Complaints Processes Community of Practice: Highlights from the National Skillshare Series Presentation
Complaints Processes Community of Practice
A community for investigators, conduct officers, human rights services workers, administrators, lawyers, student leaders and student affairs professionals to explore promising practices regarding reporting, investigating and adjudicating gender-based violence.
With thanks to the Complaints Processes Community of Practice members: Amie Kroes, Dawn McDermott, Diane Crocker, Lise Gotell, Joanna Birenbaum, Karen Busby, Lara Hof, Irene Jansen, Cassbreea Dewis, and Andrea Clark.
With thanks to the Complaints Processes Community of Practice Project Consultants: Elizabeth Tuck, and Rebecca Akong.
Tool: Learning Hub
The Complaints Processes CP believes firmly in the need for post-secondary institutions to reconcile procedural fairness (“PF”), a tenet of administrative law, with trauma-informed practice (“TIP”) in responding to disclosures of sexual violence, particularly where a formal complaint is to be investigated and adjudicated. The culmination of the team’s discussions is a Learning Hub—a repository of resources that can help anyone from students to administrators develop an appreciation for the tension between trauma-informed practice and procedural fairness, and the need to apply both.
The Learning Hub includes definitions of common abbreviations, explanations of key concepts related to the topic, and links to online and physical resources, from training programs to checklists and templates. Two rounds of interviews with over a dozen professionals in the field provided great insight into some of the challenges of striking the appropriate balance between TIP and PF. In order to bridge these gaps, the Community of Practice sought out guides, articles, links to in-person training, videos, templates and more.
Naturally, this research shed light on numerous complex and sometimes competing interests that arise in the adjudication of campus sexual violence complaints. As such, the Hub’s aim is to ensure that professionals are able to fulfil their duties with more equity and nuance, with the hope that this will enhance the faith of all in post-secondary institutions’ adjudication systems. However, the Complaints Processes Community of Practice recognizes that this is an area of law and policy that is constantly evolving and requires frequent revision and rethinking. As such, the Learning Hub is meant to be a jumping off point, rather than an absolute authority on the adjudication of such complaints—the process for which may vary greatly from one institution to another.
National Skillshare Presentation
Watch the presentation and download the full transcript below or on our Education page.
Download the transcript here.
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Suggested Citation: Complaints Processes. (2021, February). Complaints Processes Community of Practice: Highlights from the National Skillshare Series Presentation. Courage to Act. www.couragetoact.ca/blog/complaintsprocesses-skillshare
Complaints Processes Community of Practice
Learn more about the Complaints Processes Community of Practice here.