Image Courtesy of Pexels
By Anahy Gutierrez
A Perspective
Southwestern College implemented a mandatory sexual assault and violence prevention training this semester in response to Assembly Bill 2683. The state asked for the bare minimum. Southwestern delivered just that.
When women asked for help to stem sexual assault eight years ago, our college ignored them. Now that the State of California is stepping in and requiring training for new students, Southwestern’s response is watered down, weak and woeful.
SC’s quick-and-dirty approach takes once-over-lightly to a new low. A single email is sent to students to inform them of the newly required training, which consists of a 20-minute video describing sexual harassment and a nine-minute video on preventing it. Students are then encouraged (not required) to review the Title IX and Campus SaVE Act page on the SC website. It explains what Title IX is, how to report harassment, and how to identify harassment and violence. The final step is supposed to verify that students have reviewed the material. A simple poke of the “yes” button completes the training, no reading necessary.
Southwestern’s lazy reliance on the honor system is dishonorable and a diss to women. Though legislation did not require a more credible form of verification, there was certainly plenty of time to establish one. AB 2683 was signed into law by Gov. Newsom in September 2022, two years before its 2024 implementation. Southwestern had two years to create an appropriate way for students to prove they have reviewed the material.
It punted.
San Diego Community College District did better. Its Title IX training requires students to view modules, take quizzes and submit their scores to the college. It is a meaningful form of verification.
Southwestern took the lazy way out.
Chela Cholula, Southwestern College Executive Director of Human Resources, said AB 2683 is full of loopholes.
“The law says we have to have access to (student interaction with the sexual assault website), that (students) have to complete by a certain time,” she said. “The law doesn’t say what happens if (students) don’t complete it.”
AB 2683 is too vague to be effective, said Cholula.
“The consequence is, we’re going to have students who think it’s okay to be aggressive even after (a woman) says ‘no thank you, I don’t want to go on a date with you,’” she said.
The legislation does next to nothing to support transgender people or to educate students about anti-transgender language and actions.
In other words, the real consequence is even more sexual harassment. Title IX training is supposed to prevent sexual harassment, not wink at it.
Southwestern’s inept handling of sexual assault in the 2010s led to a campus that was notoriously unsafe for women. Previous student affairs administrators and past campus police officials allowed a toxic culture to fester. A former police chief committed perjury by lying on annual crime reports and manufacturing data. It worsened during the first Trump administration and its “grab ‘em by the pussy” braggadocio. Guess who’s back.
Cholula acknowledged that there is a lack of awareness among students. She said she would like to develop new strategies to encourage students to take the training seriously.
“Any ideas you have, send them my way,” she said. “Whatever I can do to get us off of the mute and so people can see it, I’m down. We’re trying. ”
