1. Introduction

The IUBAT—University of Business Agriculture and Technology is committed to creating and maintaining a community where all persons who participate in University programs and activities can work and learn together in an atmosphere free of all forms of harassment, exploitation, or intimidation. Every member of the University community should be aware that the University is strongly opposed to sexual harassment, and that such behavior is prohibited both by law and by University policy. The University will respond promptly and effectively to reports of sexual harassment, and will take appropriate action to prevent, to correct, and if necessary, to discipline behavior that violates this policy.

Harassment on the basis of sex is a violation of law. IUBAT—International University of Business Agriculture Technology does not tolerate sexual harassment of its faculty, staff, or students. Individuals who believe they are victims of sexual harassment, as well as those who believe they have observed sexual harassment, are strongly urged to report such incidents promptly to the “Chairperson of Complaint Committee”. Chairperson will investigate every sexual harassment complaint in a timely manner and, when there is a finding of sexual harassment, take corrective action to stop the harassment and prevent the misconduct from recurring. The severity of the corrective action, up to and including discharge or expulsion of the offender, will depend on the circumstances of the particular case.

Once a person in a position of authority at IUBAT has knowledge, or should have had knowledge, of conduct constituting sexual harassment, the University could be exposed to liability. Therefore, any administrator, supervisor, manager or faculty member who is aware of sexual harassment and condones it, by action or inaction, is subject to disciplinary action.

2. Objectives of The Policy

• To fulfill the directive of the Supreme Court enjoining all employers to develop and implement a policy against sexual harassment at the work place.
• To evolve a permanent mechanism for the prevention and redressal of sexual harassment cases and other acts of gender based violence at the IUBAT.
• To ensure the implementation of the policy in letter and spirit through proper reporting of the complaints and their follow-up procedures.
• To uphold the commitment of the IUBAT to provide an environment free of gender-based discrimination.
• To create a secure physical and social environment which will deter acts of sexual harassment
• To promote a social and psychological environment which will raise awareness about sexual harassment in its various forms.
• To generate public opinion against sexual harassment and all forms of gender-based violence.

3. Definitions

• When submission to unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature are, implicitly or explicitly, made a term or condition of teaching/guidance, employment, participation or evaluation of a person’s engagement in any University activity.
• When unwelcome sexual advances, and verbal, non-verbal and/or physical conduct such as loaded comments, remarks or jokes, letters, phone calls or e-mails, gestures, exhibition of pornography, lurid stares, physical contact, stalking, sounds or display of a derogatory nature have the purpose and/or effect of interfering with an individual’s performance or of creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive
  environment.
• When a person/s uses, with a sexual purpose, the body or any part of it or any object as an extension of the body in relation to another person without the latter’s consent or against that person’s will, such conduct will amount to sexual assault.
• When deprecatory comments, conduct or any such behaviour is based on the gender identity/sexual orientation of the person and/or when the classroom or other public forum of the University is used to denigrate/discriminate against person(s), or create a hostile environment on the basis of a person’s gender identity/sexual orientation.

Some other terms used in sexual harassment are not also acceptable behavior in IUBAT:

Bullying is an act of repeated aggressive behavior in order to intentionally hurt another, physically or mentally or when a person intentionally inflicts injury or discomfort upon another person, through physical contact, through words or in other ways.

Consensual romantic relationships between members of the University community are subject to other University policies, for example, those governing faculty-student relationships are detailed in the Faculty Code of Conduct. While romantic relationships between members of the University community may begin as consensual, they may evolve into situations that lead to charges of sexual harassment, subject to this policy.

Harassment that is not sexual in nature but is based on gender, sex-stereotyping, or sexual orientation also is prohibited by the University’s nondiscrimination policies if it is sufficiently severe to deny or limit a person’s ability to participate in or benefit from University educational programs, employment, or services. While discrimination based on these factors may be distinguished from sexual harassment, these types of discrimination may contribute to the creation of a hostile work or academic environment. Thus, in determining whether a hostile environment due to sexual harassment exists, the University may take into account acts of discrimination based on gender, sex-stereotyping, or sexual orientation.

4. Application

This policy applies to all Students, Staff and Faculties at IUBAT. This University policy is designed to protect all members of the University community. It applies to relationships among peers as well as to superior/subordinate relationships. It also applies to all individuals, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation. This policy applies to the University campuses, vehicles, hostels, laboratories, cafeteria, medical centers, offices of faculties, admission, registry and all auxiliary University locations. Sexual harassment may occur in hierarchical relationships or between peers, or between persons of the same sex or opposite sex.

In determining whether the reported conduct constitutes sexual harassment, consideration shall be given to the record of the conduct as a whole and to the totality of the circumstances, including the context in which the conduct occurred.

