SARAH KRAUSSE | staff writer

“We here at APU hold ourselves to an even higher standard than the law,” Assistant Director of Human Resources Ken Harper said during Friday’s workshop. Eight faculty and staff members attended the workshop on Feb. 22 titled “A Matter of Respect and Esteem.”

The workshop is part of the university’s on-going efforts to maintain a safe and healthy work environment for their employees. Part of these efforts involve regular sexual harassment training and education. Assembly Bill 1825, passed on Sept. 29, 2004, requires universities to only train supervisors every two years, but APU trains all of their employees every two years.

“In addition to holding workshops once a week on campus, we will be offering an online option that should be available within a month, for faculty and staff that are unable to attend in person,” Harper said.

The rise in training is not a reflection of a rising problem with sexual harassment on campus, he says, but simply an effort to comply with the law, and to encourage a healthy work environment.

The course covers basics such as the definition of sexual harassment, and describes prevention measures, as well as the proper way for managers and supervisors to handle a potential incident.

While faculty and staff are instructed to report an incident to human resources, students should report any incident to Student Life, or the University Counseling Center. Students can find guidelines in the student handbook regarding reporting an incident.

“There have been cases of sexual harassment on campus, but they have been few and far between,” Associate Vice President for Student Life Willie Hamlett said. “Being a Christian organization doesn’t mean we are exempt. We are dealing with people.”

A situation has to have two components to qualify as sexual harassment, according to Harper. First, it must include unwanted sexual advances, comments, gestures, etc. Secondly, it has to affect the person’s job performance or work environment. Behavior that qualifies as harassment can range from physical, to verbal, to things like computer displays.

“I found the workshop helpful”, attendee of Friday’s training Carissa Warford said.

Intent is not relevant when determining if a case is harassment, according to the APU guidebook for faculty and staff. What matters is the effect on the victim. Also, the victim isn’t necessarily the intended target of the harassment, the guidebook states. While harassment often involves a separation in power levels, it can occur between employees of any level.

Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits sex discrimination in employment, and harassment in the workplace. Sexual harassment is categorized in two types, by law, Quid Pro Quo, which states the responsibility of the employer for a manager’s actions, and Hostile Work Environment, which describes an employer’s responsibility for the work environment created by other employees. An employer can even be responsible for harassment that occurred from a non-employee to an employee, if a supervisor knew about it, and failed to take appropriate action.