Nationwide, scholars have increasingly become targets for harassment because of their personal or institutional beliefs or their area of research. These attacks can be professionally disruptive and personally difficult, especially when research is misconstrued or misrepresented.
Harassment can be upsetting and traumatic, but you do not have to face it alone. Whether you鈥檙e dealing with an active harassment situation, looking to reduce the impact of harassment or trying to prevent harassment, this guide is a resource for 91探花scholars.
Get help responding to harassment
1. Tell someone
If you are in immediate physical danger or suspect you could be, please call 911.
Reporting harassment because of your work is important. Your safety is important. While most online abuse remains just that 鈥� online 鈥� it鈥檚 important to assess every situation carefully.
SafeCampus is the 91探花鈥檚 violence-prevention and response program supporting students, staff and faculty. SafeCampus-trained staff take in information to gauge threat levels, offer personal safety planning and can help you determine how to respond to a situation. Visit the SafeCampus website for more information. They are experienced in advising when it comes to threats and may involve UW-IT Information Security as needed.
If there is no immediate physical threat, but you have received a threatening or alarming message, you can also contact law enforcement. Reasons for contacting law enforcement may include obtaining a police report of the incident.
- Seattle: Call the 91探花 Police Department non-emergency number: 206-685-8973. A UWPD Communications Specialist can take your report, and an officer will follow up.
- Tacoma: Call 91探花Tacoma Campus Safety & Security (253-692-4416) or the Tacoma Police Department (non-emergency line 253-287-4455).
- Bothell: Call the 91探花Bothell Campus Safety Department (425-352-5359) or the Bothell Police Department (non-emergency line 425-577-5656).
In addition to formal reporting, you have others around you who can help if needed.
- Faculty/Academic Personnel: Consider connecting with your department chair, your dean or campus chancellor鈥檚 office, or other administrative leadership.
- Staff and student employees: Consider alerting your supervisor, especially if the harassment is in relation to your work.
- If the harassment leads to questions from the media, contact the 91探花News office at 206-543-2580 or uwnews@uw.edu.
2. Document
If you are experiencing abuse, harassment or threats, consider preserving evidence of the communications. You may want to ask a trusted friend or colleague to help with documentation to reduce the amount of time you spend reading upsetting material.
- Save emails, voicemails or text messages you receive.
- Take screenshots or photos of comments on social media. Because such comments can be deleted, screenshots help document them. Include information about the user or handle names, their real name, the links to their profiles and any other information about the source of the harassment.
- Note the date, time and phone number of all threatening phone calls and texts.
Supporting a 91探花scholar experiencing harassment
If someone you supervise is experiencing harassment related to their work, your support matters. Here鈥檚 how you can help.
- Share this guide.
- Review and share 91探花Human Resources information about .
- Prepare staff on how to handle harassing phone calls and inquiries. This includes documenting calls and inquiries.
Protecting your personal information
Online attackers may search social media pages and online public databases for personal details about you. Here are some tips from the to protect your privacy:
- and how to including assessing what personal information you share on personal and/or work-related social media channels.
- You may choose to remove your 91探花information from 91探花directories. . 91探花employees can remove their information from the 91探花Directory by signing into and changing their information sharing settings.
- .
Increase your digital security
- Turn on for all your accounts, including email, social media accounts and any accounts that may hold your financial data.
- Change your online passwords. Use a password manager, such as , to create and store long, unique passwords for all your online accounts. Use different passwords for each account.
- Monitor your bank and other financial accounts and set up alerts to be informed of any unusual activity.
- Check social media accounts for suspicious logins. Consider making social media accounts private during an attack to secure your personal information.
Resources
91探花Resources
- SafeCampus: 206-685-7233. Call SafeCampus 鈥� no matter where you work or study 鈥� to anonymously discuss safety and well-being concerns for yourself or others.
- non-emergency line: 206-685-8973 (UWPD)
- 91探花Bias Incident Reporting Tool