Sent to Students, Faculty & Staff April 17 2023
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Equity and Access BulletinFrom the Office of Equity and Access |
April 2024 is the 22nd Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). The purpose of SAAM is to raise awareness of the epidemic of sexual violence in order to prevent and eventually eliminate all forms of sex or gender based discrimination and violence.
Stony Brook University prohibits, and is committed to eliminating all forms of sex or gender based discrimination and violence. If you have experienced or are aware of an incident of sexual misconduct, please report it.
The National Sexual Violence Resources Center (NSVRC) has designated "Building Connected Communities" as the theme of Sexual Assault Awareness month. As stated on the NSVRC website: "Community is powerful. Community creates a sense of belonging and reminds us of how our beliefs, choices, and actions impact one another. At the center of Building Connected Communities is ensuring our communities are safe, inclusive, and equitable. Racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, ageism, ableism, and other forms of oppression contribute to higher rates of sexual harassment, assault, and abuse. We must address all abuses of power to prevent sexual violence -- in our relationships, communities, and society."
| Sexual Misconduct and Reporting Policy | Report an Incident |
3rd Annual Sexual Misconduct Prevention Progress Report 2024
For the third year, as part of our commemoration of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and to highlight our commitment to transparency, OEA has once again compiled our Sexual Misconduct Progress Report covering many aspects of Stony Brook University's Title IX efforts. The topics included in this years reports include
Title IX Task Force Implementation & Continued Effort - read an update on our efforts
to implement all of the recommendations of the Title IX Task Force
Recent Investigation Statistics
Training and Outreach
New Title IX Regulations Anticipated - OEA anticipates regulatory changes to Title
IX from the United States Department of Education before Fall 2024.
It is available on OEA's website. We encourage you to take some time to review it. We welcome any questions or comments at titleix@stonybrook.edu.
Online, Live Web-Based and In-Person Prevention and Awareness Training Available
As it is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, it is a good time to highlight SBU education and prevention efforts to combat sexual violence. As part of Stony Brook University's commitment to a safe, respectful, and inclusive environment for all students, employees, and patients, we are proud to offer training opportunities to increase awareness of sexual misconduct and how to report it.
We offer on-demand in-person or webinar programming for any department or unit upon request. Academic and administrative departments, student organizations or any other department or group are all encouraged to request programming. Whether in person or via zoom or OEA is happy to provide programming whenever any cohort in the University community invites us. If you're interested in scheduling a presentation for your department, please email us at oea_training@stonybrook.edu.
Faculty Q & A Sessions Available for All Academic Departments
In an effort to increase faculty awareness of the issue of sexual misconduct and the responsibility of all faculty members to report issues of sexual misconduct, in 2023 OEA began proactively offering Q & A sessions for faculty. These sessions are designed to be more of an open discussion, allowing OEA to answer questions and address any faculty concerns. If your department is interested in participating, please email oea_training@stonybrook.edu.
Training for Graduate Students
Studies demonstrate that Graduate Students are more like to experience sexual harassment from faculty and other University employees than undergraduate students. The same studies demonstrate that graduate students are even less likely to report an incident due to fear that retaliation could impact any future academic career.
To address this, OEA has developed an in-person program for graduate students. This program will supplement the ReportIt: Ending Sexual Misconduct program and will focus on:
Employment-based sexual harassment
Stony Brook University's Policy on Relationships
Responsibilities as a Mandated Reporter
The goal of this program is to ensure gradaute students are aware of Stony Brook University's prohibition of all forms of sexual harassment in the workplace, including the pursuit of a romantic or sexual relationships between instructor-student, supervisor-employee, mentor-intern and all situations where a power imbalance exists.
If you are interested in scheduling a session for your graduate students, please email oea_training@stonybrook.edu.
ReportIt: Ending Sexual Misconduct
The Office of Equity and Access has a comprehensive training awareness program to combat sexual misconduct including sexual harassment and violence. Starting in 2019, OEA has required all employees and all onboarding students, as well as resident assistants, student leaders and student-athletes, to participate annual in our online sexual misconduct prevention program ReportIt: Ending Sexual Misconduct. In order to ensure that each member of our campus community has access to appropriate programming, we have designed various versions of ReportIt:
- Onboarding Employees
- Onboarding Responsible Employee
- Annual Review for Employees
- Annual Review for Responsible Employees
- Onboarding Students
- Annual Review for Students
- Annual Review for Mandated Reporters
In 2022 into 2023 OEA tested and moved ReportIt programming onto HealthStream for Hospital Employees. In the Fall of 2023 we started provided this program on Brightspace for Resident Assistants. This semester we are providing the program in Brightspace for Onboarding Spring 2023 students. We hope to provide programming to all members of the University Community on a LMS system , either Brightspace or HealthStream, for all members of the University Community by Fall 2024.