Title IX

Misconduct that falls within this policy includes:

Sexual harassment can be defined as any unwelcome verbal or non-verbal sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, and/or conduct directed at an individual(s) because of gender when:

Submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment or student status; or
Submission to or rejection of such conduct is used as the basis for decisions affecting that individual with regard to employment (raises, job, work assignments, discipline, etc.) or to student status (grades, references, assignments, etc.); or
Such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work performance or educational experience or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work and/or educational environment. Such conduct generally involves more than one incident and must be severe or pervasive (or may be both severe and pervasive).

Acts that constitute sexual harassment take a variety of forms and may include but are not limited to the following unwelcome actions:

Propositions, invitations, solicitations, and flirtations of a sexual nature.
Threats or insinuations that a person's employment, wages, academic grade, promotional opportunities, classroom or work assignments, or other conditions of employment or academic life may be adversely affected by not submitting to sexual advances.
Verbal expressions of a sexual nature, including sexual communications about a person's body, dress, appearance or sexual activities; the use of sexually degrading language, name calling, sexually suggestive jokes, or innuendoes; suggestive or insulting gestures, sounds or whistles; sexually suggestive phone calls.
Sexually suggestive objects or written materials, such as e-mail or internet communications, pictures, photographs, cartoons, text messages, videos, or DVD's.
Inappropriate and unwelcome physical contact such as touching, patting, pinching, hugging or other sexually suggestive contact.
Stalking of a sexual nature (i.e. persistent and unwanted contact of any form whether physical, electronic or by any other means). For stalking to fall within this policy, the content or the nature of the stalking must have a sexual component.
Stereotyping or generalizing about a group based on gender. These types of comments typically constitute sexual harassment when associated with other sexual behavior or comments.
While a particular interaction must be offensive to both a reasonable person and to the victim to constitute unlawful harassment, faculty and staff members and other persons of authority should be sensitive to questions about mutuality of consent that may be raised and to the conflict of interests that are inherent in personal relationships that result from professional and educational interactions. Sexual harassment is particularly damaging when it exploits the educational dependence and trust between students and faculty/staff. When the authority and power inherent in faculty/staff relationships with students, whether overtly, implicitly, or through misinterpretation, is abused in any way, there is potentially great damage to the individual student, to the accused individual, and to the climate of the institution.

Sexual Assault

Assault in general means either knowingly causing or attempting to cause physical harm, or recklessly causing serious physical harm to another person.

Sexual assault is any kind of nonconsensual and/or forced sexual contact. Examples of sexual assault include rape, attempted rape, sodomy, groping / fondling, and any other nonconsensual sexual touching.

Sexual Exploitation

Occurs when an individual takes non-consensual, unjust or abusive sexual advantage of another; for his/her own advantage or benefit; or to benefit or advantage of anyone other than the one being exploited; and that behavior does not otherwise constitute non-consensual sexual contact, non-consensual sexual intercourse or sexual harassment. Sexual exploitation includes, but is not limited to:

Non-consensual video or audio taping of any form of sexual activity
Voyeurism
Knowingly transmitting an STI or HIV to another person
Prostituting another person
Invasion of sexual privacy, including exposing one's sexual body parts or exposing another's sexual body parts

Non-Consensual Sexual Contact and Conduct (Sexual Activity)

Any intentional sexual touching, including sexual contact and sexual conduct;
with any object or body part;
by a person upon another person;
without consent and/or by force

Sexual Contact includes: any touching of an erogenous zone of another, including without limitation the thigh, buttock, pubic region, or, if the person is a female, the breast, for the purpose of sexually arousing or gratifying either person. In other words, sexual contact is any intentional bodily contact in a sexual manner.

Sexual Conduct includes: vaginal intercourse between a male and female; anal intercourse, fellatio, and cunnilingus between persons regardless of sex; and, without privilege to do so, the insertion, however slight, of any part of the body or any instrument, apparatus, or other object into the vaginal or anal opening of another. Penetration, however slight, is sufficient complete vaginal or anal intercourse.

“Sexual activity” means sexual conduct, sexual contact, or both.

Forced Sexual Activity

Sexual activity by force or against the will of the victim;
force includes: the use of physical means, violence, threats, intimidation or coercion;
with any object or body part;
by a person upon another person.

Sexual activity includes: Intentional contact with the breast(s), buttock(s), groin, or genitals, or touching another with any of these body parts; making another person touch you or themselves with any of these body parts; and/or any intentional bodily contact in a sexual manner by using a body part or object.

Intimate Partner Violence

Intimate partner violence (IPV) occurs when a current or former intimate partner uses or threatens physical or sexual violence. IPV also may take the form of a pattern of behavior that seeks to establish power and control by causing fear of physical or sexual violence. Stalking may also constitute IPV.

Domestic violence may include a pattern of abusive behavior that is used by an intimate partner to gain or maintain power and control over the other intimate partner. Domestic violence can include intimidation, manipulation, humiliation, isolation, frightening, terrorizing, coercing, threatening, or hurting someone.

Ohio law criminalizes domestic violence and prohibits any person from knowingly or recklessly causing or attempting to cause physical harm to a family or household member and knowingly causing, by threat or force, a family or household member to believe that the offender will cause imminent physical harm to the family or household member.

Dating violence is violence committed by a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim, where the existence of such a relationship is determined based on factors of the relationship's length, the relationship's type, and the frequency of interactions between the persons involved.

Stalking

Stalking is repeated or obsessive unwanted attention directed toward an individual or group that is likely to cause alarm, fear, or substantial emotional distress. Stalking may take many forms, including following, lying in wait, monitoring, and pursuing contact. Stalking may occur in person or through a medium of communication, such as letters, e-mail, text messages, or telephone calls. In some circumstances, two instances of such behavior may be sufficient to constitute stalking.

Ohio law prohibits any person from menacing by stalking, which means knowingly engaging in a pattern of conduct causing another person to believe that he or she will cause harm to the other person or cause mental distress to the other person. In addition to any other basis for the other person's belief that the offender will cause physical harm to the other person or the other person's mental distress, the other person's belief or mental distress may be based on words or conduct of the offender that are directed at or identify a corporation, association, or other organization that employs the other person. Ohio law also prohibits any person from posting a message with the purpose of urging another person to commit menacing by stalking, including through any electronic method or remotely transferring information, such as through a computer, computer network, computer program, or computer system.

Sexual Intimidation

Sexual Intimidation involves, without limitation, threatening another person with a sex act against them, stalking (including cyber-stalking), and/or engaging in indecent exposure.

Title IX

CIM Policies and Resources

What Is Sexual Misconduct?

Misconduct that falls within this policy includes: