The 45-page report from the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work’s Sexual Harassment Task Force was meant to spark dialogue and a longer process of cultural change. But in the month or so since its publication, many already have found ways to implement some of the recommendations.

The interest drawn by the report at the school and throughout the university demonstrates the community’s commitment to addressing sexual harassment on campus and with community partners. And few are as well-equipped as trained social workers and nurses to deal with the issue and find a way to create change in policies and practices.

“As social work and nursing professionals, we are absolutely the right people to be working on this,” said Associate Professor Devon Brooks, who co-chaired the task force with Maria P. Aranda, associate professor and executive director of the school’s USC Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging.

The Sexual Harassment Task Force emerged last year amid allegations of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior at the school.It was a student-, faculty- and staff-led effort with the primary charge of generating recommendations to the school’s faculty council on how to prevent sexual misconduct and enhance the safety and well-being of all members of the school’s community.

The first fruits of their labor were published in August. Brooks acknowledged the recommendations offered in the report were not necessarily intended to be implemented exactly as proposed. Instead, it was meant as a gateway to begin the healing process and help create positive change by providing recommendations and strategies to be considered by faculty council. But he and others are heartened by the speed at which some have acted on the recommendations.

For example, the school’s faculty guidebook has been revised, pending approval by the university, to include language on the school’s commitment and policy to preventing sexual harassment. Also, the school’s field education department has revised its student agreements and memoranda of understanding with agencies to create clear language about expectations related to sexual misconduct in field placements, as well as information on how to report it if it happens.

Based on Core Values

The Sexual Harassment Task Force oversaw workgroups of faculty, staff, students and alumni that examined issues related to the school’s environment and culture, policy and assessment. Beginning in fall 2017, the workgroups began gathering information they later used to generate recommendations to the task force on how to prevent sexual misconduct and enhance the safety and well-being of all community members. The larger task force then developed a report containing final overarching recommendations that were informed by the workgroups.

Key to the task force’s recommendations are a set of values and principles aimed at guiding efforts at cultural change. Drawing upon the codes of ethics of the social work and nursing professions as well as input from its members, the task force identified core values including safety and well-being, openness, and shared responsibility and community. The core values and principles acknowledge that everyone plays a role in creating change that endures, from ensuring there is no place in the school for sexual violence to supporting victims to act when witnessing, experiencing or hearing about sexual violence.

Strategies for Success

The task force also developed a set of strategies and specific recommendations designed to address the components of sexual violence: prevention, identification, reporting and response. But what is important to note about these, Brooks said, is that they are suggestions meant to spark conversation or be improved upon.

Clinical Professor Renée Smith-Maddox, associate dean of diversity, equity and inclusion, was tapped to oversee follow-up of the task force recommendations. She along with several task force members, including Brooks; Tory Cox, assistant dean of field education for the school’s Virtual Academic Center; Michele Clark, program administrator and DSW student; and Jessica Lee, managing director of marketing, make up the implementation team.

“When people ask me how they can get involved, I suggest they become familiar with the Sexual Harassment Task Force report, identify the strategies and recommendations that relate to their work, and determine how they can contribute to facilitating change in the school,” Smith-Maddox said. “Changing norms in our workplace starts with the school’s commitment to preventing sexual harassment, and having anti-harassment policies, effective reporting and grievance procedures, and harassment prevention training.”

She envisions the implementation team as a network of many champion groups that assist the school in its commitment to foster and sustain a safe working and learning environment where each member of the community can succeed.

“The implementation team will work as a catalyst for change, establishing the conditions to translate individual commitment to collective commitment,” she said. “It will take collective action to facilitate the cultural change in the school that we want to see. The good news is that progress is being made.”

Progress in Field Education

Cox, who helps oversee field education at the school, met with USC’s Office of Equity and Diversity (OED) in November 2017 along with on-campus MSW program Assistant Dean of Field Education Suh Chen Hsiao to make initial plans on how at address this topic. The results from that meeting helped identify areas where immediate changes could be made before the start of the 2018 fall semester. To date, the field manual for the MSW program has been updated to include language about sexual misconduct and how to report it when students are in their field practicum, or internships.

The field education team also worked with USC’s legal counsel to modify the existing memoranda of understanding that establishes formal relationships with agencies hosting interns from the MSW program. The modifications included specifics on field agency expectations if an allegation of sexual harassment that includes a student occurs. The new language also makes explicit that the agencies provide students copies of its policies and a point of contact for reporting.

The attention to the field education program demonstrates the school’s desire to look at all aspects of the student experience and make sure that sexual misconduct issues are addressed for each.

“If you look at the total number of hours students are required to spend [on coursework], the lion’s share is spent in field education. Our students are out in the community, engaging with people in an agency and serving clients,” Cox said. “Bringing those community partners into the conversation and setting expectations is a critical step in this process.”

The field education team has also restructured its training of agency-based field instructors who provide on-site supervision for MSW interns. The new training, which begins in September in both the on-campus program and the Virtual Academic Center, includes talking points for field faculty trainers to cover and a video from OED Executive Director John Jividien that provides specific information for field instructors and field faculty on the issue of sexual harassment.

Looking Ahead

Other recommendations on raising awareness about sexual violence and prevention strategies, developing ways to measure progress, and filling gaps in policies and practices are being considered. Smith-Maddox invites the school community to engage in these efforts to ensure issues of harassment, discrimination and accommodation are addressed in a timely and effective manner and in a way that does not tolerate retaliation.

“It’s important to let students, staff, faculty, alumni and community partners know they are part of the cultural change process,” she said.

At the end of the year, Smith-Maddox says she wants everyone in the community to ask themselves two questions. First, how has the school changed? And second, how have you as an individual contributed to that change?

The more perspectives gained and the more people involved in trying to address these issues, the more likely it is that together we will bring about the desired change, Brooks said.