A Community of Care
The Department of Political Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is committed to creating a community of care and inclusivity among our faculty, staff, and graduate and undergraduate student members.
To help insure that each member of our community knows their rights and can advocate for themselves and one another, we offer the following summary of information. This reinforces the university’s training that faculty and graduate students are mandated to complete each year.
The University’s main resource page is the “At Illinois, We Care” page:
That site provides an overview to a student’s rights on campus and options for dealing with situations of sexual misconduct and discrimination:
http://wecare.illinois.edu/docs/rights-and-options.pdf.
We Care has a report form that you can use if you: (i) have concerns about something that happened to you or someone you know; (ii) were party to an incident; (iii) witnessed an incident; or (iv) would like to make a claim of discrimination or harassment. Here are some FAQs about reporting: http://wecare.illinois.edu/faq/reporting/.
University of Illinois nondiscrimination policy can be viewed here:
https://diversity.illinois.edu/discrimination-and-harrassment-prevention.html
http://cam.illinois.edu/policies/hr-48/
Under University policy, protected categories include race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, disability, national origin, citizenship status, ancestry, age, order of protection status, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation including gender identity, arrest record status, unfavorable discharge from the military, or status as a protected veteran.
University policy in the form of the student code lays out both (i) rights and obligations, and (ii) definitions related to sexual misconduct, includingsexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual exploitation, stalking, dating violence, and domestic violence:
http://studentcode.illinois.edu/article1_part1_1-111.html
If you have questions, you can ask Title IX Coordinator Danielle Morrison, titleixcoordinator@illinois.edu, (217) 333-3333
To report incidents of discrimination use one of the following links:
https://illinois.i-sight.com/external/case/new
https://diversity.illinois.edu/complaint_procedures.pdf
You can also speak to one of the departmental ombudspeople. Please note that if you choose to speak to a faculty member or graduate teaching assistant, including one of the ombudspeople, they cannot be a confidential resource for you. They can talk to you, but they are required to report all incidents of harassment.
If you want to talk with someone confidentially (i.e., nothing you talk about will be reported without your consent) consider the one of the following Confidential Resources:
- Counseling Center, (217) 333-3704
- McKinley Health Center, (217) 333-2705
- Confidential Advisors at the Women’s Resources Center, (217) 333-3137
Sarah Colomé, Director: scolome@illinois.edu
Molly McLay, Assistant Director, mclay1@illinois.edu
- Rape Advocacy Counseling & Education Services (R.A.C.E.S.), (217) 384-4444
- Courage Connection (for incidents of domestic violence), (217) 384-4390
- LAS Clinical Counselor Sharon Benekohal, benekohl@illinois.edu
People sometimes ask what happens to the information they provide when they report an incident. When a student reports an incident to the Title IX Coordinator, that office will meet with the student. After that step, the next step will vary. Because complaints are part of the personnel record of the person who allegedly engaged in misconduct, others may not necessarily find out how a complaint was resolved. Similarly, the head of the department does not receive routine notification of complaints. There is no year-end report about the number of complaints filed on campus or in any unit.
For additional information, you may find interesting the Report on Racial Microaggressions at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign:
https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/handle/2142/79010
The department is committed to holding regular workshops to address issues of discrimination each semester, with the goal of fostering a respectful work environment for all its members.
If you would like to learn more, the Office of Inclusion and Intercultural Relations provides various workshops (https://oiir.illinois.edu/diversityed/request-workshop) on topics such as bystander interventions, stereotype awareness, and the role of privilege in everyday lives.
