Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-2021
Journal Title
California Law Review Online
ISSN
1942-6542
DOI
10.15779/Z38PG1HP5M
Abstract
The #MeToo Movement cast a spotlight on sexual harassment in various sectors, including higher education. Studies reveal alarming percentages of students reporting that they have been sexually harassed by faculty and administrators. Despite annually devoting hundreds of millions of dollars to addressing sexual harassment and misconduct, nationwide university officials largely take an ostrich approach when hiring faculty and administrators with little or no scrutiny related to their past misconduct. Critics use the term “pass the harasser” or more pejoratively, “pass the trash” to capture the role that institutions play in allowing individuals to change institutions without the new employer learning about the employee’s prior sexual misconduct. This essay examines how and why the pass-the-harasser phenomenon arises and persists in postsecondary institutions, as well as recent changes two university systems and one state have made to deal with the problem. Although these efforts are commendable, experts recognize that the pass-the-harasser problem requires concerted action by institutions across the country. To push universities and colleges to become part of the collective solution, the essay proposes that accrediting agencies, as regulators, adopt an accreditation standard requiring that schools implement policies and procedures related to screening faculty candidates to determine if they have been subject to misconduct findings. Such an accreditation standard helps institutions fulfill their mission of providing a safe and healthy environment where students, faculty, and staff can learn, work, and thrive.
First Page
43
Last Page
64
Num Pages
22
Volume Number
12
Publisher
University of California Berkeley School of Law
Recommended Citation
Susan S. Fortney & Theresa Morris,
Eyes Wide Shut: Using Accreditation Regulation to Address the “Pass-the-Harasser” Problem in Higher Education,
12
Calif. L. Rev. Online
43
(2021).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar/1505
File Type
Included in
Education Law Commons, Higher Education Commons, Higher Education Administration Commons, Higher Education and Teaching Commons, Labor and Employment Law Commons, Law and Gender Commons, Law and Society Commons, Sexuality and the Law Commons, Social Welfare Law Commons