On June 30th, Institutional Equity and Compliance and the Student Government Association announced on their Facebook that mandatory Title IX training for all incoming and current students at WSU will start July 1st, which will cover sexual harassment and bystander intervention training.

Rija Khan, student body president, said that Wichita State University is one of the only colleges in Kansas that hadn’t yet implemented this mandatory training on campus, and that this is a needed step for the university.

“Taking this step is important because we want to make sure that we are creating a culture of safety, of educating our students so that they know the resources that we have for them,” she said.

“If they find themselves in a situation where they need help they know the resources, or if their friend needs a resource, they are now educated on how to share that.”

Khan said that in the 63rd session of SGA, the student advocate was heavily involved in making this mandatory training.  OIEC was responsible for revamping the training and making it new and updated.  The 63rd session successfully passed the resolution for mandatory training with unanimous consent.

“We can make time for the things that we want to do, and as a campus this is something that we need to do,” Khan said. “This is not just about giving another training, but about educating ourselves.”

Students who fail to complete the training will have a registration hold put on their account.  Khan said that if something as small as a parking ticket can put a hold on your account, they believe that something with this much seriousness attached to it should as well.

“The reason we come to this university is to learn and grow, and this training is intended for us to understand that there can be different environments that are not healthy for us, as well as what are the resources and how can we help ourselves and our peers around us?” Khan said.  

“This is a training everyone should and must take.”

The training will be online, and students will receive an email from campus with instructions on how to complete the training.

Related to Title IX, the university released the results of a Title IX survey earlier this week. The survey focused on the effectiveness of campus policies surrounding Title IX. The survey was sent to 15,340 members of the WSU community and 911 individuals responded, a 5.9% response rate. To see the results of that survey, click here.