Definitions
People who have experienced an incident of prohibited conduct under Title IX may struggle to understand what happened to them and to define their experience as a “sexual assault” or “rape”. Sexual misconduct may be committed by friends, acquaintances, family, lovers, partners, and strangers. Sexual misconduct also affects people of all ages, races, genders, sexualities, and abilities. It does not discriminate and is often used as a way to hurt, humiliate, or gain control over someone else. The fact that someone has been consensually intimate with a partner in the past does not mean they have consented to any or all future sexual activity with that same individual.
Sexual Harassment
Sexual Harassment means conduct on the basis of sex that satisfies one or more of the following:
A. Quid Pro Quo Sexual Harassment: When an employee of the District conditions (implicitly or explicitly) the provision of an aid, benefit, or service of the District on an individual’s participation in unwelcome sexual conduct; or
B. Hostile Environment Sexual Harassment: Unwelcome conduct determined by a reasonable person standing in the shoes of the Complainant to be so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to the District’s education program or activity; or
Sexual Assault
Sexual assault means any sexual act (forcible or non-forcible), directed against another person, without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim if incapable of giving consent. Sexual acts include the following:
(a) Rape, which is defined as the penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the Complainant.
(b) Sodomy, which is defined as oral or anal sexual intercourse with another person, forcibly committed and/or against that person’s will (non-consensually), or not forcibly or against the person’s will in instances in which the Complainant is incapable of giving consent because of age or because of temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity.
(c) Sexual Assault with an Object, which is defined as the use of an object or instrument to penetrate, however slightly, the genital or anal opening of the body of another person, forcibly and/or against that person’s will (non-consensually), or not forcibly or against the person’s will in instances in which the Complainant is incapable of giving consent because of age or because of temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity.
(d) Fondling, which is defined as the touching of the private parts of another person for the purposes of sexual gratification, without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of age or because of temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity.
(e) Incest, which is defined as sexual intercourse between persons who are related to each other within the degrees wherein marriage is prohibited by law.
(d) Statutory Rape, which is defined as sexual intercourse with a person who is under the statutory age of consent.
Dating Violence
Dating violence means violence committed, on the basis of sex, by a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the Complainant. The existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on a consideration of the following factors: the length of the relationship, the type of relationship and the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship. For the purposes of this definition, dating violence includes, but is not limited to, sexual or physical abuse or the threat of such abuse. Dating violence does not include acts covered under the definition of domestic violence.
Domestic Violence
Domestic violence means conduct, on the basis of sex, that includes the requisite components of felony or misdemeanor crimes of violence committed by (a) a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim; (b) a person with whom the victim shares a child in common; (c) a person who is cohabitating with or has cohabitated with the victim as a spouse; (d) a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under California law; or (e) any other person against an adult or youth victim who is protected from that person's acts under California law.
Stalking
Stalking means a course of conduct directed at a specific person on the basis of sex that would cause a reasonable person to fear for the person's safety or the safety of others, or to suffer substantial emotional distress. For the purposes of this definition: (a) A course of conduct is two or more acts, including, but not limited to, acts in which the Respondent directly, indirectly, or through third parties, by any action, method, device, or means, follows, monitors, observes, surveils, threatens, or communicates to or about a person, or interferes with a person's property; (b) Reasonable person means a reasonable person under similar circumstances and with similar identities to the Complainant; and (c) Substantial emotional distress means significant mental suffering or anguish that may but does not necessarily require medical or other professional treatment or counseling.
Consent
Affirmative Consent means an affirmative, conscious, and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity. It is the responsibility of each person involved in sexual activity to ensure that they have the affirmative consent of the other or others to engage in the sexual activity. Lack of protest or resistance does not mean consent, nor does silence mean consent. Affirmative consent must be ongoing throughout a sexual activity and can be revoked at any time. The existence of a dating relationship between the persons involved, or the fact of past sexual relations between them, should never by itself be assumed to be an indicator of consent. In California, a minor (meaning a person under the age of 18) cannot consent to sexual activity.
It shall not be a valid response to alleged lack of affirmative consent that the Respondent believed that the Complainant consented to the sexual activity under either of the following circumstances:
- The Respondent’s belief in affirmative consent arose from the intoxication or recklessness of the Respondent. Any allegation that alcohol or other drugs were involved in an incident will be reviewed.
- The Respondent did not take reasonable steps, in the circumstances known to the Respondent at the time, to ascertain whether the complainant affirmatively consented.
It shall not be a valid response that the Respondent believed that the Complainant affirmatively consented to the sexual activity if the Respondent knew or reasonably should have known that the Complainant was unable to consent to the sexual activity under any of the following circumstances:
- The Complainant was asleep or unconscious.
- The Complainant was incapacitated due to the influence of drugs, alcohol, or medication so that the Complainant could not understand the fact, nature, or extent of the sexual activity.
- The Complainant was unable to communicate due to a mental or physical condition.
