O.C. Educators Hail Ruling on Sex Harassment

Women educators in Orange County praised Wednesday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in a sexual harassment case as an important victory and one that will create a surge in new reports from victims who can now be assured that they will get a fair hearing.

Moreover, the ruling--which allows an Atlanta woman to seek damages from a high school where she alleges that a teacher sexually coerced her--provides the kind of big stick guaranteed to get the attention of school administrators and business executives alike.

“This is certainly a victory for all women, particularly for women in higher education, because it says that sexual harassment continues to be an important issue,” said Rosamaria Gomez-Amaro, director for affirmative action at Cal State Fullerton.

“This makes it clear that students can go directly through the court system, through the whole federal bureaucracy that handles gender equity issues and feel they will be heard and that it won’t be just a bureaucratic exercise,” she said.

Gomez-Amaro declined to speculate about what impact the decision will have in a sexual inequity lawsuit to be heard today in Westminster. The suit was filed by the university’s women’s volleyball coach, Jim Huffman, to block cancellation of the women’s program as a cost-cutting measure.

Kirk Boyd, a Sacramento-based civil rights attorney representing Huffman, said the decision does not bear directly on the suit, which alleges that the university president and its athletic director violated state laws requiring sexual equity in public schools and colleges.

“But I would say that the courts are recognizing that (state and federal laws) require recognition of women’s civil rights,” Boyd said. “I think the ramifications are that in our society, women are working damn hard and paying their taxes. Women have the right under the Constitution to expect that public moneys will be expended equally on women and men.”

Judy Rosener, a professor at UC Irvine’s Graduate School of Management who studies issues related to men and women in the workplace, predicted that the decision will be a wake-up call for businesses as well as schools and colleges.

“I don’t see any difference between an educational institution and the workplace on issues of sexual harassment because it’s a question of power over a person who is subordinate,” she said.

Rosener and others expressed surprise at the ruling, given recent decisions from the conservative-leaning judicial body.

“This is a really dramatic ruling for the Supreme Court,” Rosener said. “This is an extremely positive sign from a court that we had not expected such a decision from.”

“I’m elated,” added Davida Hopkins-Parham, UCI’s acting assistant vice chancellor for affirmative action and equal opportunity. “This ruling will help to empower more victims, most of whom are women, to come forth and complain. Then perhaps we can eradicate this cancer from our campuses.

“Right now, victims do not complain because they don’t believe anything will be done about it. This will go a long way toward giving women support.”