An Aspect of the Columbia Grad Student Strike

The NY Times carries a lengthy article about the ongoing Columbia University grad student strike. It reviews the various union demands. Some of the demands are traditional "economic" ones dealing with pay. But the articles notes there is a demand for neutral arbitration and the right to consult outside legal counsel in cases involving sexual harassment. The union has phrased the demand as a right to be afforded to student/employees who make accusations against faculty. But presumably, were such a system to be established, it would also apply in cases where a student/employee was the accused (defendant) rather than the accuser (plaintiff) under Title IX. That is, you might have a case in which a TA is accused of harassment by a student and is thus subject to university discipline. In such a case, if the TA denied the accusation, the union would typically file a grievance on the TA's behalf.

Here is the relevant excerpt:

Why is neutral arbitration a big issue?

One of the union’s biggest priorities is getting more third-party protections for students making discrimination and harassment claims — also known as neutral arbitration.

Neutral arbitration would allow students claiming they experienced harassment or discrimination to hire investigators or lawyers who are not affiliated with Columbia, outside of the university’s internal review process for complaints.

Graduate student workers are the only campus workers without the option of third-party arbitration for discrimination and harassment. Union members have argued that confining discrimination and harassment complaints to an internal review process overseen by the university creates an inherent conflict of interest when evaluating a student’s case against faculty members or advisers.

The administration has resisted this demand, although it has said it would be open to more negotiations about its policy during mediation.

Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/24/nyregion/columbia-grad-student-strike.html.

We have long argued in this blog that complaints about lack of sufficient due process under Title IX could be addressed at UC by using the same grievance/neutral-arbitration process in such cases as UC provides to workers under union agreements.*

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*http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2019/08/again-if-there-is-to-be-due-process.html.