These experiences can be frightening and anxiety provoking. You are not alone. Many others have experienced this, too. The good news is that these situations usually pass quickly. There are options for how to handle it.
Reach out for Support
After immediately contacting your chair and/or Associate Dean, consider reaching out to trusted colleagues and friends for a support network. This is an increasingly common experience, and it is not something to feel shame about. No one deserves to be attacked for their work.
- Consider disengaging from the harassment by asking a friend to monitor emails, social media, voice messages, etc. on your behalf. You can create a filter for incoming emails so that you do not have to view them. These messages should be preserved for potential evidence. The tool Squadbox can help with this process.
- It might be helpful for you to talk to other faculty who have gone through similar situations. Contact Jennifer Lundquist, SBS Senior Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development (@email).
- You can also reach out to one of MSP’s Faculty Advocates, who can attend meetings with you and provide support.
- Access mental health counseling at the Employee Counseling & Consultation Office (ECCO).
Know that Your Academic Freedom is Protected
UMass respects the disciplinary expertise of our faculty, and acknowledges their right to carry out their scholarly research and their instruction in the classroom, as well as to post statements regarding their research on social media. Furthermore, your personal safety will always be protected.
Employment cannot be jeopardized on the basis of public reaction to a faculty member’s scholarly research or reasonable classroom instruction or research-related posts on social media. The only exception, as laid out by the AAUP, would be in rare instances in which faculty “(a) demonstrated incompetence or dishonesty in teaching or research, (b) substantial and manifest neglect of duty, and (c) personal conduct which substantially impairs the individual’s fulfillment of his [or her] institutional responsibilities.” Note that this exception is a very high bar to meet, and cannot be met by singular comments made on social media or a single lecture.
- “See UMass Faculty Senate Resolution 22-082 Defending Academic Freedom to Teach”
- “See Article 8: Academic Freedom in the contract.”
- “See UMass’ Defense of Academic Freedom published in the Boston Globe.”
What about when faculty are attacked for expressing their personal opinion on social media?
From American Association of University Professors (AAUP): Institutional regulations or collective bargaining agreements should recognize that academic freedom includes the freedom of faculty members to speak as citizens. Relying only on the First Amendment may not be sufficient. At private institutions, the First Amendment provides no protection. At public institutions, the First Amendment may protect faculty members from adverse action by the employer for off-duty speech on matters of public concern and for work-related or classroom speech that is germane to the academic subject matter, so long as such speech is not unduly disruptive.
Thus, UMass faculty’s personal opinions, expressed on social media or elsewhere off campus, are protected under free speech law. However, the university is not obligated to defend the faculty member’s opinion or behavior and has the right to express disagreement if deemed outside of the university’s values and community standards. Faculty members should always make an effort in such cases to indicate that they do not speak for the institution.
How will the University assess whether to defend the faculty member?
While a public faculty member’s employment cannot be jeopardized on the basis of work that is protected under academic freedom principles, this does not mean that the University is always obligated to come to the defense of the faculty member. In some cases, the university may recognize the right of the faculty member to pursue such scholarship, but may choose to remain silent or even publicly disagree with the faculty member. This is particularly true with regard to the faculty member’s personal speech posted on social media wherein the university may disagree with the sentiment (faculty members should always make an effort in such cases to indicate that they do not speak for the institution).
In other cases, the university must assess the veracity of the claims made about the faculty member’s research. If claims of research misconduct are alleged, the University is obligated to conduct a preliminary screening to assess whether to conduct an investigation or dismiss the allegations. The university has a procedure in place for this process. In these cases, no further steps can be taken until the preliminary review has been conducted. It is important that chairs and administrators make clear to the faculty member that the preliminary review is a pro forma screening process, not a research misconduct investigation, and it is applied to all allegations.
Options for Responding to Harassment | De-escalation
It is generally best not to engage with harassers, who are not looking for constructive debate. In a Pew Research Center poll, 83% of those who refused to engage said that it was an effective strategy in ending the situation.
- Block harassers in email and personal social media accounts.
- Use the “report incident” feature (most social media platforms have this) that allows you to report abuse and tell them about user behavior or content that violate their terms of use. For abusive emails, contact the company to report a user violation of their email user agreement.
- Forward all harassing emails as attachments to @email.
- Temporarily remove all personal and contact information from the faculty’s University webpage bio(s) and UMass People Finder. To be removed from the UMass directory, contact Matthew Dalton, Chief Information Security Officer (@email; 413-545-4475).
- To remove faculty information from the departmental website and other affiliated websites, the webpage manager must be contacted. They are usually staff in the department and sometimes at the college.
- Third party services can remove web content and your personal information from the wider internet.
- Temporarily privatize social media accounts.
Options for Responding to Harassment | Crafting a Statement
Most situations diffuse quickly. But in cases where the situation gains momentum or builds to such a degree as to threaten the professional reputation of the faculty member, a public statement or response to individual inquiries can be issued.
We have a generic statement that can be used when deemed appropriate, below. Be aware that a more tailored response will require the approval of the University General Counsel, delaying the response when it is important to act quickly. More detailed responses require investigation by the administration, increasing response time. Furthermore, we wish to avoid adopting the narrative of the harasser, which is often distorted or fabricated.
