The following story, from George Fox University’s The Crescent, was written by Ashlie Hernandez.
At the beginning of the school year, George Fox University students received emails regarding Haven, an online test that educates and surveys students about sexual harassment.
Brad Lau, vice president of Student Life, played a major role in bringing Haven to the GFU.
Haven, powered by EverFi, is an online course that defines sexual harassment, provides content for students to reflect on, and helps build strategies for prevention and intervention.
Students have received multiple emails to remind them to finish the course by certain dates. For some students, these emails seem irritating and pointless. For others, sexual harassment is a very important issue and needs to be addressed.
“I found it to be really cool that there is an emphasis on having knowledge about harassment on college campuses. It can happen anywhere,” said first-year student Ilana Mayer.
“We want to enhance education on campus regarding important topics such as these,” Lau stated.
According to Haven, “one in five women have reported experiencing an attempted or completed rape in college.”
The course has two major parts, with subdivisions going in depth on topics such as stalking, verbal harassment, and physical harassment.
While participating in the interactive graphics and videos, students are asked a variety of questions. Participants are asked about their personal views of different stereotypes that exist in American society, and required to take quizzes on the information given in a previous video.
GFU has not had to deal with the unsettling statistics regarding harassment, unlike other universities in Oregon, and across the nation. However, it is still important to educate anyone, including faculty and staff, who walks the pathways and canyons of the GFU campus.
Lau and the rest of Student Life want to not only educate the students, but also other members of the GFU community as well.
“Not only are students required to take Haven, but employees will be completing a separate module of the course designed specifically for faculty, staff, and administrators,” Lau said.
Providing a safe and comfortable environment for everyone in the GFU community is a major priority for most of the faculty and staff.
Along with education, Student Life is partnering with Haven to customize different resources made available to both students and faculty who would need them. Taking the education given and taking action is the goal.
“We want to provide education for students and be proactive in equipping students with information and resources in case, God forbid, they find themselves in a situation referenced in the course,” Lau said.
Student Life hopes to educate everyone at GFU in hopes that those who finish the course will take action if they are found in a situation where any form of harassment is involved.