〈Harassment Consultation Desk〉

★Harassment Consultation Desk
At Kanazawa University, harassment counsellors are located throughout the university. These counsellors serve as the touchpoints for consultations concerning harassment. Regardless of your school etc., you can consult any of the counsellors, so pick one who you feel comfortable talking to. Harassment consultation is also available for off-campus practical training and internships.
　The latest list of harassment counsellors is displayed on the University website University Top → Search “General Consultation Office”

• ●If you’re experiencing harassment, don’t struggle with the problem on your own. Contact a harassment counsellor immediately!
• ●Or if you witness harassment, or a friend of yours is experiencing it, encourage the victim to seek help!
• ●And if you’re not sure whether it’s harassment, or even if it’s a minor matter, please feel free to ask for advice.

★Sexual harassment
　Sexual harassment is defined as “sexual language or behavior that makes the other person feel uncomfortable.” It includes not only “language/behavior based on sexual interest or desire,” but also “language/behavior based on the intent etc. to discriminate on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity.” Sexual harassment is also a problem at universities. The victims tend to be female, but in some cases are male.

• ●The difficulty of complaining about sexual harassment
  　The power structure of the victim and the harasser (teaching staffmember and student, senior student and junior student, etc.) makes it difficult for the victim to speak up. They may worry that if they reject the harassers advances the harasser may refuse to provide them with guidance, or that they may not receive a credit. In other words, they have an internal conflict of interest. Victims also often struggle with various unpleasant thoughts. For example, they may fear the relationship with the harasser becoming awkward, they may become overly self-conscious, or they may wonder whether they themselves did something wrong inadvertently.
• ●What is sexual harassment?
  　Sexual harassment is a manifestation of failing to view someone as a human being, and is both a human-rights problem and an educational problem. If one respects the other person, it doesn’t occur. Sexual harassment encompasses not only overt sexual acts, but also physical contact that ignores the other person’s wishes, pressure to go out for dinner or on dates, and sexual teasing. Sexual discrimination (gender harassment), language/behavior that defames people of LGBTQ+ (SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identity) harassment), and exposure of these to others without consent of relevant persons (outing) also constitute harassment. You also need to be careful not to say things like “even though you’re a woman (or man) ...”
• ●Unconscious sexual harassment
  　Sometimes we engage in sexual harassment without even being aware of it. For example, we may not have realized that someone found something unpleasant because they didn’t tell us to stop (feeling unable to complain lies at the heart of the problem of sexual harassment) Thinking that something is permissible given social norms is the cause of unconscious sexual harassment.
• ●What to do if you are suffering or have witnessed sexual harassment
  　If you’ve suffered sexual harassment, there’s no need to beat yourself up about it. Rather than worrying about it on your own, please talk to someone you can trust. It’s also important to keep “specific” records of what’s happened.
  　If you have witnessed sexual harassment, please assist the victim by, for example, cautioning the harasser, testifying as a witness if necessary (it is prohibited to treat you unfavorably for being a witness), providing psychological support if you’re asked for advice, and in some cases, recommending that the victim visit a consultation desk, Health Service Center, or any other student consultation desk.

★Academic harassment
　This is harassment where the harasser utilizes their authority in a research or educational context. Specific examples include research-related harassment, such as not providing research topics or forcing the victim to research a certain topic, and research/education guidance-related harassment, such as using aggressive language, defaming or ridiculing the victim, refusing to provide guidance, or treating the victim unfairly in the award of credits.

★Bullying and power harassment among students
　It is not surprising that bullying occurs among university students. In fact, Kanazawa University also sees consultations concerning bullying, or behavior that resembles it, among students. Bullying takes various forms, such as being excluded from activities of different kinds, being ignored, being subject to defamatory emails, being insulted or defamed on social media, etc. Some students worry about personal relationships in extracurricular activities, labs, part-time jobs, and other aspects of their lives. Continuous pressure that goes beyond appropriate limits constitutes power harassment. It is therefore essential for us to all respect each other and build friendly relationships.

★Alcohol harassment
　Urging people to down drinks in one or encouraging minors to drink is obviously unacceptable, but other examples of alcohol harassment are forcing people to drink, or criticizing them if they don’t drink, at parties and gatherings.

★Stop-job-hunting harassment
(* The Career Support Office, Educational and Student Affairs Department handles consultations relating to job-hunting harassment.)
　A type of harassment that occurs during job-hunting activities is referred to as “stop-job-hunting harassment (Owahara in Japanese).” It describes a situation in which a company forces a student to finish their job-finding activities. For example, a company that takes a shine to a particular student might tell them that they’ll be offered a job if they put a stop to their job-hunting activities right now.
　The student might subsequently receive a job offer from another company which the student would prefer to work for and try to decline the offer from the first company, and that company might, for example, try to pressure them to accept their offer by saying that the student had already signed a letter of acceptance or a written pledge.　So please convey your wishes clearly and say no to anything you don’t want to do.
　In addition, when visiting a company, it’s a good idea to call on former students of the university who work for the company, so as to ask them what it’s like working there. But sometimes you may be forced to join them for meals or drinks beyond what is necessary. You should convey your wishes clearly and say no to anything you don’t want to do.