Editorial: Audit highlights need for better sexual assault training at UCLA
By Editorial Board
June 30, 2014 12:24 a.m.
The original version of this article contained information that was unclear and has been changed. See the bottom of the article for more information.
A recent state audit confirmed what many UCLA students already know: The university needs to do more to train its faculty and staff on how to handle incidents of sexual assault.
In a report released last week, the California state auditor found that the four schools it evaluated, including UCLA, do not adequately protect their students by educating members of campus on sexual assault policies.
Most egregiously, the audit found that almost half of the students who asked for help following an assault received confusing information or were discouraged from filing a Title IX complaint. Title IX, part of the Education Amendments of 1972, is a law that requires federally funded schools to report all incidents of sexual assault.
UCLA’s sexual harassment training meets only the bare minimum.
As California requires, UCLA faculty and staff undergo such trainings every two years. But as a university where numerous students have expressed concerns about sexual assault policies, UCLA should strive for more than just the minimum.
Currently, all faculty are given a “red folder” that has information on how to handle a student asking for help.
The university instructs employees to send students to UCLA’s Counseling and Psychological Services or Campus Assault Resources and Education to receive professional guidance, said UCLA spokesman Tod Tamberg.
But in the wake of an assault, students need stability and comfort and may prefer to confide in a trusted professor or coach.
All university faculty and staff are responsible for more than just their research or their team’s winning record. Every employee should be able to sensitively and accurately help students who come to him or her for help.
UCLA has heard these recommendations before. The leaders of a student-run campaign to educate the campus community about sexual assault, called 7000 in Solidarity, asked for more faculty training last fall.
In a meeting on August 29 of last year, Vice Chancellor of Legal Affairs Kevin Reed and UCLA’s Title IX coordinator Pamela Thomason told student leaders that they would consider including sexual assault response training into sexual harassment training but would not add any additional training sessions because faculty would resist.
If the university will not heed the wishes of students, this board hopes that the recommendations of state auditors will force administrators to accept that they need to do more.
Starting this fall, all UCLA employees should receive annual trainings that go beyond sexual harassment and the “red folder” that currently comprise the standard. Sensitivity workshops and legal training on Title IX are needed to adequately assist survivors of sexual assault on campus.
At academic institutions, the well-being of students should be the top priority for faculty and administrators. And if a state auditor, students and experts continuously claim that more trainings will benefit students, implementing those changes should be UCLA’s top priority.
Clarification: Thomason and Reed said in a meeting with student leaders in August that they would consider including sexual assault response training into sexual harassment training but not add additional training sessions.
