VIII. Climate

Personal Discrimination or Harassment (Q 60)
Click to view snapshot results of (Q 60)

Looking at the issues of discrimination and harassment more closely, another set of survey questions asked whether the respondent had been personally harassed or discriminated against or had observed faculty members harassing or making disparaging remarks about other faculty, students, or staff within the last two years. Twelve percent reported that they personally had been harassed or discriminated against. Analyzing differences by school, faculty in the Libraries (18%), Management (17%), Liberal Arts (15%), and Agriculture (15%) were the most likely to report being harassed or discriminated against. By rank, responses were virtually the same, but by gender, females were more than twice as likely as males to report discrimination or harassment (23% vs. 9% of males). Asian Americans were less likely than the other two groups to report having experienced this behavior (6% vs. 13% of underrepresented minorities and 12% of Caucasians).

Most of the individuals who had been harassed or discriminated against within the past two years chose to include written comments about their experience(s). They most commonly mentioned the three following types of harassment or discrimination:

  • Sexual harassment
    “A member of the primary committee hugged me - it was unwelcome and unsolicited but I did not feel that I could avoid it without angering this powerful person.”

“Sexual harassment by full professor. Warning by a second full professor not to discuss sexual harassment with Dean.”

“From people less in power, including undergraduates.”
  • Age discrimination
    “I believe I am seriously discriminated against because of my age - 71.”
“For young faculty, age discrimination is a problem.”
  • Research discrimination
    “Based on research area, continuous since I have been here.”

“Professor X in Department A openly asked me to withdraw from Department A because I was also active in Department B. I had done 10 times as much research in area A than Professor X.”

Differences by Gender

Females were more likely than males to write that they had been sexually harassed, although a few males reported that they had experienced this as well. Full professors, older male professors, and students were most often the reported harassers.

Differences by Rank

Associate and full professors were the most likely to report discrimination, especially by their unit head, because of their opinions, gender, or research area. Full professors were the most likely to report general discrimination because of their research area, while assistant professor were the most likely to report instances of sexual harassment.