Sexual harassment policy to come up for PU syndicate’s nod
The draft policy on sexual harassment defines the responsibilities of the university authorities, including providing a safe environment for women and publicly committing to a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual harassment
Panjab University (PU) syndicate will deliberate on the PU draft policy against sexual harassment in the next syndicate meeting set to be held on September 23.
The draft was readied by the internal complaints committee (ICC) on August 17, after the PU syndicate on July 8 resolved that the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) directions on prevention, prohibition and redress of sexual harassment of women employees and students in higher education institutions be adopted in totality.
The draft policy defines the responsibilities of the university authorities, including providing a safe environment for women and publicly committing to a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual harassment.
The constitution of the ICC is also defined in the policy and the executive authority of PU, which is the PU senate, will have final authority to approve the constitution of the ICC on the recommendation of the syndicate. It will have seven officers of which at least half should be women, including the presiding officer.
As per the defined roles and responsibilities of the ICC, members will have to meet at least once every two months, if there is no active complaint. Different penalties for academic staff, non-teaching staff, students outsiders and service providers have also been listed. The aggrieved complainant will be entitled to payment of compensation, which will be recommended by the ICC and recovered from the offender. Action will be taken in case a false and malicious complaint is filed.
