A draft of Iowa State’s proposed racial and ethnic harassment policy will be disclosed to the public today.

It will be presented at 12:30 p.m. in the Maintenance Shop of the Memorial Union.

According to the second draft of the policy, racial and ethnic harassment “deeply affects those who suffer the harassment, preventing them from participating fully in work, research and study.”

The policy also states that “the existence of racial and ethnic harassment diminishes the whole community.”

Derrick Rollins, diversity adviser to the president, does not believe that such a policy will have an effect on the behavior of students. However, he said the draft will make a statement and invoke more discussion about the issues.

“It will give people with color a sense that the university is creating an environment that will protect all walks of life,” he said.

The policy will be a source of information that will tell people how to respond to racial and ethnic harassment, Rollins said.

“It will give people a feeling that there are university authorities to act toward those harassing others,” he said. “There will be a greater sense of security … knowing that the administration is serious about harassment at ISU.”

Rollins also said that reading this document will give people a better understanding of what racial harassment is and enable them to recognize it when it occurs.

“It will empower minorities to some degree,” he said. “Minorities will be able to feel larger sense of pride.”

Paul Tanaka, director of University Legal Services, said he hopes that this policy will “effectively address [complaints] in a quicker fashion than in the past.”

Carla Espinoza, assistant vice president for Human Resources Services, said she believes this policy will create a new awareness about the seriousness of harassment.

“People will begin to ask more questions, and every time a question is asked, it is a new learning opportunity,” she said.

This policy originated after last year’s Office of Civil Rights evaluation. In this evaluation, OCR recommended that ISU establish a racial and ethnic harassment policy.

Under the agreement between OCR and ISU, the university must make the racial and ethnic harassment policy available to the ISU community by July 1.