Based on research involving an overview of 44 policies at Canadian universities and 21 interviews with anti-harassment practitioners across the country, this thesis explores the challenges faced by anti-harassment practitioners working with legally defined institutional harassment discrimination policies. Anti-harassment work at Canadian universities is complex because practitioners must negotiate institutional demands set out in policy as well as politicized demands from members of marginalized groups both inside and outside the institution. Interviews with practitioners reveal that their daily work in reactive investigation and mediation of complaints as well as their proactive work in educating campus communities may support the less powerful parties to complaints, rather than focusing only on limiting the institution’s legal liability. Therefore, although anti-harassment practitioners occupy a boundary role as defined by Fraser (1989), their work is not entirely “depoliticizing”. Practitioners’ identities, sense of marginalization, and commitment to activist politics contribute to their position as tempered radicals as defined by Meyerson and Scully (1995), helping to explain their commitment to both institutional prerogatives and to empowering marginalized members of the institution. The advent of neoliberalism has set the stage for the shift of discourses and practices away from those which value equity to those that underscore traditional divisions of power and challenge the demands of so-called “special interest groups’. This shift is underscored by concerns about “political correctness” that arise within institutional communities and the broader social context. Perhaps the most obvious of the changes relates to the shift from a focus on equity and human rights to what is termed the “respectful workplace model”. The inclusion of personal harassment issues in human rights policies shifts the focus of the policies to issues that are not tied to historical oppressions and can potentially deflect attention from the human rights component of these policies. The challenge is to move beyond a legalistic perspective regarding policy development and to consider changes in the broader social context that influence policy change and the work of anti-harassment practitioners.

Based on research involving an overview of 44 policies at Canadian universities and 21 interviews with anti-harassment practitioners across the country, this thesis explores the challenges faced by anti-harassment practitioners working with legally defined institutional harassment discrimination policies. Anti-harassment work at Canadian universities is complex because practitioners must negotiate institutional demands set out in policy as well as politicized demands from members of marginalized groups both inside and outside the institution. Interviews with practitioners reveal that their daily work in reactive investigation and mediation of complaints as well as their proactive work in educating campus communities may support the less powerful parties to complaints, rather than focusing only on limiting the institution’s legal liability. Therefore, although anti-harassment practitioners occupy a boundary role as defined by Fraser (1989), their work is not entirely “depoliticizing”. Practitioners’ identities, sense of marginalization, and commitment to activist politics contribute to their position as tempered radicals as defined by Meyerson and Scully (1995), helping to explain their commitment to both institutional prerogatives and to empowering marginalized members of the institution. The advent of neoliberalism has set the stage for the shift of discourses and practices away from those which value equity to those that underscore traditional divisions of power and challenge the demands of so-called “special interest groups’. This shift is underscored by concerns about “political correctness” that arise within institutional communities and the broader social context. Perhaps the most obvious of the changes relates to the shift from a focus on equity and human rights to what is termed the “respectful workplace model”. The inclusion of personal harassment issues in human rights policies shifts the focus of the policies to issues that are not tied to historical oppressions and can potentially deflect attention from the human rights component of these policies. The challenge is to move beyond a legalistic perspective regarding policy development and to consider changes in the broader social context that influence policy change and the work of anti-harassment practitioners.

