Combating Harassment in Higher Education:
Policy Innovations
ANA BELÉN AMIL
G E N D E R E Q U A L I T Y O F F I C E R
C E N T R A L E U R O P E A N U N I V E R S I T Y , V I E N N A
U N I G E M C O N F E R E N C E
6 A N D 7 M A Y 2 0 2 2
S A R A J E V O

• Central European University joins the EU-funded SUPERA project (2018-2022)
• Design and implementation of our first Gender Equality Plan
• First phase: institutional assessment of Gender Equality across 4 key action areas:
1. Recruitment, selection and career progression
2. Leadership and decision-making
3. Integration of a gender dimension in research and education content
4. Cross cutting area: gender biases and stereotypes
BACKGROUND

THE ASSESSMENT
TEXT ANALYSIS OF CEU POLICY ON HARASSMENT (2013)
• More than 500 respondents from the student, academic and administrative body
COMMUNITY-WIDE SURVEY

THE ASSESSMENT
Less than 3%
of incidents
reported
Underreporting
problem
Lack of
institutional
trust; fear of
retaliation; lack
of
confidentiality;
personal
relationships
Reports
nowhere to
be found
Impossibility
of
monitoring
Lack of record
keeping
Lack of
accountabilit
y and room
for discretion
No training
for people
who take
complaints
Insufficient
training
No training
for the wider
community
Too many people
mandated to take
complaints
Too adversarial
procedure of
conflict
resolution
Informal complaints:
Provost
Formal complaints:
DC
Areas for
improvement in
Policy text
Broad definition
of harassment
Broad scope and
target groups
Broad time
limits for
reporting
Policy strengths

• Gender Equality Officer
(GENS)
• Chair of the Equal
Opportunity Committee
(SPP)
• Two members of the EOC
(LEGS/SPP)
• Member of the Senate
(PHIL)
• New Chair of the
Disciplinary Committee
(LEGS/SPP)
• Dean of Students
• Two PhD students (HIST)
WORKING GROUP: THE SET UP

THE IDEAS
Ombudspersons
Network (ON)
Highly
specialized
training
Receive (1)
and resolve
(2) informal
complaints
Guide the
complainant
throughout
the process
5 members
of the
community
APP for
Smartphones
Centralized
recording
system:
complaints
and
outcomes
Anonymous
disclosures,
informal and
formal
complaints
Online, 24/7,
safe platform
to submit
complaints

THE IDEAS (II)
Anonymous
disclosures
“Complaint
collectives”
Notification
to ON after
3+
complaints
No
disciplinary
sanction
Detect
patterns of
behavior

OTHER (RELEVANT) ADDITIONS
• The intentions of the alleged harasser are not determinative
• Harassment does not need to be intentional to be considered harassment
• The fact that such behaviour may not have been unwelcome to others or had been accepted in the past is
irrelevant.
• The Complainant does not need to have explicitly stated that the behaviour was unwanted
• Being under the influence of alcohol, drugs or otherwise intoxicated is not an excuse
Intentions
• Much more detailed
• Against an OP: serious breach
Retaliation
• Organizations recognized by CEU as being representative of a community, such as the Trade Union,
Student Union or Work Councils can bring an informal or formal complaint in representation of a group
of individuals (…)
Organizations as complainants
Shorter times for complaint resolution, clearer allocation of
responsibilities

POLICY DESIGN AND APPROVAL PROCESS
1 Consultation
with IT
First draft with
principles of
new Policy
finalized
SLT, Academic
Forum: many
iterations
2
Meeting with
Legal Counsel
(GDPR and
other matters)
Amendment
of the Policy
(working
group)
Policy checked
by Austrian
legal firm for
compatibility
3 Final version
ready
GDPR delays
Senate
approval
pending GDPR
revision of the
App

• Potential lawsuits coming from the alleged harasser as a result of the action of
the ON
• Financial / time investment (for the APP)
• Security of the server
• “Witch-hunt”, false accusations, explosion of irrelevant complaints
MAIN INSTITUTIONAL RESISTANCES

POLICY IMPLEMENTATION
Finding
tailored
training
• Assessing severity & need for transfer
• Confidentiality
• Assessing risk of retaliation
• Avoid re-traumatisation
• Record keeping & reporting
• Basics of mediation
• National criminal law
Financing
the
training
Selecting
and
appointing
members
• GEO + EOC
• Senate
IT
technical
challenges
• Access and
editing rights
• User-friendliness
• Notifications
GDPR
data flow
• Minimalistic
approach
• Privacy notice
Retention
times of
data
• For how long?
• In which level of
detail?
• Who can access?
• For what
purpose?
Ombudspersons
Network (ON)
SpeakApp
development

READY TO LAUNCH, BUT …
Change in
leadership
Worries of
DC work
overload
Ad-Hoc
Committee
to Review
Disciplinary
Procedures
SpeakApp
on hold

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR ATTENTION
Questions welcome
“This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and
innovation programme under grant agreement No 787829”.