Sexual Misconduct / Title IX
Glossary
Appeal Committee: A committee is formed to hear a Student’s proper appeal,
which may follow a determination of Responsible or Not Responsible for
violation(s) of the District’s Sexual Misconduct Policy. The Appeal
Committee hears appeals where Students allege unlawful discrimination,
prejudicial evidence exclusion during the investigation of Title IX complaints,
and/or for the reasonableness of Sanctions imposed following a Sexual
Misconduct investigation.
Campus SaVE Act: Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act; an amendment to the
Clery Act that requires higher education institutions to increase transparency
about the scope of sexual violence on campus, guarantee victims enhanced
rights, provide for standards in institutional conduct proceedings, and provide
campus community wide prevention educational programming.
Clery Act: Jeanne Clery Act; Federal law that requires colleges and
universities across the United States to disclose information about certain
crime statistics on and around their campuses.
Complainant: A person(s) alleging that they are the victim of Sexual
Misconduct by another person subject to the District’s policy on Sexual
Misconduct. The District or College shall also be considered a
Complainant if the District or College elects to investigate reports of
potential violation(s) of the District’s policy on Sexual Misconduct. Any
person(s), other than the alleged victim (Complainant), who
reports possible violation(s) of the
District’s policy on Sexual Misconduct, shall be
identified as a Reporter, as defined herein.
College Disciplinary Officer
(Vice President of Student Services):
The College official(s)
designated by the College President, or designee,
to administer the Sanctions under this
Administrative Procedure by incorporating the Sanctions under
District Administrative Regulations 4410.
Consent: Consensual sexual activity requires an ongoing, affirmative
Consent, for the act in which the participants are involved. More
specifically, affirmative Consent means an expressed, affirmative, conscious,
and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity. It is the
responsibility of each person involved in the sexual activity to ensure that he
or she has the affirmative Consent of the other, or others, to engage the sexual
activity. Lack of protest, or resistance, or silence does not mean
Consent. There is no Consent when there is force, expressed or
implied, or when coercion, intimidation,
threats, or duress is used to obtain
Consent. Affirmative Consent must be ongoing throughout a sexual
activity, and can be revoked at any time. The existence of a dating
relationship between the persons involved, or the fact of past sexual relations
between them, should never, by itself, be assumed to be an indicator of Consent.
If a person is mentally or physically incapacitated or impaired so that such
person cannot understand the fact, nature, or extent of the sexual
situation, there is no Consent; this includes impairment or
incapacitation due to alcohol or drug
consumption, or being asleep or unconscious.
Dating Violence: The use of physical violence, coercion, threats,
intimidation, isolation, or Stalking of another while in a dating relationship,
or a social relationship which is of romantic or sexually intimate
nature. Such violence may include other forms of emotional, sexual
or economic abuse directed towards a person who is or has been in a dating
relationship, or a social relationship of a romantic or sexually intimate
nature with the victim. This includes any behaviors that intimidate,
manipulate, humiliate, isolate, frighten, terrorize, coerce, threaten, blame,
hurt, injure, or wound someone. Dating Violence can be a single act or a
pattern of behavior in relationships.
Dear Colleague Letter: Guidance issued by the Office for Civil Rights on April 4,
2011 to assist colleges and universities with meeting their obligations under
Title IX and to provide members of the public with information about their
rights.
District Community: Any employee, contractor, Student, member of the public, or
invitee present on District property, or on property being used by the
District. For purposes of this definition, a Student is deemed a member
of the District Community while enrolled in, or in the process of applying for,
enrollment as a Student at any of the Colleges within the District.
Domestic Violence: The use of physical violence, coercion, threats,
intimidation, isolation, Stalking, or other forms of emotional, sexual, or
economic abuse directed towards (a) a current or former spouse or intimate
partner; (b) a person with whom one shares a child; or (c) anyone who is
protected from the Respondent’s acts under the domestic or family violence laws
of California, including Family Code Section 6250 et seq., and any applicable
federal law, including the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA), as
amended. This can include behaviors that intimidate, manipulate, humiliate,
isolate, frighten, terrorize, coerce, threaten, blame, hurt, injure, or wound
someone. Domestic Violence can be a single
act or a pattern of behavior in
relationships.
