In a proactive measure aimed at ensuring the safety and well-being of its student workforce and staff, Occidental College is introducing a sexual harassment prevention program specifically tailored for students and staff employees according to Title IX Director Alexandra Fulcher. The Discrimination and Harassment Prevention Course is a mandatory initiative that has been instituted with the primary objective of fostering a more secure and inclusive working atmosphere, according to a Sept. 5 campus-wide email.
The entire student body received a different email Aug. 10 that prompted students to complete two school-wide mandatory courses. Occidental has already established a precedent for prioritizing harassment prevention by mandating that its students complete two distinct bystander prevention training modules — “Mental Well Being | Undergraduate Students” and “Voices For Change” — before they return to campus each summer.
The curriculum for the Discrimination and Harassment Prevention Course was meticulously developed in collaboration with Get Inclusive and was specifically tailored to cater to the unique needs of higher education communities, according to the email. The email said the course’s primary purpose is to equip students within the Occidental community with the essential knowledge and resources required to cultivate an environment that is resolutely devoid of discrimination, harassment and retaliation.
While this semester represents the first instance of Occidental students completing this specific training course, the training itself is not new to the institution, according to Fulcher. California State Law mandates that any employer with a workforce exceeding five employees must provide sexual harassment prevention training. Fulcher said the duration of the training varies, depending on roles and responsibilities within the institution. Students are required to complete a one-hour session and supervisory staff undergo a more extensive two-hour course.
According to Fulcher, the addition of the new training aligns with a transition of leadership responsibility for harassment prevention courses to the Title IX office. The course is intended to bridge the gap between the traditional bystander training and situations students may face in the workplace, Fulcher said.
“It covers different material than our [other] student trainings do,” Fulcher said. “So there might be situations that students face in the workplace [that] perhaps this training covers that the typical bystander training that students get every year [does not].”
Students are supposed to complete the training during their regular work hours, according to Fulcher. Sunniva Berg (senior), who works at the Library’s circulation desk, completed the training in early September.
“My boss asked that we do it during our shift because we are supposed to get paid for it, so I did it on Tuesday and Wednesday,” Berg said. “It took me about two hours because I had to pause often to help people who came to the desk. The training requires that you be on the site for at least an hour — there’s a countdown.”
Some students, however, took the course on their own time. Charlotte de Mita (junior), who works for the Music Department at Occidental, said she also completed the training in early September. She said that she did not take it during work hours or receive payment for it.
In the future, Berg said she would like to see the training take place in-person.
“I think a lot of student workers, and workers in general, don’t know their rights, so the fact that we have any training will probably be somewhat effective. But at the same time, if we had in-person training, that would be more effective,” Berg said. “If people wanted to, they could just mute the videos in the background, so there’s no knowing how many people are actually taking in the information.”
While the 2023-2024 school year represents the first instance of Occidental students completing this workplace training course, Zachary Goldsmith (junior) who works for the theater department as an usher said there are similarities between it and the training that students are already required to undergo.
“It seemed the same as the harassment training that students are required to go through,” Goldsmith said. “I would want to see it be more supplementary, like how is your role as a a student employee different than your role as a student in terms of harassment, rather than just the same spiel that you would get if you were just doing the student harassment training.”
Contact Lily Snyder at lsnyder@oxy.edu
