Following concerns over Duke’s orientation week gender violence training, the University updated the presentation for fall 2024 and established a new Office for Gender Violence Education and Outreach (GVEO).
During O-Week in 2023, the University held a required gender violence training for new first-year students that was met with significant backlash from several students in attendance for being “triggering” and “apathetic.”
Duke instituted the GVEO office the following month, according to Jenn Wiggins, who joined the University then as associate dean of students and director of GVEO. She held the position for a year before leaving in September to serve as the inaugural director of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University’s Office of Sexual Violence Prevention and Education.
In a Sept. 9 email to The Chronicle, Wiggins wrote that the office — which replaced the existing Center for Gender Violence Prevention and Intervention — was established with a mission that “emphasized primary and secondary prevention” by “highlight[ing] the importance of bystander intervention.”
“Bystander intervention sends a clear message of intolerance toward unhealthy and unsafe behaviors while fostering empathy for survivors,” Wiggins wrote.
Throughout the 2023-24 academic year, GVEO representatives heard from student leaders about a “noticeable gap in awareness” about available resources to address gender violence. In response, Wiggins wrote that the office took a number of steps to “ensure that individuals not only had general knowledge of resources but also received takeaway resource cards for easy reference.”
One of the most significant changes was updating the O-Week training, which was a collaborative effort between GVEO and New Student and Family Programs (NSFP).
In a Sept. 11 email to The Chronicle, Grace Sullivan Zirkle, associate dean of students and NSFP director, wrote that NSFP evaluates orientation programming every year to identify areas of improvement, a process that “involves gathering input from new students and student leaders as well as using best practices in the field.”
She acknowledged that the individual experiences with last year’s training represented in a November 2023 article published in The Chronicle are “real and important to note,” but she maintained that “the overwhelming response [the NSFP] office received was positive.”
NSFP and GVEO “worked through multiple rounds of revisions” before launching the new curriculum, which included a 30-minute presentation and “circle chats” that orientation leaders (OLs) are required to facilitate with their groups of new students.
“In all OL circle chats, we aimed for reflective questions that would help students apply their knowledge, recognize the importance of building healthy relationships within their Duke experience and appreciate the value of their unique life stories and perspectives,” Sullivan Zirkle wrote.
In June, the GVEO office hosted a session to review the curriculum that was open to all students, as well as additional sessions for OLs, who were also provided with workbooks to assist them in leading the circle chats. During these events, the office made confidential resources provided by Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and Duke clergy members available to participants.
Junior Selena Collins, a 2023 OL and a 2024 project director (PD), witnessed the harms of the previous year’s training, stating that “one person was trying to be funny — they joked — and the other person … was really dismissive.”
Collins said that this year’s training received better feedback. Nonetheless, some OLs did say that the required circle chat questions did not provide a space for meaningful conversation.
“I think a lot of these chats are … something Duke has to do so that they can say they prepared students for college,” Collins said.
Another PD, junior Chiara Federico, echoed this sentiment. Federico believes that the changes were pushed by pressure from last year’s PDs and the November 2023 Chronicle article.
“Instead of trying to help people categorize their trauma, this year is just about looking at one another more, on the very basic level, and how to best intervene in those scenarios,” Federico said.
However, like Collins, she would still like to see an improvement in the circle chat questions in a way that “encourage[s] students to engage in a more tangible conversation.”
First-year Kate MacDonald received the training well. She believes the presenters were trying to be engaging and “keep people paying attention,” but that most students had a neutral reaction to the presentation.
According to NSFP’s initial data, 91.76% of first-year students felt “very knowledgeable or fairly knowledgeable” about gender violence prevention resources on campus after orientation.
GVEO and NSFP representatives stated that they will continue to listen to feedback and alter their presentations to help “make informed decisions” about the next year.
“One training is never enough … That's why GVEO is a dedicated office at Duke, hosting events year-round,” Sullivan Zirkle wrote. “As with all of orientation, these conversations are the beginning of ongoing dialogue on these topics.”
Students seeking gender violence support can reach out to CAPS, which has an in-person office in the Wellness Center open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and also operates a 24-hour confidential mental health crisis line at 919-660-1000. For immediate emergencies, students can call Duke University Police at 919-684-2444.
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Aseel Ibrahim is a Trinity sophomore and an associate news editor for the news department.