Body
Unit Policy
Title
School of Medicine: Policy on Learning Environment and Student Mistreatment
Introduction
Purpose
This Policy:
- outlines the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ("University") School of Medicine's (SOM) commitment to creating and maintaining a Learning Environment that is conducive to learning, and
- describes what constitutes mistreatment of Medical Doctorate (MD) degree program students ("Students").
Scope
This Policy applies to all MD degree program Students, faculty, and staff at all campuses and sites.
Policy
Policy Statement
The SOM strives to create and maintain a Learning Environment that is safe for patients, welcoming to learners, and where all individuals involved in the SOM's health care endeavors are treated with respect and are made to feel that they belong. SOM is committed to furthering a Learning Environment which is supportive of its academic mission. The SOM fosters in its Students, postgraduate trainees, faculty, and other staff the development of professional and collegial attitudes needed to provide caring and compassionate health care. An atmosphere of mutual respect and collegiality among teachers and Students is essential for nurturing these attitudes and promoting an effective Learning Environment.
Positive Learning Environment
A positive Learning Environment for Students includes the following features:
- Students are treated with respect.
- Appropriate behaviors include, but are not limited to, calling a Student by their name, calling attention to micro-aggressions as a bystander, and apologizing for lapses in professionalism.
- Students are included in the team.
- Appropriate behaviors include, but are not limited to, giving Students meaningful work and including Students in clinical discussions.
- Students receive help learning.
- Appropriate behaviors include, but are not limited to, giving Students real-time feedback, imparting clinical knowledge upon Students, and providing Students with learning goals at the beginning of sessions/rotations.
Negative Learning Environment
SOM recognizes that the varying life experiences of members of the academic community combined with the intensity of interactions that occur in a health care setting may lead to incidents of inappropriate behavior, Mistreatment, or other similar occurrences, resulting in a negative Learning Environment. The individuals involved in, and on the receiving end of, such occurrences might include Students, pre-clinical and clinical faculty, administrators, fellows, residents, nurses, patients, and other staff.
Communication and Training on Learning Environment and Student Mistreatment
The SOM provides training on policies and procedures regarding Learning Environment and Mistreatment, including the following:
- Students are made aware of policies and procedures at MS1 orientation, ongoing class meetings, Transition to Application Phase course, and orientation for each core clinical course. Policies and procedures are accessible on each clinical course's learning management system site (Canvas) and the SOM's website, along with an online link through which a Student can submit a report of Mistreatment anonymously.
- Residents are made aware of policies and procedures during orientation through the Office of Graduate Medical Education (GME).
- Faculty are made aware of policies and procedures annually and aggregated data on the Learning Environment is made available to faculty leadership.
- Clinical department chairs are made aware of policies, procedures and metrics during annual chair evaluation meetings with the dean.
Monitoring Learning Environment and Student Mistreatment
Student Reports
Students may submit Mistreatment and/or negative Learning Environment concerns through Rotation Evaluations or the Confidential Report Form which can be accessed through the Office of Student Affairs Website. The submission of a Mistreatment report on a Rotation Evaluation or Confidential Report Form triggers an immediate alert to the Associate Dean for Student Affairs and the Director of the Learning Environment for Undergraduate Medical Education (DLE). Additionally, the DLE meets regularly with Human Resources and the University Compliance Office to review submitted reports.
Office of Student Affairs
The DLE, along with senior leadership in Student Affairs, tracks and reviews data on the Learning Environment. Data sources include learning environment metrics and reports of mistreatment submitted through Rotation Evaluations distributed multiple times during clinical courses, direct reports to the Deans for Student Affairs, and reports submitted through the Confidential Report Form.
Clinical Course and Phase Directors
Clinical Course Directors in the Application and Individualization Phases receive aggregated data on Learning Environment and Mistreatment metrics from rotation evaluations at specific intervals throughout the academic year. Campus Deans at every campus receive aggregated data regularly. Phase directors from all curricular phases review aggregated data on Learning Environment and Mistreatment annually during phase evaluations. Data sources include reported incidents, teaching evaluations, rotation and course evaluations, external surveys (Y2Q and GQ), and internal surveys (Post Application Phase and Finish Line surveys). Senior leadership in Student Affairs (Associate Dean, Assistant Deans, and Senior Director of Student Affairs) also reviews this data to be used to inform initiatives for educating SOM faculty and the SOM community about standards of conduct, ways to prevent learner Mistreatment, and ways to develop and uphold a positive Learning Environment.
Definitions
Learning Environment: Diverse physical locations, contexts and cultures in which Students learn. The Learning Environment influences 1) Engagement, motivation, 2) Wellness, belonging, and 3) Emotional and social dimensions of the classroom.
Mistreatment: Inappropriate treatment of an individual, including, but not limited to:
- sexual harassment;
- discrimination based on race, color, genetic information, national origin, age, religion, disability, veteran's status, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or gender expression;
- purposeful humiliation, verbal abuse, threats, or other forms of psychological mistreatment;
- physical harassment, physical endangerment and/or physical harm; and
- any other conduct towards Students prohibited by the University's Policy on Prohibited Discrimination, Harassment and Related Misconduct Including Sex-Based Harassment, Sexual Assault, Interpersonal Violence and Stalking.
Specific examples of Mistreatment include, but are not limited to, the following:
- to speak insultingly or unjustifiably harshly to, or about a person;
- to ask for sexual favors;
- to belittle or humiliate;
- to threaten with physical harm;
- to physically attack (e.g., hit, slap, kick);
- to require performance of personal services (e.g., shopping, babysitting);
- to deliberately and repeatedly exclude from reasonable learning experiences (faculty, residents or staff);
- retaliation for making an allegation of mistreatment; and
- to make a person uncomfortable with respect to age, gender, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, appearance, or any other personal attribute.
Related Requirements
External Regulations
Unit Policies, Standards, and Procedures
Contact Information
Primary Contact
Title: Senior Director for Student Affairs
Name: Valerie Glassman
Email: valerie_glassman@med.unc.edu
Publication Details
Issuing Officer: Alice Chuang, Associate Dean for Student Affairs, alice_chuang@med.unc.edu
Effective Date: November 1, 2025
Review Cycle: The Education Committee with input from Student Affairs reviews in odd numbered-years or on an as-needed basis this Policy.
Next Review Date: October 31, 2027