Sexual harassment may include incidents between any members of the University community, including faculty and other academic appointees, staff, coaches, house-staff, students, and non-student or non-employee participants in University programs, such as vendors, contractors, visitors, and patients.

5. Provisions

• Faculty, staff, and students have the right to raise the issue of sexual harassment. Further harassment against complainants or retaliation against complainants or others who participate in the investigation of a complaint will not be tolerated. Appropriate and prompt disciplinary or remedial action will be taken against persons found to be engaging in such further harassment.
• The University will deal with reports of sexual harassment in a fair and thorough manner, which includes protecting, to the extent possible and to the extent permitted by law, the privacy and reputational interests of the accusing and accused parties.
• Education is the best tool for the prevention and elimination of sexual harassment. Each dean, director, department chair, and/or administrative officer is responsible within his/her area of jurisdiction for the implementation of this policy, including its dissemination and explanation.
• It is the obligation and shared responsibility of all members of the University community to adhere to this policy.

6. Enforcement Principles

• Enforcement and implementation of this sexual harassment policy will observe the following principles:
• The Complaint Committee of IUBAT serves as a resource with regard to interpretation of sexual harassment guidelines that includes where complaints are made, who investigates complaints, how complaints are resolved, what procedures are available for appeals, and how records are kept.
• Confidentiality of information relating to investigations of complaints of sexual harassment shall be maintained to the extent practical and appropriate under the circumstances and to the extent permitted by law. Individuals charged with implementing this policy shall share information with regard to given incidents of sexual harassment only with those who have a “need to know” in order to implement this policy.
• Investigations must be conducted promptly and thoroughly.
• Whether particular actions constitute sexual harassment will be determined from the facts, on a case-by-case basis. The university will look at the record as a whole, as well as the context in which the alleged misconduct occurred.
• Both the charging party and the respondent will be notified of the outcome of the investigation.
• In the event it is found that sexual harassment has occurred, corrective action, up to and including discharge or expulsion of the offender, will be taken through the appropriate channels of the university. The corrective action will reflect the severity and persistence of the harassment, as well as the effectiveness of any previous remedial action. In addition, the university will make follow-up inquiries to ensure the harassment has not resumed and the complainant has not suffered retaliation.

7. How to address workplace harassment

The following are measures to address workplace harassment:

• Anti-Harassment Policy. IUBAT will implement the policy that prohibits sexual harassment, and bullying. The policy should specifically list the type of conduct that is prohibited, whether oral or written, including lewd comments, jokes or references, and religious epithets, slurs and names. The policy will prohibit such conduct by students, staff and faculties and third parties.
• Complaint Procedure. The procedure should provide for more than one option for filing a complaint, so that an employee does not have to complain to a supervisor or other person who may be involved in the harassment.The IUBAT authority will notify students, staff, and faculties that harassment complaints will be taken seriously, investigated, and will result in discipline against the offender(s), including termination, if inappropriate conduct occurred. IUBAT will also take a strong “anti-retaliation” action so that employees will not hesitate to file a complaint and will feel confident in using the complaint procedure when they have been subjected to harassment.
• Distribution and Communication. IUBAT will ensure that the policy is distributed and communicated to all students, staff and faculties and allow them to ask questions. Each staff, students and faculties should sign a verification acknowledging that he/she has read and understood the policy. Periodic redistribution of the policy will be in place.
• As part of the University’s commitment to providing a harassment-free working and learning environment, this policy shall be disseminated widely to the University community through publications, websites, new employee orientations, student orientations, and other appropriate channels of communication. The students, staff and faculties should be educated about the types of behavior that are unacceptable. New staff, students and faculties should learn about the policy during their orientation. All students, staff and faculties should receive periodic refresher information.
• Supervisor Training. IUBAT will carefully select individuals for staff and faculties who will treat others fairly and avoid inappropriate conduct. Further, supervisors should receive additional training to educate them about their important role in preventing harassment in the workplace. Supervisors should be trained to recognize what conduct may create a hostile environment so that they can stop it at the onset.
• Investigating a Complaint. Upon receipt of a complaint of harassment or when ‘Complaints Committee’ has reason to believe that a potentially harassing situation has occurred or is occurring, the complaint committee must act promptly. It is imperative that complaint committee investigate all complaints completely and objectively. In addition, a victim making a complaint should be notified as to the outcome of the investigation once a final decision has been made. (details is given in section 7 how to conduct investigations)
• Taking Appropriate Action. If the investigation results in a finding that harassment occurred, remedial action must be taken so that the harassment is eliminated and does not reoccur. This may consist of disciplinary action including discharge, or other corrective action such as training.

