The start of the academic year brings friends, relationships, classes, and more importantly a lot, and I mean a lot, of paperwork. From registration to meal plans to looming tuition bills, the influx of mandatory paperwork and training can start to look like busy work. Incoming students, employees, and students with eboard positions must complete mandatory Title IX training at the University, which at the moment consists of an online training course with a series of overly simplified scenarios and questions to indicate you understand and recognize sexual harassment, violence, and gender-based discrimination.
Despite the feeling of busy work, there’s value in the mandatory online training that’s become standard protocol for people in the professional working landscape. Over the past couple of years, I’ve heard an increasing trivialization of mandatory training from people around me — from watching someone speed run the course in freshman year, to being surprised at the contents of the Title IX training they took earlier than me. At the hospital, I heard nurses lament over the amount of time they’d “waste” completing their training. I’ve even heard people I’m close with deride the training in casual conversation. It’s described with a groan, or included in a laundry list of mundane tasks like cleaning and cooking.
Now, years after the #MeToo movement, which has enhanced the visibility of conversations around consent, the attitude towards Title IX training is marked by a growing air of complacency. The oversimplified videos and scenarios feel like administrations are just trying to get through a mandatory task, and it’s led people to forget the necessity of these trainings.
I’ve heard people ridicule the training, the seeming oversimplification of more specifically sexual situations or instances of discrimination. While the content might be oversimplified and can (and should) be criticized in its own right, oversimplified training is better than none at all. And the existing modules do accomplish their goal: establishing a foundation for understanding consent that is often overlooked by young adults.
Regardless of what you think of the content of the training, however, it provides a time for reflection, particularly on your own actions. Ridiculing the training simulations undermines the purpose of the training. Reluctance to accept these basic principles of consent leads to those behaviors becoming normalized with time. People often aren’t able to talk about these topics openly because of the existing air of defensiveness and dismissiveness. Training gives people the tools to discuss sexual assault with the transparency it needs, because miscommunication is preventable.
Training also teaches people how to identify and form the foundational blocks of healthy relationships, like communication. I’ve tried to have direct conversations about consent with people in the past. I’ve tried to organize conversations. I’ve been told I’m “projecting” or “being insecure” for asking for affirmative consent and trying to genuinely gauge a direct answer when revisiting a topic and checking on past actions. I’ve had them laugh at me and say no after asking them to be direct. A small talk about consent can define the difference between hurting someone and having a consensual relationship.
I’ve tried to have a conversation about future instances, and with the last person I was with, I was told “thanks for the warning.” However, it’s more about taking time to reflect on actions and how they affect others, and how a lack of communication could be detrimental. Reflection is necessary and these Title IX trainings allow young adults who haven’t had an easy time being direct to have time to reflect.
As eboard members, new student employees, and incoming students begin completing their training, it’s important to remember the gravity of these situations. Clear communication is simple and while for some people it can initially make them insecure or uncomfortable, it is something that needs to be normalized. Foundational blocks for consent and relationships need to be set, and it starts with taking Title IX training seriously.
