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Campus-Wide Education, Training, and Upcoming Programs

Community Education and Training

The Title IX team recently conducted a series of webinars for the Simmons community regarding Simmons' updated Sexual Harassment Policy. If you were unable to attend any of the webinars, or would like a refresher regarding the policy, we welcome you to watch a recording of one of the webinars.

The Title IX team also offers smaller-group, live educational training sessions regarding Simmons' Sexual Harassment Policy. Please contact Sara Simberg, Assistant General Counsel and Title IX Coordinator, at [email protected], if you would like to schedule a training session for your Department or organization.

Training through Get Inclusive

Simmons is partnered with Get Inclusive to provide our students and employees with training that fosters a safe and healthy community. These courses reinforce and encourage healthy decision-making and promote positive behaviors.

Student modules:

  • Undergraduate students: Incoming first-year students (including transfer students) take the Sexual Assault Prevention for Undergraduates Get Inclusive module.
  • Graduate students: Incoming graduate students take the Sexual Assault Prevention for Graduate Students Get Inclusive module.
  • Student athletes: Incoming first-year student athletes take the Sexual Assault Prevention for Undergraduates Get Inclusive module. In subsequent years, student athletes take the Sexual Assault Prevention for Student Athletes Get Inclusive module.

Employee modules:

  • New employees (faculty and staff) complete the Harassment Prevention Get Inclusive module as part of the onboarding process.
  • Athletic coaches take the Sexual Assault Prevention for Athletic Staff Get Inclusive module each year.

Training for Simmons Title IX Personnel and Consultants

The Title IX Coordinator, investigator(s), decision-makers, and those involved in the informal resolution processes allowed for under the Sexual Harassment Policy receive annual training in the following areas:

  • Definition of "sexual harassment" under the Title IX regulations
  • Scope of Simmons' educational programs and activities, as defined by Simmons' Sexual Harassment Policy
  • How to conduct investigations, informal resolution processes, hearings, and appeals, as applicable
  • How to serve impartially, including by avoiding prejudgment of the facts at issue, conflicts of interest, and bias
  • Technology used at hearings
  • How to determine whether information and documentation is relevant and may be considered as part of an investigation and hearing, as applicable
  • Information on consent and the role drugs and alcohol may play in an individual’s ability to consent
  • The effects of trauma, including any neurobiological impact on an individual, and information on working with and interviewing persons subjected to sexual misconduct
  • How sexual misconduct may impact individuals differently depending on factors that contribute to an individual’s cultural background, including, but not limited to, national origin, sex, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation, and the importance of communicating respectfully and mindfully
  • How sexual misconduct may impact individuals with developmental or intellectual disabilities
  • The principles of due process necessary to ensure that proceedings are conducted impartially in a manner that is fundamentally fair to all parties

The following are the training materials utilized during trainings attended by members of the Title IX team and others who provide Title IX-related services to the University: