Victims of sexual harassment can now turn to better informed people.

Bonnie Ortiz, director of the University's Affirmative Action office, presented a brochure defining sexual harassment to the University Board of Trustees earlier this month. The brochure contains the names of 88 University contact persons -- people trained to counsel victims of sexual harassment.

The Affirmative Action office held a workshop last week on sexual harassment for senior administrators and the contact persons. The three-day workshop taught the contacts to recognize the signs of harassment and how to help victims of harassment, she said.

The office wants to "renew the energy" in the sexual harassment program, Ortiz said. The programs are not new, she said, but the office is trying to revitalize the program with the additional training and the brochure.

Janet Rockey, a contact person and administrative aid in the Applied Research Laboratory, said she was surprised to learn at the workshop that so many sexual harassment cases exist at the University.

The documented cases of sexual harassment have exploded in the last 10 years, Ortiz said. Up to 92 percent of women and up to 57 percent of men experience unwanted sexual attention, Ortiz said. Sexual harassment interferes with study, work and hampers a person's achievement, Ortiz said.

Contact person Janet McGrew said role-playing is a helpful part of the training. McGrew, a computer support and coordinator of the Smeal College of Business Administration dean's office, said role-playing made her more aware of subtle sexual harassment that can occur in an office.

But McGrew said contacts must also rely on their insight when dealing with sexual harassment instead of adhering to a step-by-step process.

Even though they are encouraged to report problems to the office, it is not mandatory, she said. All cases are confidential, McGrew added.

The contact people must also be "empathetic but not sympathetic," McGrew said. She said good listening skills are necessary to determine if the case is sexual harassment.

Sexual harassment also includes harassment due to sexual orientation, Ortiz said, but harassment of this nature is hard to study because there are few previous law cases.

The training program included instruction to 20 people on how to give sexual harrassment workshops, Ortiz said. These awareness workshops will be aimed mostly at University employees, but will be offered to students, she said.

The University is not planning a sexual harassment study because it is common knowledge that sexual harassment exists at the University, Ortiz said.

Ortiz said a newsletter explaining the different experiences of the contact persons will possibly be distributed semi-annually starting in the fall.

Kepler Jones, an academic adviser in the College of Education, said the training opened his eyes to different aspects of sexual harassment.

"It happens here at Penn State," Jones said.