How Sexual Harassment Cases Can Affect Federal Funding At IHEs

On the heels of many high-profile cases of sexual harassment, sexual assault and other forms of harassment that came into the national spotlight in 2018, ultimately leading to the “#MeToo” movement, several federal agencies have taken proactive steps to address these concerns. In response, federal award recipients, especially research universities and other institutions of higher education (IHEs), must be particularly wary of instances of sexual harassment or they could be in danger of losing their federal funding.

Most notably, these agencies include the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health and Department of Education, which awarded almost $11 billion dollars to institutions of higher education during 2018. This whitepaper will look at steps each of these three agencies have already taken – or will take in the coming years – to hold recipients accountable when handling cases of sexual harassment.