What is Gender-Based Misconduct?
The following types of behavior are prohibited and constitute Gender-Based Misconduct.
Sex or Gender Discrimination
Unlawful sex or gender discrimination shall be defined for purposes of this Policy in the same manner as it is defined in applicable law. By way of example, sex or gender discrimination, including sexual harassment, is conduct directed at a specific individual or a group of identifiable individuals that subjects the individual or group to treatment that adversely affects the individual or group's employment or education on account of sex. Sex discrimination can be manifested by unequal access to educational programs and activities on the basis of sex, unequal treatment on the basis of sex in the course of conducting those programs and activities, or, the existence of a program or activity that has a disparate impact on participation, improperly based on the sex of the participants.
Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment shall be defined for purposes of this Policy in the same manner as it is defined in applicable law. By way of example, sexual harassment is unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature, including unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal, nonverbal, graphic, or physical conduct of a sexual nature, when: (1) submission to or rejection of such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a condition of an individual's employment or academic standing or is used as the basis for employment decisions or for academic evaluation, grades, or advancement (quid pro quo); or (2) such conduct is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive that it interferes with or limits a person's ability to participate in or benefit from the College's education or work programs or activities (hostile environment).
Quid pro quo sexual harassment can occur whether a person resists and suffers the threatened harm, or the person submits and avoids the threatened harm. Both situations could constitute discrimination on the basis of sex.
A hostile environment can be created by persistent and/or pervasive conduct or by a single severe episode. The more severe the conduct, the less need there is to show a repetitive series of incidents to prove a hostile environment. Sexual violence, including rape, sexual assault, and domestic and dating violence, is a form of sexual harassment. In addition, the following conduct may violate this Policy:
- Observing, photographing, videotaping, or making other visual or auditory records of sexual activity or nudity, where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy, without the knowledge and consent of all parties
- Sharing visual or auditory records of sexual activity or nudity without the knowledge and consent of all recorded parties and recipient(s)
- Sexual advances, whether or not they involve physical touching
- Commenting about or inappropriately touching an individual's body
- Requests for sexual favors in exchange for actual or promised job benefits, such as favorable reviews, salary increases, promotions, increased benefits, or continued employment
- Lewd or sexually suggestive comments, jokes, innuendoes, or gestures
- Stalking
Other verbal, nonverbal, graphic, or physical conduct may create a hostile environment if the conduct is sufficiently persistent, pervasive, or severe so as to deny a person equal access to the College's programs or activities. Whether the conduct creates a hostile environment may depend on a variety of factors, including: the degree to which the conduct affected one or more person's education or employment; the type, frequency, and duration of the conduct; the relationship between the parties; the number of people involved; and the context in which the conduct occurred.
Sexual Violence
Sexual violence is a physical sexual act conducted either against a person's will or where a person is incapable of giving consent, including but not limited to, rape, sexual assault, sexual battery, and sexual coercion.
Sexual Misconduct
Sexual Misconduct is a broad term encompassing any sexual behavior that violates any criminal statute, College policies and/or the Student Code of Conduct and includes any conduct that is sexually exploitive or degrading, retaliatory and/or abusive with the intent or result of compromising the well-being of another person.
Sexual Exploitation
Sexual exploitation is an act or omission to act that involves taking non-consensual, unjust, humiliating, or abusive sexual advantage of another, either for his or her own advantage or to benefit or advantage anyone other than the Complainant. Examples of sexual exploitation include but are not limited to the following:
- Creating a picture(s), movie(s), webcam, tape recording(s), graphic written narrative(s), or other means of memorializing sexual behavior or a state of undress of another person without the other's knowledge and consent;
- Sharing items described in the paragraph above beyond the boundaries of consent where consent was given. For example, showing a picture to friends where consent to view it was given for oneself only;
- Observing or facilitating observation by others of sexual behavior or a state of undress of another person without the knowledge and consent of that person;
- "Peeping Tom" or voyeuristic behaviors;
- Engaging in sexual behavior with knowledge of an illness or disease (HIV or STD) that could be transmitted by the behavior without full and appropriate disclosure to the partner(s) of all health and safety concerns;
- Engaging in or attempting to engage others in "escort services" or "dating services" which include or encourage in any way sexual behavior in exchange for money;
- Intentionally, knowingly, or surreptitiously providing drugs or alcohol to a person for the purpose of sexual exploitation; or
- Exposing another person to pornographic material without the person's advance knowledge or consent.
