Answer

Discrimination and Harassment Laws and Policies in Education Setting

Harassment is a direct form of discrimination involving use of verbal or unwanted physical behavior that offends or humiliates a person, and which can persist for a long period of time. Such incidences occur when one is humiliated on the basis of sex, religion, race, age or physical disability. Assault can also be considered a form of discrimination through patting, punching or unwelcome touch. This research paper presents a summary of a real-life case of discrimination involving an educator in education setting, a comparison of laws and policies governing discrimination and harassment within my own education setting, as well as a set of strategies for mitigating discrimination and harassment in my faculty.

Summary of a Real-Life Case of Harassment

This is a Sexual Harassment case in an educational setting whose decision was made by a Labor Arbitration Committee under labor arbitration case in University McGill c. Margolis 1994 Can LII 2191 (QC A.G.) (Labor Arbitration). The committee made a decision to suspend a certain professor on allegations relating to sexual harassment. The professor was to face two months minus pay penalty for sexually harassing the university’s doctoral student. The university’s decision on suspension was, however, challenged, forcing the entire issue to be presented before a labor arbitration tribunal. According to the presented case, the professor had kissed the doctoral student’s lips twice without her consent, an incident that occurred during a lunch period on one of the fine days. Later on, the very day, the professor further made an attempt of kissing the student after he had dropped her home in his car.

The student, however, protested and used various approaches to warn the professor on his consistent unwelcome moves, which he denied claiming he had not done anything wrong. On a certain meeting in his office, the professor went further and embraced the student without first seeking her permission. She, therefore, decided to file a sexual harassment complaint case concerning the professor’s behavior. The complaint was assessed by a university’s assessor who then recommended for an immediate disciplinary action by Labor Arbitration Committee against the alleged professor, resulting into a two months suspension minus salary. 

Laws and Policies governing discrimination and harassment

The Equal Opportunity (EO) Act is a law governing against discriminating people basing on a number of protected attributes like race, marital status, impairment and disability, gender identity, religion and beliefs, career status, political beliefs, physical feature or sexual orientation. They comprise personal associations portrayed by people and, therefore, it is unlawful to sexually discriminate someone.

Equal Opportunity legislations at the Commonwealth level include the Racial Discrimination Act of 1975, the Disability Discrimination Act of 1992, the Sex Discrimination Act of 1994 and the Age Discrimination Act of 2004. They all cover areas of both direct and indirect discrimination. In Victoria legislation, the only law that makes it unaccepted to discriminate others is Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic) (EO Act 2010).  

Equal Opportunity policies provide procedures and practices for ensuring discrimination is prevented and people have equal access to different opportunities in any organization. The policy also ensures limited racial and sex harassments in work places and learning institutions by ensuring employment decisions are made with regards to employment merit. Equal Opportunity policy within departments ensures compliance to set legal procedures alongside quality management. The department upholds core values on diversification and principles of respect hence translating organizations into safer working regions. It ensures integration of practices into appropriate strategic plans and application of proactive approaches in upholding organizational improvements. The explanations ere lean towards work/employment setting. Please stick to education setting as required. It would be better.

The Civil Act of 1964 in the United States rendered discrimination and harassment completely illegal in institutions by building several regulatory bodies and guidelines to govern against sexual harassment. According to the federal laws operating against sexual harassment, victims are allowed to sue for damages as per the 1991 amendment to Title VII of the Act. All employees, parents, contractors, students or volunteers are expected to work in accordance to anti-discrimination, vilification legislation, sexual harassment and compliance to law. 

Other related laws are the Charter of Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001 (Vic) and the Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic). They give Victorian Equal Opportunity Commission the ability to investigate systemic forms of discrimination that might entrench and affect institutional behavioral patterns affecting a significant group of people for eliminating all forms of discrimination. Stick to students

These laws and policies were located from Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Race, Color and Sexual Discrimination (as cited in the references body).  Aren’t there laws and policies sources say from education acts or something related to education and learning institutions???? The commission is committed towards development of a diverse workforce that ensures all operational departments are free of harassment and discrimination by offering equal opportunities to employers.

