{"id":43299,"date":"2018-03-23T13:53:09","date_gmt":"2018-03-23T17:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/?p=43299"},"modified":"2018-03-23T13:53:09","modified_gmt":"2018-03-23T17:53:09","slug":"harvard-to-let-students-report-instructors-for-making-them-uncomfortable-saying-offensive-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/harvard-to-let-students-report-instructors-for-making-them-uncomfortable-saying-offensive-things\/","title":{"rendered":"Harvard to let students report instructors for making them ‘uncomfortable,’ saying ‘offensive’ things"},"content":{"rendered":"

Should be intentionally ‘low threshold’ to meet<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Harvard is already penalizing students who belong to gender-affinity groups<\/a> and a Christian student club<\/a> that adheres to biblical sexuality.<\/p>\n

Next on its list of enemies: instructors who make students “uncomfortable” or say “offensive” things in class.<\/p>\n

The Harvard Crimson<\/em><\/a> reports administrators are updating the Q guide, through which students evaluate their courses, to go beyond self-reported metrics such as class difficulty, work required and “lecturing acumen.”<\/p>\n

They promised at a town hall meeting for undergraduates Thursday night to add the “uncomfortable” question and something similar to an “offensive” question that’s already available through Harvard’s School of Public Health.<\/p>\n

It’s not clear whether these allegations against professors or instructors – likely to be grad students such as Wilfrid Laurier University’s Lindsay Shepherd, of gender-neutral pronoun debate fame<\/a> – would be tied back to the complainant.<\/p>\n

One administrator seems eager to let students make accusations with no consequences, however:<\/p>\n

Throughout the event Thursday, several attendees said they fear possible academic or career repercussions could deter students from reporting instances of bias or inappropriate conduct on the part of a superior.<\/p>\n

In response, Jennifer L. Hochschild, chair of the Government department, mentioned her department is exploring the idea of an\u00a0\u201celectronic suggestion box\u201d<\/a>\u00a0that would allow students to anonymously report misbehavior. Hochschild first announced the idea of the box in an email sent to Harvard affiliates earlier this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to figure out how to do this right,\u201d Hochschild said. \u201cBut the broad idea is some kind of institutionalized pretty simple mechanism with a very low threshold in which people can anonymously say what\u2019s going wrong, without having personally to come forward.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In other words, a classroom-specific anonymous bias reporting system. Not that like will chill academic freedom.<\/p>\n

MORE<\/strong>: What happens when you encourage students to report being offended<\/a><\/p>\n

Read the article<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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