DEFINITIONS

Education Program or Activity

Locations, events, or circumstances over which the institution exercises substantial control over both the respondent and the context in which the sexual harassment occurs.

Formal Complaint

A document filed and signed by a complainant or complainant’s parent or legal guardian, or signed by the Title IX Coordinator, alleging Title IX Sexual Harassment against a respondent and requesting that the institution investigate the allegation of Title IX Sexual Harassment.

Complainant

An individual who is reporting conduct that could constitute Title IX Sexual Harassment. 

Respondent

An individual who has been reported to be the perpetrator of conduct that could constitute Title IX Sexual Harassment.

Supportive Measures

Non-disciplinary, non-punitive individualized services offered as appropriate, as reasonably available, and without fee or charge to the complainant or the respondent before or after the filing of a formal complaint or where no formal complaint has been filed. Such measures are designed to restore or preserve equal access to the institution’s education program or activity without unreasonably burdening the other party, including measures designed to protect the safety of all parties or the institution’s educational environment, or deter sexual harassment. 

Supportive measures may include, but are not limited to, counseling, extensions of deadlines or other course-related adjustments, modifications of work or class schedules, campus escort services, mutual restrictions on contact between the parties, changes in work or housing locations, leaves of absence, increased security and monitoring of certain areas of the campus, and other similar measures. The institution must maintain as confidential any supportive measures provided to the complainant or respondent, to the extent that maintaining such confidentiality would not impair the ability of the institution to provide the supportive measures. The Title IX Coordinator is responsible for coordinating the effective implementation of supportive measures.

Title IX Sexual Harassment

Conduct within the institution’s education program or activity, as defined by this policy, that satisfies one or more of the following:

1. An employee of the institution conditioning the provision of an aid, benefit, or service of the institution on an individual’s participation in unwelcome sexual conduct;

2. Unwelcome conduct determined by a reasonable person to be so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to the institution’s education program or activity; or

3. “Sexual assault” as defined by the federal Clery Act, 20 U.S.C. 1092(f)(6)(A)(v), or “dating violence,: “domestic violence,” or “stalking” as defined in the Violence Against Women Act (“VAWA”), 34 U.S.C. 12291(a).

Consent

Actively agreeing to be sexual with someone in a way that is affirmative, conscious, and voluntary.

Note: This definition does not come from Title IX policy, but is taught to NCSSM students in Residential Education courses, hall programs, and other school-sanctioned dialogues.

Sexual Assault

Any sexual act directed against another person, without that person’s consent, including instances where the person is incapable of giving consent, that meets the definition of rape, fondling, incest or statutory rape as used in the FBl's Uniform Crime Reporting system.

Rape

The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.

Fondling

The touching of the private body parts of another person for the purpose of sexual gratification, without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of his/her age or because of his/her temporary or permanent mental incapacity.

Incest

Sexual intercourse between persons who are related to each other within the degrees wherein marriage is prohibited by law.

Statutory Rape

Sexual intercourse with a person who is under the statutory age of consent.

Dating Violence

Violence, including but not limited to sexual or physical abuse, or the threat of such abuse, committed by a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim. The existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on a consideration of the following factors:

Stalking

Engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to:

For the purposes of this definition, “course of conduct” means two or more acts, including, but not limited to, acts in which the stalker directly, indirectly, or through third parties, by any action, method, device, or means, follows, monitors, observes, surveils, threatens, or communicates to or about, a person, or interferes with a person’s property.

Domestic Violence

Includes 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 cohabitating with or has cohabitated with the victim as a spouse or intimate partner, by a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction receiving grant monies, 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.

Clery Crime Definitions

These and other useful terms to know can be found in the Clery Crime Definitions document linked below. These terms are defined by the Clery Act Guidelines for Campus Security Authorities.

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Questions?

Ask our Title IX Office: titleix@ncssm.edu

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