Student Onboarding and Ongoing Education
(Section 6447)

To comply with Article 129-B, section 6447, Five Towns College has commenced the following:

1. The College has adopted a comprehensive student onboarding and ongoing education campaign to educate members of the institution’s community about domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, and sexual assault, in compliance with applicable federal laws, including the Clery Act as amended by the Violence Against Women Act reauthorization of 2013, 20 U.S.C. 1092(f). The Education Law 129-B codifies some of the education and training requirements of the Clery Act, 20 U.S.C. 1092(f)(8)(B) and 34 C.F.R. §658.46 (j) as amended by the Violence Against Women Act relating to primary and ongoing prevention and awareness programs while providing plain language and consistent requirements for colleges to implement those federal requirements.

Five Towns College strives  to work together and with statewide and local organizations to develop and offer interesting and useful trainings. Also, the College  may see strong results by calling on students, faculty, staff and community members to assist in developing tailored programming  and also for student leaders and athletes.

2. Five Towns College provides all new first-year and transfer students training on the following topics, using a method and manner appropriate to its institutional culture. This includes summer Orientations, and training in sexual assault prevention during New Student Orientation, Student Leadership Training, Residence Life Training, Professional Development Day and at other times during the semester. The College, consistent with its best practices and culture, develops a series of programs over the course of the new student experience to further its onboarding requirement under the law.

These are some of the included topics:

a. The institution prohibits sexual and interpersonal violence and will offer resources to any victims and survivors of such violence while taking administrative and conduct action regarding any accused individual within the jurisdiction of the institution;

b. Relevant definitions including, but not limited to, the definitions of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, confidentiality, privacy, and consent;

c. Policies apply equally to all students regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression;

d. The role of the Title IX Coordinator, university police or campus security, and other relevant offices that address domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, and sexual assault prevention and response;

e. Awareness of violence, its impact on victims and survivors and their friends and family, and its long-term impact;

f. Bystander intervention and the importance of taking action to prevent violence when one can safely do so;

g. Risk assessment and reduction including, but not limited to, steps that potential victims, perpetrators, and bystanders can take to lower the incidence of violations, which may contain information about the dangers of drug and alcohol use, including underage drinking and binge drinking, involuntary consumption of incapacitating drugs and the danger of mislabeled drugs and alcohol, the importance of communication with trusted friends and family whether on campus or off campus, and the availability of institution officials who can answer general or specific questions about risk reduction; and

h. Consequences and sanctions for individuals who commit these crimes and code of conduct violations.

3. Five Towns College will train all new students, whether first-year or transfer, undergraduate, graduate, or professional.

4. Five Towns College will use multiple methods to educate students about violence prevention and shall share information on domestic violence, dating violence, stalking and sexual assault prevention with parents of enrolling students.

5. Five Towns College will  also share information on sexual and interpersonal violence with parents of students. This is accomplished in  several ways.  One way is by providing information directly to parents, either by mail or to parents attending programming on occasion. Another method  that is used is that Five Towns College posts information on a web page directed specifically at parents, that can be found on the institution’s website. In compliance with section 6447, Five Towns College offers to all students general and specific training in domestic violence, dating violence, stalking and sexual assault prevention and  conducts a campaign that complies with the Violence Against Women Act, 20 U.S.C. 1092(f), to educate the student population. The College, as appropriate, provides or expands specific training to include groups such as international students, students that are also employees, leaders and officers of registered or recognized student organizations, and online and distance education students. The College also provides specific training to members of groups that the institution identifies as high-risk populations.

6. Further, Five Towns College requires that each student leader and officer of student organizations recognized by or registered with the institution, as well as those seeking recognition by the institution, complete training on domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, or sexual assault prevention prior to receiving recognition or registration, and requires that each student athlete complete training on domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, or sexual assault prevention prior to participating in intercollegiate athletic competition.

This training is offered in addition to the training offered as onboarding to incoming students.