During the trials, I found myself considering the issues of sexual harassment in a very different way because in the beginning I considered sexual harassment to be very black and white. Without consent of sex, it can be considered rape; in an office, asking for sexual favors in exchange for job opportunities is harassment as well as illegal. However, I found that sexual harassment was more than just black and white. There were gray areas. Everywhere. Did the woman actually say no or was saying no a game her and her boyfriend often played, did the man at the office actually say things with sexual overtones or was he trying to be friendly and the other employee simply took the comments too seriously. Tons of gray area. This was a concept I struggled with as the entire trial process began to unfold because gray area can be tricky and it takes a lot of detail to dilute gray back to black or white. In the first trial, I thought Kevin Murphy was guilty the second I heard Elyse Robert's testimony. Black and white. But then the details of her attendance as well as her normal conduct in the office were brought to light and my so sure opinion was being tested with every testimony. In the end, we as a jury came to a pretty unanimous decision of guilty, which I have to say I agree with. The most compelling facts for me was Elyse's need for therapy after her encounters with Kevin, the lack of help given to her by her supervisor as well as others who knew about the harassment, and the comments Kevin seemed to be making to her in the office. These facts drove me to the conclusion that Kevin was in fact guilty and that the verdict was the right one. The only thing I can think of that would have changed my mind about the verdict of guilty was if the supervisors would have done something to remedy the situation and then the harassment had stopped because then the solution would have been reached and taking the issue to court would have been a gross over exaggeration by Elyse.
In the other trial, I felt that the trial really could have gone either way. The question that I kept asking myself, even on the prosecuting side was whether or not Susan Williams actually had the opportunity to leave and chose not to or whether she simply stayed due to the force of David Jones. I would have to say that I was frustrated with the verdict of innocent because of how well I felt I knew the case and I personally thought there was more evidence supporting guilty rather than innocent. I think that the most compelling facts the jury somewhat ignored was David's testimony alone. He openly states Susan said no, but proceeded to tear her shirt, put on a condom before anything even happened between them, and said he was somewhat frustrated by the lack of sex they were having in the relationship. I can understand both sides to be honest and I think there were many more pieces of evidence to consider in the second case because of the subjectivity of the testimonies.
I think after sitting through this mock trial experience I have found that it is very important for people to understand not only the severity of sexual harassment, but also the different kinds of sexual harassment that actually fall into the category. While the gray area is irritating, it is important to recognize because many of the answers fall into the middle ground where one piece of evidence or one statement can truly alter whether or not harassment actually took place. I do not feel there are real sexual harassment problems at Deerfield, but I also do not want to discount that it could be happening. Just because I have not seen or experienced it first-hand does not mean it might not be happening to someone else. A big problem with the existence or non-existence of sexual harassment is the lack of knowledge of what constitutes as sexual harassment. A kid may whistle at another or make a sexual joke, but where is the line? Some students may be more sensitive to comments with sexual overtones where as others may feel they are harmless comments clearly made for entertainment and poking fun at another. I think the reason sexual harassment may not be a problem here is simply because those kinds of actions I feel are taken very seriously by both the faculty and the students. I feel we are bright enough as a student body to understand that full blown sexual harassment is not acceptable. Then again, as I stated before, it is really up to each individual student whether or not they feel a certain comment or action is sexual harassment or jokes made by immature teenagers. Either way, if a student feels they are being sexually harassed it is the faculties responsibility to take these claims seriously and not dictate whether they feel the situation is sexual harassment or not. It is important for students to feel they are being protected so each claim needs to be carried out and remedied in order to keep a safe, productive, and sexual harassment free learning environment for all students.
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