The Tough Topic of Sexual Harassment
By Sunnie Alexander
Warning: The subject matter can be sensitive. All stories should be considered alleged. Some have requested fictional names to protect them from retaliation.
“Before I began library school, I had come to know a librarian who was able to give me advice about the library profession and library school,” Ellie alleged. “That person became my library mentor. Nothing seemed off at first. If I had questions about classes or looking for a library job or anything else library-related, he would be glad to chat about it. The professional mentoring went on for a while. Occasionally, this guy would give me a hug, and I remember one time it seemed to linger a little longer than usual, but I just brushed it off. What changed is when my library mentor turned out to be a sexual harasser. He shared a very specific sexual fantasy that he had of me. I found it disgusting, disrespectful, and shameful.”
“Policies and trainings are a win-win”
According to Ellie, sexual harassment was never talked about In the early days of her employment. “Maybe if there had been education about it, maybe if I knew I would have been supported by managers and my co-workers, maybe — just maybe — I would have reported it,” she said.
“In our culture, sexual harassment has often been viewed as taboo,” Ellie said. “More often than not, the message has been, ‘Why talk about it?’ whether it is happening or not. In my 30 years as a librarian, I have never understood why having real discussions about sexual harassment in the workplace is thought to be so frowned on or joked about. When putting up with sexual harassment is part of the unofficial job description, something is really, really wrong. In my opinion, when employers fail to put safety above all else and fail to put common sense practices in place, then they are sending the message that safety doesn’t matter. Training has to be done, and it has to be all employees in. It is never too early for discussions and training.”
Perhaps “never too early” applies to library schools, as well
“It should be covered across the curriculum, from the foundations course up through the electives. It should cover both employees and patrons,” said Chad Zahrt, assistant dean for academic affairs, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Information Studies (SOIS).
“SOIS has had this topic in a number of courses. Topics covered include inclusive workspaces and community spaces, societal issues (how to handle patrons, as an example), power structures, critical librarianship, and leadership. Faculty have utilized guest speakers and focused topic weeks to highlight these issues.”
“It’s important to offer individuals a third lens, a lens that people are more likely to identify with — the bystander. Bystander intervention training is very popular within college/school settings but is rarely used as a training tool in the workplace,” said Sara Eckinger, prevention education specialist and confidential victim services provider.
“Bystander intervention training is about developing skills to identify potential harmful situations and learning how to actively intervene in a way that could positively influence the outcome of the situation. Most bystander programs (Step Up! Green Dot, Bringing in the Bystander, just to name a few) provide steps to intervention, such as how to notice an event, making the choice to help, and then deciding how to implement the help,” she said.
But what about those organizations that don’t offer policies and training?
“While the federal law does not require employers to have a formal sexual harassment policy or provide training, it is, in my opinion, a risk and a large vulnerability for businesses if they don’t. Policies and training around sexual harassment help educate employees, which in turn will help reduce incidents of sexual harassment (safeguard/protect employees) and lower the potential of a sexual harassment lawsuit against an employee or the business. If businesses don’t feel like they have the resources to write a policy and train their employees, then I guarantee they don’t have the resources to hire lawyers and/or settle a sexual harassment complaint. Policies and trainings are a win-win,” said Eckinger.
“Lack of a policy is not good for employees and opens the employer to legal liability,” said Carrie N. Baker, lawyer and professor at Smith College in the program for the Study of Women and Gender. “Policies offer the opportunity to educate employees about the norms of workplace and generate discussion.”
“Awareness and Addressing It”
Before this investigation, there were articles published on the topic of sexual harassment in libraries — and so it remains, with the sensitive subject being written about and in some places being discussed — how will the library profession maneuver the tough topic of sexual harassment in the workplace in the 21st century?
“I think it’ll be addressed and hopefully, by the end, largely eradicated,” said Rachel Kozalka, whose story of alleged harassment she experienced was shared in the December 2019 issue of the Denver VOICE. “Maybe I’m being optimistic, but that’s how we’ll fix the problem — awareness and addressing it.”
Katie MacBride, librarian and writer, whose mention of her alleged story in the February 2020 issue of the Denver VOICE doesn’t know what the fate of sexual harassment in libraries will be.
“I’d like to think that the #MeToo movement has brought awareness to this issue and change in the workplace, but I still think the issue of patrons and librarians is largely overlooked,” MacBride said.
Libby, on the other hand, whose alleged multiple incidents of sexual harassment were told in part one of this series, has a different view.
“With politics recently highlighting so clearly that women and people in service-oriented professions are second-class citizens with no autonomy over our own bodies, I see harassment getting much worse before it gets better,” she said.
