Technology woes hamper training on Title IX

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- An online system used to train employees from the four-campus University of Missouri system to address violations of a federal law that bans gender discrimination in education has been fraught with problems.

Only about 9,500 of more than 39,000 employees -- or about 24 percent -- across the four campuses had completed the training as of Jan. 16, the Columbia Daily Tribune reported.

The Kansas City and St. Louis campuses fared particularly poorly, achieving less than half of 1 percent compliance, according to documents from a University of Missouri Faculty Council meeting.

The issue arose after a UM System executive order made all employees mandated reporters for Title IX violations. Online training started in November, and the deadline for employee completion is Jan. 30.

But administrators have indicated they will have to extend the deadline.

Betsy Rodriguez, UM System vice president for human resources, told the Faculty Council on Thursday the "different configurations" of individual computers make it difficult for many people to access the program.

Rodriguez said as discrimination and sexual violence on college campuses became a hot-button issue in 2014, it became necessary to get policies and training in place quickly.

"We went too fast, I think," Rodriguez said. "We got it out, and it has caused a lot of problems."

The help desk for the UM System had fielded 545 calls about the training as of last weekend.

MU associate teaching professor Nicole Monnier called the training "ineffective and inappropriate."

She said she's worried it ultimately would have to be changed when the UM System and campuses have more time to analyze what employees should know, which could lead to new training.