Introduction: Charting a Path for #MeToo in Academia
WPS Spring 2019 Blog Series:
Charting a Path for #MeToo in Academia
Nicole M. Elias @NicoleEliasPhD
Maria J. D’Agostino @MJDPHD
Women in the Public Sector at John Jay College @JohnJayWPS
Nicole M. Elias is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Management at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY and co-founder of Women in the Public Sector at John Jay College. Her research, teaching, and service fall under the broad umbrella of social equity, with the following three sub-streams: women in the public sector, sexual orientation and identity in public service, and means of promoting greater representation and inclusion in public administration and policy. Dr. Elias regularly collaborates with practitioners at the federal level. She is a Research Fellow with the U.S. Department of Defense’s Equal Opportunity Management Institute (DEOMI). She held a Research Fellowship at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Office and served as the Lead Faculty Advisor to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management on the 2016 Government-wide Inclusive Diversity Strategic Plan.
Dr. Elias is the co-recipient of the 2018-19 Inaugural Presidential Student-Faculty Research Collaboration Award examining gender equity in municipalities.
Maria J. D’Agostino is an Associate professor in the Department of Public Management at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY and co-founder of Women in the Public Sector at John Jay College. Dr. D’Agostino’s recent research has focused on women in public administration including two co-edited books, Governing in A Global World (2018) and Women and Public Administration: Theory and Practice (2011). Her recent work appears in Review of Public Personnel Administration and American Review of Public Administration. She has collaborated as a guest editor for the Women and Public Administration symposium published in Administration and Society.Maria J. D’Agostino is the co-recipient of the 2018-19 Inaugural Presidential Student-Faculty Research Collaboration Award examining gender equity in municipalities. She is also the recipient of the Section for Women in Public Administration Rita Mae Kelly Distinguished Research Award, the Faculty Mid-Career Research Award. She serves as the American Society of Public Administration District II National Representative and the John Jay College Campus Delegate for the Italian American Faculty and Staff Advisory Council.
The #MeToo movement, which has rocked politics, media, business and entertainment, is exploding with full force in academia. Recently, Karen Kelsky conducted a crowd sourced survey of sexual harassment in the academy that documents more than 2400 cases. It is important to contextualize #MeToo within the academic community. The greatest benefit, or silver lining, of the #MeToo movement for academia has been twofold. First, #MeToo has brought issues of sexual harassment, assault, as well as gender equity, to the forefront of our collective conscious. Prior to #MeToo, these pervasive problems were rarely discussed openly or researched. This past year alone, it seems that there were new issues coming to light all too frequently. Being open and honest about sexual harassment, assault, and equity is desperately needed in academia. The way scholars have treated #MeToo topics up to this point has largely maintained the status quo by focusing on reporting– the likeliness of reporting and the believability of those reporting. These are very important, no doubt, but there is so much more that WPS and other groups and scholars can contribute to our knowledge and action surrounding #MeToo. Secondly, #MeToo has created a community of individuals and groups within academia that is both large in terms of numbers and powerful in terms of pressing for #MeToo topics to be addressed. The impact of this community can be seen in social media activity surrounding inadequate institutional responses, which we saw this past year at Harvard after decades of allowing sexual harassment and assault to continue. Also, individuals and groups show support for #MeToo victims when their credibility is called into question. We saw this very recently with the support of Dr. Vanessa Tyson, the first woman to come forward in the Virginia Lt. Governor case.
From the acknowledgement of these issues and the creation of community surround the issues, #MeToo has forced us to rethink unquestioned policy and practice. The response from organizations within the ASPA community like WPS, AWPA, and SWPA along with individual scholars is encouraging. There is great energy and promising avenues to respond to #MeToo. We, as members of academia, can take formal and informal approaches that address #MeToo: first, by sharing knowledge. Conference panels and workshops like ASPA’s Presidential Panel, #MeToo: The Role of Universities in the MeToo Movement, and other sessions in the social equity track can develop knowledge and skills for addressing #MeToo topics. Informally, sharing personal stories, knowledge and resources via social media or dialogue is critical. Second, we need better tools to combat #MeToo in academic institutions. Often, our responsibilities and options are ambiguous or unknown. To provide better tools, we should be explicit and proactive. This can take the form of events on campus that empower students, faculty, staff. In order to take a more proactive approach to #MeToo topics, we should form committees at the department and university level to respond to climate issues, policy, and organizational norms.
Academia is just now beginning the formal study of #MeToo. In addition to the practical work, we need to apply a scholarly lens to the topic. Given the deeply personal and sensitive nature of #MeToo topics, we should think seriously about what a scholarly agenda for #MeToo looks like. This is uncharted yet critical territory. Looking ahead, we will work with Public Administration Review on a #MeToo in Academia Viewpoint Series. These are first steps, but the question becomes how can we do more as scholars? Along with setting practical steps and setting a research agenda, we should reflect on the #MeToo movement itself. Specially, the question of who is not included in this conversion and how we can be more inclusive of all perspectives. Marginalized populations that fall beyond traditional, heteronormative, and white identities are often silenced. Thinking outside gender norms and race by exploring intersectional identities and how #MeToo can be applied differently to different demographics is a key scholarly task. These are no easy tasks, and we look forward to continuing this conversation.
This blog thread will run throughout the Spring 2019 semester with posts from public administration faculty members of various rank, roles, genders, and institutional affiliations. Contributors to this series provide diverse perspectives on #MeToo. We invite anyone interested in these topics to join our discussion with the aim of offering potential solutions to these difficult challenges. If you have questions, feedback, or would like to contribute, please contact us at: wps@jjay.cuny.edu.