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Discrimination, Harassment, Sexual Misconduct

Rights, Access, and Reporting

Rights, Access, and Reporting

Discrimination, Harassment, Sexual Misconduct

INCIDENT REPORT
Current Policy Brochure

Prohibited Conduct

The Civil Rights Office is a policy driven entity and is designed to ensure that all its community members are free from discrimination and harassment as required by law and the University policies. The Policy prohibits specific forms of behavior, which the Policy collectively refers to as “Prohibited Conduct.”

This policy applies to all forms of Prohibited Conduct that:

  • Occur on campus;
  • Occur in any MVNU education or employment activities and programs; or
  • Have continuing adverse effects on campus, on any member of the MVNU community, or in the context of any MVNU education or employment activities and programs, regardless of where the conduct occurred.
Title IX

Title IX, 20 U.S.C. §1681 et seq., of the Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance.

Sexual Harassment

  • Quid Pro Quo
  • Unwelcome Conduct
  • Sexual Assault
  • Dating Violence
  • Domestic Violence
  • Stalking

For reported behavior to qualify as Prohibited Conduct under the Title IX- Sexual Harassment it must meet all of the following threshold requirements:

  1. The conduct must have occurred against a person in the United States.
  2. The conduct must have occurred within the University’s education program or activity. For purposes of this provision, this means that the conduct must have occurred either (a) in a location, event, or circumstances over which MVNU exercised substantial control over both the respondent and the context in which the sexual harassment occurs or (b) in relation to a building owned or controlled by a student organization that is officially recognized by the MVNU.
  3. The complainant must be participating in or attempting to participate in the education program or activity of the University at the time the formal complaint is filed.

Conduct that does not meet these threshold requirements is subject to a Title IX Dismissal, but may still be resolved as a Non-Title IX Sexual Misconduct.

Non-Title IX Sexual Misconduct

  • Non-Title IX Sexual Assault
  • Sexual and Gender-Based Harassment
  • Sexual Exploitation
  • Non-Title IX Domestic Violence
  • Non-Title IX Dating Violence
  • Non-Title IX Stalking

 

Title VI and Title VII

Title VI, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d et seq., was enacted as part of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. It prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance.

Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 helps protect individuals from discrimination in the workplace. It prohibits employment discrimination based upon race, color, national origin, sex and religion. Title VII also protects against harassment, which can be any physical or vocal conduct that creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment. Conduct can be harassment if it interferes with a person's work performance.

See policy Section VII.C.

Discrimination on the Basis of a Protected Characteristic
 
Discriminatory Harassment or Intimidation is any unwanted verbal or physical conduct based on a Protected Characteristic when one or more of the following conditions is present:
 
Submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s employment, participation in a program or activity, or grade in a course or coursework;
 
Submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment or educational decisions affecting an individual; or
 
Such conduct is sufficiently severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies an individual equal access to the individual’s education program or activity. A single incident may create a hostile environment if the incident is sufficiently severe.
 
The determination as to whether a hostile environment exists is based on the totality of the circumstances, including but not limited to:
 
• The nature and severity of the conduct;
• The type, frequency and duration of the conduct;
• The identity of, and relationship between, the respondent and the complainant;
• The number of individuals involved;
• The age and maturity levels of the respondent and complainant; and
• The location of the conduct and the context in which it occurred.
Retaliation

See policy Section VII.D.

Retaliation is defined as intimidating, threatening, coercing, or discriminating against any individual:
• For the purpose of interfering with any right or privilege secured by this Policy, Title IX or its implementing regulations; or
• Because the individual has made a report or complaint, testified, assisted, or participated or refused to participate in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under this Policy or under the complaint procedures relating to complaints filed with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Institutional Ethics, or Title IX complaints filed with the U. S. Department of Education’s Office of Institutional Ethics.
Retaliation also includes filing a complaint against an individual for code of conduct violations that do not involve sex discrimination or sexual harassment, but arise out of the same facts or circumstances as a report or complaint of sex discrimination, or a report or formal complaint of sexual harassment, for the purpose of interfering with any right or privilege secured by Title IX law or regulations.
A complaint may allege conduct of a sexual nature that might not meet the definition of sexual harassment under Title IX. The conduct could occur against a person outside the US (study abroad), might not occur within the institution’s program or activity, or might not meet the severe, pervasive, or objectively offensive standard in this policy. Nonetheless, if someone files a complaint relating to such conduct, retaliation for doing so would be prohibited.
Retaliation does not include MVNU’s decision to charge an individual with a code of conduct violation for making a materially false statement in bad faith in the course of a proceeding under this Policy. A determination regarding responsibility, alone, is not sufficient to conclude that any party made a materially false statement in bad faith. For example, if a Respondent is found not responsible for a violation of this Policy, this finding alone does not mean that the Complainant has provided materially false information in bad faith.

Former Policies & Procedures

Kiera McPeck

Kiera McPeck

HR & Title IX Specialist(opens in new tab)
kiemcpeck@mvnu.edu
740-392-6868, ext. 4409

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