Fagin to keep harassment policy

But new code will replace it by June 30 Putting an end to weeks of speculation, Interim President Claire Fagin said last week she will not suspend Part II of the Racial Harassment Policy. Instead, a committee will be formed to come up with a replacement for the controversial Part II. The new policy is expected to be implemented June 30, when Fagin's term ends. In the meantime, Fagin and Interim Provost Marvin Lazerson said any complaints under the current racial harassment policy will be handled initially by the provost's office. "We believe [these] steps?define a course for Penn to move forward on this important issue," read a joint statement issued last week by Fagin and Lazerson. "These steps will help all of us to put education back at the center of our concerns and our day-to-day lives." In September, Fagin announced she was considering suspending Part II in response to numerous complaints, some inspired by the controversial "water buffalo" racial harassment case last spring. Since then, Fagin said, she has spoken with "hundreds" of people on campus who are divided on the issue of whether to suspend Part II, which forbids verbal or symbolic behavior that demeans a person on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, or national origin. In their joint statement, Fagin and Lazerson said they found few students who support the way Part II is enforced, but students were divided over whether the section should be kept. Some think it infringes on the exercise of free speech on campus, while others think the policy is a necessary protection against a hostile environment, they said. "Many of those urging us to keep the Racial Harassment Policy believe that it symbolizes institutional opposition to hatred and verbal abuse," the statement reads. "This concern has been heightened by recent threatening telephone calls and bomb threats to campus residents and residences" such as DuBois College House. Based on these findings, Fagin said she has reached this compromise: A committee – made up primarily of students – will create a replacement for Part II, effective June 30. Until then, the current policy, which is known as the "speech code," will remain in effect. In addition, Lazerson said the committee will also re-evaluate the current code of academic integrity and the University's judicial system, looking to establish a "code of conduct" that the University community will accept. Lazerson said having the provost mediate complaints involving Part II will provide a "less confrontational" means of resolving these disputes. Fagin said "putting the provost in the center" of these disputes symbolizes the interim administration's commitment to moving towards a solution. She does not think her decision delays action. "We are going to take care of this problem while we are here – we have given the latest possible date, because otherwise we would be unrealistic," she said. "Our intention is to have this completed in a way that's positive for the University by June 30, 1994 and hand this as a gift to our successors," Fagin added. In answer to the question that few students will be available to respond to the committee's recommendations because they will be released over the summer, Fagin said she expects the committee to issue a report before graduation.

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