One of these state requirements that is not entirely useless is the mandatory affirmative consent training. (Once again, we do not mandate anything. It’s a state thing. The student registration system shuts down and doesn’t let students register for any courses next semester until they do the online training. Professors have zero control over this process.)
I’ve looked at the mandatory consent training, and it seems pretty innocuous. To me, everything it teaches one about sex is extremely basic. But given the low sexual literacy among the young people, I’m sure much of the training can be quite a revelation to some of the students.
Of course, the whole issue of a university being charged with supervising students’ sex lives is pretty icky. Besides, one has got to wonder how the young people who don’t go to college fit into this picture. Should they and the college students never have any sexual encounters with each other? This is all very weird. But at least this particular state requirement might have some useful effects.
Clarissa's Blog 
It seems some professors could use some training….
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Also absurd and infantiling! Aren’t university students legally ADULTS???
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At our university, especially, given that quite a few of my students are my age or older.
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This is probably analogous to what corporate training professionals call “compliance training.” Its sole purpose is to create a record that proves that employees are aware of laws, regulations, etc. so that if something happens, the organization can prove it was somebody’s fault. It is a kind of CYA thing, really. It is typically innocuous and even stupid because in the end all that matters is the record.
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Exactly. I now have to undergo such mandatory testing where every single year I sit through the same lecture that tells me not to steal paper and pencils at work.
I have a feeling that after 20 years of hearing this lecture people must be desperate just to steal the stupid paper to feel that it wasn’t all in vain.
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All your co-workers must have amazing father complexes, if they’ve made it so far without grand theft stationery.
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:-)))))))) This comment just slaughtered. Thank you. 🙂
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