UC prof refuses sexual harrassment training Tom Smith

This chemistry professor at UC Irvine has refused to submit to sexual harrassment training.  Now UCI is taking away his lab and his research assistants.  I hope some lawyers contact him and offer to help.

The training that I have undergone anyway is pretty silly.  It falls neatly into two categories -- don't do things any idiot knows he should not do:  "Your person is looking particularly fine today, Miss X" would be an example of a remark one should forgo, and a fortiori anything more definite.  And second, things you are not going to do, even if the code of PC says you should, such as, report two employees whom you observe flirting with each other -- because, after all, it may be unwelcome on the part of the flirtee.  Like I am going to do that.  You would probably end up getting into a world of hurt yourself as you tried to explain that you were only trying to do the PC thing.  The Orwellian logic of it is impossible to parse anyway.

Comments

[Potted Plant]

Agreed that such training is silly. For the employer, it's not about imparting useful information; rather, it's about checking the box that training was done. With that box checked, the employer may have more legal defenses at its disposal if it is sued for harassment.

[Tom Smith]

true -- it's not the employer's fault, but the state legislature's, trial lawyers', etc.

[y81]

Hello? Who trained the trial lawyers? Law professors from Mars? Why don't law professors ever take responsibility for anything?

[Eric Rasmusen]

I wonder if this will cause scholars to refrain from taking jobs at the University of California. It certainly would cause me to think twice about whether a job offer from any of its branches had hidden political dangers. It's ironic that I'd feel much less worried about things at a Southern university like Ole Miss. The scholarly world is turned upside down from 50 years ago.

[Matt]

Gimme a break, just do the darn training. Why do academics always want special treatment? You think this guy's the only person to ever begrudingly submit to some workplace training that was borderline unnecessary? At least they're not making him take a drug test.