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KU clarifies: Employees must report discrimination
MCKENNA HARFORD
@McKennaHarford
By clarifying the existing policy, the Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access has made it more clear to University employees that they are required to report any discrimination that a student experiences and informs them about.
IOA changed the discrimination policy at the beginning of this semester to clarify that all University employees are mandatory reporters of sexual harassment. The change came after the Sexual Assault Task Force, created by the chancellor last fall, recommended
that the University clarify the policy.
Two other recommendations from the task force include having the reporter call a victim advocate and educating employees on their responsibilities as a mandatory reporter.
ANGELA MURPHY Former Task Force Co-Chair
Students need to know there are people in the University who they can go to if something bad happens and just know you don't have to handle it on your own."
Title IX and University policy currently require all employees to report incidents of sexual harassment, including sexual violence, to the executive director of IOA, which at the University is Jane McQueeny. However, students can decide not to speak with IOA, meaning the investigation can essentially end with the information in the employee reports.
["Professors"] play several roles in terms of awareness
Alesha Doan, former cochair of the task force, said professors play a vital role as mandatory reporters because they can direct students to resources that the University makes available.
and getting information out," Doan said
Angela Murphy, another former co-chair of the task force and a graduate student in the English department, said professors are the "frontline" for getting information to students and providing support to survivors.
Murphy said she puts information in her syllabus about Title IX and provides resources for survivors. She makes sure her students know she is a mandatory reporter.
"Students need to know there are people in the University who they can go to if something bad happens and just know you don't have to handle it on your own." Murphy said.
Doan said the task force's report includes an example of language that professors can use in their syllabuses. It includes the Title IX law that bans gender discrimination, including sexual violence, and campus and community resources.
"Create [a safe] climate at the beginning." Doan said. "You can also put the information on blackboard or verbally say it."
Beyond a syllabus, Murphy said that not knowing how to react when a student confides makes it difficult for professors to be mandatory reporters.
"When you don't have any training, you're scared that you'll make it worse," Murphy
said.
Murphy also said that the task force's recommendation to implement a protocol for those situations would help that.
Kathy Rose-Mockry, director of the Emily Taylor Center, said the center offers training so employees can feel comfortable as a mandatory reporter and know what to do when a student approaches them.
"It is in the best interest of the student," Rose-Mockry said. "It's positive to report the incident because it's opening up information that they might not have known about."
For Sexual Assault Awareness Week, KU plants 8,000 red flags
MCKENNA HARFORD
@McKennaHarford
As part of Sexual Assault Awareness Week, 8,000 red flags will be planted in the lawn in front of Watson all week.
Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little will plant the first red flag in the Watson lawn, and representatives from the
Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access, Student Affairs and other campus partners will plant the rest, said Michael McRill, interim measures coordinator at IOA. The flags will be there from 12 p.m. Monday through the week.
The Red Flag Campaign is a national campaign against domestic and interpersonal violence. Red flags are planted around campus and posters
are hung up with examples of red-flag relationship situations that can lead to violence.
"The idea of this campaign is that you see the flags and then you have this sort of secondary recognition when you read what they're for, which has a strong effect in terms of learning the message." McRill said.
campaign, the University's existing bystander intervention program.
"It's encouraging [students] to see red flags and then say something about it." McRill said. "I think it fits in well with the current campaigns this office and other offices are doing. In some ways it's just a different approach to the same important cultural message."
The campaign encourages bystander intervention in conjunction with the SpeakKUp
Check out
SELF-DEFENSE WORKSHOP FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT AWARENESS WEEK
KANSAN.COM
As part of Sexual Assault Awareness Week, the Emily Taylor Center for Women and Gender Equity will host a self-defense workshop. Martial artists will teach physical and psychological self-defense strategies, according to the center's website.
for exclusive online content
Hashinger Hall Theater
Sept. 17 at 6:30 p.m.
emilytaylorcenter.ku.edu/
self-defense-workshop-registration