Following nearly two years of development and consultation, the Policy on Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment has received approval from Governing Council.
The policy clarifies the process of formally reporting incidents of sexual violence and confidentiality of data, and establishes a tri-campus support centre for survivors. It will apply to incidents of sexual violence and harassment on and off campus, in the event that the parties involved are members of the U of T community.
Under Bill 132, all post-secondary institutions in Ontario are required to have a stand-alone policy in place by January 2017.
The university first released a draft policy on September 7, called the Policy on Sexual Violence. In the final version, the name of the policy was updated to include “Sexual Harassment.”
Prior to the Governing Council vote, the policy received approval from the University Affairs Board on November 24 and was also presented to the Business Board and the Academic Board. It is set to take effect on January 1, 2017.
