Late October, many UC employees, myself included, received an email that mandated the completion of a “UC Cyber Security Awareness Training” module. Personally, I completed my training over winter break, when I knew I wouldn’t be bogged down by a myriad of other responsibilities. It was a relatively quick assessment that took no longer than an hour. I finished the training, received my confirmation email, and thought nothing more of the task.
However, as the impending deadline of January 31st approaached, I began to see Facebook posts cropping up on my newsfeed, condemning the training and boycotting it. The gist of the posts seemed to be that people were calling for sexual awareness training to be implemented with the same sense of urgency and breadth as the cyber security training before they would even consider completing the latter. My initial response was that this seemed counterproductive. Why link two seemingly unrelated topics? Wouldn’t that just hinder overall university progress and unnecessarily upset administrators in the process? Wouldn’t the university and UC officials be more inclined to listen to employees who were abiding by their prescribed guidelines?
Yet the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. For all the protests and movements initiated by campus groups and coalitions, the university had not been listening to students’ calls for sexual awareness training. Yes, it had required its undergraduate freshman to complete modules, but not its faculty nor employees. The faculty alone consists of over 2000 individuals–2000 potentially untrained individuals who students come into contact with each and every day of the school year. It’s clear that the UC system cares enough about its cyber security to enforce training upon each and every one of its employees (even me, a member of student government with a pay rate of 39 dollars a week). So it made sense that student activists would combat the university’s apathy towards sexual assault with inaction regarding their prioritization of cyber security.
I sat down with the Director of the Office of Advocacy and Student Representation (OASR) at UC Davis, Sam Alavi, to gain a better understanding of this pressing issue.
Her Campus (HC): Where did you, and those joining you in this movement, get the idea to boycott mandated cyber security training?
Sam Alavi (SA): To be clear, it’s not any kind of an official boycott, but ever since I got the first notification back in October that all UC employees were mandated to go through this training on Cyber Security, I’ve been thinking a lot about the fact that we haven’t been treating mandated sexual assault prevention training in the same way. Students get their mandated sexual assault awareness training at freshman orientation (or transfer orientation), but they don’t really get anything after that, and grad students, staff, and faculty don’t really get any sort of training at all, ever. So if two things are deemed necessary–cyber security and sexual assault prevention–I’m not going to let the University decide which one to prioritize by letting them enforce one training over another.
OASR Director Sam Alavi (middle), pictured with fellow student activists protesting tuition hikes.
HC: Well said. For those of us who may be unaware, why is sexual assault training important?
SA: The rates of sexual assault are extremely high in college. Students are told not to rape others, but we never tell them what constitutes assault or why. Awareness/prevention training provides a space for students to unlearn 18+ years of socialized ideas of gender, sex, and patriarchy so that we can effectively prevent sexual assault.
HC: That’s an incredibly jarring statement. Are there any avenues through which you are trying to advocate for sexual assault awareness training?
SA: We’re currently working on creating a peer education program for sexual assault education. This way, instead of relying on one CARE (Center for Advocacy, Research, and Education) staff member to educate every single person on our campus, we’ll have more students who are trained on the issue. I’ll continue to work on strengthening that program and figuring out ways to mandate that students get trained through it. In terms of training staff and faculty, we need to work on creating a better curriculum that caters to the different needs of staff, faculty, and TAs. Then we have to make departments feel invested in actually making sure it happens.
After the interview, it was evident that whether you’re an university employee who’s already completed their training or just another collegiette trying to get through the grind, it’s important for everyone to be aware of these issues, and consciously seek to make our university a safe space conducive to academic success and mental wellbeing. If you would like to help take a stand against sexual assault and promote awareness, please contact the Office of Advocacy and Student Representation.