The next academic leadership forum will center on intellectual property and will be held in conjunction with the Penn State Forum Thursday, Feb. 4, in the Ballroom of The Nittany Lion Inn at University Park. A subsequent discussion on procedures was led by a panel that included Robert Secor, vice provost for academic affairs, Bonnie Ortiz, director of the Affirmative Action Office, and Michelle Katz, an attorney with McQuaide Blasko, the University's legal counsel. Now the person who holds supervisory or academic responsibility must report the relationship to his or her supervisor in order to ensure an unbiased evaluation. Much of the forum's discussions focused on graduate students because of their vulnerability to faculty retaliation and inexperience in teaching undergraduates, some of whom are only slightly younger than themselves. Ortiz said that her office does not get many complaints about harassment from graduate students simply because they fear the loss of reference letters, job prospects and future graduate school opportunities.
Students often wait until class ends or after graduation to contact the office.
Forum leaders also stressed that department and division heads must take swift action in investigating and resolving sexual harassment complaints. Such relationships have the potential for adverse consequences, including the filing of charges of sexual harassment. Given the fundamentally asymmetric nature of the relationship where one party has the power to give grades, thesis advice, evaluations, recommendations, promotions, salary increases or performance evaluations, the apparent consensual nature of the relationship is inherently suspect. Even when both parties have consented to the relationship, there may be perceptions of conflicts of interest or unfair treatment of others. Such perceptions undermine the atmosphere of trust essential to the educational process or the employment relationship.