Sexual Harassment in the Academy: Harnessing the Growing Labor Movement in Higher Education to Address Sexual Harassment Against Graduate Workers

Abstract

Higher education is not immune to the epidemic of sexual harassment in the United States, particularly sexual harassment of graduate workers. This is due largely to power differentials of status and income, as academia relies on low-wage work. While the literature shows sexual harassment is prevalent across disciplines, current work to address the problem does not account for graduate worker precarity. The graduate labor movement, which addresses precarity, is beginning to tackle sexual harassment. We review how the labor and anti-gender-based violence movements in higher education should come together to prevent sexual harassment, presenting recommendations for structural changes to academia.

“I had no power whatsoever”: Graduate student survivors’ experiences disclosing sexual harassment to mandatory reporters

“…Moreover, the survivors in our study frequently viewed faculty advisors and mentors as a trusted source of interpersonal support. Of course, as previously outlined, this is not always the case: graduate students are often harassed by faculty—including their advisors—and the existing academic hierarchy of power and privilege leaves graduate students vulnerable to such abuse (Bloom et al., 2022; O'Callaghan et al., 2021; Rosenthal et al., 2016). Still, our findings suggest that mandated reporting policies may undermine or subvert safe faculty‐graduate student relationships by mandating a faculty advisor to act outside of their expertise and in ways that the graduate student does not want and is not prepared for.…”

“…Although graduate students are sexually harassed by many different members of the campus community (e.g., undergraduate students, graduate students, administration, staff), faculty are often the perpetrators of sexual harassment against graduate students (Rosenthal et al., 2016). The existing academic hierarchy positions graduate students as largely dependent on their faculty advisors and other faculty members for mentorship and career opportunities (e.g., publication, teaching, grants and awards, funding, letters of recommendation) during and long after they leave graduate school, leaving them particularly vulnerable to sexual harassment by faculty members (Bloom et al., 2022; O'Callaghan et al., 2021).…”

“…Graduate students who wish to disclose their harassment to others often have limited options to do so in confidence, as university mandatory reporting policies frequently require most employees (e.g., faculty, staff, other graduate students) to report harassment they learn about to university officials (e.g., Title IX coordinator), regardless of whether or not they want to make a report (Holland et al., 2018). Given graduate students’ close working relationships with faculty members and other graduate students, disclosing an experience of sexual harassment to someone close to them in the university context is likely to result in initiation of a mandated report and compelled disclosure to the Title IX office (Gerdsen & Walker, 2019; Holland et al., 2018; O'Callaghan et al., 2021). However, little is known about how mandatory reporting policies affect graduate students specifically.…”

“…Understanding graduate student experiences of sexual harassment and navigating help‐seeking post‐harassment requires empirical investigation. Graduate students frequently occupy overlapping roles (e.g., student, employee, teacher) and rely on close working relationships with faculty members (e.g., as advisors, mentors, committee members, teaching assistantship supervisors) and other graduate students for academic and professional success (O'Callaghan et al., 2021; Bloom et al., 2021). The fact that faculty members and graduate students are frequently designated as mandatory reporters means that the people a graduate student may turn to for assistance after experiencing sexual harassment are likely required to report all relevant details of the disclosure to the Title IX office (Gerdsen & Walker, 2019; Holland et al., 2018; O'Callaghan et al., 2021).…”

Only We Can Protect Us: Labor and Anti-Harassment Organizing within the Neoliberal University

“…Connecting labor issues, particularly under capitalism, to issues of gender-based violence (GBV) has been addressed in sociology by scholars and activists like Angela Davis (Davis 1981). The authors of this paper have used the foundational work of Davis and other Black feminist scholar-organizers to show how labor and sexual harassment connect in the academy with the sexual harassment experiences of graduate workers (O'Callaghan et al 2021). This special issue calls for academics and community activists to work together on issues of gender-based violence with a sociological understanding of the structures of power.…”