Based on research involving an overview of 44 policies at Canadian universities and 21 interviews with anti-harassment practitioners across the country, this thesis explores the challenges faced by anti-harassment practitioners working with legally defined institutional harassment discrimination policies. Anti-harassment work at Canadian universities is complex because practitioners must negotiate institutional demands set out in policy as well as politicized demands from members of marginalized groups both inside and outside the institution. Interviews with practitioners reveal that their daily work in reactive investigation and mediation of complaints as well as their proactive work in educating campus communities may support the less powerful parties to complaints, rather than focusing only on limiting the institution’s legal liability. Therefore, although anti-harassment practitioners occupy a boundary role as defined by Fraser (1989), their work is not entirely “depoliticizing”. Practitioners’ identities, sense of marginalization, and commitment to activist politics contribute to their position as tempered radicals as defined by Meyerson and Scully (1995), helping to explain their commitment to both institutional prerogatives and to empowering marginalized members of the institution. The advent of neoliberalism has set the stage for the shift of discourses and practices away from those which value equity to those that underscore traditional divisions of power and challenge the demands of so-called “special interest groups’. This shift is underscored by concerns about “political correctness” that arise within institutional communities and the broader social context. Perhaps the most obvious of the changes relates to the shift from a focus on equity and human rights to what is termed the “respectful workplace model”. The inclusion of personal harassment issues in human rights policies shifts the focus of the policies to issues that are not tied to historical oppressions and can potentially deflect attention from the human rights component of these policies. The challenge is to move beyond a legalistic perspective regarding policy development and to consider changes in the broader social context that influence policy change and the work of anti-harassment practitioners. / Arts, Faculty of / Sociology, Department of / Graduate

This thesis explores the implications of anti-harassment policies at Canadian medical-doctoral universities. The problem of generalized harassment as a phenomenon of academic bullying is identified and defined. This thesis explores how anti-harassment policies and practices of Canadian medical-doctoral universities have come to be, as well as their implications for academics. Chapter one identifies the methodology of the thesis, a comparative policy analysis of the policies and practices of Canada's medical-doctoral universities. Chapter two describes the theoretical foundations used in the thesis: theories of academic organizational control, policy formation, problem representation, and manifest and latent functions. Chapter three reviews contemporary literature on the role of universities in society and the phenomenon of generalized harassment in academia. Chapter four reports the results of a comparative analysis of the anti-harassment policies and practices of Canada's medical-doctoral universities, which reveal three approaches to anti-harassment policy. Chapter five links the theoretical to the empirical in order to better understand the phenomenon of generalized harassment in Canadian medical-doctoral universities, and the implications policies and practices have for the future of collegiality.

This thesis explores the implications of anti-harassment policies at Canadian medical-doctoral universities. The problem of generalized harassment as a phenomenon of academic bullying is identified and defined. This thesis explores how anti-harassment policies and practices of Canadian medical-doctoral universities have come to be, as well as their implications for academics. Chapter one identifies the methodology of the thesis, a comparative policy analysis of the policies and practices of Canada's medical-doctoral universities. Chapter two describes the theoretical foundations used in the thesis: theories of academic organizational control, policy formation, problem representation, and manifest and latent functions. Chapter three reviews contemporary literature on the role of universities in society and the phenomenon of generalized harassment in academia. Chapter four reports the results of a comparative analysis of the anti-harassment policies and practices of Canada's medical-doctoral universities, which reveal three approaches to anti-harassment policy. Chapter five links the theoretical to the empirical in order to better understand the phenomenon of generalized harassment in Canadian medical-doctoral universities, and the implications policies and practices have for the future of collegiality.

Sexual harassment in workplace policies and legal procedures, which are strongly affected by the patriarchy that exists in the legal system, mistreat millions of victims annually. Through the implementation of the WPR Analysis on the Code of Conduct in Public Services on preventing […] sexual harassment in the workplace of the Republic of Cyprus and on C. v. Romania ECtHR case (application no. 47358/20), this thesis aims to present the problems representations, the taken-for-granted knowledge, the stereotypes and the origins of the patriarchal-biased labour policies and legal procedures concerning sexual harassment in the workplace. Along with the use of the legal feminist theory, this thesis presents that in these procedures the problems are represented to be the lack of training among employees and the victims’ behaviors. This results in the marginalization and mistreatment of the victims (women, trans, non-binary, homosexuals, even men) by these patriarchal affected procedures while it is illustrated how gender and sexual orientation are determinative to these male-biased procedures.