Title IX

The following conduct is prohibited by the CCBC Student Conduct policy:

Sexual harassment
Any unwelcome sexual advance, unwelcome request for sexual favors, or other unwelcome verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when: 

1. submission to or rejection of such conduct is made, either explicitly or implicitly, a term or condition of an individual’s employment, evaluation of academic work, or participation in any aspect of a college program or activity; 
2. submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for academic, employment, activity or program participation-related decisions affecting an individual; or 
3. such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work or academic performance, i.e., it is sufficiently severe or pervasive to create an intimidating, hostile, humiliating, demeaning or sexually offensive working, academic, residential or social environment.

Sexual assault
Any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient.

Non-consensual sexual contact or intercourse
Contact is any intentional sexual touching, however slight and with any object or body part, or exposure or disrobing of another, that is without consent (as defined below) and/or by force or coercion. This includes intentional contact with breasts, buttocks, groin, mouth or genitals, as well as any other intentional bodily contact that occurs in a sexual manner.

Intercourse is any sexual penetration or copulation, however slight and with any object or body part that is without consent and/or by force or coercion. Intercourse includes anal or vaginal penetration by a penis, object, tongue or finger, and oral copulation (mouth and genital/anal contact), no matter how slight the penetration or contact.

Sexual exploitation
Taking non-consensual or abusive sexual advantage of an individual to benefit anyone other than the person being exploited. Examples include: invading privacy, video or audio recording of sexual acts without consent, knowingly transmitting a sexually transmitted infection (STI), sexually based stalking or bullying, or exposing one’s genitals.

Sexual intimidation
Threatening to sexually assault another person; gender or sex-based stalking, including cyber-stalking; or engaging in indecent exposure.

Dating violence
Violence or threat of violence between individuals in a personal and private social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature. The existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on a consideration of the length of the relationship, the type of the relationship, and the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship

Domestic violence
Violence committed by a current or former spouse or intimate partner, by a person with whom a child is shared in common, by a person cohabitating with or has cohabitated with the individual as a spouse or intimate partner, by a person similarly situated to a spouse, or by any other person similarly situated to a spouse or any other person against an adult or youth protected from those acts by domestic or family violence laws of Maryland. Domestic violence includes threats or a pattern of abusive behavior of a physical or sexual nature by one partner intended to control, intimidate, manipulate, humiliate, frighten, coerce or injure the other

Stalking
The repetitive and/or menacing pursuit, following, harassment, or other interference with the peace and/or safety of another person or that of their immediate family members, including cyber-stalking.

Retaliation
The college will take steps to protect students and employees from reprisal by the respondent.

The term “consent” means willingly and knowingly agreeing to engage in mutually understood sexual conduct. Consent must be mutual and ongoing, offered freely and knowingly, and cannot be given by a person who is incapacitated, as described below.

Relying solely on non-verbal communication often leads to misunderstandings about consent. For this reason and for the purposes of this policy, consent to sexual activity must be expressed in explicit words. For a sexual encounter to be consensual, each participant is expected to obtain or give verbal consent to each act of sexual activity. Consent to engage in one form of sexual activity does not constitute consent to engage in other forms of sexual activity, and either party may withdraw consent at any time. Incapacitation also constitutes lack of consent. If at any time during a sexual interaction any confusion or ambiguity should arise about consent, it is the responsibility of the person initiating the activity to stop and clarify the other’s willingness to continue. If at any time consent is withdrawn, the activity must stop immediately. Consumption of drugs or alcohol, in and of itself, does not relieve a party of responsibility to obtain ongoing consent.

In order for consent to be valid, all parties must be capable of making a rational, reasonable decision about the sexual act and must have a shared understanding of the nature of the act to which they are consenting.

Threats, intimidation, and retaliation against a complainant for bringing a sexual misconduct complaint are violations of CCBC policy and thus may be grounds for disciplinary action. CCBC will take appropriate steps to protect students and employees from reprisal by the accused.

Such protection will need to be appropriate to the individual’s circumstances. For students, this may include the opportunity to change an academic schedule of the complainant or respondent, drop a course, transfer to another section, complete the course independently, have a pass/fail option, have a third party grade the work, have another person assigned to write recommendations or references on behalf of the student, or have another person assigned as an advisor to the student.

Any individual who reports sexual misconduct, either as a complainant or a third party witness, will not be subject to disciplinary action by the college for their own personal consumption of alcohol or drugs at or near the time of the incident, provided that any such violations did not and do not place the health or safety of any other person at risk.

All formal complaints of sexual misconduct must be made by the complainant, a witness, or third party. 

The person accused of sexual misconduct is notified in writing of the complaint and investigation. Both parties are provided with a copy of the written complaint.

The Title IX coordinator will promptly appoint an investigator(s) to conduct an investigation of the complaint.

In a timely manner, but barring special circumstances, no later than 60 days from the date the complaint is filed, the investigator(s) shall make a report with recommendations to the Title IX coordinator.

The parties will be provided a summary of the investigators’ report and recommendations.

Both parties will be given the opportunity to respond to the report and recommendations by appealing to the Sexual Misconduct Panel.

The Sexual Misconduct Panel will review the investigators’ report and recommendation, and any responses made by the parties. The panel will then issue a written decision that includes the imposition of sanctions, if appropriate.

The decision of the Sexual Misconduct Panel represents the final decision of the college. No administrative processes otherwise available to students may be used to further appeal the decision of the Sexual Misconduct Panel.

A copy of the written decision is provided to the respondent to the extent permitted by the provisions of FERPA and as required by the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Police and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act).

If the panel determines that the respondent has violated the Sexual Misconduct Policy, the Director of Student Conduct will implement any sanctions imposed by the panel.