Efforts to Combat Sexual Harassment Gain Momentum
In the past month, the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and American Association for the Advancement of Science have all announced new initiatives to combat sexual harassment in science. While these latest actions vary in their scope, all three institutions have indicated they regard the moves as a prelude for more actions to come.
Pressure to deal effectively with sexual harassment in science has now been building for about three years. However, momentum for action has begun to build in earnest over the past year, catalyzed by the release of a landmark National Academies report
NSF implements new harassment reporting requirements
NSF has been at the forefront of federal agencies in using funding as leverage to combat sexual harassment. In February, the agency released an initial draft
On Sept. 21, NSF released the final policy
The policy does not require institutions to report the initiation of investigations into harassment complaints. However, NSF has also launched a website
Based on information reported to NSF, the agency may “initiate the substitution or removal of the PI or any co-PI, reduce the award funding amount, or where neither of those previous options is available or adequate, to suspend or terminate the award.” Explaining the underlying rationale for not automatically revoking grants, NSF Director France Córdova said
This new policy is intended to provide targeted, serious consequences for harassers. It gives people tools to make harassment stop without disturbing others’ careers and lives.
NSF is committed to ensuring the safety and security of the people our awards support. When that safety is endangered through the actions of someone associated with an NSF award, the foundation will work to replace that person while preserving support for responsible members of the community.
The new policy complements existing Title IX requirements
NIH under pressure to take further action
On Sept. 17, the National Institutes of Health announced
However, NIH has garnered
In an August letter
In a statement
Calls for cross-government harassment policy increasing
Increasingly, there are calls from within the government to coordinate across agencies to implement more systematic sexual harassment policies. Collins said he plans to ask the National Science and Technology Council’s Committee on Science, which he co-chairs with Córdova, to consider “uniform measures that would be most effective in changing the pervasive culture of sexual harassment in science.”
Kelvin Droegemeier, the nominee to direct the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said at his confirmation hearing
In Congress, the House Science Committee has also spotlighted
“No taxpayer dollars should be awarded to a researcher who engages in harassment and inappropriate behavior toward a colleague or a student under their charge,” Committee Chair Lamar Smith (R-TX) said
Meanwhile, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) has indicated she plans to reintroduce legislation
“While women are being driven out of STEM fields, perpetrators are awarded for their behavior by continuing to receive millions of dollars in federal funding,” Speier said in a statement to FYI. “Taxpayers have no interest in rewarding sexual harassers with taxpayer-funded grants. Congress must act.”
Scientific societies mobilizing to address harassment
On Sept. 15, the American Association for the Advancement of Science announced
The new policy applies to “cases of proven scientific misconduct, serious breaches of professional ethics, or when the Fellow in the view of AAAS otherwise no longer merits the status of Fellow.” It specifies that breaches of professional ethics encompass sexual misconduct and harassment and racial discrimination.
“Harassment has no place in science,” said AAAS President Margaret Hamburg in a statement on the policy, adding,
We need effective and responsive policies in academic departments and institutions, scientific societies, and government agencies that define expectations of behavior and provide clear reporting processes, as well as consequences for violations.
Some societies, such as the American Geophysical Union and American Astronomical Society, have also implemented new policies to combat sexual harassment. And many societies are under increasing pressure to strengthen their response to the problem, including by withdrawing any honorific status or awards they have given to perpetrators.
For instance, the National Academies has been petitioned
On Oct. 1, leaders from dozens of scientific societies, including AIP, convened