A Guiding Insight

Black Issues in Higher Education, Feb 18, 1999 by Paul Ruffins

Education Department's new 150-page publication deals with racial and sexual harassment

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of Education (ED) has published a guide designed to help school officials deal more effectively with incidents of sexual harassment and hate crimes in elementary and secondary schools. The 150-page guide, Protecting Students from Harassment and Hate Crimes, was published by the department's Office of Civil Rights (OCR) and the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG).

The report's release comes at a time when school and college officials nationwide are grappling with how to deal with harassment and hate crimes. Just last month, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear a case that could determine whether schools that receive federal funds are guilty of sex bias if they fail to protect students from sexual harassment.

According to the latest FBI figures, there were 8,000 bias-motivated crimes reported in 1997, and 848 of them -- more than 10 percent -- took place on the grounds of schools. During the same period of time, the OCR received 211 complaints of racial harassment and 125 reports of sexual harassment.

The report also cites two other studies. One found that 20 to 25 percent of students had been victimized in racial or ethnic incidents in the course of a school year. The other reported that of children 8 to 11 years old, 68 percent of girls and 39 percent of boys reported being sexually harassed.

The guide is intended to help schools recognize and define harassment, develop comprehensive, long-term. strategies to address this problem, and devise support strategies for victims.

"If ignored, harassment can jeopardize students' academic achievement, undermine their physical and mental well-being, provoke retaliatory violence, damage the school's reputation, and exacerbate community conflicts," the report's authors note.

The report includes "best practices" from both large and small school systems around the country. Many of the general recommendations would also apply to colleges and many private workplaces:

* Develop specific written anti-harassment policies;

* Identify problems quickly and respond to them immediately rather than allowing them to get worse;

* Make sure everyone knows that there are formal complaint and grievance procedures; and

* Realize that stopping harassment and bias crimes starts from the top and that the administration in charge has primary responsibility for creating an environment that doesn't support harassing activities.

Protecting Students suggests many steps, such as teaching conflict resolution and developing curriculums that promote tolerance, that are mostly relevant to elementary and secondary schools.

"Our recommendations for having a specific policy on when to call in the police, and an investigative system where students understand their rights are probably just as important in a college setting," says Richard Cole of the Massachusetts Attorney General's office.

Cole, who chaired of the NAAG committee that worked with ED, adds that administrators must not ignore signs of conflict in their schools.

"Perception is as important as reality. That's why schools have to be [aggressive in combating harassment]," he explains. "Inter-group tensions in schools can have catastrophic outcomes if they lead to escalation or retaliation that results in violence. Similarly, harassment that isn't addressed by the school can just as easily lead to worse confrontations when students encounter each other in their neighborhoods. Teachers and administrators have to realize that preventing and mediating these incidents is a basic safety precaution."

The report has garnered support from several different quarters. The National School Boards Association described it as "the kind of good preventative work the field needs to ensure that schools provide a safe and welcome environment for all students."

The report has also gained praise from several gay rights organizations because it includes a copy of Vermont's policy that specifically prohibits sexual harassment between people of the same gender.

These organizations say that gay students are often singled out for harassment. A 1995 report in Massachusetts by high-school students, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, found that 67 percent of gay and bisexual students were threatened or injured at school, a rate that is more than twice as high as straight students. This research also found that, compared to only 4.5 percent of other students, 20 percent of gay or bisexual students had skipped school at least once because they feared for their safety.

To help local communities draft useful and workable guidelines, the report contains the entire text of several anti-harassment policies that were actually implemented in Arizona, Minnesota, Vermont, West Virginia, and the Edmonds school district in Washington State. Many colleges have struggled to enact codes of conduct that address hate speech without violating the principles of academic freedom.