eBulletin 20180711
TAUP has received a disturbing number of reports of members being subject to assault, threats, and other forms of abuse from students, both graduate and undergraduate. Some members have expressed frustration at the administration’s response when they have reported these episodes.
Article 24 of the TAUP contract states, “Temple agrees to continue to make reasonable provisions for the safety and health of bargaining unit members in pursuit of their University recognized professional responsibilities.”
To make sure that this article is being upheld, and to ensure that our members feel safe at work, we need to be informed of incidents where a student or students have subjected members of our bargaining unit to physical assault, threats of assault, harassment or bullying in person, online, or through other media.*
If you are aware of an incident that happened to someone who is no longer working at Temple, please consider sharing that as well. If an incident had been reported to a departmental supervisor, Dean or another administrator, how did they respond?
In order to gauge the scope and severity of the problem, it is critical that we hear from you. We have raised this matter with Human Resources and they are concerned as well and care about the safety of Temple’s employees. Your experiences and suggestions will form the basis for further discussions both within the Union and with the administration. Your stories may bring up other important elements of faculty safety that will need to be further investigated.
Please send your story to tauparticle24@gmail.com or if you prefer, you can reach out directly to either Steve Newman, President of TAUP stevenewman1970@gmail.com, 215 983-8905, or Jennie Shanker, Vice President jshanker1@gmail.com, 215 917-4373.
*We recognize that colleagues who have been subject to harassment, bullying or assault may find it traumatic to rehearse these events. If we hope to reduce these types of incidents, it is critical that we are made aware of how prevalent these problems are. All details will be kept confidential unless you give explicit permission to share them.