Critics Say Complaint System Consistently Backs Higher-Ups

A university department chairman kisses a student on the lips.

Women athletes accuse a trainer of rubbing them the wrong way.

In both instances, a Washington State University underling - a student or staff member - charged someone in power with harassment and won.

But such victories are rare. For the most part, say critics of WSU’s discrimination complaint system, the university backs higher-ups. If a student complains about a professor or if a staffer complains about a boss, the top dog will win out, critics say.

In large part because of this, more than a dozen faculty and staff members recently have taken complaints of discrimination to outside agencies.

Administrators “don’t attack lines of authority,” said Armand Larive, a member of Citizens for a Diverse Campus, an organization fighting what some see as an entrenched system of discrimination.

Confronted with charges of inappropriate conduct by managers, “the old tendency is to back them up regardless,” said Larive. “That seems to be the knee-jerk reaction that the university has been in for a long time.”

Top university officials deny they favor the status quo.

“Where decisions are made, they’re made in the best interests of the faculty, staff and students,” said Ernestine Madison, vice provost for Human Relations and Resources. “Evidently, some feel like this is not happening. So now we’re trying to address ways of improving to make this happen.”

A review of complaint forms obtained with a public records request supports the impression that university officials seldom side with lower-level complainants in discrimination cases.

The forms, which Madison created as the university’s main record of discrimination complaints and their outcome, are often incomplete. Nearly one-third fail to mention whether discrimination was uncovered or how complaints were resolved. But in those indicating how cases were resolved, only a few show university investigators finding against a person with more power than the complainant.

In 15 cases on record for 1994 - the most recent year for which records are available - the university’s Center for Human Rights concluded that discrimination occurred only twice.

David Nice is among the few faculty punished for inappropriate conduct. In 1993, he was removed as chairman of the Political Science Department and took an 18 percent pay cut after kissing a student three times, according to university records. A hand-written note in the records mentions a total of four female students involved but does not elaborate. Nice refused to comment.

Also in 1993, several female athletes complained that Brian Sanders, a trainer, would position his genitals in their hands while giving massages. While he wore pants, he didn’t wear underwear, the students said.

Without admitting guilt, Sanders signed a “behavioral contract” in which he agreed to take counseling and not massage women.

Sanders maintains his innocence when reached at Oregon State University, where he is now an assistant athletic trainer giving rubdowns to male and female athletes.

, DataTimes