Preventing sexual harassment
The college is committed to a respectful environment, free of sexual harassment or retaliation. The regulations set out preventive action, commissioners and how a complaint is handled.
Our commitment
Gordon Academic College has set itself the goal, of great importance, of ensuring an environment that respects those who study and work in it, free of sexual harassment or retaliation on the basis of sexual harassment.
Acts of harassment and retaliation harm human dignity, freedom, privacy and equality between the sexes. Such acts are prohibited by law, and in addition they are a serious disciplinary offence.
The regulations on preventing sexual harassment detail the college's preventive action, including awareness-raising, and set out how a complaint that has been submitted is handled. They are intended to add to the provisions of the law and the regulations, and not to detract from them.
The key points
- Applies to everyone
To students, faculty and staff. Acts of harassment and retaliation are prohibited by law and are a serious disciplinary offence.
- Commissioners
Two commissioners for preventing sexual harassment receive enquiries and handle them, discreetly.
- Prevention and awareness
The college runs awareness activities alongside the procedure for handling a complaint.
- Confidentiality
The commissioners and anyone exposed to the handling of an enquiry are obliged to keep all information relating to it confidential.
What the regulations include
Who do the regulations apply to?
To every case of sexual harassment or retaliation carried out by a member of the college toward another member of the college, and also toward a passer-by, if it happened on the college's premises or as part of its activity.
What is sexual harassment?
- Blackmailing a person into performing an act of a sexual nature.
- An indecent act: an act for the purpose of sexual arousal, gratification or humiliation.
- Repeated proposals of a sexual nature, or repeated references to a person's sexuality, when they have shown they are not interested. In a relationship of authority or power, even if no objection was expressed.
- Demeaning or humiliating references to a person's sex, sexuality or sexual orientation.
- Publishing, not in good faith, a photograph, film or recording of a person that focuses on their sexuality, when the publication could humiliate them and their consent was not given.
What is retaliation?
Harm of any kind that stems from sexual harassment, from a report, a complaint, testimony or a claim because of retaliation or sexual harassment, or from one employee's assistance to another in such an enquiry, complaint or claim.
How can I act?
Anyone who feels they have experienced sexual harassment or retaliation can act in any of three channels, all or some of them, as they choose: a disciplinary procedure by approaching one of the commissioners (personally or through someone else, orally or in writing), a criminal procedure by filing a complaint with the police, and a civil procedure by filing a claim.
What is the duty to report?
A member of the college who suspects sexual harassment or retaliation will not handle the case themselves, but will report it to one of the commissioners as soon as possible.
What do the commissioners do?
They receive complaints and enquiries, look into them in a discreet and thorough procedure while protecting the rights of everyone concerned, and recommend to the competent bodies temporary or permanent action. At the end of the inquiry they recommend, for example, disciplinary proceedings, separating the parties or closing the file.
Do I have to cooperate with the commissioners?
Yes. Every member of the college is obliged to cooperate with the commissioners. Refusing to cooperate, failing to provide information or providing false information may constitute a disciplinary offence.
The binding text
What is written here is a summary. The binding text is the full regulations on preventing sexual harassment, in Hebrew and English. The regulations refer to women and men alike, and for convenience the masculine and the feminine are used interchangeably.
The commissioners' details appear in the full regulations, and you can also call *5033.