EPIC: Empowering Prevention & Inclusive Communities
EPIC is a program to prevent sexual harassment and gender discrimination. EPIC was created by and for UW academic student employees and postdoctoral scholars — including graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants, research assistants, staff assistants, graders and tutors.
Program goals
EPIC’s goal is to respond to the needs of departments and communities and work to:
- Shift UW culture and create new community norms
- Empower academic student employees and postdoctoral scholars to prevent and respond to sexual harassment
- Help academic student employees and postdoctoral scholars identify how power and identity intersect to create oppressions that facilitate sexual harassment and discrimination in academia
Prevention training
Our innovative prevention training is a comprehensive, research-driven, two-hour interactive session for UW academic student employees and postdoctoral scholars. This Prevention of Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Training examines sexual harassment in a new way and covers:
- What constitutes sexual harassment
- Rights and available resources
- The roles individuals can play in stopping harassment
- Building skills to create safer workplaces, interrupt harassment when it happens and support those who experience harassment
To learn more about trainings offered by the EPIC program, please visit our training page.
Program implementation
EPIC was developed and is being implemented by UW graduate student and postdoctoral scholar training specialists under the guidance of UW SafeCampus and in close coordination with key stakeholders, including UW academic departments, School of Medicine, Title IX, Student Life, Student Affairs, Student Services, the Graduate School and UAW Local 4121.
Program history
Established during negotiations for the 2018–20 UW/UAW collective bargaining agreement and the 2019–21 UW/UAW postdoctoral scholar collective bargaining agreement, the UW and UAW Local 4121 agreed to jointly create an innovative program for the prevention of sexual harassment and discrimination, to educate and provide skill-building specifically geared to the unique dual role academic student employees play as both students and employees, and to the role of postdoctoral scholars. It is a shared goal of both the University and the UAW to support prevention-focused culture change.
To learn more about the collective bargaining agreement that created EPIC, see the UW-UAW 2018-2020 Collective Bargaining Agreement: Under “Memorandum of Understanding,” read the “Sexual Harassment and Prevention Training.”
To learn more about the collective bargaining agreement that incorporated the postdoctoral scholars into the EPIC program, see the UW-UAW 2019-2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement: Under “Memorandum of Understanding,” read, “Sexual Harassment and Prevention Training.”
For information about protections against harassment for UW-UAW union members, view Article 20: Non-Discrimination and Harassment.
Program reports
Contact & Feedback
Questions? Reach the EPIC program at epicprogram@uw.edu. We are continually seeking feedback from stakeholders across all UW campuses and would appreciate comments, concerns or thoughts about the development of the EPIC program and training.