Creating and Maintaining Non-Discriminatory Working and Learning Environments

August 28, 2023

Elizabeth Conklin, JD

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ID: 10671
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00:00Hi. It's so good to be with you.
00:03I'm welcome and thank you for the
00:06introduction. Darren is always a
00:07little bit of a hard act to follow.
00:10So I'm going to do my best and I think the
00:12way I can do that is to talk about food.
00:14So how many people we are
00:16new to Haven or Connecticut?
00:20Good number. OK. So here's the tips.
00:23Coffee, coffee drinkers in the room.
00:25I think the best coffee in town,
00:27and this is changing all the time,
00:28but in my opinion,
00:30in this place called Fussy coffee
00:31which is over at Science Park if you
00:33like a good cold brew or a pour over,
00:36I had a recommended. So that's number one.
00:38The place in Guilford.
00:40It's an outdoor place.
00:42You can bring whatever you want,
00:44you I/O everything,
00:45including glasses if you'd like.
00:46They BBQ up lots of fish
00:49and other things Excellent.
00:51So those are my two food suggestions to
00:53get us started on the right foot here.
00:56I'm going to talk today about
00:59bringing what Darren spoke about
01:01into a little bit more tangible
01:03expectations around policy and
01:05resources on these topics here at Yale.
01:08I'm going to share a couple of
01:11different thoughts based on cases
01:12that we've either seen in the news or
01:14else that I have managed directly.
01:16And I could just tell you a little
01:18bit about my background.
01:19I've been here at Yale since September 2020.
01:22This role was a new role at that time
01:24to really bring together universities
01:27approach to both preventing and
01:29responding to discrimination and
01:31harassment as well as ensuring
01:33inclusion and accessibility.
01:34I work closely on the universities
01:36belonging at Yale campaign with
01:38other leaders and I'll be talking
01:40about different aspects of this.
01:42Prior to that,
01:43I spent nearly eleven years at the
01:45University of Connecticut and a very
01:47similar role where I work particularly
01:50closely with the leadership at
01:52UConn Health and in the clinical and
01:54academic research sets settings as well.
01:57I always love being back home.
01:59School medicine feels like home to me.
02:01Prior to that I was in private practice as
02:04an attorney and I represented plaintiffs
02:06with claims of discrimination and harassment.
02:09I also represented labor unions and I've
02:13lived in Connecticut most of my life.
02:14So if you need any other recommendations at
02:17all related to the nice that I stayed drunk,
02:19you can reach out.
02:21OK,
02:22so belonging at Yale is a,
02:25is a, this is a local.
02:26You'll see this is a campaign.
02:28You'll see it's really the
02:30university's efforts around inclusion.
02:32And this is something that the School
02:36of Medicine is very committed to.
02:38We have been having each school do its
02:41own unit plans around belonging and
02:43we're in year three and the year 3.
02:47Common action across the institution
02:48is sponsorship and mentorship.
02:51So really,
02:51picking up on what Darren lays down,
02:54you'll see opportunities to
02:55develop your skills in this way,
02:56both of them in school and
02:58at university wide events,
02:59and I encourage you to take advantage of
03:02those as you move into your wall here.
03:05So we only think this is important
03:07for reasons Darren emphasize.
03:09In fact, Doctor Brené Brown spoke here at
03:11the School of Medicine a couple weeks ago.
03:14I don't know how many of you
03:15are familiar with homework,
03:17a book I return to over and over again.
03:19That is really foundational to the
03:21way I think, not only as a leader,
03:23but about the work that I do
03:24is dare to leave.
03:26I highly recommend it if
03:27you haven't read it before.
03:29I think it takes some of the concepts
03:31around inclusive leadership and makes
03:33them feel extremely actionable.
03:35What was interesting about your
03:36word cloud was I noticed some
03:38of the words that came up,
03:39including supportive,
03:40transparent,
03:40kind are very much supported
03:43in her research and some of the
03:46hallmarks of leaders who lead in a
03:48way that does not create toxicity.
03:50But why does that matter to someone like me?
03:54Study after study,
03:55including the National Academy of Science,
03:57Engineering and Medicine,
03:58People Implement,
03:59Opportunity Commission and others,
04:01has found a direct link between
04:04incivility and discrimination and
04:06harassment based on protected classes.
04:08I think a lot of us saw this
04:09during the ME too era.
04:10When you think about cases that
04:13came forward during that time,
04:14it went well beyond sexual harassment.
04:17So we were seeing cases certainly
04:20where folks were alleging sexual
04:22harassment and sexual misconduct.
04:24But often if you dug into the
04:26facts of those cases,
04:27you found that there was also
04:30an extremely widespread toxic
04:32culture within the environment.
04:35This goes beyond me, too.
04:37So I'm sure all of you read the
04:39headlines a couple years ago when the
04:41balling supermaxes went down terrified.
04:43Thinking about your next flight.
04:44I would always check my flying on supermax.
04:47Interesting report about the
04:49culture of balling, right?
04:51So we're talking about
04:53planes and manufacturing,
04:54but it was not a surprise to me
04:56when you dug into the public basic
04:57report about what went wrong.
04:59You see a culture of competition,
05:01toxicity, non transparency.
05:03These are not surprising to those
05:09between these types of workplace
05:12environments and bad outcomes.
05:13In that case, it's disastrous outcomes.
05:15The same link is there with sexual
05:17harassment and sexual misconduct.
05:19So this is something to keep in mind
05:23is something that we think about
05:28workplace culture in our environments.
05:31So when we are talking about
05:34discrimination and harassment,
05:36it's important to ground this discussion
05:38in the civil rights legal framework here
05:41in the United States. Some of you might
05:43be extremely familiar with this,
05:44some of you might be less so. I promise
05:46you this is my only lawyer looking slide.
05:49But this is important to keep in mind,
05:51partly because many of you will be
05:53working with or may yourselves be
05:54international or newer to the US
05:57and some of these concepts are a
05:58little bit different and there can
06:00be cultural distinctions as well.
06:01So it's important to ground ourselves
06:03on what Elses are based on.
06:05So Title 6, it prohibits
06:07discrimination based on grace,
06:08color and national origin and education.
06:11So this applies when you're
06:13working with learners.
06:14Title 9, which probably most
06:17of you have heard about, is about prohibiting
06:20sex discrimination in academic environment.
06:22It applies K right on through to medical
06:26and it is goes well beyond sort
06:29of sex and gender.
06:30It impacts things like sexual harassment,
06:33compensation, equity,
06:34pregnancy and parenting and more.
06:37Title 9 goes beyond protecting just students.
06:39Faculty and staff at an academic
06:42medical institution also have both
06:44protections and responsibilities
06:46Under Title 9 that I'll be
06:48talking about in more detail.
06:49Title 7 is your major employment
06:52discrimination statue.
06:53This is really the foundation of
06:55what provides you with certain
06:56rights and appear supervisor
06:58obligations in the workplace.
07:01The AGE Act is an interesting
07:02one in this context.
07:03It prevents discrimination based on age.
07:06Typically when we're
07:08seeing either very young
07:09or much older than normal students,
07:12this is when this kicks in.
07:13There are also age
07:15discrimination protections
07:15in Title 7 and in state law.
07:18And then finally the ADA and
07:20Section 504 of the Rehabilitation
07:22Act. I'll be talking with you at
07:24the end of my presentation today,
07:26both about your resources and
07:28rights related to disabilities,
07:29as well as your obligations if
07:31students or people that report
07:33to you need accommodations.
07:35So I'm going to flip us through pretty
07:36quickly with university policies.
07:37This QR code should bring you to a brochure.
07:40You're welcome to bring it up.
07:43And I think these materials are also
07:44available to you after the fact.
07:46But we have one major university
07:48policy, the policy against
07:50discrimination and harassment,
07:51which defines our conduct
07:53expectations in this arena.
07:55This is the major one to refer to
07:57if you have questions in this area.
07:59And the policy lays out
08:01protected characteristics.
08:02So when I'm talking about things
08:04like discrimination and harassment,
08:05I'm not really talking about sort of
08:07your garden variety toxic workplace.
08:10I'm I'm zeroing in more on things that
08:13happen that have an adverse impact that
08:15are based on protected classifications.
08:18Then there could be both
08:20in a single case setting.
08:21But for this purpose, as we're talking
08:23about the words I'm about to define,
08:25I'm talking about things that
08:27happen based on someone's sex,
08:29sexual orientation, gender identity,
08:31national or ethnic origin, color,
08:34disability, veteran status,
08:36religious religion, age, race.
