The University of California, Merced is committed to maintaining an environment free of discrimination and harassment, including sexual harassment and sexual violence. As such, all members of the UC Merced community — students, staff, faculty, and other academic appointees — are required to receive discrimination and harassment prevention training and education regularly.
UC’s systemwide curriculum educates our community about prohibited conduct as defined in the UC Policies on Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment and Anti-Discrimination, how to prevent and report it, the role of intervention, and what local resources are available.
Key concepts covered in UC’s systemwide curriculum for every audience are:
- Definitions of different forms of sexual violence
- Different forms of harassment and discrimination based on a Protected Category
- Social norms, including the attitudes and beliefs that can normalize violence
- Bystander intervention
- Responding to sexual violence using methods that acknowledge the impact of violence and trauma on survivors’ lives
- Local resources, including confidential support for survivors of sexual violence and appropriate services for those accused of sexual violence
- Prohibition of retaliation
- Rights and options about reporting sexual violence, harassment, discrimination, and retaliation
Students
Federal and state law, as well as University policy, require that all new and returning students receive education and training about discrimination and harassment prevention once per Academic Year.
Faculty and Supervisors
Faculty and supervisors are required to complete two hours of sexual harassment prevention training every two years. New faculty and supervisors are required to take training within the first six months of hire. Continuing employees will receive an email notification 60 days before the two-year anniversary of their previous compliance. Courses may be completed online through the UC Learning Center. Employees will be notified that they have been assigned the training via their ucsd.edu email accounts.
All supervisors, including all employees with HEERA designations, or employees who may meet the following criteria are required to complete the training:
“Any individual having the authority, and the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, layoff, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward or discipline other employees, or the responsibility to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or effectively to recommend that action, if, in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of that authority is not merely of a routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment.”
Non-Supervising Staff and Academic Appointees
Staff and academic appointees who are not supervisors are required to complete two hours of sexual harassment prevention training every two years. New employees are required to take the training within the first six weeks of hire. Continuing employees will receive an email notification 60 days before the two-year anniversary of their previous compliance. Designated employees who are required to report sexual violence to a Title IX Officer will receive training on their legal obligations. Courses may be completed online through the UC Learning Center. Employees will be notified that they have been assigned the training via their ucsd.edu email accounts.
