The Mental Health Professional's Role in Understanding, Preventing, and Responding to Student Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment is unwanted and unwelcome behavior that interferes with a student's participation in an educational program. Sexual harassment can include verbal comments, nonverbal communication, or physical contact. Unwanted sexual advances or requests for sexual favors are considered sexual harassment. To be identified as sexual harassment, the behavior must be either implicitly or explicitly sexual and be perceived by the recipient as undesirable (Paludi, 1997; Stein, 1999).