A.     Advocate

The term “Advocate” refers to someone trained by a Title IX Coordinator to assist a Reporting Party and/or Alleged Victim or a Respondent generally in a Sexual Misconduct case, with the exception of Advocates for Students, below.  An Advocate’s assistance can include providing moral support as well as information regarding procedural issues, throughout the pendency of an investigation, through the last internal Appeal.  Each location (college and ESC) must have a minimum of two Advocates at all times, and preferably will have at least four.  The Advocate will be independent from college and District influences, and maintains the Confidentiality of anyone he or she aids. In Sexual Misconduct matters, the services of the Advocate are available to both parties through the time of a final Appeal.

 

This position encompasses the former “Advocate for Students” position. All Advocates shall be available to assist student parties to a non-Sexual Misconduct Complaint from the initiation of the matter through the final written Decision

 

B.     Alleged Victim

The term “Alleged Victim” refers to a person who may have been the object of a violation of this policy.

 

C.     Complaint

The term “Complaint” means a written or oral statement that alleges Prohibited Discrimination, Unlawful Harassment, or Sexual Misconduct as defined herein.


A Complaint may be filed by someone who alleges that he or she has personally suffered Prohibited Discrimination, Unlawful Harassment, and Sexual Misconduct or by someone who has learned of potential Prohibited Discrimination, Sexual Misconduct, and Unlawful Harassment in his or her official capacity as a faculty member or administrator, and individuals and entities filing a Complaint on behalf of another individual or class of individuals.

 

D.    Confidentiality

The term “Confidentiality” means not sharing information with anyone other than the person who told it to you.

 

E.     Consent 

The term “Consent,” when used regarding Sexual Misconduct matters refers to a mutual, honest, direct agreement.  Consent is never implied and cannot be assumed, even in the context of a relationship. 

1.   Consent must be:

a.   Informed (knowing)

b.   Voluntary (freely given)

c.   Active, (not passive)

d.   By clear words or actions, with regard to agreed-upon (sexual) activity, and

e.   Must indicate permission to engage in mutually agreed upon (sexual) activity. 

f.    It must also be continuous throughout the sexual interaction.

2.   Consent cannot be the result of:

a.   Force,

b.   Physical Violence,

c.   Threats

d.   Intimidation,

e.   Coercion, including consideration of frequency, intensity, isolation and duration, or

f.    Incapacity as a result of drugs, alcohol, sleep, mental or cognitive impairment, injury, or other condition, which was or should have been known to the accused.  Intoxication of the assailant shall not diminish the assailant’s responsibility for sexual assault or sexual misconduct.

3.   The absence of “No” does not mean ‘Yes”.

 

F.     Dating Violence

 The term “Dating Violence” is included in Intimate Partner Violence; see below.

 

G.    Domestic Violence

 The term “Domestic Violence” is included in Intimate Partner Violence, below.

  

H.    Gender

The term “Gender” includes a person’s Gender identity and Gender-related appearance and behavior whether or not stereotypically associated with the person’s assigned sex at birth.  See also the definition of Sexual Orientation, below.

 

I.      Gender-Based Harassment

The term “Gender-Based Harassment” refers to unwelcome conduct of a non-sexual nature based on Gender or Gender stereotyping, including acts of verbal, nonverbal, and physical aggression, intimidation, or hostility.

 

J.      Intimate Partner

The term “Intimate Partner” refers to a person with whom one has or had a close personal relationship that may be characterized by some or all of the following:  the partners’ emotional connectedness, regular contact, ongoing physical contact and sexual behavior, identity as a couple, and familiarity with and knowledge about each other’s lives.


Intimate Partner relationships include current or former:

-            spouses (married spouses, common-law spouses, civil union spouses, domestic partners)

-            boyfriends/girlfriends

-            dating partners

-            ongoing sexual partners


Intimate Partners may or may not cohabit.  Intimate Partners can be opposite or same sex.  If the Alleged Victim and/or Reporting Individual and the Respondent have a child in common and a previous relationship but no current relationship, then by definition they fit into the category of former Intimate Partner. 

 

K.     Intimate Partner Violence

The term “Intimate Partner Violence” refers to behavior involving physical force or intimidation by the exhibition of such force, intended to hurt, damage, or kill an Intimate Partner, as defined above; this frequently arises in the form of Sexual Misconduct.

 

L.     Privacy

The term “Privacy” means sharing information only with those individuals who need to know, such as the Title IX Coordinator, and only sharing information required for that individual to do his or her job.

 

M.    Respondent

The term “Respondent” refers to the individual who responds to a Complaint which was filed, alleging that he/she violated this policy; also known as an “alleged offender.

 

N.    Responsible Employee

The term “Responsible Employee” refers to a person who works for the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) who, pursuant to Title IX, has the responsibility to report to the College Title IX Coordinator instances of Sexual Misconduct or sexual harassment at or connected to the College or the District, which he or she has been told about or has seen.


Mental Health professionals and clergy are not “responsible employees” when acting in their professional capacity and therefore are exempt from the Title IX reporting responsibility, as are faculty with regard to material directly related to their curriculum.


First Responders may or may not be Responsible Employees depending on his or her other role(s) at the college or ESC, but his or her activities are broader than those of a Responsible Employee.  See “First Responder,” above.  Both the Responsible Employee and the First Responder should be members of the Sexual Assault Response Team (SMART), described below.

