Two students, junior Keith Duvall and senior Noelle Matteson, spoke with the Pilot and shared their individual experiences with reporting cases of harassment, as well as their common concern that it is too often left up to the student filing a harassment complaint to make sure his or her case progresses.

Last year, Matteson called then-Dean of Students Chestnut Booth for help after a male student trapped her in a room with the lights off and would not allow her to leave. Matteson said that she knew of at least two other female students who had reported this student in the past, but suggested that those previous reports were “obviously not effective.”

Booth, Matteson, and the student Matteson reported, who must remain anonymous for legal reasons, sat down together to talk through the incident. Booth offered to metaphysically support the accused student in the aftermath of the incident. Matteson said that she felt as if she deserved a similar level of support after the ordeal she had been through. She added that Booth did email one of her professors after the incident so that Matteson could have an extension, but only after Matteson asked her to do so. 

According to Matteson, Booth asked her if she wanted the student who had harassed her to lose his on-campus job or to be kept from graduating. “I didn’t want [the choice] to be all my responsibility,” said Matteson.

Duvall began to feel “targeted by sexual harassment” during winter quarter of his freshman year when he received a series of “inappropriate phone calls.” After speaking with his Resident Counselor, Duvall was referred to Katherine Milner, who was head of Human Resources at the time. Duvall said he was able to initiate a conversation with Milner several days after calling her, but “because [he] couldn’t point a finger [at the perpetrator], there was no way to move forward [with the case].” 

Duvall said he felt that the people he told about his situation were “not proactive” in supporting him or helping him through the process. Duvall added that he had difficulty arranging meetings with the right people. The unwanted phone calls continued throughout Duvall’s freshman year, but because he had no reason to suspect anyone in particular, his case could not move forward. He said, “I felt as if I couldn’t ensure my own safety.”

Duvall received additional inappropriate phone calls, including homophobic slurs directed at him, this quarter. This time, Duvall forwarded his phone line to the gatehouse so that a security guard could trace the calls back to a student. However, even though Duvall could name the person harassing him, he was still unable to get the help he wanted. Duvall said, “It was clear that I had been harassed. But because they could not [directly] confirm anything of a sexual nature, they couldn’t take disciplinary action.” 

Matteson also shared that a few of her friends have experienced instances of harassment and that many of them believe the issue is often “swept under the rug” at Principia. Current Dean of Students Dorsie Glen responded to this perception by saying that students may not like the harassment reporting process because they do not agree with the outcome of their cases. In contrast, Booth said, “I have been very grateful for the number of times that these cases have resulted in real growth.” 

When coming forward with an instance of harassment of any kind, students are asked whether they would like to file an informal or formal complaint. Although a student cannot be forced to take action against his or her harasser, filing a complaint is always helpful. Glen explained, “If you don’t file a complaint [about harassment] and it happens to someone else, you might have been able to prevent it.” 

However, Matteson said that she was never referred to Human Resources to report her incident and added, “I don’t think [Booth] ever offered to take the legal route.” 

An informal complaint might take the form of a letter or a conversation between the harassed and the harasser, whereas a formal complaint requires the harassed student to write a report about the specific incident concerned. Milner said that when a formal complaint of harassment was filed, she would “drop everything” for 24 to 48 hours in order to “do the fact-finding to make sure everything jived.” In some cases, a professional fact finder is brought in from off campus to look into a case. 

The data collected during the fact-finding process makes its way to Principia’s Legal Counsel, Phil Riley. Riley’s job is to determine whether the instance reported is a violation of Principia’s code of conduct, not whether the incident qualifies as a breach of federal law. 

According to Riley, if a case is investigated for evidence of sexual harassment and information is discovered during the fact finding process that suggests the reported student broke another facet of Principia’s code of conduct, that information cannot be used against that student. Hypothetically, if legal counsel determines that a student did not violate Principia’s harassment policy but also discovers that the student was drunk at the time of the reported incident, that student cannot be punished for drinking because alcohol use was not the behavior called into question in the first place. 

Riley said that after ten years in the Office of Legal Counsel, 98% of the cases he has handled have been related to what students considered sexual harassment. According to Riley, over 90% of those cases have not qualified as sexual harassment according to Prin policy. Duvall’s case falls under this category.

Matteson said, “[we have an] old-fashioned idea of what sexual harassment is. People should be free to report any kind of harassment.”

Both Matteson and Duvall also shared that they initially did not know who to talk to in order to report instances of harassment. Currently, Beth Williams in Human Resources is the primary contact for harassment cases. Now that Williams is on maternity leave, Liisa Hilbert on the St. Louis campus has taken over Williams’ responsibilities as the contact for issues of harassment. 

Milner, who handled sexual harassment cases for 16 years before her resignation in July of 2008, used to ask students what role they wanted her to play in their individual cases. Milner said that she would never take any steps without the student’s consent. She commented that the process is “very thorough, [but] it is misunderstood sometimes.” 

Although Milner said she always did her best to stay close to students and keep them informed throughout the process, Duvall commented, “Being harassed makes you feel alone.” 

Because harassment cases of any kind have legal implications, the details of these cases are typically kept confidential. Glen said, “Sometimes it’s just so confidential that it might seem as if it’s been forgotten.” To address this, Duvall said that there should be “more transparency with the case.” He added, “We’re so concerned about keeping [a case] private, we’re making it hard to see when a student needs help.”

Even after Matteson’s case was given attention, she continued to experience difficulties with the student she had filed her complaint against. Matteson said that the student “knew how far to push the limits” and would “accidentally” bump into her or kick her even though he was supposed to keep his distance. Both Matteson and Duvall felt as though their cases were still unresolved when discussions formally came to a close.

In contrast, Riley said that it is a goal of the harassment reporting process to avoid “awkward” encounters between the student who filed a complaint and the student against whom the complaint was filed after the grievance is handled. 

Although the student Matteson reported last year was not permitted to graduate, Matteson said it was unclear whether this was because of his tendency toward harassment or his failing grades. 

Milner said that the severity of a harassment case has something to do with whether or not a student is expelled. In some instances, students accused of harassing their peers have been suspended but eventually return to campus. Milner said that students are often readmitted because “we do want to keep the door open for healing.” 

Matteson said plainly, “If they are not healed, they should not be on campus.”

Milner stressed the idea that “everybody needs to get on the same page” when it comes to handling sexual and other forms of harassment. 

Both Duvall and Matteson said that students need to know who they can talk to if they have a specific complaint and also that students need to feel adequately supported by the people handling each complaint. Glen said simply, “I hope they talk to the people that can change the process.”