UC Berkeley will spend several million dollars to implement new plan.
AB Wire
UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks, criticized for his handling of recent sexual harassment cases including against Law school dean Sujit Choudhry, unveiled a plan Thursday aimed at providing quicker investigations, more consistent sanctions and more interactive training and education about sexual misconduct.
“We have heard the salient message: There is much work to be done,” he said in a message to the campus community. “We have an obligation to promote a campus culture in which sexual harassment, sexual violence, stalking and any abuse of power are neither tolerated nor ignored, but proactively prevented.”
The issue has exploded at Berkeley after a lawsuit filed this month revealed that Dirks and Provost Claude Steele had allowed Choudhry to remain in his job after being found to have harassed his executive assistant with unwanted hugs, kisses and touching last year, reported the Los Angeles Times. Choudhry, received a 10% cut in his $415,000 annual salary and was ordered to attend counseling and apologize to the assistant, Tyann Sorrell.
Dirks said in his statement that he has learned from the outcry.
“The painful stories and helpful recommendations we have heard over the last two weeks will inform the necessary steps our community needs to take in order to heal, learn, and move forward,” he said. “We are committed to ensuring that Berkeley is a welcoming, safe, respectful, and inclusive community for every one of our students, staff, faculty, and visitors.’
Berkeley plans to spend “several million dollars” over the next few years on the new plan, according to campus spokeswoman Janet Gilmore.
The new initiatives include:
* Expanded education and training on sexual misconduct. Officials plan to organize a half-day campus-wide event in the fall and will develop more engaging and interactive learning activities. Advocates have complained that current training sessions are so dull that students sleep through them or sign in and leave.
* Increased support to the Office for Prevention of Discrimination and Harassment to reduce the time it takes to resolve cases. Officials will also increase spending on campus centers that help connect those suffering from sexual misconduct with counseling and other services.
* A new campus review board to make sure sanctions in cases of proven sexual misconduct are imposed in a “firm and consistent manner, regardless of the rank or position of either the complainant or respondent.” Dirks and Steele have been criticized for imposing lenient sanctions of prominent faculty at the expense of the victims.
* A task force of faculty, staff, students, alumni and outside experts to conduct an independent assessment of the campus’ culture, process and sanctions regarding sexual misconduct. A draft summary report is due by July.
Read the full story here: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-berkeley-harass-plan-20160324-story.html
(This post was updated on March 31, 2016, with a change in headline.)