08:39These are the major categories that
08:41work in state and federal law and that
08:43are protected under our Yale policies.
08:46When I say the word discrimination,
08:47that's about adverse treatment based on
08:49one of those protected characteristics.
08:52Typically when we think about discrimination,
08:54we think about something bad happening,
08:56some not being hired,
08:58somebody being fired,
08:59somebody not getting certain assignments,
09:01things of that nature.
09:04Harassment I would say it's what we
09:06see more commonly as a claim made
09:08in the higher education setting.
09:10Harassment is where you've got consistent,
09:13severe,
09:14persistent conduct that is based
09:16on a protected classification that
09:18has the impact of creating and
09:21intimidating or hostile environment.
09:23The standard here is pretty high
09:25under the lawn under our policy,
09:26but we're we're really talking about
09:28is offensive, unwelcome conduct.
09:31Typically a one time incident is not
09:33going to rise to level harassment,
09:35although if it's sufficiently severe it can.
09:38And so each case is really a
09:40nuanced case by case analysis.
09:42But the key here is you don't
09:44want to be in a situation where
09:46investigators report to me
09:47through their various offices are
09:49determining well, did this reach the
09:51threshold of severe and pervasive.
09:53You want to shut down
09:54conduct that's inappropriate from
09:56the start so you never get into the
09:58situation where an analysis is being done
10:01about whether it violated our policy.
10:04Our policy also prohibits retaliation
10:06for anyone who files a complaint or
10:08participates in an investigation,
10:10or raises a concern about
10:11discrimination and harassment.
10:13The research on this is also really clear.
10:16Retaliation and fears of retaliation serve
10:18as the greatest single barrier to folks
10:21raising complaints and making concerns.
10:24Now, both at this institution and my prior
10:27institution and in private practice,
10:30many people come forward after they leave.
10:32I didn't feel safe until I was
10:35not there anymore.
10:37And we take those claims seriously,
10:38but there's often very little we
10:40can do to help that person once
10:42that we're learning after the fact.
10:44It's interesting, I was not here,
10:46I was at UConn.
10:47But the week of the Kavanaugh
10:50Supreme Court hearings,
10:51those those particularly during
10:53two days of testimony,
10:55were the highest number of case
10:57reports I've ever seen in my career.
10:59Come in over 48 hours with so
11:02many people say,
11:03I feel like I need to tell my story.
11:06I've heard that was pretty common
11:07in offices and higher education.
11:09I
11:09think there are a lot of stories
11:11out there, and our hope is
11:12to create an environment where folks feel
11:15safe to come forward while they're here,
11:18to get help while they're here,
11:20and most of all, to create environments
11:21where there's nothing to report.
11:24So although it can be difficult when
11:26somebody in your orbit raises concerns
11:28of discrimination or harassment,
11:30it's important to keep in mind
11:31that you do want to do nothing.
11:33That would be seen as discouraging
11:35that and encourage people to go to
11:37resources and get support that they need.
11:41So zeroing in a little more
11:42specifically on the Title 9 portion
11:44of my role of sexual misconduct, our
11:46sexual misconduct policy incorporates a range
11:49of behaviors as they're listed on the screen.
11:51I want to raise a couple
11:53nuances for you particularly.
11:55One is that in my career,
11:56certainly I did not come out of
11:59being a doctor or school medicine.
12:00I come out of legal practice.
12:02I have worked very closely on a number
12:04of cases in the clinical setting
12:06where physicians themselves
12:08were on the receiving end
12:10of discrimination and harassment by patients,
12:13physicians, students,
12:14residents and others in the clinical setting.
12:18The research tells us that women and women
12:20of color are especially vulnerable to this.
12:23You have certain rights in
12:25that context as well.
12:26This is really nuanced and deserves
12:28its own multi hour discussion because
12:30there's a lot of components to this.
12:32But what I would say is if
12:34there is inappropriate behavior
12:36happening in the clinical setting
12:38that is happening from patients,
12:39that is certainly something that
12:41should be discussed as a team
12:43escalated so that a plan can be
12:44put in place to address that.
12:46I think where schools have gotten into hot
12:48water under 1009 in particular
12:50is where students or learners
12:53have been subjected to inappropriate
12:55behavior and then found their
12:57learning cut off so they don't
12:58get to see certain types of cases
13:00or somebody says there's nothing
13:01we can do to address that.
