Addressing All Forms of Harassment

An Effort to Address all Forms of Harassment

The USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work is committed to promoting equity and providing a supportive and protective environment for its students, staff and faculty.

Provost Michael Quick has provided leadership and fresh ground for change by calling on schools across the university to address abuse of power. Our school is united in our expectation that students, faculty and staff should be protected, and feel protected, in their work at this university and in the community.

We all share a responsibility to report any observed, overheard or directly experienced incidents of abuse of power or harassment.

A New Task Force

In an effort to address harassment and abuse of power, the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work established the Sexual Harassment Task Force in the fall of 2017.

The Task Force was comprised of faculty, students, staff, and alumni representatives. The Task Force was not an investigative body and did not examine any specific instances of reported or alleged sexual misconduct or harassment. Instead, the Task Force was charged specifically with developing recommendations on practices and policies to create an environment that is supportive and protective of the academic, career, and employment pursuits of students, staff, faculty, and alumni.

The Task Force was established as a subcommittee of Faculty Council, the school’s most important advisory body. Faculty Council ensured that the Task Force had the school’s support and resources necessary to carry out its charge by providing broad parameters and minimal restrictions.

The Task Force was co-chaired by faculty members María P. Aranda and Devon Brooks and comprised of a steering committee and three work groups: the Environment and Culture Work Group, Policy Work Group, and Assessment Work Group.

• The Steering Committee was responsible for planning and coordinating Task Force activities and for serving as a liaison between the workgroups and the Task Force co-chairs.
• The Environmental Culture Work Group examined how the school can create and maintain an environment that is supportive and protective of the academic and professional pursuits of the school’s constituencies.
• The Policy Work Group reviewed organizational and professional policies, standards, practices, infrastructure, and mechanisms that address sexual misconduct and harassment.
• The Assessment Work Group reviewed and developed, as needed, an assessment instrument to measure and assess the existence of and approaches to dealing with sexual harassment and misconduct.

Guiding Principles and Values

The safety and well-being of the school’s constituents, the importance of openness, and the need to develop a shared sense of responsibility and community in addressing sexual harassment, were the core principles and values that guided the Task Force’s final report. The report was published and distributed to the school’s constituencies in August 2018.

Resources For Students, Staff and Faculty
The USC Office of Equity and Diversity is responsible for investigating protected class misconduct involving students, staff and faculty at USC.

If you feel you have been harassed or discriminated against because of your membership in a protected class (such as sex, race, gender, sexual identity, military status, marital status, age, national origin, or religion), please contact the OED office: Call: 213 740.5086 at UPC or 323 442.2020 at HSC, email: oed@usc.edu

Additional support for students and faculty can be found here:

Students
Office of Student Life and Wellness: 213 821.5604
Dr. Danny Hernandez
USC Support and Advocacy Team: 213 821.4710
Student Counseling Services: 213 740.7711
Perspectives: 800 456.6327
24/7 service available free of charge to all online students

Staff and Faculty
USC Support and Advocacy Team: 213 821.4710
USC Center for Work and Life: 213 821.0800

Reporting an Incident
Any instance of harassment is unacceptable and will not be tolerated by the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. We will always encourage and support those who report such behaviors. If you or someone you know has been a victim of any form of harassment, you are urged to report it to the Office of Equity and Diversity (OED), which is responsible for investigating these incidents. For more information on how to file a report and what the process is for investigation and resolution visit the OED website.

Student Org: Stepping Up, Taking Action
Student Org has created an online forum for students to participate in the conversation on harassment. The site will allow students to share their thoughts about the current situation anonymously.