About 20 members of the Graduate Employees’ Organization gathered outside the University of Michigan’s Equity, Civil Rights, and Title IX Office Tuesday afternoon to protest the ECRT’s alleged mishandling of reports of sexual misconduct and their refusal to engage in bargaining on the topic.
Tuesday’s rally comes after GEO members voted to walk out of their contract bargaining session with the University on Friday during a discussion of sexual harassment allegations against Professor Robert Stephenson, claiming University officials denied responsibility for the incidents. Stephenson was placed on paid administrative leave on May 11 following over a year of investigation by the ECRT in response to complaints filed by two students. Both students involved in the case expressed concerns surrounding ECRT’s handling of the case and evidence, alleging bias and re-traumatization. Per University policy, the University has not commented on specifics of the Stephenson case, but has said the goal of the Title IX claim process is to provide a “thorough and fair” review.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily before the rally, Rackham student Amir Fleischmann, chair of the GEO Contract Committee, said the goal of the protest was to shed light on patterns of sexual misconduct at the University.
“We’re here today because of the ongoing sexual harassment crisis at this University,” Fleischmann said. “This has been going on for decades now, and what we’ve seen with the latest report of the Stephenson harassment scandal broken by The Michigan Daily is that really nothing has changed.”
Contract negotiations between the University and GEO have been ongoing since November, with GEO’s contract having expired on May 1. Fleischmann said as part of their negotiations with the University, GEO is seeking protections against sexual misconduct, including improved social and financial support for escaping abusive environments.
“What makes this so troubling is that the University’s representatives in human resources are refusing to expand harassment protections to cover all graduate workers at the University,” Fleischmann said. “What we saw in bargaining last Friday was that the University hid behind technicalities to get out of making sure that all graduate workers are protected…. Our workers are being assaulted, and they’re hiding behind technicalities.”
At the rally, GEO President Jared Eno said in an interview with The Daily that the allegations against Stephenson are upsetting, but not surprising given historical instances of sexual misconduct by University officials.
“We’re here because there is a long-standing harassment crisis and a culture of disrespect at the University of Michigan,” Eno said. “It just recently resulted in yet another case of sexual harassment and abuse against a couple of graduate students by Professor Robert Stephenson.”
The event’s first speaker was Bailey Sullivan, co-chair of GEO’s Solidarity and Political Action Committee. Sullivan said GEO decided to hold the rally to express dissatisfaction with the University’s procedures and practices around reports of sexual misconduct.
“We’ve gathered here in front of the building that holds the (ECRT) in protest of two things,” Sullivan said. “One, the University’s mishandling of countless harassment cases through the ECRT, and two, the University’s refusal to meaningfully engage with GEO’s demands for expanded harassment protections for all graduate workers.”
Sullivan said she believes many of the institutions and processes in place to help survivors of misconduct often end up further harming them, citing the experiences of the two students involved in the complaints against Stephenson.
“In a year-long battle, during which the ECRT minimized, mischaracterized and even dismissed the blatant evidence presented by Stephenson survivors, the victims were re-traumatized, forced to live these experiences over and over again in order to prove to the ECRT that they had indeed been victimized,” Sullivan said.
Rackham student Evelyn Smith, lead contract negotiator for GEO, also spoke at Tuesday’s event. In her remarks, Smith detailed the protections GEO is proposing the University include in their contract.
“We’re bargaining for a transitional funding program that would help rebalance the power between grads and their supervisors and would also help grads escape abusive workplace situations,” Smith said. “Our program would give grads the time and the resources they need to find alternative sources of funding, including an alternative advisor if necessary, in the event that they’re experiencing harassment and abuse in their workplace. It would also — and this is very important — give them time to heal.”
To conclude the rally, Sullivan read an anonymous statement written by a survivor of Stephenson’s abuse expressing their frustration with how the University has responded to the allegations
“I was a graduate student when Rob Stephenson began harassing me and ultimately assaulting me,” the statement read. “It’s crystal clear that this University does not care about the safety and well-being of its graduate workers. It does not want its grad students to have any power over the processes meant to protect them. Let’s show the University who has the power.”
Summer Managing News Editor Mary Corey can be reached at mcorey@umich.edu.