The #MeToo era has produced a number of awareness pieces and alleged stories about sexual harassment in the workplace, but it has also brought discussion about non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), settlements, and forced arbitration. Oftentimes, settlements are paid in exchange for secrecy and silence. In cases of forced arbitration, such agreements can be located in the employee manual, and the outcome is often on the side of the organization.
“There are confidentiality clauses in employment contracts that restrict employees from publicly speaking about their employment (signed before starting employment and any experience of harassment), and there are nondisclosure clauses in settlement agreements (which occur after the harassment occurs and the dispute arises). The former are not likely enforceable with regard to illegal behavior like sexual harassment but can intimidate employees from speaking out about harassment. The latter are enforceable,” said Baker.
“Employers are more likely to settle a case and agree to larger monetary payouts if there is a nondisclosure clause option. Plaintiff employees also often prefer that the allegations do not become public because of fears of becoming blacklisted or labeled as a ‘troublemaker,’” she said.
“Mandatory arbitration clauses in employment contracts require employees to resolve any complaints through private arbitration rather than taking their case to court, which is public. This keeps the allegations private and prevents other employees from becoming aware of harassment at a company and potentially banding together to sue. It also keeps potential potential hires, as well as the public, in the dark. The Supreme Court upheld the legality of mandatory arbitration clauses in the case of Epic Systems v. Lewis. Some states are now trying to ban mandatory arbitration (e.g., Calif. and N.Y.). In mandatory arbitration, the employer selects and pays the arbitrator, and is often a repeat customer, so there is concern that the arbitrator may be biased in favor of the employer. Research has shown that arbitration favors employers, who are more likely to win and have lower payouts than if cases goes to trial. Individuals should know the law of their state and read their employment contract to make sure it complies with the law. They may also negotiate to remove a mandatory arbitration clause before signing an employment contract, although this can be difficult to achieve,” Baker said.
While she has no experience with NDAs, settlements, or forced arbitration, Ellie said such actions like this “keep protecting the harassers.”
“This is part of the problem — keeping harassers protected and in positions of power to harass again and again and again. No amount of money will remedy the harm that sexual harassment causes,” she said.
“Forced arbitration exists to protect institutions and alleged perpetrators, not victims. I fail to see how sexual harassment, which thrives and multiplies in secrecy and silence, can be remedied by a process that’s defined by secrecy and silence,” said MacBride.
“It’s tough because [a complaint of sexual harassment] demands action,” said Darryl Eschete, library director, West Des Moines Public Library. “That action usually means embarrassment of some kind or, at least, social awkwardness at every stage. First, a staff member or patron has to tell staff/admin something that has happened to them, which is often embarrassing for them to tell and possibly for us to hear.
You, as an admin/staff, then have to have a discussion with a defensive (possibly ashamed) patron or employee or, just as bad, a patron or employee who can’t see that they’ve done anything wrong at all which, believe it or not, is embarrassing, too. What are they? Nuts? Then, you may have to pass along embarrassing information to a third party, like an HR rep or a city attorney or police officer. Sexual harassment is something we hope doesn’t happen because it is ‘malum in se,’ of course, but also because no matter how empowered people are in any organization, telling someone that another adult has transgressed that way is uncomfortable and can’t be ethically ignored,” said Eschete.
“Shedding light on a very real issue”
In 2017, the #MeToo movement erupted after a very long list of women made allegations against Harvey Weinstein. This led to the outpouring of women and men from varying professions sharing their alleged experiences and some organizations taking a closer look at how sexual harassment in the workplace was being handled. “Enough is enough” never sounded so loud, and the cultural shift demanded that sexual harassment be taken seriously.
But #MeToo has also brought about intense debate on how truly influential and progressive the movement has been. In February, Weinstein was found guilty of two charges. Last month, Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison and still faces charges in CA. His sentencing is a possible game-changer for predators and those who speak up.
Many hail the outcome of the Weinstein trial as a watershed moment and a reckoning, while others say the work has just begun. For librarianship, the impact of #MeToo doesn’t seem crystal-clear. The biggest questions facing the library community about workplace sexual harassment are how important is employee safety, and what is your library doing to educate and minimize sexual harassment?
As I was writing the final portion of this series, I thought about my library friend. It was her story of alleged sexual harassment that inspired this series on sexual harassment in the library profession. We hadn’t talked about sexual harassment in over two years. I reached out to get her thoughts.
“I feel all allegations should be taken seriously,” Stephanie said. “I would like to share what a huge comfort it is to be shedding light on a very real issue. With support, women and men can share their stories in hopes of encouraging others to do the same.” ■