Sexual Misconduct & Harassment Resources

Dean Patricia HurnAs part of the University of Michigan School of Nursing’s commitment to increase safety and well-being, I established a Sexual Harassment and Misconduct Training Task Force. The task force consists of 16 faculty and staff members, as well as a student representative.

The task force has been creative and strong in their planning around how we can best support the university’s initiative to improve training and guidelines that will reduce sexual misconduct, increase our understanding of this form of interpersonal stress and trauma, and provide more community resources.  As U-M President Mark S. Schlissel announced in April 2019, the university is committed to the changes that must happen if we are to prevent sexual and gender-based misconduct. These changes came about after a comprehensive review of the university’s related policies and an examination of best practices in higher education.  One output is the development of an umbrella policy that applies to all U-M faculty, staff and students. The university launched a mandatory online training for all faculty and staff. In addition, new resources have been added to the Office of Institutional Equity to improve how misconduct reports are handled.

All of us need to recognize that sexual harassment and misconduct occur across demographics, ages, ranks and titles. Our school is uniquely positioned as we have experts within the field of sexual violence. As such, UMSN is already a trauma-informed school. The sexual harassment and misconduct training is only one piece of what needs to be implemented to eliminate sexual misconduct and violence. Other changes include a reporting line for misconduct incidents, increasing sharing of resources, implementing the training as part of onboarding for new faculty and staff, and including training as part of annual evaluations.

We think about these initiatives as links between the sexual misconduct and our school’s wider culture initiatives. In 2016, UMSN conducted a Climate Survey, which elicited results that we needed to improve trust among members of the community. As a result, the Culture Champions group was formed. Since their formation, this group has developed our declaration of values (E.P.I.C.) and is working to implement civility training. Our sexual harassment and misconduct initiatives are inter-related with these efforts as this topic is directly linked to experiences and actions of civility.

In addition to the resources listed on this below on this page, I encourage our staff and faculty to visit our internal Canvas site for a full list of resources related to this important initiative. Our work in this area will always be ongoing as we work to create the safest environment for all at our cherished institution.

Thank you for attention to all of this; I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to me that our school continues to be a great place to work and study.

Dean Patricia D. Hurn

Sexual Misconduct Reporting & Resources at University of Michigan

Cultivating a Culture of Respect University of Michigan

Reporting Pathways & Support at UMSN