Current through all regulations passed and filed through September 16, 2024
(A) Clark state college is committed to providing a safe,
collegiate, working and learning environment that promotes personal integrity,
civility, and mutual respect and that is free of discrimination, harassment, or
adverse treatment.
Sex
discrimination violates
a person's fundamental rights and personal
dignity. Clark state community college considers sex discrimination in all its
forms to be a serious offense.
(1) Title IX of the
Education Amendments of 1972 to the Higher Education Act of 1965 prohibits
discrimination based on sex in educational programs and activities that receive
federal financial assistance. Education program or
activity includes locations, events, or circumstances over which the college
exercised substantial control over both the respondent and the context in which
the sexual harassment occurs. To ensure compliance with Title IX and
other federal and state civil rights laws, the college has developed policies
and procedures that prohibit sex discrimination in all of its forms.
(2) Clark state college does not discriminate on the
basis of race, color,
religion, gender/sex,
gender identity or expression, national origin (ancestry), military status,
disability, age (forty years of age or older), genetic information, sexual
orientation, status as a parent during pregnancy and immediately after the
birth of a child, status as a parent of a young child, or status as a foster
parent and any other protected group status as defined by law or college policy
in its educational programs, activities, admissions, or employment practices as
required by Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and other
applicable statutes.
(B) Clark state college encourages anyone who has
experienced sex discrimination in any form, whether or
not that person is a minor, to promptly report the incident, to seek all
available assistance, and to pursue corrective action through the College
against the offender, regardless of whether or not that person is a minor. The
college encourages anyone who has experienced sex discrimination, whether or
not he or she is a minor, to report the incident to the appropriate Title IX
coordinator listed in the associated procedures. The Title IX coordinator can
assist with all aspects of the reporting procedure and will conduct an
investigation into a complaint as appropriate. Clark state is required to
report to law enforcement, child protective services, or similar agency any
case of sexual abuse of a minor by faculty, staff, or volunteers affiliated
with the college.
(C)
Definitions
(1)
Actual knowledge:
notice of sexual harassment or allegations of sexual harassment to the
college's Title IX coordinator or an official of the college who has authority
to institute corrective measures on behalf of the college.
(2)
Coercion: the use
of pressure to compel another person to initiate or continue sexual activity
against a person's will. Coercion can include a wide range of behaviors,
including intimidation, manipulation, threats and blackmail. A person's words
or conduct are sufficient to constitute coercion if they wrongfully impair
another person's freedom of will and ability to choose whether or not to engage
in sexual activity. Examples of coercion include threatening to "out" someone
based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression and
threatening to harm oneself if the other party does not engage in the sexual
activity.
(3)
Complainant: a person who is alleged to be the victim
of conduct that could constitute sexual harassment.
(4)
Consent:
permission that is clear, knowing, voluntary, and expressed prior to engaging
in and during an act. Consent is active, not passive. Silence, in and of
itself, cannot be interpreted as consent. Consent can be given by words or
actions, as long as those words or actions create mutually understandable clear
permission regarding willingness to engage in (and the conditions of) sexual
activity.
Consent can be withdrawn at any time.
When consent is withdrawn, sexual activity must cease. Prior consent does not
imply current or future consent even in the context of an ongoing relationship.
Consent must be sought and freely given for each instance of sexual
contact.
(5)
Formal complaint: a document filed by a complainant or
signed by the Title IX coordinator alleging sexual harassment against a
respondent and requesting that the college investigate the allegation of sexual
harassment.
(6)
Gender expression: how a person presents themselves
(female, male, androgynous, or as another gender) as evidenced by their manner
of dress, speech or other physical expression.
(7)
Gender identity:
person's internal knowledge of their own gender. A person may identify as a
gender that does or does not appear to correspond to the sex (male or female)
assigned to that person at birth, or the person may identify as neither female
nor male.
(8)
Gender-based harassment: harassment based on sex or
gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, which may
include acts of intimidation or hostility, whether verbal or non-verbal,
graphic, physical, or otherwise, even if the acts do not involve conduct of a
sexual nature.
(9)
Incapacitation: physical and/or mental inability to
make informed, rational judgments and decisions. States of incapacitation
include sleep and blackouts. Where alcohol or other substances are involved,
incapacitation is determined by how the substance impacts a person's
decision-making capacity, awareness of consequences, and ability to make
informed judgments.
(10)
Non-consensual sexual contact: any intentional sexual
touching, however slight, with any body part or object, by any person upon
another that is without consent and/or by force or coercion. Sexual contact
includes: intentional contact with the breasts, buttock, groin, or genitals, or
touching another with any of these body parts or objects, or making another
touch you or themselves with or on any of these body parts; any intentional
bodily contact in a sexual manner, though not involving contact with/of/by
breasts, buttocks, groin, genitals, mouth, or other orifice.