Gender-based Harassment: Unwelcome Conduct of a nonsexual nature based on a
Student’s actual or perceived gender, including conduct based on gender
identity, gender expression, or nonconformity with gender stereotypes.
Hearing Panel: A panel formed by the College Title IX College
Coordinator or designee to make a determination and finding of whether a
Student is Responsible or not for alleged violations of Sexual Misconduct.
Hostile Environment: Exists when Unwelcome Conduct of a sexual or gender-based
type is sufficiently serious and/or pervasive to deny or limit a person’s
ability to fully participate in or benefit from the College’s programs or
activities. A Hostile Environment can be created by anyone involved in a
College’s program or activity (e.g., administrators, faculty members, staff,
Students, or campus visitors).
In determining whether
conduct has created a Hostile
Environment, the District considers the conduct in question from both objective
and subjective perspectives. The District will base findings on a
variety of factors, including the severity, persistence, or pervasiveness of
the conduct. The more severe the conduct, the less need there is to show
a repetitive series of incidents to find a Hostile Environment.
Likewise, a series of incidents may be sufficient even if the conduct is
not particularly severe.
LGBTQ: Individuals who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Transgender, Queer/Questioning
Mandated Reporters: Individuals mandated to report violations
that involve minors (All college employees).
Not Responsible: Based on the applicable evidence collected during the
investigation, it is not more likely than not that the Student did not commit a
violation.
OCR: Office for Civil Rights, whose mission is to ensure equal
access to education and to promote educational excellence throughout the nation
through vigorous enforcement of civil rights.
Party/Parties: Either the Complainant or the
Respondent, involved in the alleged
violation of Sexual Misconduct. The term Parties means both the
Complainant and the Respondent collectively.
Reporter: Any person(s), other than the Complainant, who reports
potential violation(s) of the District’s policy on Sexual Misconduct.
Respondent: A person/s who are alleged
to have violated the District’s
policy on Sexual Misconduct.
Responsible: Means, based on the applicable evidence collected during the
investigation, it is more likely than not the Student committed one or more
violation(s) of the District’s Policy or Regulation
on Sexual Misconduct.
Responsible Personnel: College employees responsible (Mandated) for
reporting Sexual Misconduct violations. These individuals include managers,
club advisors, coaches, and law enforcement.
Retaliation: Any act of reprisal against a person who is involved in an
allegation of Sexual Misconduct including but not limited to the Complainant,
the Respondent, witnesses, investigators, and Hearing Panel, or
Appeal Committee. Examples of actions that might be Retaliation
against a Complainant, witness, or other participant in the complaint process
include: a) Singling the person out for harsher treatment; b) lowering a grade
or evaluation; c) failing to hire, failing to promote, withholding pay
increase, demotion, or discharge; or d) providing negative information about
the person in order to interfere with his or her prospects for employment,
admission, or academic program.
Sanctions: Those disciplinary measures available
to the College Disciplinary Officer or
designee to impose upon a Student upon the
finding of the Student’s responsibility for
violation(s) of the Rules for Student Conduct or of the Sexual Misconduct
Policy.
Sex: For purposes of this administrative procedure, sex may refer
to gender designation as male or female or based upon a perceived
association with a particular gender/s; or to a physical act of a sexual
nature.
Sexual Assault: Actual or attempted sexual contact with another person
without that person’s Consent. Sexual Assault includes, but is not
limited to: 1) intentional touching of another person’s body in a sexual nature
without that person’s Consent; 2) other intentional sexual contact with another
person without that person’s Consent; 3) coercing, forcing, or attempting to
coerce or force a person to touch another person’s body in a sexual
nature without that person’s Consent; or 4) rape, which is penetration, no
matter how slight, of the vagina, or anus of a person by any body
part of another person, or by an object, or the mouth of a person, or by a sex
organ of another person, without the other person’s Consent.
