I'm sorry that the students are being asshats and that the home buying process is unnerving, omnis.

Sorry omnis, home buying (and selling) is super stressful. But you will be on the other side of it in time and then the Joys of home ownership! Well, that has its own set of stresses, but I keep doing it anyway. It is really a very exciting time and you should balance the stress with lots of time spent dreaming about how you are going to make it yours.

Trivia: He was on that because he and Mike McShane had been in the same improv troupe since their undergrad years at SF State University, and once McShane started getting lots of love from Whose Line... he made it his mission to drag as many friends over to England as possible to show off their awesome funniness to as many people as possible, since they weren't getting all the props they deserved out here.

He did well. That was an excellent show thanks to him, Proops & Josie Lawrence.

Good luck with all the home ownership stuff, omnis. Can relate to the stress - am still recovering from buying my place over a year ago. Living in it makes it all worth it, though! Best wishes for a very smooth process.

Oh Yes. Very much looking forward to the end process. Just, lots to do until then. Kinda glad it took so long, and it's happening as the school year winds down. If this happend 4 months ago... oy. In less than an hour, I get to walk around the place, and see what's wrong with it. Rumor has it, the current owner is moved out. So that should make it easier. I also hope to take pictures! Of course, will share.

This is slated to be closing real close to f2f time! Alas, it looks like just *after*, so odds are, no tours for out of towners.

I find the harassment training a form of harassment itself. I get irate at the absurd gulf between the training and the reality of the situation.

Professor Minnie Monopoly is the only female Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics. Professor Monopoly is concerned about the double entendres that are frequently made around the office. Professor Monopoly is concerned as much for others in the vicinity as she is for herself. She comes to you, the Department Chair, looking for advice, but has no interest in filing a formal complaint as she believes she will simply create enemies by doing so. She also stated that she does not feel she has been harassed.

Let me guess, the correct answer is: Even if she says she doesn't want to file a compliant, you must pursue this as an actual complaint, and there is no way to guarantee Minnie Monopoly's anonymity as she requested.

Translation: Hey ladies, shut your pie hole and just put up with the double entendres because if admin gets even a whiff that you're unhappy about it, we will make your life miserable under the guise of "investigating your harassment complaint."

Burrell,

what do you think the appropriate response is? I'm curious because I have had to deal with a related matter and I wrote up a 2-3 page recommended set of responses for my main unit to deal with poor climate for racial/ethnic minority group members.

Yeah, I kinda hate that stuff. Because on the one hand, there are times when I'm perfectly ok with a situation, but know that others might not be. And know that those people are more likely to have a hard time speaking up about it (whereas I hardly ever don't speak up about shit, but especially if it's on someone else's behalf it's easier). But there are also times when I'm ok with a certain amount of whatever, but then someone has to go over the line and then it's really hard to say "no but see, when you say THAT, it's offensive or hurtful or just fucking creepy". Cause lord knows, there are things i enjoy if my friends do them, but if random creep I don't know or don't like does it, hell to the no.

Which is to say, I think a general warning to keep the double-entendres an offensive remarks and teasing to a minimum is probably a good plan on any case.

what do you think the appropriate response is? I'm curious because I have had to deal with a related matter and I wrote up a 2-3 page recommended set of responses for my main unit to deal with poor climate for racial/ethnic minority group members.

Well I should clarify that my actual issue is with the various sexual harassments claims I've seen, which include one friend who was hounded out of graduate school when she made a sexual harassment claim over a professor who has slept with her and several other students. But that kind of thing isn't covered in the webinar I need to attend. Instead of focusing on how to effectively address sexual harassment claims that come up, it focuses on how to monitor one's own behavior to ensure never having a claim made. But the self-monitoring is OTT, like one bit of advice it gives is to never comment at work on any age-related health issues including one's own, because "reasonable people might take offense."

Brief follow up: the training just pushes my buttons because it feels like a double bind. On the one hand, onus is all on me to make sure I'm not being offensive (and training examples go out of their way to show members of protected status are just as likely to be the harassers as the harassed), and on the other, I'm still going out on a limb if I make a claim of harassment because the school is going to protect itself and its assets, not me.

I have never had such a required program. I can't imagine doing so. I know the content of such programs, but I have never HAD to do it.

Yeah, I can see your concerns pretty clearly. I had to write up my recommendations because of some cases of racial harassment that I was privy to because a student complained to me about it. Because the faculty member in question has (in the past) retaliated against people (e.g. called up a former student's new employer to complain) and I know he holds grudges, I did not feel particularly empowered to confront him about his behavior nor did the student.

So, I decided to treat this politically and express my concerns up the food chain to people who are in powerful positions in various spots on campus so people will know WTF is going on if this happens again.

And it will.

Since I raised the issue, I volunteered to write up recommendations and ways forward to improve the "climate for inclusiveness." I am not sure how they will proceed. I'm leaving after all, but I sure did give them an outline of ways to improve things over the next 3-5 years.