Ombudsperson's report notes a rise in incivility

Maile Sagen	Bernard Sorofman

"We need to do a better job of communicating our expectations for classroom and workplace behavior," said Maile Sagen, University ombudsperson. "Our deans, directors, department heads, and supervisors need better training in how to handle incidents of inappropriate behavior. They should know that they don’t have to handle it alone."

University officials say they are aware of the problem and have been diligently working on it. Several training sessions for employees and supervisors were offered over the past year, and additional programs are scheduled for the fall.

The provost’s office is planning a September workshop on civility issues for departmental executive officers, which will cover the variety of campus resources—from counseling services to public safety—that can be of assistance in dealing with inappropriate behavior.

Over the past year, the Office of Human Resources and Work-Life have offered a series of workshops through the Integrated Employee Assistance Program and the Management Series 2000 program.

For the coming year, the WorkLife office will conduct additional training for supervisors on creating respectful workplaces.

The ombudsperson’s report also suggests that the University develop an ethics statement for staff members, similar to the one in place for faculty, which outlines expectations of civil behavior as well as a grievance process when those expectations are not met.

"We need to do more to get the word out that we’re not going to tolerate this behavior," Sagen said. "People should be told right away if something they’re doing is unacceptable so the behavior can change immediately. Our concern is that not only are reports of verbal conflicts up in each constituent group, it is going beyond verbal to physical aggression."

Nearly a third of all complaints to the office in the last year from faculty, staff, and students were related to issues of incivility, including 11 reports of physical and/or verbal abuse, the report indicates. The report goes so far as to say that this incivility rises to the level of harassment.

"While there are many definitions of workplace harassment, we would define it as any form of offensive treatment or behavior which creates an intimidating, hostile, or abusive work environment," the report states. "It can be verbal or physical behavior which is disrespectful, disparaging, threatening, abusive, or violent. We suggest that the University consider adopting such a definition and that an effective complaint procedure be in place for those...who believe they have been victims of such conduct."

Sagen said the increased use of e-mail might be contributing to incivility on campus because people will say things in e-mail that they would never say face to face. But there is plenty of in-person incivility as well, she said, so e-mail is not entirely to blame.

Another culprit may be academic stress, Sagen said. In many cases, students cite the pressure to earn top grades, and faculty members cite pressure to win grants, publish research, and earn tenure when describing incidents of unacceptable behavior.

For 1999-2000, the office reported 331 new cases, down one from the previous year. The last year saw a significant increase in staff complaints, a comparable decrease in student complaints, and roughly the same number of faculty complaints as compared with the 1998-99 report.

Overall, the office handled 103 complaints from students, 171 staff complaints, 50 faculty complaints, and seven other complaints that were either anonymous or outside the University.

President Coleman appoints University ombudspersons. Sagen serves as the staff ombudsperson, and Bernard Sorofman, an associate professor of pharmacy, serves as faculty ombudsperson.

The full text of the report is available on-line at www.uiowa.edu/~ooombuds/.

Article by Steve Parrott

[ return to top ] [ home ]