(11)
Non-consensual
sexual intercourse: any sexual penetration, however slight, with any body part
or object, by any person upon another that is without consent and/or by force
or coercion. Sexual penetration includes vaginal penetration by a penis,
object, tongue, or finger; anal penetration by a penis, object, tongue, or
finger; and oral copulation (mouth to genital contact or genital to mouth
contact); no matter how slight the penetration or contact.
(12)
Respondent: a
person who has been reported to be the perpetrator of conduct that could
constitute sexual harassment.
(13)
Retaliation: an
adverse action taken against a person for the purpose of interfering with any
right or privilege secured by Title IX or because the person has made a report
or complaint testified, assisted, or participated or refused to participate in
any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing involving allegations of
sex discrimination in violation of this policy.
(14)
Sex
discrimination: occurs when a person has been treated inequitably based on sex,
sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or gender expression. Sex
discrimination can be committed by anyone regardless of sex, gender, gender
identity, gender expression and/or sexual orientation.
(15)
Sexual
exploitation: occurs when a person takes non-consensual or abusive sexual
advantage or benefit, or to benefit or advantage anyone other than the person
being exploited, and that behavior does not otherwise constitute one of the
other sexual violence offenses.
(16)
Sexual
harassment: conduct on the basis of sex that satisfies one or more of the
following:
(a)
Quid pro quo: an employee conditioning the provision of an
aid, benefit, or service of the college on a person's participation in
unwelcome sexual conduct.
(b)
Hostile environment: unwelcome conduct that a
reasonable person would determine is so severe, pervasive, and objectively
offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to the educational
institution's education program or activity.
(c)
Sexual assault:
an offense classified as a forcible or non-forcible sex offense under the
uniform crime reporting system of the federal bureau of investigation. The FBI
uniform crime reporting system provides:
(i)
Sex offenses -
forcible. Any sexual act directed against another person, without that person's
consent including instances where the person is incapable of giving
consent.
Forcible rape - the carnal knowledge of
a person, forcibly and/or against that person's will or not forcibly or against
that person's will where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of
his/her temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity.
Forcible sodomy - oral or anal sexual
intercourse with another person, forcibly and/or against that person's will or
not forcibly or against that person's will in instances where the victim is
incapable of giving consent because of his/her youth or because of his/her
temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity.
Sexual assault with an object - the use
of an object or instrument to unlawfully penetrate, however slightly, the
genital or anal opening of the body of another person, forcibly and/or against
that person's will or not forcibly or against the person's will in instances
where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of his/her youth or
because of his/her temporary or permanent mental or physical in
capacity.
Forcible fondling - the touching of the
private body parts of another person for the purpose of sexual gratification,
forcibly and/or against that person's will or not forcibly or against that
person's will where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of
his/her youth or because of his/her temporary mental incapacity.
(d)
Sex offenses - non-forcible unlawful, non-forcible
sexual intercourse.
Incest - non-forcible sexual
intercourse between persons who are related to each other within the degrees
wherein marriage is prohibited by law.
Statutory rape - non-forcible sexual
intercourse with a person who is under the statutory age of
consent.
(i)
Dating violence: violence committed by a person who is
or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the
complainant. The existence of such a relationship will be determined based on
the complainant's statement and with consideration of the length and type of
relationship, and the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in
the relationship.
(ii)
Dating violence: violence committed by a person who is
or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the
complainant. The existence of such a relationship will be determined based on
the complainant's statement and with consideration of the length and type of
relationship, and the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in
the relationship.
(iii)
Domestic violence: felony or misdemeanor crimes of
violence committed by a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the
victim, by a person with whom the victim shares a child in common, by a person
who is or has cohabitated with the victim as a spouse or intimate partner, by a
person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under domestic or family
violence laws of the jurisdiction in which the crime of violence occurred, or
by any other person against an adult or youth victim who is protected from that
person's acts under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction in
which the crime of violence occurred.
(iv)
Stalking:
engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause
a reasonable person to
(a)
Fear for their safety; or
(b)
Suffer
substantial emotional distress.
(17)
Sexual violence: physical sexual acts perpetrated against a
person's will or when a person is incapable of giving consent.
(18)
Supportive
measures: non-disciplinary, non-punitive individualized services offered as
appropriate, as reasonably available, and without fee or charge to the
complainant or respondent.
(D) This policy applies to
all the following, including those who may be
minors:
(1) Non-exempt and exempt staff
employees
(2) Faculty and adjunct
faculty
(3) Temporary
employees
(4) Students
(5) Vendors, visitors, and other third
parties
(E) The college
will not tolerate sexual harassment, whether engaged in by fellow employees,
supervisors, students, or by other non-employees who conduct business with the
college. The college shall investigate any incident of alleged sexual
harassment and shall take any action it deems appropriate after evaluating all
of the circumstances.
