Case Study Library
The Societies Consortium Case Study Library aims to help both societies and IHEs engage their overlapping communities and build more inclusive and equitable STEMM fields. Each of the Case Studies – which contain Section 1 (facts and reflection questions only) and Section 2 (facts, reflection question, and analysis) – can be accessed by clicking the buttons below. A description of each Case Study is below the button.
A recently tenured associate professor at a research university invites students and a post-doc to his home, serves them alcohol and engages in a game that includes sexual harassment. He is alleged to have sexually harassed one of the students who applied for his research position later that night while alone in a science lab. The victims don’t know what to do in the moment. The society and institution learn of the incident on social media and must respond.
A tenured professor, who is a high-ranking society leader and writes erotic, race-focused fiction as a hobby, asks a student of color to read her work and discuss at a picnic over wine. The student seeks the aid of other faculty. The student attends the picnic where he is subject to unwanted sexual advances. The society needs to decide about the professor’s leadership role after the university’s Title IX investigation and finding.
A female-identifying tenured professor participates in an annual conference with her students, where she presents a highly lauded paper. She accompanies a group of students to a bar with a highly sexualized cabaret (an outing arranged by a student), encourages alcohol consumption, and joins a performance. The society and institution must decide how to address the professor and students.
A biracial, gender non-conforming, neurodiverse recent Ph.D. applying for a university fellowship attends a society annual meeting, arranged by the society’s in-coming President, who is also chair of the department offering the fellowship to vet leading candidates. The Ph.D experiences microaggressions and bias—comments/questions that are dismissive, demeaning, stereotyped, “old-school,” and inattentive to identity needs.
The Supplemental Materials and Resources below are intended to complement and support individual, or group facilitated, work with the Case Study Library. The information contained is not unique to any one case study and can be used with all case studies in the Library.
| Supplemental Materials & Resources (click each row to download) |
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| Section 3. Facilitator Preparation and Practices |
| Section 4. Elements of Effective Policies and Community Building Practices |
| Section 5. Reflection Questions for Individual Action |
| Section 6. National Support Resources |