8. How to conduct investigations

When an employee complains that he or she is experiencing sexual harassment of any type, the employer has a legal, ethical, and employee relations obligation to thoroughly investigate the charges. In IUBAT on behalf of employer the complaint committee will conduct investigations through following steps:

• Before a complaint is filed, IUBAT authority will posted and informed all employees about policy relative to sexual harassment. It won’t be tolerated; it will be investigated.
• Chairperson of complaint committee will “own” the complaint and she will assign 2-3 members of complaint committee for investigations.
• Investigation officers will map out a plan that covers the important people and situations to investigate in the initial complaint. Basically, plan the investigation, based on current knowledge.
• Investigation officers will talk with the employee who is complaining. Guarantee to the employee that he or she is safe from retaliation and took appropriate action in reporting the incident or general situation.
• Inform the employee that chairperson of complaint committee need to know immediately about any retaliation, purported retaliation, or ongoing harassment the employee experiences.
• Investigation officer/chairperson will ask the employee to tell you the whole story in his or her own words. Listen; take notes. Write down relevant facts such as dates, times, situations, witnesses, and anything else that seems relevant.
• Tell the person accused that a complaint has been filed, and that no acts of retaliation or unethical actions will be tolerated. Ask the person to be patient while you conduct a thorough investigation.
• Assure the person accused that a fair and just investigation will be conducted on their behalf as well as that of the accuser.
• Interview any potential witnesses in the same manner. Interview any potential witnesses in the same manner. Ask open-ended questions and seek facts that support or disprove the employee’s allegations.

7.10 Interview the person who is accused of sexual harassment. Apply the same listening and respectful approach you accorded the person who filed the complaint and the other witnesses.

• Take all the information you received and attempt to reach a decision. Make the best decision that you can with the information you have. Consult with other HR colleagues to do the right thing.
• Take decisions about whether sexual harassment occurred. Provide the appropriate discipline to the appropriate people, based on your findings. Make work or assignment setting adjustments if necessary.
• Recognize that you are not perfect, no situation can be perfectly investigated. Even when harassment may have occurred, there may be no facts or witnesses that corroborate a complainant’s statement.
• Assure that no further incidents occur by following up, and documenting your follow-up with the employee who made the original harassment claim. Keep documentation separate from the personnel file.
• Afford the employee, who may have been wrongly accused, the same courtesy of follow-up and documentation. Adjust working situations fairly where necessary for the comfort and productivity of all.

9. Disciplinary Action:

The disciplinary action will be commensurate with the nature of the violation.

1. A. In the case of University employees (staff and faculties), disciplinary action could be in the form of:
2. Warning
3. Written apology

iii. Bond of good behaviour

1. Adverse remarks in the Confidential Report
2. Debarring from supervisory duties
3. Denial of membership of statutory bodies

vii. Denial of re-employment

viii. Stopping of increments/promotion

1. Reverting, demotion
2. Suspension
3. Dismissal

xii. Any other relevant mechanism.

1. B. In case of students, disciplinary action could be in the form of:
2. Warning
3. Written apology

iii. Bond of good behaviour

1. Debarring entry into a hostel/ campus
2. Suspension for a specific period of time
3. Withholding results

vii. Debarring from exams

viii. Debarring from contesting elections

1. Debarring from holding posts such as member of Committee of Courses, membership of

college union/association, etc.

1. Expulsion
2. Denial of admission

xii. Declaring the harasser as “persona non grata” for a stipulated period of time

xiii. Any other relevant mechanism.

1. C. In the case of third party harassment/outsider harassment, the University

authorities shall initiate action by making a complaint with the appropriate authority.

NOTE:

1. The reasons for the action have to be provided in writing. Action will be taken
2. against person(s) who try to pressurize the complainant in any way
3. Enhancement of disciplinary action, by the committee, could depend on factors such
4. as the nature and extent of injury caused to the complainant, the impact of the
5. violation on the institutions as a whole, the position of the harasser in the power
6. hierarchy, repetition of offence etc.
7. Non-adversarial modes of redressal and resolution could also be considered in
8. appropriate cases. Examples of this may be verbal warning, verbal apology, promise
9. of good behavior etc.

10. What to do if you feel you are being sexually harassed

Know your rights? Sexual harassment is illegal, both the law of the land and IUBAT prohibit sexual harassment.

Speak up? If you can, tell the person to stop. State clearly and firmly that you want a particular behavior to cease.

Get information and support? If you feel you cannot speak up, ask your friends to help you and bring it to the notice of the SHCC. Keep records that might be useful for pursuing the case.