13:03The key in all of this is
13:04working to address it.
13:06The individual solution is
13:07very context specific
13:08based on what's happening.
13:10It's no longer conversation,
13:12but I do want to flag it.
13:15And so the other piece that I want to flag
13:19is the vulnerability of patients themselves.
13:22Certainly this is also worthy of
13:24multiple hours of separate conversation,
13:26but we've all seen the
13:27headlines in major cases.
13:28Larry Nasser certainly stands
13:30out and the needs of all of us to
13:33make sure that we are doing our
13:35part to speak up when something's
13:36happening in the patient setting.
13:37We also offer a lot of pathways for
13:41patients themselves to do that.
13:42And there are a group of colleagues,
13:43my office included,
13:44that meet on these issues or any complaints
13:46that come from patients regularly.
13:48There's a web of complex statutes
13:51that fall into this area.
13:53What I would say is that one thing
13:56that's really interesting to me
13:57about the NASA case. I have followed
14:01all the details of this in some in
14:02some detail for years. There was
14:04a Dean in that case,
14:06his name was William Strampel.
14:08He was Larry NASA's boss,
14:10and he himself was found guilty by a jury
14:14of engaging in inappropriate conduct,
14:17including groping medical students,
14:20asking female medical students
14:22how many of them might be virgins
14:25and other types of conduct.
14:27His defense at trial
14:28argued this is locker room talk.
14:32This is not criminal.
14:33This is fine. Jury did not buy it.
14:36Medical license was surrendered when
14:37he served eight months in prison.
14:39I think that we really see the tide turning.
14:42That's obviously a dramatic example.
14:44But again,
14:45for those who do the work that I do,
14:47it's not shocking to see that
14:49not only Doctor Nasser,
14:50the leadership above him was engaging
14:53in this type of behavior that
14:55speaks to a climate and a culture.
14:58And so when we think
14:59about ferreting that out,
15:00we have to think about how can we
15:02interrupt that when we see it happening.
15:04We interrupted at the lowest level.
15:06Inappropriate jokes,
15:07inappropriate comments,
15:08those types of bystander intervention
15:11or leadership intervention are among
15:13some of the most successful at signaling
15:16to folks this doesn't happen here.
15:18We don't allow that idea.
15:20We actually have a 0 tolerance policy.
15:24OK. So I want to talk a bit about consent.
15:27There's a few layers to this.
15:29So we often think about consent.
15:31For those of you who may have college
15:32students or high school students,
15:34you think about Okay, affirmative consent.
15:36You're teaching that to students, right?
15:37Yes.
15:37It's important that you be aware of how
15:40you'll find consent as affirmative consent,
15:43which is not just the absence of the no,
15:45it's the presence of a yes.
15:48However,
15:49it's also important for you to know
15:51that if you engage in sexual romantic
15:53contact in the workplace with a colleague,
15:56the affirmative consent
15:57standards apply to you as well.
15:59So it's important for you
16:00to be aware of that.
16:01If there's workplace conduct
16:03happening and somebody files a
16:04complaint that it was non consensual,
16:06particularly if there's any power dynamic,
16:09affirmative consent will be one
16:11of the rubrics under which that
16:13interaction will be based on.
16:14It's also important for you to know
16:16that Yale has certain policies related
16:19to teacher student relationships,
16:20so I'm going to read to you
16:23the language directly.
16:24You can find all of this on the
16:25Title 9 website, but here's what
16:27it says in relevant part.
16:29Teachers must avoid sexual or romantic
16:32relationships with students over
16:34whom they have or might reasonably
16:37expect to have direct pedagogical
16:40or supervisory relationships,
16:42regardless of whether the
16:45engagement with consensual.
16:47So there's a prohibition where you're
16:49in a position of authority over students
16:52from romantic or sexual relationships.
16:55In addition to that,
16:56let's say that power dynamics not apply.
16:57It's important to keep the consensual
17:00that for with consent standards or not.
17:05OK, there's an online
17:06training module of this.
17:08It kind of looks like this.
17:09For those of you taking it,
17:10it's the watercolor drawings that show up.
17:11It's about 20 minutes,
17:14so we're going to ask you to complete that.
