It Takes All of Us, the University’s sexual violence training program, was made available to all of McGill’s non-academic staff on January 27. They have until April 15 to complete the program.
As part of McGill’s Policy Against Sexual Violence, all University community members (students, faculty and staff) are required to follow the training program, designed to increase awareness about sexual violence and its prevention.
The program has been rolled out in stages. McGill’s student community received access in the fall, and were required to complete the program last semester. Faculty staff were given access later, and had a February 1 deadline.
The mandatory 45-minute training program, available in both French and English on myCourses, is comprised of four modules focusing on sexual violence, sexual consent, how to be an active bystander and supporting survivors.
“The training modules are putting these issues on everyone’s radar so anyone who studies or works at McGill will have a shared understanding of what sexual violence is, the populations that it affects most, notions of consent and what resources and policies are available on campus that relate to these issues,” says Angela Campbell, Associate Provost (Equity and Academic Policies), who led the initiative with former Dean of Students and now Associate Provost (Teaching and Academic Programs), Prof. Christopher Buddle.
Supporting victims of sexual violence
Campbell said that the resources provided within the training modules will also help the people know how to react when they witness interactions that aren’t appropriate, “because often people feel like they ought to do something, but they don’t really know what to do and don’t feel equipped to make some of these hard judgment calls.”
The interactive training modules also provide important information and resources about how to support victims of sexual violence and McGill’s numerous campus-wide initiatives on prevention and response.
It Takes All of Us is the largest consent and sexual violence education initiative ever undertaken at the University, and it is not seen as an endpoint to education on this topic. For example, McGill’s Office of Sexual Violence Response, Support and Education offers a suite of options for in-person workshops and training, and these offerings build upon what community members will learn in the online modules.
“The online modules, combined with in-person training, other educational campaigns, and initiatives within Faculties, Departments, or by student societies is placing McGill in more of a leadership role on the topic of sexual violence prevention and awareness,” states Christopher Buddle. “We have made great strides in recent years, and we will continue to improve over time.”
Largest teaching initiative ever at McGill
Alex Liepins, an academic associate in Teaching and Learning Services, who was instrumental in coordinating much of the inter-unit collaboration required to make the project happen, described It Takes All of Us as the single biggest teaching initiative ever undertaken at McGill.
“For the first time in the history of McGill, we’ve launched an online education program for every single member of our community. By April, about 50,000 people will have done these training modules, so that in of itself is a monumental achievement,” says Liepins.
It Takes All of Us is an ongoing initiative. In coming years, new students will be required to complete the program during their first semester. As part of the onboarding process, new faculty and staff will also be required to complete the program.