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Duties and Ethics, etc.

Prevention of harassment

Harassment is a severe infringement of human rights, threatening individual dignity, honor and the ability to live in peace. The University acts to prevent harassment, and to create a campus environment where students and staff can live healthily and peacefully. Furthermore, measures are taken to prevent and eliminate harassment, and if issues arise that lead to harassment, swift and appropriate action will be taken.

○Definition of harassment

The University defines harassment as including sexual harassment, power harassment, academic harassment, harassment based on pregnancy, infertility treatment, childbirth, childcare leave, nursing care leave, and other forms of harassment that violate the dignity of individuals in similar situations.

*At our university, we have established guidelines for the prevention of harassment and the resolution of issues to promote awareness of fundamental measures. These guidelines aim to prevent university harassment and related matters. For further details, please see the Guidelines.

*Sexual harassment

Sexual harassment is the impairment of the work or educational environment through sexually offensive behavior, regardless of the perpetrator’s intent, causing discomfort to others. It includes taking advantage of a hierarchical relationship or position to coerce a person into romantic or sexual relations; conduct that creates advantage or disadvantage depending on the person's response to remarks or conduct of a sexual nature (quid pro quo sexual harassment); remarks, conduct, or images of a sexual nature that are unwanted by the recipient or others around them; and remarks or conduct that discriminate against others on the basis of sex (hostile environment sexual harassment). Sexual harassment applies regardless of sexual orientation (who one is attracted to romantically or sexually) or gender identity (one’s understanding of their own gender).

*Power harassment and academic harassment

Power harassment refers to behavior that, based on a dominant relationship, goes beyond the necessary and reasonable scope in the workplace or educational setting, causing harm to the work or study environment.

Within the context of education and research, this is called academic harassment and includes obstructing a person’s research or employment, neglecting one’s responsibility as a person’s academic supervisor, and intimidating remarks, conduct or reprimands. It is not only harassment by a person of higher status toward a person of lower status that constitutes power harassment or academic harassment: harassment that takes advantage of superiority in numbers and harassment by a person of lower status toward a person of higher status can also be classed as power or academic harassment.

*Harassment on the grounds of pregnancy, infertility treatment, childbirth, child care leave, family care leave, etc.

Harassment based on pregnancy, infertility treatment, childbirth, childcare leave, nursing care leave refers to behavior that harms the work or study environment through actions leading to the denial of pregnancy, childbirth, or the denial of the use of systems like childcare leave or nursing care leave.

*Other forms of harassment

Apart from the types of harassment listed above, other conceivable forms of harassment can occur outside the education and research environment or workplace. These include unfair ostracism or bullying, coercing a person to drink alcohol or engaging in behavior that causes a nuisance while under the influence of alcohol, and persistently asking someone to become involved with a religion or philosophy that one advocates.

○Harassment complaint consultation and complaint filing

The university has established the “Office for Harassment Prevention and Counseling” as a campus-wide harassment consultation service. Full-time harassment counselors at the office are clinical psychologists and they are available for consultation. (For details regarding the consultation process with the Office for Harassment Prevention and Counseling, please refer to the office’s website.)

Harassment consultation personnel (department counselors) are stationed in each campus. Depending on the consultation content, the Office for Harassment Prevention and Counseling and the harassment consultation personnel in each campus will collaborate. The names and contact information of the consultation personnel are posted on the university’s website.

○Harassment complaint filing

At our university, when an investigation is requested, a Harassment Committee is established to conduct inquiries and deliberations related to it.

If a harassment complaint is filed, the Committee investigates and deliberates regarding the complaint.
When the Committee receives a complaint, the Investigation Subcommittee responds to it if necessary.