Sexual Harassment & Title IX

 

Stats About Sexual Misconduct On College Campuses (notalone.gov)

 

• 1 in 5 women and 1 in 16 men are sexually assaulted in college

• 40% of survivors fear reprisal by their attacker

• Only 2% of incapacitated rape survivors report assault

• Only 13% of rape survivors report assault

• 8 in 10 survivors knew their attacker (friend, significant other, etc.)

• It is estimated that between 2 and 7 percent of sexual assault reports are false

Sexual Harassment Policy & Procedures

McKendree University (the “University”) is committed to providing a learning, working, and living environment that promotes personal integrity, civility, and mutual respect in an environment free of discrimination on the basis of sex. The University considers sex discrimination in all its forms to be a serious offense. Sex discrimination constitutes a violation of this policy, is unacceptable, and will not be tolerated.

Sexual harassment, whether verbal, physical, visual, or digital, is a form of prohibited sex discrimination, and sexual violence is a particularly severe form of sexual harassment.

Title IX Policy (PDF)

Definitions

Sex Discrimination

Sex discrimination occurs when persons are excluded from participation in, or denied the benefits of, any University program or activity because of their sex. Sex discrimination can include adverse treatment based on one’s sex.

Examples of Sex Discrimination include but are not limited to: 

-A company refusing to hire someone based on gender

-A professor not calling on someone when they raise their hand while calling consistently on someone of a different gender

-Derogatory or sexist remarks

Sexual Harassment

Sexual Harassment is conduct on the basis of sex that constitutes Quid Pro Quo Sexual Harassment, Hostile Environment, Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, or Stalking.  The Hostile Environment is unwelcome conduct determined by a reasonable person to be so sever, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to the recipient’s education program or activities

Sexual Violence

Sexual violence is a particularly severe form of prohibited sexual harassment. Sexual violence includes physical sexual acts perpetrated against a person’s will or where a person is incapable of giving consent because of his or her temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity, because he or she is below the minimum age of consent in the applicable jurisdiction, or because of his or her incapacitation due to the use of drugs and/or alcohol. Other types of conduct may also constitute sexual violence.

Examples of sexual violence include but are not limited to: 

-Sexual assault

-Knowingly transmitting a sexually transmitted disease or infection

Consent

Under Illinois law, “Consent” is defined as “a freely given agreement to the act of sexual penetration or sexual conduct in question.  Lack of verbal or physical resistance or submission by the victim resulting from the use of force or threat of force by the accused shall not constitute consent.  The manner of dress of the victim at the time of the offense shall not constitute consent.” Additionally, “a person who initially consents to sexual penetration or sexual conduct is not deemed to have consented to any sexual penetration or sexual conduct that occurs after he or she withdraws consent during the course of that sexual penetration or sexual conduct.”

No purported consent will be valid when a person is unable to understand the nature of the activity or cannot consent based on circumstances including but not limited to:

a. Full or partial incapacitation due to the influence of drugs or alcohol;

b. The person is asleep or unconscious;

c. The person is not of legal age to consent; or

d. The person is incapacitated due to a mental disability.

 

Domestic Violence, Dating Violence & Stalking

Domestic Violence

“Domestic violence” includes felony or misdemeanor crimes of violence committed by a current or former spouse or intimate partner of a victim, by a person with whom the victim shares a child in common, by a person who is cohabitating with or has cohabitated with the victim as a spouse or intimate partner, by a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction in which the crime of violence occurred, or by any other person against an adult or youth victim who is protected from that person’s acts under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction in which the crime of violence occurred.

Examples of domestic violence include but are not limited to: 

-Kicking, punching, pushing, or otherwise physically attacking

-Shouting at or name calling

-Preventing someone from accessing needed emergency services

Dating Violence

“Dating violence” means violence committed by a person who is or has been in social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim. The existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on the reporting party’s statement and with consideration of the length of the relationship, the type of the relationship, and the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship.

Examples included above under domestic violence.

Stalking

“Stalking” means engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to (A) fear for his or her safety or the safety of others; or (B) suffer substantial emotional distress.

Examples include but are not limited to: 

-Using technology to gather information on and/or images of someone

-Waiting outside someone's home and/or place of business

-Excessively calling, texting, or messaging someone