rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/letter/abolish-the-use-of-ndas-at-fordham?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-letter-area-abolish-the-use-of-ndas-at-fordham' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> Fordham Graduate Student Workers (FGSW) https://actionnetwork.org/groups/fordham-graduate-student-workers-fgsw https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/letters/photos/000/248/786/normal/Fordham_Graduate_Student_Workers_Logo.png Please enter your Fordham email to make sure your message reaches administrators. Why should I write a letter? The use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in settling cases of sexual, racial or other forms of discrimination or harassment poses a risk to the health and safety of all members of the Fordham community. NDAs protect the reputations both of institutions that have settled cases of sexual, racial or other forms of discrimination and harassment and of individuals who have harassed or discriminated against others.They do this by legally prohibiting the survivors of harassment and discrimination from speaking about their experience, in perpetuity. Survivors who may’ve once believed an NDA was in their best interest, and then later decide they want or need to speak out, must first approach the university in order to be released. This has the potential to re-traumatize the survivor, with no guarantee that their request will be granted. Eliminating the option for these survivors to decide whether or not they wish to speak of their experiences may have long-lasting effects on other community members who may be targeted by the harasser or abuser whose reputation is being protected by the NDA. It may also harm the survivor’s own ability to process the trauma inflicted on them, by gagging them from speaking about their experiences.   Fordham Graduate Student Workers (FGSW-CWA) have sought to address this problem in our first contract by proposing an article that bans the administration from silencing survivors of harassment and discrimination through the use of NDAs. After spending several bargaining sessions addressing this matter, the administration’s bargaining team has refused to meaningfully move in negotiation. Their counter proposals have either made no mention of NDAs at all or have asserted the administration’s right to make use of these agreements to silence survivors. Further, Fordham’s negotiating team has attempted to defend the use of NDAs as beneficial to survivors. They deceptively claim that survivors prefer NDAs in order to put painful experiences behind them by not discussing them. This assertion ignores the fact that survivors themselves choose whether or not to disclose their own experiences if there is no NDA in place, while an NDA eliminates this choice. Fordham’s negotiating team has also admitted that binding survivors through use of NDAs makes it easier for the university to settle cases by protecting the reputation of abusers.Through this argumentation, the university demonstrates its desire to retain the ability to use survivors’ silence as a bargaining chip with offenders, which allows offenders to move to other institutions without being flagged for prior dangerous behavior. This practice of covertly allowing offenders to move from institution to institution is an open secret in higher education and a dangerous practice in which a university that espouses the Catholic value of cura personalis should refuse to participate. We see our proposal as a straightforward issue of justice and workplace safety, one that President Tania Tetlow should be proud to accept as someone who is an advocate for survivors, in order to ensure a safe and equitable university for all. Please take a moment to send university leadership and counsel an email to express your concern regarding their intransigence on this matter. The more community voices the administration hears, the greater their difficulty in justifying a dangerous practice. https://actionnetwork.org/letters/abolish-the-use-of-ndas-at-fordham