11. What not to do

Do not blame yourself. Sexual harassment is not something one brings on oneself. It is not a consequence of certain ways of dressing or acting. It is a violation of an individual’s right to work and live with dignity.

Do not ignore it. Ignoring sexual harassment does not make it go away. The harasser may misinterpret a lack of response as approval of the behavior.

Do not delay. Delay in action increases the probability that unwanted behavior will continue or escalate.

Do not hesitate to ask for help. Speaking up may prevent others from being harmed as well.

Appendix A: Examples of Sexual Harassment

Types of sexual harassment:

􀂎 Verbal: insults, threats, jokes, or derogatory comments based on gender; sexual innuendo or suggestive comments; sexual propositions or advances; pressure for sexual favors.

􀂎 Nonverbal: posting of sexually suggestive or derogatory pictures, cartoons or drawings; making suggestive or insulting noises, leering, whistling, or making obscene gestures.

􀂎 Physical: touching, pinching, squeezing, patting, brushing against the body; impeding or blocking normal work or movement; coercing sexual intercourse or assault.

Meaning of some words with examples on sexual harassment:

Unwelcome sexual advances – e.g., persistent requests for dates, leering or lewd gestures, touching, grabbing or deliberately brushing up against another person.

Unwelcome requests for sexual favors (Misuse of authority) – e.g., explicit or implicit suggestions that sexual co-operation or the toleration of sexual advances may further a person’s career or affect a person’s academic results;

Unwelcome verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature – e.g., sexually derogatory or stereotypical remarks; questioning regarding a person’s marital status or sex life; and offensive jokes, gestures, offensive words on clothing, and unwelcome comments and repartee.

Conduct of a sexual nature that creates a hostile or intimidating working or educational environment – e.g., sexual or obscene remarks around the workplace/classrooms/hostels or displaying sexist or other sexually offensive pictures or posters.

Examples of sexual harassment include, but are not limited to the following examples of unwelcome acts:

1. Touching and any other bodily contact such as scratching or patting a coworker’s back, grabbing an employee around the waist, or interfering with an employee’s ability to move.
2. Repeated requests for dates that are turned down or unwanted flirting.
3. Transmitting or posting emails or pictures of a sexual or other harassment-related
4. Displaying sexually suggestive objects, pictures, or posters.
5. Playing sexually suggestive music.
6. A male staff continually makes off-color, sexual jokes about women in front of a new female apprentice. In addition, he does not give her important training she needs to successfully complete her apprenticeship and puts her down in front of her co-workers. When she discusses the situation with her supervisor, she is told to ignore it. In addition, when the supervisor witnesses the behavior, no action is taken to stop it.
7. When an affair between a supervisor and one of his employees goes sour, he refuses to share important information with the employee and gives him poor performance reviews in retaliation for breaking off the relationship.
8. A clerical worker is promised a promotion if he agrees to date his supervisor.
9. After a post graduate student refuses the sexual advances of her dissertation director, she begins to receive extreme, negative criticism, challenging the scholarly worth of her dissertation, although previously the proposal had been given the director’s full support.
10. A professor constantly asks one of his students to accompany him to a local restaurant to discuss her work. At first the professor discusses matters related to her course work, but lately he has begun talking about his recent divorce, as well as telling the student how pretty she is and how much he would like to get to know her better. Eventually the professor asks her to go out with him. The student states that she would rather they simply continue to discuss her course work, but the professor insists that they go out next weekend just to have fun.
11. Not knowing what to do, a student confides in a female faculty member, stating that she is extremely uncomfortable with the advances of one of her professors. Uneasy about discussing the matter with her colleague or the dean, the professor tells the student she can be counted on to lend a sympathetic ear, but otherwise makes no attempt to report.

Complaint Committee

Appendix B

The “Complaints Committee” of IUBAT formed on May 27, 2017

1. Dr. Farjana Sultana, College of Agriculture Sciences, 01925871293,Chair
2. Prof. Dr. Abul Khair, Dean of CAAS, 01711 801484, Member
3. Lulu-Al- Marzan, Department of Language, 01717993216, Member
4. Mallika De, Department of Psychology, 01997048611, Member
5. Roksana Parvin, Department of Psychology, 01722763265, Member
6. Ayesha Siddika Rimi, College of Nursing, 01717699640, Member
7. Khadiza Akter, College of Nursing, 01812 291 492, Member
8. Jannatul Ferdous, Dept of Language. 01913498021, Member
9. Dr. Shaila Sharmin, College of Agriculture Sciences, 01717081691, Member
10. Mst Ayesha Khatun, Department of CSE, 01794818908,Member
11. Chandan Kumar Sarkar, Department of Economics, 01717314333, Member
12. Farjana Hossain, Department of Philosophy, 01732131431, Member