A groundbreaking study that is the first to measure the impact of institutional courage and its role in buffering the harm of institutional betrayal has been published in the open access journal PLOS ONE.

A team of researchers from the Center for Institutional Courage and the University of Oregon, led by Dr. Alec Smidt, conducted an extensive online survey of 805 working adults. It showed that institutional courage is an effective buffer to betrayal in the workplace, especially in cases of sexual harassment.

The Center for Institutional Courage has announced its second year of research grant funding to 21 scholars from 10 universities, for eight projects that expand examinations of institutional betrayal and institutional courage. For the first time in this grant process, two longitudinal studies have received multi-year funding. The 2022 Institutional Research grants continues the Center’s focus on unstudied institutions and marginalized populations.

A study appearing on October 20, 2021 in PLOS ONE, a journal of the Public Library of Science, reveals a continuing pattern of harm and trauma to students dependent on support and protection provided by their educational institution during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Authored by Alexis Adams-Clark and Jennifer Freyd of the Center for Institutional Courage, this report examined COVID-19 policies in 2020 and 2021 at a major public university in the Pacific Northwest.

The Center for Institutional Courage has announced its awarding of more than $50,000 in research grants to scholars at 15 universities in the U.S. and Canada. Courage’s inaugural research grant program focuses on institutional courage and institutional betrayal, with emphasis on unstudied institutions and marginalized populations.

“These grants will empower researchers to continue to expose the harmful impact of institutional betrayal, and the promise of institutional courage to right wrongs,” said Dr. Jennifer Freyd, founder and president of the Center for Institutional Courage.