Note from Editor: This story is a follow-up to Citrus’ actions after the 2017 bookstore sexual harassment lawsuit where seven student employees agreed to settle their yearslong sexual harassment lawsuit earlier this year with Citrus College. Due to the topic’s sensitive nature, the Clarion has chosen to protect sources who spoke from possible retribution by keeping them anonymous.
Citrus is taking a proactive approach regarding sexual harassment training starting this fall.
Robert Sammis, director of Human Resources, said the federal government has recently adopted new Title IX guidelines that restore previous guidelines enacted before the Trump administration, which has prompted training requirements.
“Starting this year, we have a legal requirement to provide training to all of our employees,” Sammis said. “It’s not just because of a legal requirement, but also our desire to do so.”
The legal requirement only requires Citrus to train managers every two years, but Citrus does train managers yearly, Sammis said.
According to the California Chamber of Commerce website, supervisors must receive two hours of training, every two years and all other employees must receive one hour of training every two years. Despite the new federal regulations, they haven’t trickled down to student employees at Citrus
One student tutor, who said they feared for their job security if they were named, has not seen any changes in their workplace.
“I have been a student employee for almost half a decade and cannot remember receiving any sexual harassment training,” the tutor said. “I am unfamiliar with Title IX, and I have not seen any posters in the breakroom about reporting sexual harassment.”
Title IX is a law passed by the federal government to prohibit sexual discrimination in schools.
The problem is not just in one department, as both student employees and non-student employees report not being aware of the training or cannot recall ever receiving training on sexual harassment.
“I don’t remember taking any online training or being told to take any training,” a full-time professor who has been with the school for almost a decade said. “I have not seen anything posted in the breakrooms with Title IX information.”
This training is now required of full-time faculty and adjuncts as of October.
Sammis said training is primarily available through an online module developed by an insurance and brokerage firm, Keenan & Associates. In-person training would be done through himself and Brenda Fink, the Title IX coordinator.
The Clarion reached out to Fink but was deferred to speak to Sammis only regarding any sexual harassment issue.
All adjunct and full-time faculty have online sexual harassment training and Title IX training available to them, Sammis said. Sammis admitted that since the pandemic, the training has not been enforced, and Citrus is correcting the issue.
An adjunct professor, who has been on campus for a few years, said they heard of the training but have yet to be enforced since starting back up in the fall.
“I’m not sure if it’s different for new professors,” they said. “But I started teaching again after a small hiatus and have not been instructed to do any (sexual harassment) training.”
Sammis said starting this fall, Citrus will implement a deliberate approach with faculty employees to do online training and a couple of live training events.
“We have done some targeted training,” Sammis said. “The athletics department will be receiving sexual harassment training, which is an area that will typically pull out for specific training.”
A member of the athletics department does recall receiving the training, they said.
“We went through some sexual harassment training with our players and us,” they said, “but it was last semester, and a majority of those players are no longer at Citrus.”
Sammis said Citrus has been responding to all sexual harassment allegations, including ones made in a remote environment.
“We had a couple of issues of potential online sexual harassment that were dealt with,” Sammis said. “We haven’t turned a deaf ear during the pandemic. We have been actively dealing with sexual harassment issues.”
