“We
believe
that
the
dramatic
increase
in
reporting
last
year
and
subsequent
decrease
this
year represents stabilization
of reporting following the
significant
attention
and
raised awareness at U-M of
these issues and how to report
concerns,” Frumkin said.
When contacted by The
Daily, a representative from
the Sexual Assault Prevention
and
Awareness
Center
declined to comment on the
report on behalf of SAPAC.
The report on faculty and
staff
sexual
misconduct
also
revealed
a
decrease
in the number of reports
from the year before. In the
fiscal year 2019, 178 reports
of
misconduct
by
faculty
and staff were submitted to
OIE, while 235 reports were
made last year. In the report,
Frumkin said as the University
works to create an umbrella
policy for students, faculty
and staff, they will most likely
begin publishing only one
report discussing all claims
in the future. In October, the
University officially released
its draft umbrella policy.
In an email to The Daily,
University
spokeswoman
Kim
Broekhuizen
said
these reports are released
each year to make issues of
sexual misconduct, and the
University’s response to these
claims, more widely known
across the University.
“We share this information
in order to be transparent,
to acknowledge that these
behaviors occur within our
community,
and
to
show
how the university responds
to
sexual
misconduct,”
Broekhuizen wrote.
“First of all they said,
‘Absolutely
you
should
do this. This is what the
national academies is calling
for, we have the expertise
here, we should lead the
way.’”
The researchers surveyed
faculty
at
Michigan
Medicine
using
validated
measures
adapted
from
the
Sexual
Experiences
Questionnaire,
and
examined the experiences
of men and women in the
field, distinguishing sexual
harassment
perpetrators
between
insiders
(staff,
students and faculty), and
patients or patient family
members.
At
Michigan
Medicine,
the study writes, “82.5% of
women and 65.1% of men,
reported at least one incident
of sexual harassment from
insiders in the past year.”
Esther
Choo,
associate
professor
in
emergency
medicine at Oregon Health
& Science University, is one
of the founders of Time’s Up
Healthcare. Choo’s greatest
concern about the study
is its fairly low response
rate, which indicates the
possibility of participation
bias.
“I would also say that
the rates were so high,
that even if in the unlikely
circumstance
that
every
single person who didn’t
respond to the study had
never experienced sexual
harassment,
(the
results)
would still be significant,”
Choo said.
The
rates
of
gender
harassment are far more
prevalent
than
sexual
coercion at Michigan and
nationwide,
according
to
the
study.
#MedToo
states
82.2
percent
of
women
experienced
gender
harassment
from
insiders, and 64 percent of
women experienced gender
harassment from patients or
patient families within the
past year. On the contrary,
only 0.6 percent of women
experienced sexual coercion
from insiders in the past
year.
“Even though we may
think
that
they’re
less
consequential
than
the
egregious behaviors that we
tend to focus on, the Harvey
Weinstein-type
aggressors
in our society organizational,
psychologists
have
demonstrated
that
those
gender
harassment
behaviors
are
actually
associated with meaningful
impact on any point we care
about: physical well-being,
psychological
well-being
and on professional well-
being,” Jagsi said.
Kate Brown, a fourth-year
Medical student involved
with
sexual
harassment
education in the medical
school, was not suprised by
the overall findings of the
study, but explained that
this study did provide a
new perspective into how
the #MeToo era is also
empowering men.
“It’s
been
expected
that men just enjoy those
things, and that it’s just
part of being a man, but I
think it’s probably always
bothered
people,”
Brown
said. “I think finally in the
context of #MeToo, men
are being empowered to say,
‘You know, this really is not
okay.’”
Although
#MedToo
examined
the
impacts
of sexual harassment on
men in addition to women,
it
did
not
examine
the
impacts on indivuals with
intersectional identities.
“This
is
the
first
of
many, many papers that
will come out of this …”
Jagsi said. “There will be
separate analyses that will
look at the intersection of
race and gender, looking at
the intersection of sexual
orientation
and
gender,
those are coming.”
However,
Choo
cautions that researchers
must
consider
specific
aspects
when
collecting
intersectional
data,
explaining
that
despite
inclusive intentions, it may
end up isolating those who
responded. Choo gave the
example that if there were
only five Black gay women
in an institution, reporting
on their responses would
threaten their anonymity.
“Those
with
intersectional
experiences
in healthcare are in the
minority, and so you want to
protect the most vulnerable
… so sometimes we try to
highlight
intersectional
experiences, and what we’ve
done is violate principles of
privacy and confidentiality,”
Choo said.
