Please
view the revised Discriminatory and
Sexual Harassment Policy and Procedures (effective 4/6/09).
The Committee
on Discriminatory and Sexual Harassment (CDSH), comprised of faculty, students,
staff and administrators, meets on a regular basis to assess the adequacy of the
College's discriminatory and sexual harassment policies and procedures, to develop
educational strategies for the promotion of the Statement
of Community, and to help each other further develop the skills, insights
and understandings necessary for effective informal complaint resolution.
The CDSH itself does not serve as a judicial review board; its function is
educational and facilitative. Its members also serve individually as resources
for the informal resolution of complaints, and receive appropriate training in
informal complaint resolution. Members of the Allegheny College community who
believe they have been victims of harassment are encouraged to seek assistance
from a member of the CDSH, and to do so within a reasonably short time-frame.
Statement of Community
The kind of learning
community that Allegheny College seeks to foster refuses to tolerate racism, sexism,
religious bigotry and other forms of discrimination precisely because we strive
to sustain an ongoing dialogue among all who live, work and study here. As an
educational institution, Allegheny is dedicated to furthering the potential of
each member of its community, upholding learning as both an intellectual and a
personal journey to states of heightened sensitivity, understanding, and acceptance
of individual and group differences.
Through education and a willingness to
confront and respond to all forms of group hatred, Allegheny seeks to create a
college campus where the academic or work performance of students, faculty, administrators
and staff is not hampered by an intimidating, hostile or offensive situation or
environment. The kind of college we envision both appreciates and celebrates individual
difference even as it supports pursuit of a deeper understanding of what it means
to be human -- those things which provide the foundation for the multiracial,
multicultural community we wish to be.
Hence, Allegheny reaffirms its central
commitment to the principles of freedom of speech and freedom of inquiry. We also
declare that the legitimate exercise of these freedoms does not include the right
to curtail the freedom of others to participate in a shared learning experience
or the right to engage in abusive behavior toward others. This Harassment Policy
commits Allegheny to the self-education necessary for a more understanding community,
to a process for the informal resolution of complaints, and to a process for the
formal resolution of complaints which cannot be handled informally.
Contact
us: justice@allegheny.edu
