The most recent draft of Iowa State’s policy on racial and ethnic harassment was released Friday in an open forum for students and faculty.

ISU officials had believed current harassment policies covered all issues, but according to the U.S. Office of Civil Rights, they were not good enough.

The OCR visited ISU in April 1998 to conduct surveys and interviews with students and faculty members. From that visit, the OCR requested the university develop a more inclusive harassment policy by June 30.

“I think it was clear when we talked to OCR that we didn’t have a clear route for students to complain about this issue,” said Paul Tanaka, director of University Legal Services. “Having a policy will allow people to address these issues.”

Tanaka defined racial harassment as “activities or behaviors which are severe, persistent or pervasive based on race or ethnicity.”

Racial and ethnic harassment is illegal, but Tanaka said he hopes this new policy will stop problems before they get out of hand.

“The policy states what is prohibited by law and prevents actions before they get to that level,” he said.

However, Virginia Allen, graduate English examiner, said the university could be at fault under the proposed policy for failing to address the Catt Hall issue that “creates a pervasive feeling of hostility.”

Tanaka agreed that is “a real case that could come before this university.”

He also said just because someone files a complaint does not mean the behavior is illegal.

“Courts determine whether it reaches that standard,” he said. “There is a lot of wrongful conduct that we should be addressing before it reaches that level.”

Under the proposed policy, students will be able to file complaints with many different offices depending on the nature of the grievance.

“We want to provide students with options,” Tanaka said. “It may be confusing, but at the same time, there are benefits to having these options.”

Carla Espinoza, director of the Affirmative Action Office, said supervisors in many different offices will be trained to deal with harassment issues.

“One of the things we are investing the most in is the training,” she said. “We are trying to make it a broad network.”

Training will be mandatory for deans, she said, and then training will filter down to other administrators and faculty members.

“The policy is only the beginning of this,” Espinoza said. “It only says this is how we are going to do business.”