TJC’s Harassment Prevention Policy

TYLER — The sex abuse scandals at Penn State and Syracuse cause some colleges all over the country re-examining their policies, including campuses here in in East Texas. Tyler Junior College spokesman, Fred Peters, says they were already making sure that any hint of harassment was reported and dealt with quickly. Peters says that TJC has had a Civility Task Force in place for over a year, that meets every week.

But Peters also wonders if the Sandusky story breaking when it did had anything to do with a letter from the government. The letter was sent to all colleges and universities and warned of a renewed effort to make sure Title IX cases of harassment were rooted out. Title IX is the law that deals with gender equity issues we usually associate with women’s athletics. But is also covers harassment. There were over 4000 incidents of sexual harassment reported in universities across the country last year. But with the latest high profile cases, perhaps that number will go down.