Stalking
Stalking is a pattern of repeated and unwanted attention, harassment, contact, or any other course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to fear for his or her safety, or the safety of others, or suffer substantial emotional distress. This includes cyber-stalking, a particular form of stalking in which electronic media such as the internet, social networks, blogs, cell phones, texts, or other similar devices or forms of contact are used to pursue, harass, or make unwelcome contact with another person.
Unwelcome Conduct
Sexually related conduct is unwelcome if a person (1) did not request or invite it and (2) regarded the unrequested or uninvited conduct as undesirable or offensive. That a person welcomes some sexual contact does not necessarily mean that person welcomes other sexual contact. Similarly, that a person willingly participates in conduct on one occasion does not necessarily mean that the same conduct is welcome on a subsequent occasion.
Whether conduct is unwelcome is determined based on the totality of the circumstances, including various objective and subjective factors. The following types of information may be helpful in making that determination: statements by any witnesses to the alleged incident; information about the relative credibility of the parties and witnesses; the detail and consistency of each person's account; the absence of corroborating information where it should logically exist; information that the Respondent has been found to have harassed others; information that the Complainant has been found to have made false allegations against others; information about the Complainant's reaction or behavior after the alleged incident; and information about any actions the parties took immediately following the incident, including reporting the matter to others.
In addition, when a person is so impaired or incapacitated as to be incapable of requesting or inviting the conduct, conduct of a sexual nature is deemed unwelcome, provided that the Respondent knew or reasonably should have known of the person's impairment or incapacity. The person may be impaired or incapacitated as a result of drugs or alcohol or for some other reason, such as sleep or unconsciousness. A Respondent's impairment at the time of the incident as a result of drugs or alcohol does not, however, diminish the Respondent's responsibility for sexual or gender-based harassment under this Policy.
Gender-Based Harassment
Gender-based harassment is verbal, nonverbal, graphic, or physical aggression, intimidation, or hostile conduct based on sex, sex-stereotyping, sexual orientation or gender identity, but not involving conduct of a sexual nature, when such conduct is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive that it interferes with or limits a person's ability to participate in or benefit from the College's education or work programs or activities. For example, persistent disparagement of a person based on a perceived lack of stereotypical masculinity or femininity or exclusion from an activity based on sexual orientation or gender identity also may violate this Policy.
Unlawful Retaliation
Unlawful retaliation is defined as attempts or acts to seek retribution including, but not limited to, any form of intimidation, reprisal, harassment, or intent to prevent participation in College proceedings under this Policy. Unlawful retaliation may include continued abuse or violence, other harassment, and slander and libel. Retaliation may be committed by any individual or group of individuals, not just a Respondent or Complainant, and may be committed against the Complainant, Respondent, or any individual or group of individuals involved in the investigation and/or resolution of an allegation of sexual assault, sexual harassment, or other sexual misconduct.
Intimate Partner Violence
Intimate partner violence is also sometimes known as dating violence, domestic violence, or relationship violence. The College recognizes that sexual assault, sexual exploitation, sexual harassment, stalking, and retaliation may all be forms of intimate partner violence when committed by a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the Complainant. In general, intimate partner violence includes physically, sexually, and/or psychologically abusive behavior that arises in the form of a direct violent act, or indirectly as acts that expressly or implicitly threaten violence. Intimate partner violence also occurs when one partner attempts to maintain power and control over the other through one or more forms of abuse, including sexual, physical, verbal, or emotional abuse.
Coercion
Coercion includes the use of pressure and/or oppressive behavior, including express or implied threats of harm or severe and/or pervasive emotional intimidation, which (a) places an individual in fear of immediate or future harm or physical injury or (b) causes a person to engage in unwelcome sexual activity. A person's words or conduct amount to coercion if they wrongfully impair the other's freedom of will and ability to choose whether or not to engage in sexual activity. Coercion also includes administering a drug, intoxicant, or similar substance that impairs the person's ability to give consent.
*When a person is so impaired or incapacitated as to be incapable of requesting or inviting the conduct, conduct of a sexual nature is deemed unwelcome.