of
higher
education."

--Billie Wright
Dzeich
The Lecherous
Professor, by
Billie Wright
Dzeich

Buy it from
Amazon
Recommended:
Naomi Wolf's story
of her sexual
harassment
experience while a
student at Yale,
and her current
attempts to be
heard by her alma
mater. (New York
Magazine article)
The Problem

Sexual harassment in school:  Sexual harassment is common at every stage of education.  Verbal and
physical harassment begins in elementary school, and 4 out of 5 children experience some form of
sexual harassment or bullying.  Eight out of 10 will experience this at some point in their school lives,
and roughly 25 percent will experience this often.  Boys are more likely to physically harass and bully
others, or to be physically bullied themselves.  Girls are more likely to use, and experience, verbal and
psychological harassment and bullying.  Six out of 10 students will experience some form of physical
sexual harassment.  In the Report Card on Gender Equity, the National Coalition for Women and Girls in
Education (NCWGE) reported that 30 percent of undergraduate students, and 40 percent of graduate
students, have been sexually harassed.  

Certainly much of the sexually harassing behavior is student-on-student.  In the Report Card, the
NCWGE reported that, of students who have been sexually harassed, 90 were harassed by other
students.  And in their 2006 report on sexual harassment in higher education, the American Association
of University Women, (AAUW) reported that 80% of students sexually harassed were targeted by other
students.    

However, sexual harassment by teachers and professors does occur, and this can have serious,
sometimes devastating, consequences for the recipient.  Indeed, this type of sexual harassment can
have the most serious consequences of all because Education is one of  the few arenas where victims
(students) have absolutely no power, and no advocates.   Approximately 15% of students will be sexually
abused by a member of the school staff during their school career.   In a survey of high school
graduates, 17.7% of males and 82.2% of females reported sexual harassment by faculty or staff during
their school careers.  Approximately 14% of those surveyed said they had engaged in sexual intercourse
with a teacher.  In a survey conducted by the AAUW in 2000, it was reported that roughly 290, 000
students had been targeted for physical sexual abuse by school employees between 1991 and 2000.

Reports of Sexual Harassment in Education

Similar to sexual harassment in the workplace, most students who experience sexual harassment do
not report what is happening.  In a recent survey by the American Association of University Women
(AAUW),   In it was  found that  only 7 % of students say they reported sexual harassment to a faculty
member or other college employee.   Almost no one spoke with a college employee who they knew was
a Title IX officer. Thirty-five percent  told no one, not even a friend.  

Sexual harassment by teachers

The causes of sexual harassment and exploitation by teachers and professors can be complex.   
Relationships between students and teachers are often quite intimate and intense, particularly in higher
education where so many students work closely with their professors.  Students share common
passions and interests with their teachers, and are dependant on their teachers' approval for academic
success, opportunities, and career success.  They will talk to their teachers about personal issues,
such as problems at home, or with boyfriends/girlfriends.   Teachers often relish the admiration they
receive from their students, and they can grow accustomed to the power they have in the relationship.  
Such closeness can blur the professional boundaries and lead people--both school employee and
student alike--to step over the line.   

Academic environments are also workplaces, and the same patterns can apply.  Like workplace
harassment, politics can be a catalyst for sexual exploitation and sexual harassment.  Consequently,
problems caused by poor management, workplace bullying,  frustration,  job/financial insecurity, etc.,
can create hostile environments that leak over into the student-teacher relationship.  Personal problems
can be a factor, and sexual harassment and exploitation of students can be symptoms of the effects of
life traumas such as divorce, or death of a spouse or child.   Academic departments for fields that have
traditionally excluded women can show a higher rate of sexual harassment of female students and
faculty.   Moreover,  sexist or sexualized environments (environments were profanity, sexualized graffiti,
viewing Internet porn, sexual jokes, etc., are common) will show some of the highest incidents of sexual
harassment.  
The dynamics of sexual harassment often involve an aggressor who holds a
position of power over the victim, and this is especially intense in a
student-teacher relationship.  Relying on the teacher as a model of right and
wrong, a student may doubt their own reaction to the situation. Like peer
harassment, most complaints about teachers' behavior tend to center
around what is felt to be inappropriate talk in a class or discussion, such as
using sexist or sexual references to make a point.   However, some teachers
will ask for sexual favors in exchange for grades or academic opportunities,
or will downgrade a student who is not "attentive enough" to the
teacher--both are examples of quid pro quo harassment (see below).  
Others have used the pretense of an academic advisory session, or
one-on-one instruction, to take advantage of a student behind closed doors.  
Indeed, a teacher may use the guise of professional concern or interest to
mask  that they are actually stalking a student and/or planning a seduction.  
(see The Silent Treatment ) Some teachers believe that students learn more
efficiently in a "sexually charged atmosphere,"  and may even go so far as to
argue it is the teacher's responsibility to "guide students to maturity" even in
their sexuality and sexual experiences.    Regarding his calculated and serial
seduction of his female undergraduate students, one university professor
proclaimed he felt it his duty, rationalizing, "They hang on to their virginity too
long."  (for more, see Sexual Harassers)