17:15You haven't already.
17:16There's also a 2 hour state mandated
17:19sexual harassment prevention training.
17:21I don't know if any of
17:22you have taken that yet.
17:23It's kind of the two lawyers
17:24and a lot of scenarios that I
17:27am advancing a lot of screens.
17:29So I definitely encourage you to make
17:31sure to get those trainings done or
17:34you'll get a lot of kind of pestering emails.
17:37All right?
17:38So response and support resources.
17:40One of the most important things
17:41I would say if you take nothing
17:43else away from today outside of
17:44my coffee and food suggestions,
17:46take take this away and make sure that
17:48you know where you can go for support.
17:51So there's a couple of localized resources.
17:53I'll be talking about showing you the
17:56pictures of who at the School of Medicine
17:58and then university wide resources.
17:59So the Office of Institutional Equity
18:02and Accessibility and the Title 9 office.
18:04I received both of those.
18:05We work very closely together.
18:07We share physical space.
18:09Those are the centralized offices.
18:11Sometimes people say I don't
18:12want to go to the local resource,
18:14I'd rather go right to the central resource.
18:17This feels so tender.
18:18Or maybe the people of the localized
18:20resource you think they have relationships
18:23with the folks are concerned about.
18:25Or any other brave reasons.
18:27You can always come straight to us,
18:31but you also have localized resources,
18:32so discrimination and harassment
18:35resource coordinators,
18:36one of them will look familiar to Darren.
18:38There's also John Francis,
18:40Karina Gonzalez,
18:40and Marietta Vasquez.
18:42They work to both prevent discrimination
18:45or harassment and also respond
18:48supportively to incidents that occur.
18:50They're a great first stop
18:51if you have concerns based on
18:54discrimination or harassment,
18:55implicit bias, things of that nature,
18:58or if you're working with a
19:00student or a colleague who does,
19:02they're a good first stop to think about
19:04how might you want to approach this problem.
19:07Meeting with them does not automatically
19:09launch some big investigation.
19:11You're generally very serious allegations.
19:14Going to retain the control to decide
19:16what happens with your concern.
19:18Deputy Title 9 coordinators,
19:20you'll see Darren again.
19:21He has both roles, which is really helpful.
19:24And then you have three others in
19:26the school as well, Cindy Cristo,
19:27Rosemary Fisher, and Megan King.
19:30And these folks specifically have
19:32training around sex and gender
19:34based harassment,
19:35including sexual harassment,
19:36pregnancy and parenting,
19:38which falls under title 9 and other
19:40types of supports related to sex and gender.
19:45And you may want to contact them
19:46to report a specific concern.
19:48Just have a supportive conversation.
19:50Sometimes people access the local
19:52resources to say somebody made a
19:54really off coloring market meeting.
19:56I don't want to make a huge case about it,
19:58but how do you suggest I deal with it?
20:00That's a great reason to go to that.
20:02We don't want you to ever feel like
20:04you or colleagues or students have to
20:06sort of sit with something by yourself.
20:08And then we can also provide supportive
20:11measures including academic employment,
20:13housing or workplace modifications,
20:15depending on these facts.
20:20So here's some real life concerns that
20:23have been brought to discrimination,
20:25harassment, and Title 9 coordinators
20:27over the past couple of years.
20:30It gives you a sense of the types of pieces
20:32that we see and the types of concerns
20:34that you might want to bring forward.
20:36This is a small sampling
20:39the the range is wide.
20:40This is not the only types of
20:41concerns you can bring forward,
20:43but I'll just give you
20:44a minute with this list.
20:54And as I think about a couple of
20:57specific cases that this refers to
20:59when when offices like ours and the
21:01coordinators were involved early,
21:03some of these we were able to produce
21:06solutions or supports to very quickly.
21:08So when we think about something
21:09like graffiti on a building,
21:11we can work with the Police Department to
21:13very quickly get that both taken away,
21:16but also investigated the
21:17case on PPO in particular,
21:19they were able to find folks who did it,
21:21luckily not members of our community,
21:23members of the local high school
21:26community and manage it in that way.
21:27So I would encourage you to bring
21:30forward concerns so that we can
21:32address them and you can do that.
21:33You can reach out to a discrimination
21:36approximate resource coordinator,
21:37Shortland DHRC here or Channel 9 coordinator
21:39or as I mentioned the central offices.
