MySLC

The below definitions are from the Policy on Sexual Violence, which can be found within the Student Handbook. See the most recent Student Handbook for the most up-to-date policy definitions.

Sexual exploitation is taking nonconsensual or abusive sexual advantage of another person for a person’s own advantage or benefit, or violating the sexual privacy of another when consent is not present. This includes, but is not limited to, the following actions (including when they are done via electronic means, methods, or devices):

• Sexual voyeurism, such as permitting others to witness or observe the sexual or intimate activity of another person, in a state of undress, or in a place and time where such person had reasonable expectation of privacy (such as a changing room, toilet, or shower) without that person’s consent.
• Recording any person engaged in sexual or intimate activity in a private space without that person’s consent.
• Disseminating, streaming, or posting sexual information, images, or recordings about another person without that person’s consent as of the time of the dissemination, streaming, or posting.
• Recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining another person for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
• Exposing or inducing others to expose themselves when consent is not present.
• Knowingly exposing or transmitting a sexually transmitted disease or infection (STD or STI) or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to another person.
• Inducing incapacitation in another person without their consent or knowledge with the intent to engage in sexual conduct, regardless of whether prohibited sexual conduct actually occurs. Sexually based stalking and/or bullying can constitute sexual exploitation, in addition to constituting independently prohibited conduct under the Policy on Sexual Violence.

Sexual harassment is defined as any unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favors, or other unwanted or unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature, whether verbal, nonverbal, graphic, physical, or otherwise, when one or more of the following conditions are present:

1. Quid Pro Quo:
   • Submission to or rejection of such conduct is made, either explicitly or implicitly, a term or condition of a person’s employment, academic standing, or participation in any College program and/or activity, or is used as the basis for College decisions affecting the individual.
   • Submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for decisions affecting the individual, such as grading; acceptance into a course, program, or team; advancement, promotion, hiring, or retention.
2. Hostile Environment: A hostile environment exists when the conduct is sufficiently severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it unreasonably interferes with, limits, or deprives an individual from participating in or benefiting from the College’s education or employment programs and/or activities. The existence of a hostile environment is to be judged both objectively (meaning a reasonable person would find the environment hostile) and subjectively (meaning the impacted individual felt the environment was hostile).

Examples of conduct that may constitute sexual harassment include but are not limited to:

• Pressure for a dating, romantic, or intimate relationship;
• Unwelcome sexual advances;
• Unwelcome touching, kissing, hugging, or massaging;
• Pressure for or forced sexual activity;
• Unnecessary references to parts of the body;
• Sexual comments or references;
• Sexual innuendoes, gestures, or humor; or
• Sexual graffiti, pictures, or posters.

Relationship violence, or intimate partner violence, includes dating violence and domestic violence — both of which are prohibited.

i. Dating violence. Any abusive or violent behaviors (including but not limited to emotional, physical, sexual, and financial abuse or threat of abuse) between two people committed by a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the person who has been subjected to such abusive or violent behaviors, where the existence of such a romantic or intimate 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.

This violation includes behavior that seeks to establish power and control over another person by causing fear of physical violence or sexual abuse or assault. Dating violence can be a single act or a pattern of behavior, depending on the frequency, nature, and severity of the conduct.

ii. Domestic violence. Any abusive or violent behaviors (including but not limited to emotional, physical, sexual, and financial abuse or threat of abuse) between two people that is committed by:

• The current or former spouse of the person who is subjected to the acts of abuse or violence;
• A person with whom the person subjected to such abusive or violent behaviors shares a child in common;
• A person who is cohabitating with or has cohabitated with the person subjected to abusive or violent behaviors; or
• Any other person against an adult or youth who is protected from that person’s acts under the domestic or family violence laws of New York State.

This behavior seeks to establish power and control over another person by causing fear of physical or sexual abuse or violence. Domestic violence can be a single act or a pattern of behavior, depending on the frequency, nature, and severity of the conduct.

Stalking is knowingly engaging in an unwanted course of conduct directed at a specific person that one knows or should know would cause a reasonable person to fear for their safety or the safety of others, or suffer substantial emotional distress. “Emotional distress” means significant mental suffering, anxiety, or alarm.

Conduct that can amount to stalking may include actions directed at another person, whether done directly, indirectly, through others, via devices, or via any other methods or means (specifically including electronic means, e.g., cyberstalking), including but not limited to:

• Following a person.
• Being or remaining in close proximity to a person.
• Entering or remaining on or near a person’s property, residence, or place of employment without permission and without a legitimate purpose.
• Monitoring, observing, or conducting surveillance of a person.
• Threatening (directly or indirectly) a person.
• Communicating to or about a person.
• Giving gifts or objects to, or leaving items for, a person.
• Interfering with or damaging a person’s property (including pets).
• Engaging in other unwelcome contact when that behavior causes fear of harm or substantial emotional distress and that fear or distress is a reasonable response to the behavior