Across the UW System, about 100 complaints of employee sexual harassment as well as assault were formally investigated since 2014, the Journal Sentinel reported.
With the exception of UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee, over half of the complaints filed claimed that professors sexually harassed students. But according to UW System spokesperson Stephanie Marquis, there were “a number of cases” where no violation was found. The UW System and UW-Madison released the records.
“With the continued and enhanced outreach and training efforts, it is not surprising that we have seen an increase in reporting numbers – we want an increase in reporting numbers,” Marquis said. “While our goal is certainly to help prevent sexual harassment or assault in the first place, we want any victims to come forward so we can investigate the incident.”
In comparison to other UW System campuses, UW-Madison had “a proportionately small number of cases,” the Journal Sentinel reported. According to UW-Madison spokesperson Meredith McGlone, from 2015 to 2017, a total of seven formal investigations took place at UW-Madison.
“We think it's attributable to the fact that some cases may be resolved at the department or school/college level and therefore may not rise to formal complaints handled centrally,” McGlone told The Daily Cardinal. “Taking into account the complainant's wishes, the university responds either with an informal resolution — when the complainant does not want to be identified or when the informal route is preferred — or with a formal investigation.”
In 2015, UW-Madison participated in the Association of American Universities’ nationwide survey on sexual misconduct and assault. The results showed 53 percent of female graduate and professional students reported that they’ve dealt with sexual harassment on campus.
“While sexual harassment began getting national attention only this past fall, at UW-Madison, the results of this 2015 survey were a wake-up call to campus on the issue of sexual harassment. The survey made clear that sexual harassment is under-reported here (as it is at other campuses/workplaces),” McGlone said.
Since then, the university has taken measures such as creating the full-time Title IX Coordinator position and requiring all employees to take sexual harassment and assault prevention training. Employees who fail to complete the training won’t be eligible for the four percent wage increase that is likely to go into effect at UW-Madison.
In November, university officials announced that UW-Madison will be establishing a centralized reporting system to keep track of sexual harassment and assault reports. McGlone said its implementation is “in the early stages.”
The university is also working on updating their policy on relationships between faculty and students to be in line with the UW System’s. Under the System's policy, students and faculty can’t have sexual relationships, but UW-Madison’s policy still allows this.
“There has been no hold-up; we’ve been working diligently on this,” McGlone told The Cap Times.
McGlone told The Daily Cardinal that UW-Madison’s consensual relationship policy is nearly finished and will go to all shared governance groups on campus for feedback and then endorsement. Administration is hoping to have the policy in effect by next fall, she said.
