Six weeks of winter break provided plenty of time for staff to complete their mandatory online training modules on sexual violence and discrimination, but some staff members still did not complete the training.
The training modules that were launched in early November are mandatory for all staff members. The first two modules, “Prevent Sexual Violence Together” and “Prevent Discrimination and Harassment Together” were supposed to be completed by Jan. 23.
The other two modules on information security and child abuse need to be completed by April 1.
According to Erin Kastberg, vice president for legal affairs and general counsel, over 1,000 employees had completed the sexual violence and discrimination training on Jan. 31. At a University Senate meeting on Feb. 21 University President Gary Roberts said about 86 percent of staff had completed the training.
As far as what the next step is for the staff members that did not complete the training by the deadline, Kastberg said they have begun taking action toward those staff members.
“We have started the process of contacting the individuals who have not completed the training,” Kastberg said. “Consistent with our strategic plan, we hope to work with everyone to achieve a 100 percent completion rate.”
Brad Eskridge, instructor of marketing, has taken both the sexual violence and harassment and discrimination trainings. He thinks it is important for everyone to complete the modules.
“I think anybody who is unwilling to take these things or doesn’t take these are closed-minded,” Eskridge said. “We should take it very seriously because when you stop taking it seriously, that’s when all the crap happens.”
Eskridge said he feels very passionate about issues of sexual violence, harassment and discrimination in the world today.
“There’s no place for this in the real world at all, but there is certainly no place for it on college campuses,” Eskridge said. “And we never will completely get rid of it, but teachers can be an advocate. We have a responsibility to the students to make sure we are as informed as possible. Whatever it takes, in my opinion, to make sure we are serving our students as best we can, that’s what matters.”
Eskridge also said he sees the importance of the training when he looks to the future.
“I think about my daughter who is only five and won’t be in college for over 10 years, the bottom line is I would want everybody around her to be willing and able and knowledgeable on this stuff to help her if something happened,” Eskridge said.
According to Kastberg, the feedback among the staff members that have completed the training has been positive and some have already put the information to good use.
“One employee noted that the information security module on phishing actually helped that person avoid a phishing attempt,” Kastberg said.
Sara Netzley, associate professor of journalism, said the training was beneficial and was applicable to Bradley.
“They clearly had geared it towards higher education,” Netzley said. “I thought the scenarios they came up with were relatable. They gave good language to use if a student comes to you about being stalked or harassed on campus and good resources to help.”
Netzley also completed the modules concerning information security and said she hopes the training can help prevent future security breaches like the breach nearly four years ago that left approximately 4,700 present and past employees’ personal information at risk.
“If it means our social security numbers don’t get stolen again, I guess it is worth it,” Netzley said.
Kastberg mentioned there has been an issue with completed trainings appearing in the system.
“One challenge is that it sometimes takes up to 24 hours for the employee’s completion to show up in the system, and a few times it hasn’t shown at all, so people have understandably been frustrated when this occurs,” Kastberg said.
Kastberg mentioned the university is considering further training topics, but is currently focused on these trainings.
