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With the updating of Title IX mandates in spring 2011 and the Penn State child sexual abuse situation later in 2011, the Department of Education and the Office of Civil Rights have increased scrutiny for colleges and universities and have mandated that institutions take appropriate steps to provide a safer environment for youth on campus. One required piece of this is a mandated training session for all students, faculty, and staff working with youth serving organizations and agencies. This training includes general information about Title IX, student/staff members’ duty to report and professional standards and expectations associated with working with youth. The Office of Student Development and the Office of Interpersonal Relationships and Community Well-Being designed and initiated this training and provided it to approximately 1500 students, faculty and staff this summer and fall. Faculty and staff who administer programs and classes or advise student organizations that work with youth-serving organizations and schools should advise students of this requirement.
The Title IX training will be available via Moodle course by February 7, 2013. Students will engage is a series of modules and then must successfully complete a written test that indicates they have successfully completed the training. To sign your students up to participate in the Title IX training, the faculty/staff member must send a list of students/fac staff with last name, first name, datatel number and Elon University e-mail address. Please send the e-mail to patters@elon.edu. They will then be enrolled in the Moodle course and can complete the course at their leisure. Students must successfully complete the course before participating in any University sponsored or associated programs/activities with youth. If students completed the course last summer ,fall, or Winter term they do NOT need to repeat it.
Many youth-serving agencies require that student employees and volunteers working in these organizations have a criminal background check prior to having contact with the youth in their agency. Elon University requires that any student who works/volunteers with a youth-serving University program sponsored by the University or hosted on campus also complete a background check (i.e. Alamance Youth Academy, Elon Academy, Girls in Motion, etc).
I am happy to report that the University provides financial support for those students who are required to have criminal background checks for volunteer and academic-related courses with not-for-profit agencies and community partners. The Office of Student Development processed over 300 background checks for students last fall at no cost to the students. If a student did not receive a background check last fall and needs to complete one prior to working with an agency, he or she needs to e-mail Janice Ratliff at ratliff@elon.edu and she will send them a link to our on-line background check request system.
The automated system requests information and provides proper authorizations to complete the background checks with our vendor. The vendor will complete a national background check and will also check the National Sex Offender Registry. The student will receive an electronic copy of the background check results and it will be his/her responsibility to share those results with the agency. The Office of Student Development CANNOT release the results of the background check. Once the student completes the request, the background check is usually completed in 5-7 business days.
If you have any questions about this process, please contact the Office of Student Development at 336-278-7200.