Sexual Exploitation: Occurs when a person takes sexual advantage of another
person for the benefit of anyone other than that person without the other
person’s Consent. Examples of behavior that could rise to the level of
Sexual Exploitation include:
- Prostituting another person
- Recording images (e.g. video,
photograph) or audio of another person’s sexual activity, body when
recorded for a sexual reason, or nakedness without that person’s Consent
- Disturbing images (e.g. video,
photograph) or audio of another person’s sexual activity, images of
another’s body for sexual purposes, or nakedness, if the individual
distributing the images or audio knows or should have known that the
person depicted in the images or audio did not Consent to such disclosure
and objects to such disclosure;
- Viewing or
distributing images of an individual’s
sexual activity, of another person’s body
parts, or nakedness in a place where that person would
have a reasonable expectation of privacy, without that person’s Consent,
to have the image shared, or advance Consent to view such an image,
for the purposes of arousing or gratifying sexual desire.
Sexual Harassment: Unwelcome Conduct of a
sexual nature, including but not limited to unwelcome
sexual advances; requests for sexual favors; or other verbal or nonverbal
conduct of a sexual nature, including rape, Sexual Assault, and Sexual
Exploitation. In addition, depending on the facts, Dating Violence,
Domestic Violence, and Stalking may also be forms of Sexual Harassment.
Sexual Misconduct: Comprises a broad range of unwelcome behaviors focused on
Sex and/or gender that may or may not be sexual in nature. Any intercourse or
other intentional sexual touching or activity without the other person’s
Consent is Sexual Assault, and is a form of Sexual Misconduct under this
Policy. Sexual Misconduct encompasses Sexual
Harassment, Sexual Assault, Sexual Exploitation,
or Gender-based Harassment, which is a
form of Harassment based on gender
identity, gender expression, or non-conformity
with gender stereotypes. Sexual Misconduct may also
encompass acts of a sexual nature, including acts of Sexual
Stalking, Domestic Violence, Dating
Violence, Intimidation, or Retaliation, following an incident where
alleged Sexual Misconduct has occurred.
Sexual Misconduct can occur between
strangers or acquaintances, or people who know each other well, including
between people involved in an intimate or sexual relationship. It can be
committed by anyone regardless of gender identity, and can occur between people
of the same or of a different Sex or gender.
Stalking: Behavior in which a Student repeatedly engages in a
course of conduct directed at another person and makes a credible threat with
the intent to place that person in reasonable fear for his or her safety, or
the safety of his or her family; where the threat is reasonably
determined by the College Disciplinary
Officer to create substantial emotional distress,
torment, create fear, or terrorize the person.
Sexual Stalking: Course of conduct directed at a specific person that would
cause a reasonable person to feel fear or suffer substantial emotional distress
due to another’s sexual interest or gender interest. Sexual
Stalking involves repeated and continued harassment of a sexual or gender-based
nature, against the expressed Consent of another individual, which causes the
targeted individual to feel emotional distress, including fear or apprehension.
Such Sexual Stalking behaviors may include: pursuing or following;
unwanted communication or contact— including face-to-face encounters, telephone
calls, voice messages, electronic messages, web- based messages, text messages,
unwanted gifts, etc.; trespassing; and surveillance or other types of
observation.
Title IX College Coordinator: The designated person(s) responsible for oversight and
implementation of Title IX compliance and for the effective oversight of
the District’s Sexual Misconduct Policy and Procedures.
Title IX Investigator(s): The Title IX Coordinator’s designated person(s) responsible
for the investigation of complaints of Sexual Misconduct.
Unwelcome Conduct: Conduct of a sexual, gender-based, or harassing nature,
which is not solicited, invited, or Consented to. Such conduct
would be deemed unwelcome if the person receiving it did not request or invite
it, and considered the conduct to be undesired, or offensive. Such conduct may
take various forms, including name-calling, graphic or written statements
(including the use of cell phones or the Internet), hazing, bullying,
offensive, or other conduct that may be physically or psychologically
threatening, harmful, or humiliating. Unwelcome Conduct does not
have to include intent to harm be directed at a specific target, or involve
repeated incidents. Unwelcome Conduct can involve persons of the
same or opposite Sex. Participation in the conduct or the other Party’s failure
to complain does not mean the conduct was welcome.
VAWA: The Violence Against Women Act; meant to improve the
criminal justice response to violence against woman.
Zero Tolerance: No tolerance and refusal to accept undesirable conduct and
behavior, typically by strict and uncompromising application of the law.