Campus sexual harassment not being tackled – Report

Years of efforts to prevent sexual harassment of women in the fields of science, engineering and medicine have not succeeded, and a sweeping overhaul is needed in the way universities and institutions deal with the issue, a major new report by a national advisory panel in the United States concluded last Tuesday, writes Pam Belluck for The New York Times.

“Despite significant attention in recent years, there is no evidence to suggest that current policies, procedures, and approaches have resulted in a significant reduction in sexual harassment,” said the report, which was more than two years in the making, starting well before the #MeToo era. It was issued by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, independent agencies that advise the government and the public.

The report offered 15 detailed recommendations, some of them overturning long-entrenched systems of funding and mentoring in academia. It called for significant changes to academic advising practices so that students and junior researchers are not dependent on one senior researcher for mentoring and access to grants. The 311-page document is the National Academies’ first report addressing sexual harassment, a problem that has long simmered in academia.
Full report on The New York Times site