SPARC stands for “Sexual & Interpersonal Violence Prevention and Response Course.” It is an online training program developed by The State University of New York in partnership with The City University of New York and is delivered on a Blackboard platform. All incoming, transfer, club/organization officers, study abroad participants, domestic overnight travelers, student athletes, and resident life occupants must complete SPARC. CUNY Central handles the registration of incoming/transfer students and cohort group advisors register members of their cohort groups to complete the training (clubs, athletics, study abroad, etc.).
I am writing to advise you that any students participating in overnight domestic trips will need to be manually registered to take SPARC. I will be happy to register these students if provided with their names and Empl IDs as domestic overnight trips come about. Students are required to complete SPARC before the first domestic overnight trip they attend and to provide a certificate of completion to the trip advisor demonstrating same, which will need to be maintained on file for at least three years. If a student has already taken the training for another reason within the year, including a previous domestic overnight trip, that student will not be required to retake it in order attend an overnight domestic trip – just to provide you with a copy of their completion certificate (you may also contact me to confirm their completion of the program in the event they are not able to provide their completion certificate).
Please contact those individuals within your School/Division/Department traveling domestically and staying overnight (i.e., an overnight trip to Washington, DC to attend a conference, etc.) to highlight this requirement and to ensure that they provide my office with the information needed to register these students for the SPARC program.
If you have any questions, please feel free contact me directly.
By Catherine Ferrera, JD