Comparisons of the Policies with the Policies in my District, Gaps and Compatibility Concerns

These policies are compatible with the policies set in my district of educational setting since they both provide legislative opportunities for lodging all relevant complaints to the appropriate departments by both students and professors. They also conduct investigations to scrutinize cases relating to discrimination for shaping and entrenching people’s behavioral patterns (MacKinnon, 2015). They also identify and eliminate systemic causes of discrimination. However, there exist a number of gaps since some institutions in my district pay little attention to equal opportunity policies and discriminate some workers basing on personal characteristics which affect job performance. You are examining, for your case, harassment, and sexual harassment at that. The gaps you are to examine are thus between the ones you have researched and those of your own institution. AVOID EMPLOYMENT DISCRINATION OR HARASSMENT. Others are denied chances of free participation in areas of public life while accessing provisional goods and services, hence breaching them. These are institutional gaps which I must consider as a leader in education system.

How the gaps identified may be closed

Students and employees (you mean university staffs/ lectures/professors????) will be advised to air out all complaints concerning academic progress and operational settings which involve sexual harassment and discriminatory cases. The institution will also establish internal grievances and procedures for addressing concerns on discrimination and ensure people comply with set policies (Strunk et al., 2014). Advancement of university missions through genuine diversification and devoting significant resources to ensure closure of mentorship gap.  I will also consider implementation and designing of systematic programs for connecting underrepresented colleagues (you mean fellow students???) with mentors willing to operate on a voluntary basis. Committing all higher education institutions to mentorship programs and assigning disable students to proper academic accommodation by notifying officials of disability resources will enhance improvement of interpersonal relationship among people and reduce harassment cases (MacKinnon, 2015). Finally, the gap can also be brought to a closure only if universities provide their students with quality support by creating cultural awareness on the idea that implicit bias are barriers to successful cross gender and cross racial relationships.

How I would address the educator and media as a Principal

As a principal of the institution, I would first hear the presented evidence then consider the student’s version of story too before determining its credibility. Basing on the fact that the professor denied facts which afterwards was contradicted by evidence in paper and tape recording means he was guilty of the misconduct and has to suffer the repercussions. 

I will make a conclusion that the professor’s actions towards the student were completely unwelcome, offensive to the institutional rules, inappropriate, unjustified and disconcerting to the University’s Code of Ethics. His case will, therefore, be presented before the committee for a further hearing before it gives a verdict on the same. I will ensure faces a suspension period for violating the University’s provisions of Sexual Harassment Policy, and failing to correct the misbehavior he created without recognizing that it was an offensive practice. After his suspension period, I will consistently monitor his behavioral patterns to ascertain whether he is fit for handing other students or not.

In the case of media, this case will be presented for reasons of warning other people with similar misbehavior on the consequences that come with it. I will also ensure they address need for complying with an institutions’ code of ethics to reduce the rate of discrimination and harassments in educational setting.

Strategies to Mitigate Future Occurrences among my Faculty.

Regular provision of information on harassment to staff through data circulation, guidance and open forms of communication. This will remove taboo of silence on cases involving sexual harassment and equip people with coping mechanisms through staff development of aggressive programs on sexual harassment at work.

Development of anti-harassment policies among managers and other union representatives and clearly communicating them to employees. This will ensure bot students and staffs act responsibly and ethically for a discrimination and harassment free learning environment. Ensuring all staff understand policy procedures to eliminate any form of harassment through proper training, education, and ensuring the policies favor everyone (Strunk et al., 2014). Promptly investigating harassment complaints and granting appropriate discipline to offenders ensures elimination of discriminatory forms at work sites, either made through graffiti, e-mailing or irrelevant posters. The two yellow sentences appear not logically connected to the rest. Use transition statements for logical connection of points and ideas

Moreover, proper designation of mentoring programs will ensure development of quality interactions to enhance achievement of goals and functions. This can be enhanced through frequent revision of policies and related mentoring programs which provide effective mechanism for addressing all forms of sexual harassment in a confidential and sensitive way (Strunk et al., 2014). Finally, proper structuring and implementation of plans eliminates all inappropriate forms of conduct before creating problems among individual institutional employees.

Check your references also. EMPLOYMENT laws and policies are dominant. When you are examining a learning institution, EDUCATIONS Acts laws and policies are conspicuously missing in your paper. Endeavor to include. It would be proper and logical don’t you think?