International Student Affairs Off-Campus Student Services Orientation Spiritual Life Student Life Student Union Home Rape and Sexual Assault Policy Rape, acquaintance rape and sexual assault will not be tolerated by Emerson College. In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts having sexual intercourse or unnatural sexual intercourse with a person against the will of that person by force or threat of bodily harm constitutes rape. If intercourse occurs with a person who is mentally incapacitated, unconscious, asleep or physically incapable of consenting due to the consumption of alcohol or other drugs it is rape.
Acquaintance rape is no less serious a crime than a rape which occurs between strangers.
Unlawful sexual contact is defined as the unwanted touching, directly or through clothing of an intimate part of another person such as a sexual organ, buttocks, or breasts. Either agency will help a student who has been sexually assaulted whether or not the student chooses to prosecute the assailant. Reporting a sexual assault to the police does not commit the student to further legal action. It is important to tell someone. Boston's Beth Israel Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and the Boston and Cambridge City Hospitals are experienced and prepared to help sexual assault victims.