The main goal of all the many university “equity” offices is to look busy. They have to squash any idea that they’re just nicely-paid sinecures that do nothing but enable presidents to crow about them as evidence of their commitment to diversity.
Here is a memo from North Carolina State’s Office for Equal Opportunity, announcing mandatory discrimination and harassment prevention response training sessions that it runs:
MEMORANDUM
TO: Deans, Directors, and Department Heads
FROM: Joanne Woodard, Vice Provost for Equal Opportunity and
Equity
Amy Circosta, Assistant Vice Provost
SUBJECT: Discrimination and Harassment Prevention and Response
Training
DATE: June 14, 2007
In June 2007, North Carolina State University adopted a regulation entitled³Discrimination and Harassment Prevention and Response Training.² Thisregulation seeks to provide each employee within NC State with important information on how to maintain a discrimination-free work environment and how to identify and address discrimination and harassment if an incident occurs. The training programs are organized and conducted by the Office for Equal Opportunity (OEO).
To assist in ensuring each department¹s compliance with this training requirement, OEO has provided options for completion of the training program:
1) Registering for and attending a pre-scheduled Discrimination andHarassment Prevention and Response Training session (http://www.ncsu.edu/equal_op/harassment/DHPR_training.html).
2) Contacting OEO to schedule a training session for your department, for example, during a regularly scheduled departmental or staff meeting (513-1234).
3) Completing the Discrimination and Harassment Prevention and Response online training module (http://www.ncsu.edu/project/oeo-training/harassment/).
Sessions, both live and on-line, typically range from 45 minutes to one hour. Additional options for fulfillment of the training requirement may be discussed with Amy Circosta, Director of Harassment Prevention & Equity Programs (513-1234).
Please note that employees holding supervisory positions are expected to participate in an additional, supervisor-specific training program.
Thank you for your assistance in preventing discrimination and harassment at NC State.