Letter to the Editor: TBS sexual harassment

To the Editor:

First, it should be noted that we know the victim who was sexually harassed in the case stated below.

We would like to reflect on sexual harassment on campus and the article “TBS Sexual Harassment: Manager Claims It Was a ‘Misunderstanding” that appeared in The Caravan. This is an opportunity to think through journalistic standards as well as experiences and depictions of sexual harassment and intolerance at AUC and more broadly in Egypt.

The article was clearly unbalanced. Even if the victim of sexual harassment refuses an interview, it is incumbent upon the journalist to investigate the story thoroughly and rigorously. Talking to the university ombuds and/or a HR admin about past cases and university policy would have been one way to layer the story. Contextualizing this particular case in a broader context of sexual harassment and the discussion and activism around it in Egypt today would have also been powerful and important. After all this is not just a two-sided story; it is a case and an issue that affects many people.

The article also provided a platform for one perspective to extensively express unconfirmed assumptions as if they were truth. This is not factual and it unfairly influences readers. The TBS’ owner’s ability to underscore the incident as ’employee misconduct’ is problematic. The TBS staff’s behavior created an uncomfortable and therefore unacceptable environment; it was more than misconduct. Finally, the threat from the owner to close the AUC branch if the university does not “rule” in their favor sounds dangerously close to bullying.

Unfortunately, through depicting the story in this way (as two-sided and simplistic) this article does two things. One, it emphasizes TBS’ concerns about their “brand” and ultimately their profits. But this story is neither about TBS nor about capital profit. It is about a pervasive problem of sexism and racism that we must confront at AUC, in Egypt, and far beyond. Two, the article’s detailing the victim of sexual harassment and highlighting her refusal to speak to journalists, also contributes to an environment where reporting on and even discussing sexual harassment is deemed socially unacceptable.