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consumption of alcohol or other drugs, or due to a temporary or permanent physical or mental
health condition. When evaluating whether someone consented to sexual activity after
consuming alcohol or drugs, the University will consider whether a reasonable person would
have known about the impact of alcohol and other drugs on the other party’s ability to give
consent.
C.
Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment is a form of harassment based on sex or gender. Sexual harassment includes
unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal, written, online and/or
physical conduct of a sexual nature or the creation of a hostile environment when it meets any of
the following criteria:
Submission to or rejection of such conduct is made, either explicitly or implicitly, a term
or condition of an individual’s employment or educational status or as a basis for
employment or academic decisions; or
Such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s
employment or educational performance, depriving a student or employee or other
individual of the ability to participate in or derive full benefit from any educational or
employment opportunity, or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment for
education, employment, social and/or residential living.
The University recognizes that sexual harassment may occur regardless of the formal position or
status of each person involved, it occurs in relationships where the behavior exploits unfairly the
power inherent in the position, such as between teacher and student, supervisor and subordinate,
or between a student with a position of authority over another student.
Intent is not an element of sexual harassment. It is difficult to define with precision the kinds of
verbal or physical behavior that constitute sexual harassment, because it depends on
circumstances such as the severity, persistence and/or pervasiveness of the conduct, the type,
frequency and duration of the conduct, the relationship between the harasser and the recipient of
the harassment, the degree to which the conduct affected an individual’s education or
employment; and whether it is a pattern of behavior. Although it is not possible to list all types
of conduct that, if unwelcome, might constitute sexual harassment, the following are some
examples:
Seeking sexual favors or relationships in return for the promise of a favorable grade,
letter of recommendation, promotion, salary increase or other academic opportunity;
Offensive and persistent risqué jokes or kidding about sex or gender-specific traits; or
Sexually explicit statements, questions, jokes, or anecdotes, regardless of the means of
communication (oral, written, electronic, etc.); or
Sexual comments or inappropriate references to gender; or
Sexually suggestive sounds or gestures such as sucking noises, winks, pelvic thrusts,
eating food suggestively; or
Repeated unsolicited propositions for dates and/or sexual relations; or