The new Tar Heel Certified program aims to encourage student participation in safety and diversity trainings by encouraging instruction in a group, rather than individual, level.
While the program is only in its pilot phase, it is a clever way of increasing student participation in programs that benefit the whole campus, like One Act and Safe Zone.
Student groups that participate in the program receive perks from both the Carolina Union and Design Services if they meet certain criteria.
These criteria include having a certain percentage of members and leadership participate in one of four training programs and submitting evaluations to the executive branch of student government detailing their participation.
If this program works as intended, it would benefit student organizations and the campus as a whole.
But the pilot program, and the plan in general, must be well-structured to be effective.
Currently, the executive branch is seeking three student groups to participate in the program this semester. It would be easy for the program to select groups with predispositions toward diversity training and to declare victory after everyone in the Campus Y is safe-zone trained.
Executive branch has stated that it is seeking diversity in the pilot student groups, and it’s important that members hold true to that claim.
Moreover, the incentives for organization training must find a middle ground between insignificant and gratuitous. The pilot program has wisely chosen to eschew monetary rewards, but rewarding groups with perks like getting priority rooms in the Union might not be incentive enough.
