University-wide Training on Sexual Misconduct
From Dr. Jean Morrison, University Provost and Chief Academic Officer
At a time of heightened awareness around sexual misconduct, it is vital that Boston University makes clear its intolerance of any such conduct or behavior. Boston University is committed to ensuring that all members of our community are afforded a respectful environment in which to work and study. In short, we take the matter of sexual misconduct very seriously.
In the coming months, Boston University will be moving to implement mandatory University-wide training on sexual misconduct for all students, faculty, and staff. These trainings will be conducted online and the training process will be overseen by the University’s Equal Opportunity Office in collaboration with the Dean of Students and Human Resources. The goal of these trainings is to enhance understanding of acceptable and unacceptable behavior and to share information on policies, procedures, and available resources and contacts, so that future incidents can be prevented and all members of the BU community can thrive in a campus setting free of sexual misconduct, including harassment.
You may recall that BU instituted mandatory online trainings in 2014 for faculty and staff and voluntary trainings in 2016 for students in sexual misconduct prevention. These trainings helped to elevate awareness of the issue and outlined the range of reporting processes and resources available to victims. The new trainings being introduced this spring will be different in that they are now mandatory for all members of our community and are produced utilizing a new platform through our partners at EverFi that is simpler to use, more time-efficient, and allows for timley updates, tracking, and data collection.
The online training will be made available in the coming months, with separate units individually tailored for students, faculty, and staff. We will share more detailed information with you as the rollout approaches, so that you can make appropriate schedule accommodations to complete your training module. Thank you for your support of this important initiative.