21:43I also want to mention your Channel
21:469 reporting responsibilities.
21:47So we talked about you have rights,
21:49you also have responsibilities.
21:50So if you are in the position of receiving
21:55a disclosure from a student in particular,
21:59but from anyone regarding sexual misconduct,
22:03given your roles,
22:04we would have a reporting obligation to
22:07either your deputy Title 9 coordinators
22:09or to the central Title 9 office.
22:12Are any of you coming from prior
22:14institutions where you remember
22:15having this kind of obligation?
22:17So this isn't new to everyone.
22:20And so the way I suggest managing
22:23this is if you are in the position
22:25where somebody comes forward to you,
22:26first of all,
22:27that's a really important moment for that.
22:29The research shows us that the first
22:32person that someone tells they're
22:34experiencing harassment or misconduct,
22:35their reaction will have a long
22:39line impact on how they feel about
22:41it and what they do next.
22:43So if the reaction is supportive,
22:46that can go a long way and somebody
22:48feeling like they can take
22:49agency to manage the situation.
22:50If the reaction is blaming or minimizing,
22:54they may never tell anyone.
22:56It's really interesting stuff.
22:57We really harp on this with the
23:00undergraduates because it's particular
23:01particularly potent in their age range.
23:04Talk to them about how to be
23:06a good receiver of concerns,
23:08but it's also relevant with you.
23:11So if you are on the receiving
23:12end of the disclosure,
23:13first know that somebody is
23:14really trusting me with that.
23:16And it's a really important moment.
23:17And somebody who has received,
23:19given the nature of my job,
23:20dozens and dozens of these disclosures,
23:22which one is a really important moment.
23:25And you do want to be able to
23:27channel postal resources even to say,
23:30look, this is something,
23:31there's an office that I can call for
23:33help or deputy Title 9 coordinator
23:35who can support and talk through
23:37what to do with this matter.
23:39We're not asking each of you
23:41to be experts in Title 9.
23:43That would be an unfair expectation.
23:45We are asking you to channel it
23:46to the Title 9 experts so that
23:47we can provide a range of
23:49resources and support
23:50that someone might need.
23:54And then what happens after
23:55a lot of people say, well,
23:56what happens after I make that call
23:58if I if I let a deputy Channel 9
24:00coordinator know or the Channel 9 office.
24:02So we typically ask for an
24:07initial discussion, say, hey,
24:08we heard there might be a concern,
24:10we like to provide support and we
24:12can have a meeting to say what
24:14sort of resources do you need?
24:15Are you safe when an intimate
24:18partner violence situation,
24:19someone might need assistance
24:20with safety planning or housing?
24:22These are definitely situations
24:23you want to bring forward rapidly.
24:26There can be a link between intimate
24:28partner violence and workplace violence.
24:30Sure, you have seen that in the headlines.
24:32That hurt all of us when there
24:34are workplace violence incidents.
24:35That is one of the reasons you need
24:37to make sure to get those to us as
24:39soon as they are disposed to you.
24:41We protect privacy and share information
24:43only on a need to know basis.
24:45So if you do report something out,
24:47it may be that you don't receive a
24:49whole lot back other than confirmation.
24:51That's intentional to protect the
24:53privacy rights that people involved.
24:55This is another area folks at Yale
24:59School Medicine like to use Reply All a
25:01lot or a lot of people on the copy line.
25:03This is an area not to do that.
25:05You want to keep this pretty
25:07discreet and private.
25:08We can have a discussion when you
25:10call about who needs to know.
25:12You may have reasons that you feel
25:13like other folks need to know.
25:14We can talk about further than you.
25:18And importantly, reporting your concern,
25:20I just cannot emphasize this enough is
25:22not automatically launch an investigation.
25:24That's often a fear of folks
25:25who are disclosing a concern.
25:27It It is the very rare case where the
25:30institution on its own initiative,
25:32would move forward with an investigation
25:34in virtually all incidents,
25:37with some exceptions,
25:39And the exceptions would be where
25:40there's a concern about the safety of others.
25:43But in most incidences,
25:45the person on the receiving end of
25:47the behavior that is of concern
25:48is going to have a lot of agency
25:50over what happens next
25:53and then resolution options.
