About
Rutgers Committee on Sexual Harassment Prevention and Culture Change
In June 2018, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine issues a report on the persistence of sexual harassment in higher education and its impact on women’s careers in academia. The report outlines recommendations to effectively change the culture and climate in higher education.
In response to the report, Rutgers forms the Committee on Sexual Harassment Prevention and Culture Change in fall 2018 to consider the National Academies’ recommendations and how they might be operationalized at the university.
Led by Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Barbara Lee, the 45-person committee meets over several months on six subcommittees to consider and propose recommendations in areas including consensual relationships, bringing greater transparency to reporting and findings of harassment, training for faculty and staff, and assessment of the effectiveness of our approaches.
Underscoring its commitment, Rutgers becomes one of 28 founding members of the National Academies’ Action Collaborative on Preventing Sexual Harassment in Higher Education, a group that enables collective action and sharing best practices on addressing and preventing sexual harassment among its member universities.
The Rutgers committee issues its report in spring 2019 with recommendations to cultivate culture change and foster an environment at Rutgers free from sexual harassment and gender discrimination.
As Rutgers assesses and implements the recommendations of the committee, the university will continue a multiyear effort to reduce and prevent sexual harassment and gender discrimination, creating a more respectful and inclusive culture and climate for all members of the university community.