In
addition
to
intersectional
identities,
sexual harassment occurs
in
spaces
where
gender
inequity is present more
generally.
At
Michigan
Medicine, the student body
has been more than 40
percent women for the past
25 years, however women
are still underrepresented
in
leadership
positions,
Jagsi said. Jagsi explains
this lack of gender equity
is both a cause and effect
of
gender
harassment;
when few women are in
leadership positions, gender
harassment
prevails
and
discourages other women
from moving up in the
ranks.
Jagsi called for a change
in
leadership
to
change
the
culture
of
sexual
harassment.
“Equity
is
essential,”
Jagsi said. “So we need
to
hire
more
women,
promote more women, and
insure
that
women
are
represented at all levels of
our organization, and in all
positions of authority and
influence.”
Fourth-year
Medical
student Anitha Menon also
reflected
on
the
issues
of gender inequity in an
interview with The Daily.
“I can only imagine that
that level of harassment
amplifies as you progress
up the career ladder and are
more and more isolated,”
Menon said. “Statistically
speaking,
there
are
women, and in particular
women
of
color,
really
underrepresented in higher
levels
of
the
academic
ladder, especially in tenured
professorships.”
Menon said many medical
students have taken it upon
themselves
to
catalyze
change
in
the
culture
of sexual harassment at
Michigan Medicine.
“My
real
interest
has
always
been
to
try
to
educate medical students
on the prevalance of sexual
harassment and its impacts
on medical students — in
particular, again, women of
color, queer women, trans
folks — because I feel like
medical students are not —
we don’t really recieve that
kind of education, and we’re
definitely not taught skills
of how to intervene in sexual
harassment,” Menon said.
Similarly,
Brown
is
involved
with
addressing
sexual
harassment
in
Michigan Medicine through
a
student
organization
created by her and her
classmates,
SafeMD.
Originally
focused
on
medical
students,
the
organization has expanded
to
also
teach
medical
students how to help patients
that
have
experienced
sexual harassment or abuse.
Brown said she believes
Michigan Medicine is taking
a step in the right direction
through
conducting
this
study. But she also believes
the toxic environment of
sexual
harassment
needs
to be addressed by both
students and administrators.
“I think reducing sexual
harassment has to come both
from the bottom up, where
there’s
grassroots
efforts
for people on the ground
— whether that’s students
or faculty — to demand
change and also to step up
as bystanders, but I also
think it needs to come from
the top down,” Brown said.
“Institutional
leadership
needs to say, ‘Harassment
is not okay,’ and then needs
to take steps to make sure
it doesn’t happen, and then
make sure that if it does
happen, that situation is not
tolerated,” Brown said.
Menon
said
when
she
spoke
with
University
administrators, they were
open to student feedback on
how to combat the current
environment.
“They
want
student
involvement
and
student
ideas on how to address
sexual harassment,” Menon
said. “When I presented
this to some of the folks
who
are
involved
with
the
curriculum,
they
were really interested in
potentially,
potentially,
incorporating it into the
curriculum.”
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, November 12, 2019 — 3
MEDTOO
From Page 1
OIE
From Page 1A
According to Hilton, this
policy — while seemingly
appealing
—
could
disadvantage U-M more than
other Big Ten schools.
“It’s probably pretty easy
to assume that across the Big
Ten, we’re all kind of readers,”
Hilton said. “So if you just
take iPads, and you split up
the consortium subscription
by bodies, you get a pretty fair
distribution. That is not true
if you shift pay for publishing.
We publish disproportionately
more. So even if we went in
with a consortium agreement
with
the
Big
Ten,
what
Michigan might have to pay
would be very different.”
Hilton also discussed the
University Press, which he
explained is an important tool
for a university to improve
its reputation, rather than
simply a means of bringing in
revenue.
“I
would
argue
the
University
presses
collectively
provide
the
infrastructure that supports
scholarly publishing in the
humanities and humanistic
social sciences,” Hilton said.
“Historically, that has been
based on the notion that you
can sell enough books to make
back costs. That is not true
now and has not been true
for the majority of presses for
quite some time.”
Hilton explained because
of this challenge of meeting
costs, the University must
find other sources of revenue,
whether from donations or
receiving a larger portion of
the University’s endowment.
“(The fact) that there are
100 presses out there is really
important for the humanities
and social sciences,” Hilton
said. “So our proposal is
basically over time, we have
to find a way to fund the press
commission. What do I mean
by that? I mean we need to
figure out what it costs to
publish 90 or so manuscripts
a year, books a year. And
what would you need in base
funding to support that?”
