Current through Reg. 50, No. 13; March 28, 2025
(a) Each postsecondary
educational institution shall adopt a policy on sexual harassment, sexual
assault, dating violence, and stalking applicable to each enrolled student and
employee of the institution and have the policy approved by the institution's
governing body. The policy must include:
(1)
Definitions of prohibited behavior;
(2) Sanctions for violations;
(3) Protocol for reporting and responding to
reports of sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking
that complies with the electronic reporting requirement in §
3.7 of this subchapter (relating
to Electronic Reporting Requirement);
(4) Interim measures to protect victims of
sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, or stalking pending the
institution's disciplinary process, including protection from retaliation, and
any other accommodations or supportive measures available to those victims at
the institution. This section is not intended to limit an institution's ability
to implement accommodations to others as needed; and
(5) A statement regarding:
(A) the importance of a victim of sexual
harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, or stalking going to a hospital
for treatment and preservation of evidence, if applicable, as soon as
practicable after the incident;
(B)
the right of a victim of sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, or
stalking to report the incident to the institution and to receive a prompt and
equitable resolution of the report; and
(C) the right of a victim of a crime to
choose whether to report the crime to law enforcement, to be assisted by the
institution in reporting the crime to law enforcement, or to decline to report
the crime to law enforcement.
(b) Each postsecondary educational
institution shall make its policy on sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating
violence, and stalking available to students, faculty, and staff members by:
(1) including the policy in the student
handbook and personnel handbook or the institution's equivalent(s);
and
(2) creating and maintaining a
web page dedicated solely to the policy that is easily accessible through a
clearly identifiable link on the institution's homepage.
(c) Each postsecondary educational
institution shall require each entering freshman or undergraduate transfer
student to attend an orientation on the institution's sexual harassment, sexual
assault, dating violence, and stalking policy before or during the first
semester or term of enrollment at the institution. The orientation:
(1) may be provided online; and
(2) must include the statements described by
subsection (a)(5) of this section.
(d) Each postsecondary educational
institution shall develop and implement a comprehensive prevention and outreach
program on sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking for
enrolled students and employees of the institution. The program must:
(1) address a range of strategies to prevent
sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking, including a
public awareness campaign; a victim empowerment program; primary prevention;
bystander intervention; and risk reduction; and
(2) provide students with information
regarding the protocol for reporting incidents of sexual harassment, sexual
assault, dating violence, and stalking, including the name, office location,
and contact information of the institution's Title IX coordinator, by:
(A) e-mailing the information to each student
at the beginning of each semester or other academic term;
(B) including the information in the
institution's orientation (which may be provided online); and
(C) as part of the protocol for responding to
reports of sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking
adopted under subsection (a) of this section, each postsecondary educational
institution shall:
(i) to the greatest extent
practicable based on the number of counselors employed by the institution,
ensure each alleged victim or alleged perpetrator of a sexual harassment,
sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking incident and any other person who
reports such incidents are offered counseling provided by a counselor who does
not provide counseling to any other person involved in the incident;
and
(ii) notwithstanding any other
law, allow an alleged victim or alleged perpetrator of a sexual harassment,
sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking incident to drop a course in
which both parties are enrolled without any academic penalty.
(e) Each
postsecondary educational institution shall review its sexual harassment,
sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking policy at least each biennium and
revise the policy as necessary and obtain approval from the institution's
governing board.
