Procedures for Reporting Harassment and/or Abusive Conduct for Students
Please use the Reporting Process under the Sexual Misconduct and Interpersonal Violence Policy and Complaint Procedure (http://huc.edu/equity-inclusion/what-our-policy).
Investigating Claims of Harassment or Abusive Conduct
Once a report under this Policy has been made, an investigative team of no fewer than two persons will talk with all parties, individuals named by the complainant and by the respondent and anyone else whom the investigators deem appropriate. Prior to commencing the investigation, the investigators will obtain from the complainant and respondent a signed agreement to participate in the process. Refusal by a party to participate in the process may impede the investigation and, where appropriate, result in disciplinary action.
After obtaining the agreements to participate, the investigators will give the respondent a copy of the complaint. The respondent must provide the investigators with a written response within five days. A copy of the response will be given to the complainant upon receipt by the investigators. The investigators will then commence interviews. Any written material provided by one party to the investigator during the investigation must be shared by the investigators with the other party unless doing so would adversely affect someone in the community.
The investigators will conduct a thorough, impartial, and timely investigation. The privacy of the parties will be respected to the fullest extent possible. Information will be given to individuals other than the parties only on a “need to know basis” for purposes of the investigation, resolution, or legal compliance.
Upon completion of the investigation, the investigators will prepare a report. It will note who was interviewed and any additional forms of information obtained. A summary of interviews will be included along with any relevant documents. The report, along with the original complaint and response, will be sent to the Grievance Review Panel. The purpose of the Grievance Review Panel is to review the investigative report and listen to each party and determine the outcome.
Grievance Review Panel Process
The Grievance Review Panel, not the complainant or respondent, has the burden of proof. The Panel constructs the proof from the material it assembles - primarily through the investigators. The Panel determines what evidence is relevant and what witnesses, other than the complainant and respondent, will be heard. The task of each party is to state clearly how the evidence relates to the allegations. The Panel may ask the investigators to provide additional materials prior to the hearing.
Once the Panel has met initially and reviewed the investigators’ materials, the materials to be used or referenced in the hearing will be given to both parties, unless doing so will seriously adversely affect any member of the College-Institute community. Any materials given to one party must be given to the other.
Both parties will receive at least one week’s advance written notice of the time and place of the hearing. The investigators will attend the hearing and deliberations as resource persons but will not participate in questioning any witnesses or vote on findings or sanctions.
Each party speaks individually with the Panel. The other party is not present. The party may be accompanied by and confer with a support person of his or her choosing, including legal counsel, but only the party is allowed to speak directly to the Panel. The College-Institute may also invite its legal counsel as a non-speaking participant. The Panel will hear the complainant first. It may hear any other witnesses and the respondent in whatever order it determines. The Panel may re-interview a party if it determines it necessary for clarification.
The Panel will explain its process to each party and give each party an opportunity to make brief opening and closing statements. The Panel will devote the remainder of the time to asking questions to clarify the written materials, witness testimony or any other relevant issues it elects to address.
The Panel will reach its decision based on a preponderance of the evidence. This is a qualitative not a quantitative standard and means: “whether or not it is more likely than not that a violation of the harassment policy occurred.”
The Panel will keep official minutes of the hearing and provide a written summary of its deliberations. The official minutes and summary are available to both parties. Generally, the minutes will name witnesses interviewed in the hearing and the deliberation’s summary will reflect the materials considered. If either adversely affects anyone, names will be removed from the copies given the parties. The personal notes of Panel members shall not be available and will be destroyed at the end of the process, to the degree legally permissible.
In deliberations, the Grievance Review Panel shall attempt to reach a consensus. If consensus cannot be reached, a vote shall be taken. All decisions of the Panel shall be made by a majority. When the Panel is not unanimous in its findings or sanctions, the deliberation’s summary shall record both majority and minority opinions. The summary shall be signed by all members of the Panel. In the summary there will be no recording of the negative or affirmative votes of any individual members of the Panel.
No later than two weeks after the hearing concludes, the Panel shall send to the complainant and to the respondent a copy of the minutes of the hearing and the summary of the deliberations. The deliberation’s summary will note the sanction(s) to be imposed, if any. The minutes and summary shall also be sent to the Dean of the campus, the Provost, the President, and the College’s Counsel.
Formal Sanctions
When the finding is that a violation of this Policy has occurred, sanctions shall be imposed upon the offender. If there are previous incidents on file in the Dean’s office involving the offender, those may be shared with the Panel after their finding has been reached, but before sanctions are imposed.
Possible sanctions upon faculty, administration and staff may include, but not be limited to:
- Training
- Verbal warning
- Letter of warning or reprimand, and a copy of the corrective action placed in the personnel file of the offender
- Prohibition to participate in grading, recommendations, reappointment, and promotion decisions or other evaluations concerning the complainant
- Denial of access to College-Institute resources, such as travel/research funds or merit or cost of living salary increases for a specific period
- Suspension without pay for a specific period
- Dismissal from the College-Institute in accordance with the established procedures Retaliation
Retaliation is action against anyone who makes a complaint of conduct prohibited by this policy or anyone who cooperates in the investigation of a complaint of conduct prohibited by this policy that will have the effect of discouraging a reasonable person from making such a complaint or cooperating in a complaint’s investigation. The exercise of rights protected under the First Amendment does not constitute prohibited retaliation nor does charging an individual with a Code of Conduct violation for making a materially false statement in bad faith in the course of a grievance proceeding provided that a determination regarding responsibility, alone, is not sufficient to conclude that any party made a materially false statement in bad faith.
A complainant whose allegations are found to be both demonstrably false and brought with malicious intent will be subject to disciplinary action which may include, but is not limited to, written warning, demotion, transfer, suspension, dismissal, expulsion or termination.
Any act of retaliation is a violation of this policy and will be investigated and adjudicated accordingly. If a student or employee believes he or she has been retaliated against under these circumstances or observes or is aware of such retaliation, he or she must immediately report this to his or her supervisor, the Dean, the National Director of Human Resources or, in the case of students, to Rabbi Andrew Goodman, Director of Student Support, (212) 824-2260.
Record and Monitoring
The record of all formal grievance procedures and any appeals shall be placed in locked files in the offices of the President and the Director of Human Resources. All other copies will be destroyed except a notation of the file’s existence will be kept in the Dean’s office of the campus where the complainant and respondent are located. The record will include the written complaint and response, a copy of the policies and procedures in place at the time of the event, the minutes of the proceedings and the statement of finding and deliberations summary and any sanction(s).
Access to the record will only be by order of legal process or at the discretion of the President and/or Human Resources Director.
Except as otherwise prohibited by law, (1) requests for access by a certifying or licensing body or Jewish professional association responsible for either party will be given substantial deference and generally be permitted; and (2) if there is a finding that a policy violation has occurred, the Provost shall report the finding to the Placement Director of the Jewish professional association responsible for the offender.
Misconduct by Those External to the Community
The College-Institute will also take prompt remedial action to address perceived violations of this Policy by a vendor, visitor, customer or external third party with whom it has dealings.
The reporting procedures above will apply, although the investigative and adjudicative processes may differ.
Title IX Application
This policy against unlawful harassment applies to protected statuses other than sex. When the protected status at issue is sex, both this policy and the Sexual Misconduct Policy may apply. In that event, the procedures set forth under the Sexual Misconduct Policy, consistent with Title IX’s requirements, will take precedence.