Watkinson also provided
input
on
the
challenges
facing the University Press,
arguing that depending on
the discipline, the University
faces
competition
from
several other presses.
“African
Studies,
for
example, it would be the
Ohio University Press, which
is not a very well-known
press elsewhere,” Watkinson
said.
“Political
science
is
interesting because it’s a lot of
commercial publishers now —
Routledge, Palgrave. Classics,
I think we often lose books to
Cambridge University Press.
So it does depend on the
discipline, who the competing
press would be.”
Following the committee’s
conversation
with
Hilton
and Watkinson, the session
concluded with a unanimous
vote to approve e-voting for
faculty senate, which would
expedite the decision making
process of Senate Assembly.
SACUA member Neil Marsh
explained how this policy
would make it easier for
members to vote on important
proposals, especially if they
could not be present at votes
themselves.
“Basically this in a way of
asking the Senate just to green
light a move into the 21st
century which had become
hamstrung by the quorum
rule, (which is that) you can’t
change the rules because you
never get enough people,”
Marsh said. “So this is a way
to eventually be able to give
more of the faculty more
saying opinion.”
SACUA
From Page 1
“There’s always been
an aura of suspicion about
intelligence
anyway,”
Clapper
said.
“That’s
inherent because of its
secrecy, and there has to
be a certain amount of
secrecy involved with the
conduct of intelligence.
If
there’s
no
secrecy,
you know, you’re out of
luck. So the atmosphere
now has amplified that
suspicion
and
all
the
references to the deep
state, the whistleblower
complainant
being
a
member of the intelligence
community.
All
that
contributes
to
—
even
heightens — the suspicion
and,
unfortunately,
distrust.”
Beyond the intelligence
community,
Slotkin
spoke
about
how
her
experience
serving
in
the military informs her
mission-driven approach
to policy-making against
the
backdrop
of
an
increasingly
polarized
political climate.
“My
service
really
colors how I view other
people,”Slotkin
said.
“When I walk into a room,
and we’re talking about the
issue of an impeachment
inquiry, and there’s one
side who’s just chomping
at the bit to make political
hay out of it, and the other
side is rejecting the whole
thing
and
refusing
to
acknowledge (the other
side’s perspective), all I
can think of is: where is
your sense of mission of
what we’re trying to do
to protect and defend the
Constitution?”
The panel as a whole
spoke to the importance
of integrating values into
American
institutions
to ensure that citizens’
physical safety does not
come at the cost of their
rights, beliefs, and ways
of life. Lt. Gen. Nagata
said Americans need to
more passionately engage
in
conversations
about
how
the
intelligence
community
should
balance American values
against the need to combat
the growth of domestic
terrorism.
“We
are
seeing
a
significant
growth
of
all
forms
of
violent
extremism
within
the
United States… I hope
that the United States
as a government and as
a people start becoming
more
energetic
about
a debate,” Nagata said.
“How do we reconcile
these
very
important
values,
privacy
rights,
constitutional
rights,
societal norms… versus
the
need
to
ensure
the safety of our own
people
against
violent
extremists?”
The
panelists
each
highlighted both physical
and
international
threats
to
national
security.
Lieutenant
Generals
Clapper
and
Nagata pointed towards
terrorism,
China
and
Russia
as
menaces
as
well as an assault on
institutions that support
truth
and
the
erosion
of
confidence
between
populations
and
their
governments.
They
agreed
the
United
States
military
must
become
more
agile,
adaptable
and
risk-tolerant in order to
confront
21st
century
challenges.
“The
United
States
military has to get better
at training and educating
for
complexity
and
uncertainty,” Nagata said.
“We need to inculcate a
tradition in the United
States
military…
(that
21st century threats are)
an
incredibly
complex,
multi-dimensional
security challenge, there
is no solution, there is no
answer.”
Though
panelists
were
concerned
about
young people’s declining
interest in military and
government service, LSA
junior Noa Sreden shared
her excitement for the
panelists’ discussion.
“I think they’re very
unique
perspectives
that the presenters give,
especially
on
foreign
policy,”
Sreden
said.
“That’s something that’s
pretty unique and goes
above what we typically
learn here in Michigan.”
DESIGN BY KATHRYN HALVERSON
VETERANS
From Page 1
Our ability to do
things effectively
internationally
requires both sides
of the political
spectrum of the
U.S. government
to find ways to
compromise
enough that they
Equity is essential.
So we need to
hire more women,
promote more
women, and insure
that women are
represented at
all levels of our
organization, and
in all positions
of authority and
influence.