 

O.    Retaliation

The term “Retaliation” refers to a prohibited form of unlawful harassment.  Retaliation refers to adverse personal behavior or adverse employment or academic decisions based primarily upon an individual’s participation as a witness, Respondent, investigator, decision-maker, representative or advisor, or other individual as prohibited by state or federal law.

1)  The initiation of a Complaint alleging prohibited discrimination, unlawful harassment, sexual harassment, or Sexual Misconduct shall not be cause for any negative reflection on the individual initiating the Complaint or an individual identified as an Alleged Victim, if different.

2)  In the case of a student, the filing of a Complaint shall not affect his/her grade, class selections, or other matters pertaining to enrollment status as a student of the District.

3)  Similarly, adverse actions (as described above) shall not be taken against a Respondent, from the time allegations are made about him/her through final resolution of the matter.

4)  Any adverse action against an individual for filing a discrimination charge, for testifying, or for participating in any way in an investigation, proceeding, or lawsuit under these laws, or for opposing employment practices that they reasonably believe to be discriminatory is retaliation and thus unlawful harassment which violates these laws.

 

P.     Sexual Harassment

The term “Sexual Harassment” means unlawful discrimination in the form of unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal, visual, or physical conduct of a physical nature, made by someone from or in the workplace or in the educational setting, and is a form of Sexual Misconduct, defined below.  Sexual Harassment includes, but is not limited to:

1)  Making unsolicited written, verbal, physical, and/or visual contacts with sexual overtones.  (Examples of possible sexual harassment that appear in written form include, but are not limited to:  suggestive or obscene letters, notes or invitations.  Examples of possible visual sexual harassment include but are not limited to: leering, gestures, display of sexually aggressive objects, pictures, cartoons, or posters.

2)  Continuing to express sexual interest after being informed that the interest is unwelcome.

3)  Making reprisals, threats of reprisal, or implied threats of reprisal following a rebuff of harassing behavior, for example, implying or actually withholding grades earned or deserved, a poor performance evaluation will be prepared, or suggesting a scholarship recommendation or college application will be denied.

4)  Engaging in explicit or implicit coercive sexual behavior within the work environment which is used to control, influence, or affect the employee’s career, salary, and/or work environment.

5)  Engaging in explicit or implicit coercive sexual behavior within the work environment which is used to control, influence, or affect the educational opportunities, grades, and/or learning environment of a student.

6)  Offering favors or educational or employment benefits, such as grades or promotions, favorable performance evaluations, favorable assignments, favorable duties or shifts, recommendations, reclassifications, etc., in exchange for sexual favors.

7)  Awarding educational or employment benefits such as grades or duties or shifts, recommendations, reclassifications, etc., to any student or employee with whom the decision maker has a sexual relationship and denying such benefits to other students or employees.

 

Q.    Sexual Misconduct

The term “Sexual Misconduct” refers to non-consensual sexual activity, where clear, knowing, and voluntary Consent, as defined herein, both prior to and during the sexual activity is absent.  Sexual misconduct includes “sexual harassment” as that term is defined herein.


1)  Sexual misconduct offenses include but are not limited to Non-Consensual Sexual Intercourse, defined as

a.   Any sexual penetration or intercourse (anal, oral, or vaginal)

b.   However slight

c.   With any object

d.   By a person upon another person

e.   That is without Consent and/or by force

f.    Sexual penetration includes vaginal, oral or anal penetration by a penis, tongue, finger or object, or oral copulation by mouth or genital contact, or genital to mouth contact.

g.   Non-Consensual Sexual Intercourse includes but is not limited to rape, forced sodomy, forced copulation, or rape by foreign object.

2)  Sexual Misconduct offenses also include Non-Consensual Sexual Contact, defined as

a.   Any intentional sexual touching

b.   However slight

c.   With any object

d.   By another person upon another person

e.   That is without Consent and/or by force

f.    Sexual touching includes any bodily contact with the breasts, groin, genitals, mouth or other bodily orifice of another individual, or any other bodily contract in a sexual manner.

g.   Non-Consensual Sexual Intercourse includes but is not limited to sexual battery or threat of sexual assault.

In addition to those acts specified above, Sexual Misconduct also includes Sexual Harassment, Stalking, Dating Violence, Domestic Violence, and Intimate Partner Violence.

 

R.     Sexual Misconduct Awareness and Response Team or SMART

The term “Sexual Misconduct Awareness and Response Team” or “SMART” refers to a group or team at each College and the ESC organized by the Behavioral Intervention Team (BIT) for the purpose of sponsoring prevention, intervention, and education programs on campus or at the ESC regarding sexual misconduct, and for the purpose of responding to allegations of Sexual Misconduct, as defined above.

 

S.     Sexual Orientation

The term “Sexual Orientation” means heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, asexuality, or any combination or variation thereof.  Sexual Orientation includes but is not limited to: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, Intersexual, and Asexual.

 

T.     Sexual Violence

The term “Sexual Violence” refers to a forceful physical sexual act that is committed or attempted by another person without freely given Consent.

 

U.    Stalking

The term “Stalking” refers to a course of conduct (two or more acts), directed at a specific person, on the basis of actual or perceived membership in a protected class, that is unwelcome, AND would cause a reasonable person to fear for his or her safety or the safety of others, or to suffer substantial emotional distress.  Stalking is defined as the repeated following, watching, and harassing of another person.  Stalking may include legal, appropriate behavior such as sending someone flowers or waiting outside someone’s workplace for her/him to appear.  However when these acts are coupled with an intent to instill fear or injury, they may be part of a pattern of stalking behavior.

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