OED reflects on issues of discrimination, harassment

The USC Office of Equity and Diversity hosted a public meeting Tuesday to address ongoing patterns of discrimination and harassment cases on campus. The event, titled “What We Have Learned: The Ramifications of Not Having Difficult Conversations,” was part of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Week and stressed the importance of having open conversations about the current challenges facing the University.

OED Director John Jividen led the discussion and represented the office during the event. The OED is responsible for investigating cases of protected-class discrimination and harassment in the USC community.

Since the Los Angeles Times published its investigation on former campus gynecologist George Tyndall’s allegedly misconduct-riddled career, Jividen said that the office has doubled in size. Currently, there are eight investigators and typically about 40 to 50 cases open at a time, covering a wide range of issues such as sexual harassment and discrimination.

“People feel [the] administration isn’t responsive and hasn’t been responsive to bad misconduct and behavior in the past,” Jividen said. “The hope is that with the proper resources and the proper attention, we will move forward onto a better path after the things that have gone wrong in the past years.”

Jividen discussed instances of inappropriate behavior, racism and sexism that have been ignored for decades at the University.

“[The goal] is to start a conversation about equity and inclusion on campus and just get people talking about these issues more, meeting people that are like-minded and want to learn more about this and engage in this important conversation,” Jividen said.

During his presentation, Jividen discussed four examples of misconduct that have occurred on campus. These include a senior administrator hearing sexual comments from a subordinate, a manager hearing someone use a racial slur, colleagues describing a faculty member as “tyrannical and offensive” and a faculty member friending a student on social media and chatting with her.

“Who is going to have the guts to report that kind of behavior, knowing that their job is on the line or their colleague’s job is on the line or something like that?” Jividen said. “We have to feel like the institution is going to be responsive to your concerns.”

Attendees discussed how the OED has an obligation to address incidents of discrimination and misconduct sooner and more carefully. Jividen said an incident of someone saying the N-word took six months to investigate.

“Don’t talk about it, be about it,” said Erika Crenshaw, a project specialist in the Information Technology Services department who attended the event. “[The OED should] show me that things have changed. Actions speak louder than words.”

During the event, discussion surrounding Tyndall’s alleged misconduct dominated most of the conversation. Many female faculty and staff members present spoke out about systemic sexism instilled in American culture. Jividen continued to emphasize the importance of addressing any kinds of issues on campus.

“We’re missing one big component and that’s the difficulty to have these conversations,” he said.

Various women at the event emphasized the need for proper new-hire training at USC, citing that power dynamics in many professional relationships among faculty members and with students can ultimately pose a problem.

“I’m looking forward to building and contributing to the [diversity and inclusion] work here at the University and building it enough to not have to be its own week or a special thing,” Crenshaw said. “I can see the long-term vision of the [Diversity and Inclusion] week is bringing that work [to say], ‘We’ve done all of this, and how can we push it further? How can we continue to grow and expand and make it open and honest for everybody?’ Because diversity and inclusion is a whole umbrella.”