#METOO

pushing women out.”

How common is sexual harassment in science education? The report cited a University of Texas system survey that found about 20 percent of female science students, more than a quarter of female engineering students and more than 40 percent of female medical students said they had experienced sexual harassment from faculty or staff members. In a similar survey in the Pennsylvania State University system, half of female medical students reported such harassment.

Minority women experience “a double whammy of discrimination,” Cortina added.

The hierarchical nature of science can make it difficult to report and root out such behavior, with scientists-in-training often dependent on a single high-profile mentor for research funding, job recommendations and fieldwork in remote locations.

To escape the denigration, women might change majors, advisers or labs and sometimes just drop out, Cortina said.

Sexual harassment “has long been an open secret” in science, as aerospace researcher Sheila Widnall, an MIT professor and report co-chair, put it Tuesday.

Despite attempts to address harassment in recent years, most academic policies and training consist of “symbolic compliance” with anti-discrimination law that doesn’t have much impact, the report found. Those policies typically rely on a woman filing a formal harassment complaint before the institution takes any action to improve educational or working conditions. The report said women rarely file those reports because they think, correctly, they’ll face some form of retaliation.

Among the report’s recommendations:

• An organization’s climate is the single-most-important factor in whether sexual harassment is tolerated. Colleges and universities should promote greater gender and racial equity in leadership positions and stress diverse, inclusive and respectful environments.

• Institutions should find alternatives to the traditional hierarchy, such as mentoring networks, so that students and junior faculty aren’t dependent on one supervisor.

• Colleges must protect targets of harassment from retaliation and convey that reporting the problem is “an honorable and courageous action.”

• Colleges should spell out escalating consequences for sexual harassment, with discipline based on an investigation process that is fair to both sides rather than focused on the institution’s liability.

• Congress and state legislatures should consider prohibiting confidentiality agreements and other actions that shield harassers.