- "Faculty members at the University of Massachusetts Amherst share their expertise on a broad spectrum of disciplines that enrich the educational experience of students, who benefit from discussion and debate of divergent views and are encouraged to develop their own ideas and beliefs. _________ is an established and respected scholar in their discipline and a valued member of our university. As with all our scholars at the University of Massachusetts, _________________ has the right of academic freedom necessary to pursue scholarship, research, and teaching on important subjects. Healthy debate and disagreement is a celebrated cornerstone of academic freedom. Bullying and harassment of faculty members who exercise their academic freedom, however, is not, and we condemn it in the strongest of terms.”
- See examples of past statements from UMass and from other institutions in Appendix 1 linked on the Academic Freedom Crisis Toolkit main page.
- Contact Ed Blaguszewski (@email; 413-545-0444), Executive Director of Strategic Communications, in the Office of News and Public media for protocol. He will help assess the situation and coordinate a standardized response to press inquiries.
As a form of reputation management, sometimes faculty prepare a brief message explaining their position and circulate it among their departmental and disciplinary colleagues.
See resources for bystander strategies at HeartMob.
Options for Responding to Harassment | Engaging Directly
We usually recommend against this, as it tends to inflame the situation. However, some faculty choose to engage directly with online harassers and that is their right.
- Some faculty choose to engage directly with online harassers and that is their right. Responding calmly with facts sometimes works. Humor and kindness are also effective in disarming online trolls because that is not the reaction they wish to provoke.
- Some faculty publicly repost the abusive messages they have received to gain social media sympathy and help in defending themselves. Exercise caution in giving this advice though. It can simply perpetuate social media abuse against the abusers, no matter how deserving you feel it might be.
- See PEN America’s suggestions.
Seeking Legal Advice
You have the right to free legal consultation with MSP’s lawyer and/or the University’s General Counsel Office.
- MSP: @email
- Note that graduate employees can seek free legal consultation through the Student Legal Services Office.
- General Counsel: @email and umassp.edu/general-counsel/legal-resources-employees.
- All employees of the university have the right to General Counsel’s legal services.
Legal Action
If you are sued for a matter that falls within the scope of your university work, you are legally indemnified by the university and will be defended.
It is important to understand what is and is not covered by academic freedom protection. Please be aware that the University will always defend your right to pursue scholarly research and teaching.
- However, Academic Freedom generally does not extend to proactive civil legal action on your behalf, such as the University mounting a defamation case (libel or slander) or demanding retractions from outlets or individuals. Defamation is notoriously difficult to prove. The University is constrained by its status as a state institution and related first amendment considerations.
- In cases where the faculty member wishes to sue for defamation, University and Union Counsel can give legal advice, but the faculty member will need to hire a private attorney.
- AAUP will sometimes intervene on behalf of faculty in cases where administrations (usually privates) have unjustly taken punitive action against a harassed faculty member.
- Such incidents can be reported here: @email
Public Record Requests
As a state university, the University of Massachusetts Amherst must respond to public record requests. In the case of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, the University must respond to the requestor within 10 business days with details on the forthcoming records response. Within that 10-day period the faculty member must provide the FOIA Office an estimate of how many records and of what type, how long the search will take, etc. The FOIA Office will then respond to the requestor with an agreement to provide the records and fee estimate, where applicable, or deny access to records.
Requestable records can include email, texts, files, etc. including from non-UMass accounts or devices. What matters is not the medium but whether the content relates to UMass work. All communication carried out on UMass email is considered UMass work and can be FOIA’ed.
Contact Christine Wilda, Associate Chancellor for Compliance (@email; 413 545 2148).
See Appendix 2 on the Academic Freedom Crisis Toolkit main page for more details.
If the harassment is related to a student or the classroom
Report student misconduct, discrimination, or harassment to the Dean of Students Office (umass.edu/dean_students/report-incident; 413-545-2684).
Intellectual Property Rights to your Classroom Materials
- You own all copyrights to the course materials you create, including lectures, lecture notes, materials, syllabi, study guides, and all web-ready content.
- Only you, and anyone to whom you explicitly grant permission, may reproduce, distribute, upload, or display course materials created by you. See the UMass Intellectual Property Policy (T96-040).
- If your material has been uploaded to a third-party website, you can send a copyright takedown notice (17 USC 512).
- See MSP’s advice on how to protect classroom materials in Appendix 3 on the Academic Freedom Crisis Toolkit main page.
- The MSP recommends communicating this to the students in the syllabus. Wording is provided in Appendix 3 on the main page. Although US copyright takedown law applies whether students are warned or not, students can be disciplined for violating the professor’s established course policies under the disruptive conduct clause (Appendix 7.1 of the student conduct handbook).
If the harassment is related to identity bias
If the situation involves bias related to your racial/ethnic/gender/LGBTQ+ identity, contact:
- Contact the Office of Equity and Inclusion (umass.edu/diversity/incident-report-form).
- The Center for Women and Community has a 24-hour assault hotline at 413-545-0800 and toll-free line at 888-337-0800.
If the harassment is related to a UMass employee
If the situation involves employee misconduct, discrimination, or harassment, the Equal Employment Opportunity Office should be brought in (@email; 413-545-3464).
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Academic Freedom Crisis Toolkit
- Steps
- Resources
- Solutions
- Assess Immediate Security Concerns
- Collect the Details
- Activate a Support System
- Communicate
- Options for Responding to Harassment
- Set Expectations with Faculty Member
- Public Records Requests
- Harassment Regarding Teaching or Classroom
- Longer Term Prevention and Preparation
- Other Relevant Referrals