Dean’s Task Force on Respectful Environments — Terms of Reference

Purpose and Authority

All UBC Faculty of Medicine students, trainees, staff, and faculty should feel respected and behave respectfully towards each other and towards partners and the public when learning and working in education, research, and administration environments.

We acknowledge and appreciate that in general Faculty of Medicine environments are respectful. Nevertheless, we also acknowledge that there is room for improvement in the ways that we prevent and address disrespectful interactions, harassment, and assault.

As such, the purpose of this task force is to:

• Recommend to the Dean and to the Faculty Executive Committee specific activities and initiatives that the Faculty of Medicine can undertake to actively create and maintain respectful learning and working environments for students, trainees, staff, and faculty.

Composition

This task force is composed of ex officio and appointed members.

Ex officio

• Executive Vice Dean (chair) (1)
• Senior Advisor to the Dean, Professionalism (1)
• Executive Director, Faculty Affairs (1)
• Executive Director, Communications (1)
• Senior Director, Education Programs and Services (1)
• Manager, Indigenous Student Initiatives (1)

Appointed

• One Provost’s Appointee member (1)
• Three Department Heads/School Directors, one of which is also a clinical lead (3)
• One Regional Associate Dean (1)
• Three faculty/staff members, one from each of staff, faculty, and clinical faculty (3)
• Four student/trainee members, one from each of the following categories: MD program, PGME programs, Health Professions programs, and Graduate and Postdoctoral Education programs (4)

Guests may be invited to join specific meetings or portions of specific meetings at the chair’s discretion.

Appointment Process

Ex officio members are members by virtue of their administrative appointment.

The Provost’s Appointee is appointed by the Provost. Other appointed members are appointed by the Dean, Faculty of Medicine.

Term

Ex officio members are members as long as they hold their administrative appointment.

Appointed members are appointed for the duration of the task force’s work.

Chair

Chaired by the Executive Vice Dean.

Meeting Schedule and Administration

Meets as frequently as necessary in order to accomplish the mandate within the timeframe, likely monthly.

All members are expected to attend all meetings in person or via videoconference or phone.

A staff member will capture meeting notes. Notes will be circulated to all members.

Records will be maintained in accordance with UBC and Faculty of Medicine records retention procedures.

Quorum and Decision-making Process

Meetings will normally be rescheduled if fewer than half of the members can attend.

This task force provides recommendations based on the input of all members. Members typically reach consensus on those recommendations, but may convey multiple perspectives if consensus does not emerge.

Lines of Accountability and Communication

This task force:

• Is accountable to the Dean and makes recommendations to the Dean and to the Faculty Executive Committee.
• Provides status updates at the Dean’s Executive Advisory Council and the Faculty Executive Committee, as needed.

Representatives of this task force liaise with other academic and administrative committees and advisory councils, as needed.

Scope of Work

There are two main components to creating and sustaining respectful environments: prevention of disrespectful behaviour and reporting/response mechanisms.

The task force will focus on the scope of work related to prevention:

1. Assess the Faculty of Medicine’s learning and working environments in educational, research, and administrative contexts. This involves:
   1. Reviewing available assessments to understand the current context of learning and working environments (to be provided); and
   2. Gathering any additional information that may be necessary and not already available, if needed.
2. Assess current approaches to creating and sustaining respectful environments within the Faculty of Medicine, and draw on related resources and best practices from UBC and other relevant organizations. This involves:
   1. Reviewing existing policies, procedures, guidelines, statements, and other tools or initiatives that are intended to create and sustain respectful environments (to be provided);
   2. Identifying related resources and best practices from other sources outside the Faculty of Medicine, including other institutions, that could be incorporated;
   3. Identify opportunities for improvement in our existing approaches, as well as new approaches to advance the purpose; and
   4. If and where possible, pilot or test interventions to determine if useful for confirming recommendations.
3. Recommend to the Dean and to the Faculty Executive Committee specific activities and initiatives that the Faculty of Medicine can undertake to actively create and maintain respectful learning and working environments for students, trainees, staff, and faculty, including ways to uphold the UBC Statement on Respectful Environment for Students, Faculty and Staff, the Professional Standards for Learners and Faculty Members in the Facilities of Medicine and Dentistry at the UBC, the UBC Policy on Discrimination and Harassment (Policy #3), and other related and applicable policies and guidelines, including those within Health Authorities. This involves:
   1. Analysing the current state of working and learning environments and opportunities for improvement;
   2. Considering best practices from other institutions;
   3. Developing specific, actionable recommendations for the Faculty of Medicine to enhance its approach to creating and sustaining respectful environments;
   4. Determining who (individual or group) is best placed to lead implementation of each recommendation;
   5. Sequencing and prioritizing the recommendations;
   6. Writing a recommendations report that explains and makes the case for each recommendation and includes the recommended lead and priority/sequence for implementation of each recommendation;
   7. Presenting the draft recommendations report to the Dean’s Executive Advisory Council and to the Faculty Executive Committee for discussion and feedback;
   8. Incorporating feedback as needed; and
   9. Presenting a final recommendations report to the Dean for approval at a Dean’s Executive Advisory Council meeting and to the Faculty Executive Committee.

Parallel Activities

Within the area of prevention, the following work will be done and provided to the task force to support its work:

• Gathering available learning and working environment assessments from students, trainees, staff, and faculty.
• Conducting a survey of faculty and staff that provides more specific information than is available through the Workplace Engagement Survey.
• Gathering existing policies, procedures, guidelines, etc. related to creating and sustaining respectful environments within the Faculty of Medicine.

The task force’s scope of work will focus on the prevention aspect of creating and sustaining respectful environments. Work related to improving our reporting and response mechanisms and processes will be done in parallel with the work of the task force.

Timeframe

The task force is expected to complete its work within one year.

Resources

Completing this work within the allocated timeframe will require project management and analysis resources to be assigned to support the task force members. Appropriate internal or external resources will be assigned before the task force starts meeting.

Approval

This version (Final-v1c) of these terms of reference has been approved by the Dean on September 12, 2019.

Version History

• Version Final-v1b was approved by the Executive Vice Dean acting as the Dean on March 18, 2019.
• Version Final-v1a was approved by the Dean at the Dean’s Executive Advisory Council on November 14, 2018.