Sample Policy Statement on Sexual Harassment

The primary goal of ABC's policy prohibiting sexual harassment is to prevent the objectionable behavior or stop it whenever it occurs. The policy is consistent with federal statutes that prohibit sex discrimination against employees and that require equal and fair treatment of students. Thus, the policy presented here applies to students as well as to employees. All employees, including faculty, staff, graduate assistants, and administrators are expected to comply with this policy. Sexual harassment is reprehensible and will not be tolerated by ABC. It subverts the mission of ABC and threatens the careers, educational experience, and well being of students, faculty, and staff. Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination and is illegal. Sexual harassment most often exploits a relationship between individuals of unequal power and authority (as, for example, between an employee and supervisor or between a student and teacher), but may also occur between student peers or employees of equal rank. Sexual harassment also may occur between individuals of the same sex. Sexual harassment constitutes unprofessional conduct, which compromises the ABC's commitment to the pursuit of learning; in short, sexual harassment compromises institutional integrity and corrupts academic values. ABC will not tolerate sexual harassment in any form. Furthermore, this institution is committed to providing training to educate the employees about sexual harassment issues.