Students' proposals for combating sexual harassment in universities

The scandal related to the extra-didactic activity of some native university professors caused waves of reactions. The National Alliance of Student Organizations in Romania (ANOSR) submitted to the Ministry of Education a series of proposals to amend the legislation to prevent and combat sexual harassment in universities. According to ANOSR: "The national legislative framework must provide comprehensive definitions and specific mechanisms to be able to reduce the possibility of other cases of harassment and psychological violence occurring at the level of higher education. (...) At the level of Law no. 199/2023, ANOSR requests the modification of the definition of sexual harassment, in order to eliminate the need for the repetitive character of an act in order for it to be considered sexual harassment and to express the specifics of acts of sexual harassment in the academic environment, framed separately from the offense of sexual harassment provided for in the Criminal Code" . ANOSR submitted the following proposals regarding the Code-framework of university ethics and deontology: "regulating the need for higher education institutions to actively implement specific policies, distinct measures and concrete mechanisms to combat and prevent harassment, including sexual; introducing definitions of harassment, sexual harassment and gender discrimination; ensuring the possibility for all members of the university community to submit reports to the Ethics Commission, in online format; the introduction of the possibility for members of the university community to file complaints regarding ethical and academic integrity violations committed against other people; protecting the members of the university community who report ethical violations, in order to avoid the appearance of unfavorable consequences on them; the regulation of the admissibility of anonymous reports regarding violations of university ethics and deontology; prioritizing the resolution of complaints aimed at the safety and dignity of members of the university community, as well as those aimed at representatives from the management of the higher education institution".

According to ANOSR, the possibility of self-reporting to the Ethics Commission at the level of the higher education institution and the initiation of research procedures by it should be regulated. Also, in the opinion of the federation, the Ethics Commission should be able to suspend a member of the university community from supporting teaching activities during the investigation of the fact, if a report has been submitted regarding the commission of an act of harassment, violence or aggression . ANOSR also supports the regulation of the obligation of teaching, auxiliary and research staff to report to the Ethics Commission all violations of which they are aware and which aim at discrimination or harassment of a student, with the consent of the injured person, and the inclusion of specific provisions that define the actions of harassment and abuse of authority as ethical violations. Among the ANOSR proposals are the regulation of specific sanctions for violations that consist of acts of sexual harassment, the regulation of the sanctioning of members of the university community who help the perpetrator in order to hide the acts of harassment or of people who occupy management positions with responsibilities in combating acts of harassment and not fulfill their obligations in this regard, as well as the regulation of the obligation of higher education institutions to provide psychological counseling and other forms of support for victims of abuse or harassment. Introducing the responsibility of higher education institutions to implement distinct mechanisms regarding the protection and support of victims of abuse or harassment, including of a sexual nature, is another proposal of ANOSR.