Ohio Administrative Code › Title 3357:15 - Stark State College › Chapter 3357:15-14 - Employment and Recruitment › Section 3357:15-14-15 - Sexual misconduct

Current through all regulations passed and filed through July 1, 2024
Stark state college is committed and
				responsible for
								
				establishing, maintaining and providing a safe, secure, and non-discriminatory
				environment for our employees and students, free of sexual misconduct and sex
				discrimination based on gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation, gender transition status, or pregnancy. The college
				will not tolerate any kind of sexual misconduct
				and will
				not compromise the responsibility for addressing issues of sexual misconduct.
				The college will not tolerate sex-based discrimination or sex-based violence
				based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender transition status, or
				pregnancy. Sexual misconduct is socially irresponsible and violates the
				rights of other individuals. Sexual misconduct has the potential of threatening
				an individual's academic performance, economic livelihood, career advancement,
				psychological, and total well-being and is prohibited by this policy. This
				policy is also applicable to all third parties affiliated with the college.
				Third parties are neither employees nor students and can include, but are not
				limited to, consultants, vendors, contractors, etc. Sexual misconduct is a
				serious offense which could lead to dismissal and/or termination from the
				college and criminal charges being filed with the local law enforcement
				authority having jurisdiction.
(A)
			 Definitions
(1) Sexual misconduct - any
			 unwelcome behavior of a sexual nature that is committed without consent. Sexual
			 misconduct can occur between persons of the same or different sex.
			 Sexual misconduct is a type of violence that uses
			 power, control, and/or intimidation to harm another. It includes sexual
			 harassment, sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking.
			 It occurs when there is an absence of consent. Consent is a free and clearly
			 given "yes," not the absence of a "no," and cannot be received when a person is
			 incapacitated by alcohol or drugs. Sexual misconduct is a broad term that
			 includes sexual assault (rape, sexual fondling, incest, or statutory rape) as
			 well as sexual exploitation and sexual harassment.
(2) Non-consensual sexual contact - any
			 intentional sexual touching and any other intentional bodily contact in a
			 sexual manner, however slight, with any object, by a man or a woman upon
			 another person that is without consent.
(3) Incapacitation - a state in which a
			 person cannot make rational decisions because they lack the capacity to give
			 consent. Incapacitation may result from a mental or physical disability,
			 unconsciousness, or from the taking of alcohol or other drugs. Sexual
			 misconduct occurs when a person engages in sexual activity when they knew, or
			 should have known, that the other person was incapacitated.
(4) Consent - a freely and affirmatively
			 communicated willingness to participate in sexual activity, expressed by clear,
			 unambiguous words or actions. It is the responsibility of the initiator of the
			 sexual activity to ensure that he or she has the other person's consent to
			 engage in sexual activity, throughout the entire sexual activity, by all
			 parties involved. At any time, a participant can communicate that he or she no
			 longer consents to continuing the activity. Consent may never be obtained
			 through the use of force, coercion, or intimidation or if the victim is
			 mentally or physically incapacitated, including through the use of drugs or
			 alcohol. Consent cannot be assumed based on the existence of a previous dating
			 or sexual relationship. The initiator's use of alcohol or drugs does not
			 diminish his/her responsibility to obtain consent.
(5) Force - the use of physical violence,
			 threat of physical violence, and/or imposing on someone physically to gain
			 sexual access.
(6) Rape -
			 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.
(7) Coercion
			 - unreasonable, intimidating, or forcible pressure for sexual
			 activity.
(8) Sexual assault -
			 includes non-consensual 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), no matter how slight the penetration or
			 contact.
(9) Sexual exploitation -
			 occurs when someone takes non-consensual or abusive sexual advantage of another
			 for his/her own advantage or benefit, or to the benefit or advantage of anyone
			 other than the person being exploited.
(10) Stalking - engaging in a course of
			 conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to
			 fear for his or her safety or the safety of others or suffer substantial
			 emotional distress. 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.
(11) Domestic violence - a felony or
			 misdemeanor crime 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 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.
(12) Intimate
			 partner violence/dating violence - violence committed by a person who is or has
			 been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim;
			 and where the existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on a
			 consideration of the length of the relationship, the type of relationship,
			 and/or the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the
			 relationship.
(13)
									Gender-based violence - gender-based violence refers to
			 any type of harm that is perpetrated against a person or group of people
			 because of their factual or perceived sex, gender, sexual orientation, and/or
			 gender identity.
(a)
										Gender-based violence (GBV) is defined as any harmful
			 threat or act directed at an individual or group based on their actual or
			 perceived:
(i)
											Biological sex;
(ii)
											Gender
			 identity;
(iii)
											Gender expression;
(iv)
											Sexual
			 orientation; or
(v)
											Difference from social norms related to masculinity or
			 femininity
GBV can include and be identified by
				physical, sexual, psychological, technological, economic, and emotional abuse.
				It is rooted in structural gender inequalities, coercive control, and power
				imbalances.
(14) Sexual harassment
			 - is conduct on the basis of sex that satisfies
			 one or more of the following: unwelcomed sexual
			 advances; request for sexual favors; and/or other verbal, non-verbal, or
			 physical conduct of a sexual nature. Sexual harassment is sex-based harassment
			 that includes gender-based harassment. Sexual harassment is inclusive of sexual
			 violence and genderbased harassment, defined as follows:
(a)
										Sexual
			 violence
Sexual violence is a form of sexual
				harassment. Sexual violence refers to physical sexual acts perpetrated against
				a person's will or where a person is incapable of giving consent (e.g., due to
				the victim's age or use of drugs or alcohol, or because an intellectual or
				other disability prevents the victim from having the capacity to give consent).
				A number of different acts fall into the category of sexual violence, including
				rape, sexual assault, sexual battery, sexual abuse, and sexual
				coercion.
(b)
										Gender-based harassment
Gender-based harassment is unwelcome
				conduct based on an individual's actual or perceived sex. It includes slurs,
				taunts, stereotypes, or namecalling as well as gender-motivated physical
				threats, attacks, or other hateful conduct.
(c)
										An individual can
			 experience harassment of one type or may experience combinations of
			 discriminatory conduct.
(i)
											An employee of the college conditioning the provision
			 of aid, benefit, or service of the college on an individual's participation in
			 unwelcome sexual conduct;
(ii)
											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
			 recipient's education program or activity; or
(iii)
											"Sexual
			 assault," "dating violence," "domestic violence," or "stalking" as those terms
			 are defined under other federal laws called the Clery Act and the Violence
			 Against Women Act.
(d)
										
										Forms of sexual harassment include:
(i) Quid pro quo
			 (a.k.a "this for that") - the abuse of power and/or authority. Such behavior is
			 especially harmful in situations where the imposition of unwanted sexual
			 attention is accompanied by an explicit or implied promise of employment,
			 academic success, preferential treatment, the threat of reprisal, or a negative
			 consequence for refusal to engage in behavior of a sexual nature. Sexual
			 harassment may occur without employment, academic, or economic injury to the
			 victim.
(ii) Hostile work
			 environment - includes any unwelcome, and severe or pervasive action of a
			 sexual nature which unreasonably interferes with job performance or learning
			 ability and creates an intimidating, or offensive work, academic or athletic
			 environment, even if it leads to no tangible or economic consequences. A single
			 instance of harassment may be sufficient to create a hostile work
			 environment.