Harassment
Harassment is a form of misconduct that can be demeaning to another person, and is strictly prohibited. It is the policy of the college to prohibit harassment of its community by anyone, including faculty, staff, students, and vendors or other non-employees, on the basis of sex, race, creed, color, national origin, religion, age, marital status, gender identity, sexual orientation, or physical or mental disability.
Sexual harassment means any unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when:
- Submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a condition of an individual’s employment;
- Submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting such individual; or
- Such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.
The following are examples of conduct that may constitute sexual harassment:
- Sexual advances which are unwelcome (this may include situations which began as a reciprocal attraction but later ceased to be reciprocal);
- Sexual gestures;
- Graphic verbal comments of a sexual nature, including such comments about a person’s body, or sexually degrading words used to describe an individual;
- Displaying sexually suggestive objects, pictures, cartoons, or posters;
- Verbal abuse of a sexual nature, sexually oriented jokes, innuendoes, obscenities, or sexually suggestive letters, notes or invitations;
- Reprisals or threats after a negative response to sexual advances;
- Employment benefits affected in exchange for sexual favors;
- Physical conduct such as assault, rape, impeding or blocking movements, or unwelcome touching.
If a student feels as though a fellow student is engaging in harassing behavior, he or she should refer to the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Process as outlined in this Student Handbook. If a student feels as though a staff, faculty member, or vendor or other non-employee is engaging in harassing behavior in violation of this policy, he or she should refer to the Equal Opportunity Grievance Procedure for information about how to proceed.