25:55So we are able to do formal investigations
25:58and that includes our university wide
26:00committee on section was conduct
26:02our office of Institutional Equity.
26:04We are also able to offer
26:05informal resolutions.
26:06Sometimes folks just want a discussion,
26:08mediation, A facilitated dialogue.
26:10We do have the capacity to offer that and
26:14to support that And so that's something we
26:17explore the folks who come for as well.
26:19And then I do want to mention share,
26:21our share center is our confidential
26:23resource around any types of tax or
26:25gender based conduct, sexual harassment,
26:28partner violence, stalking.
26:30And these folks are available,
26:32they are extraordinary and they are
26:35available to you staff, students,
26:38faculty and we highly recommend
26:40them as a place to send somebody in
26:43addition to make their report to us if
26:46they have a concern of these issues.
26:49There is some 24/7 or extremely sensitive.
26:59OK. And then of course the Police Department,
27:02I've often heard our chief,
27:03Anthony Campbell say if you
27:04think you need to call police,
27:06you need to call police.
27:07So when in doubt,
27:08if you feel like there's a safety issue,
27:10that is always a call to make their right.
27:13On the issues that I deal with,
27:15they have a team of
27:16specially trained officers,
27:17especially related to sexual violence,
27:21and we have a listing app with nobody's
27:23talked to you about it yet that can be
27:25helpful to download various warnings and
27:27other resources and links to resources.
27:29We, I think in the undergrad orientation,
27:32we sit around and watch them
27:33and make them download this.
27:34I'm not going to do that,
27:35but I think this is a useful app to have.
27:39I'm going to end with a discussion
27:41about accessibility and accommodations,
27:43including briefly,
27:44I'm going to talk about religious
27:47accommodations.
27:47OK, so we have confidence to ensure
27:50accessibility here at Yale and to ensure
27:53equal access and full participation
27:55for all members of our community.
27:58We have a website that details a lot
28:00of this accessibility dot Yale dot Edu,
28:03the important takeaways for today
28:06student accessibility services.
28:07So for those of you who are
28:09working with students,
28:10we have an office that facilitates
28:12accommodations in the medical school setting.
28:14Shami is wonderful.
28:15He is the key point of contact in our
28:18student accessibility services office.
28:20And so if you were not the receiving
28:22end of like a letter saying that
28:25your student has an accommodation
28:27and you have concerns or questions,
28:29just reach on out to SAS and they're
28:31happy to talk that through with you.
28:33About 25% of the students in the School
28:36of Medicine are registered with SIS.
28:39Many of those are solely related to
28:41exam accommodations, but not all.
28:42And we can be helpful and supportive.
28:45There are some places in the
28:46school where the physical plant,
28:47they're making huge improvements,
28:49but there are some places where
28:51the physical plant is more or
28:52less able to be navigated,
28:55particularly for those with
28:57mobility restrictions.
28:58So we can help with that as well.
29:01I do want to mention too,
29:02I don't have a slide on it,
29:03but if you develop or have a
29:06disability that requires accommodation
29:07or if a professional staff or
29:10faculty member you work with,
29:11the office that manages those
29:13is the office of institutional
29:15equity and Accessibility.
29:16And so if you need an accommodation
29:18related to a disability or if
29:20you develop a disability that
29:22requires accommodation,
29:22we will support that
29:24interactive process for you.
29:25Staff go through HR
29:29and then I do want to know
29:31religious accommodation, so we have
29:33religious accommodation guidelines.
29:34And if you have students who
29:36are unable to attend classes
29:37because of their religious belief,
29:39you we ask them to discuss
29:41the with their instructor.
29:43This may happen in the last setting,
29:44it may happen in a class setting,
29:46it may happen in a practical setting.
29:48We ask them to give a lot of notice,
29:50but if you need any guidance for support,
29:52you can contact us.
29:54Similarly as faculty and also staff,
29:57there are religious accommodation
29:59protections as well.
30:01So if you need an accommodation for
30:03a holiday that's not recognized
30:05by the institution or otherwise,
30:07you are encouraged to discuss
30:08that with your manager and you
30:10can also work with L i.e.
30:11A to support that request further.
30:15So in summary, I want to thank
30:17you all and welcome you here.
30:19I know that was a lot of information.
30:22Hopefully you feel armed to
30:23know a little bit more where
30:25to look if something comes up.