Sexual harassment education has entered the digital age.
Although Northwestern still uses a series of mandatory lectures and various training programs to teach students, other institutions such as Middle Tennessee State University supplement group training with an online course.
“We tried to schedule workshops but there aren’t good times for everyone,” said Forrestine Williams, director of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity at MTSU. “We’ve brought in something that allows students to work at their own pace.”
The online program, titled “Preventing Sexual Harassment,” takes about one and a half hours to complete, Williams said. The course is optional and is geared toward students and faculty.
“I’ve got nothing but positive responses so far,” Williams said.
Only about 400 of the 1,800 faculty members and a few students at MTSU have finished the course, Williams said.
At NU, student reaction to mandatory Responsibilities courses, including one about sexual harassment, generally has been negative.
Communication freshman Neha Datt said she thought the courses were unduly long and unhelpful.
“They reiterated what I’d learned,” Datt said. “They were redundant and time consuming.”
Medill freshman Susan Ru said the entire process “sucked.”
Marcia Mahoney, director of NU’s Sexual Harassment Prevention office, said she has considered a variety of online sexual harassment courses, but has not yet found one that meets NU’s needs.
“I have reviewed the programs, and even helped develop some,” Mahoney said.
She said the online courses’ chief weakness is they provide no personal contact between the educators and those being educated.
“A lot of people have a lot of questions, and (training sessions) are a chance to address those specific concerns,” Mahoney said.
In addition to the Responsibilities courses, Mahoney said her office conducts teaching sessions for faculty and students at the beginning of each academic year, speaking to each academic department and at residence halls.
In these talks, Mahoney outlines various school policies, including how the school investigates complaints and how the sexual harassment program is developing.
Mary Desler, associate vice president for student affairs, said she constantly is reviewing student reception to the Responsibilities lectures and has considered the possibility of putting some courses online.
“We’re asking ourselves ‘How can we do (courses) in a way that offers some variety?’ How do we do that? We don’t know, but we’re working on it,” she said.
Both Mahoney and Desler expressed some doubt in the possibility of an online sexual harassment course.
“I would never rule out online training,” Mahoney said. “But I’m never a fan of online training when you can get students and faculty live.”
