Title IX

Policy & Procedure

Los Angeles Community College District Administrative Regulation C-14: Procedures for Prohibited Discrimination, Unlawful Harassment and Sexual Misconduct Complaints.

Los Angeles Community College District Administrative Regulation C-15: Responding to Harassment Based on Sex under Title IX.

To file a complaint, submit a Los Angeles Community College District: Complaint Form.

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What is Title IX?

Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments is a powerful tool for combating campus violence. The law requires colleges and universities receiving federal funding to combat gender-based violence and harassment, and respond to survivors’ needs in order to ensure that all students have equal access to education.

Any sexual violence or physical abuse, as defined by California law, whether committed by an employee, student, or member of the public, occurring on college-owned or controlled property, at college-sponsored or supervised functions, or related to or arising from college attendance or activity is a violation of District policies and regulations, and is subject to all applicable punishment, including criminal and/or civil prosecution and employee or student discipline procedures.

No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

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KNOW YOUR IX

• Title IX is a landmark federal civil right that prohibits sex discrimination in education. Title IX is not just about sports; it is a prohibition against sex-based discrimination in education. It addresses discrimination against pregnant and parenting students and women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) programs. It also addresses sexual harassment, gender-based discrimination, and sexual violence. Sexual violence includes attempted or completed rape or sexual assault, as well as sexual harassment, stalking, voyeurism, exhibitionism, verbal or physical sexuality-based threats or abuse, and intimate partner violence.
• Title IX does not apply to female students only. Title IX protects any person from sex-based discrimination, regardless of their real or perceived sex, gender identity, and/or gender expression. All female, male, and gender non-conforming individuals are protected from any sex-based discrimination, harassment or violence.
• Colleges must be proactive in ensuring that the campus is free of sex discrimination. You are protected under Title IX even if you do not experience sex discrimination directly. Schools must take immediate steps to address any sex discrimination, sexual harassment or sexual violence on campus to prevent it from affecting students further. If a school knows or reasonably should know about discrimination, harassment or violence that is creating a “hostile environment” for any student, it must act to eliminate it, to remedy the harm caused and to prevent its recurrence. Schools may not discourage survivors from continuing their education, such as telling them to “take time off” or forcing them to quit a team, club or class. You have the right to remain on campus and have every educational program and opportunity available to you.
• Colleges must have an established procedure for handling complaints of sex discrimination, sexual harassment or sexual violence. Every school must have a Title IX Coordinator who manages complaints. The Coordinator’s contact information should be publicly accessible on the school’s website. If you decide to file a complaint, your school must promptly investigate it regardless of whether you report to the police (though a police investigation may very briefly delay the school’s investigation if law enforcement is gathering evidence). A school may not wait for the conclusion of a criminal proceeding and should conclude its own investigation within a semester’s time (the 2011 Office for Civil Rights Title IX guidance proposes 60 days as an appropriate time-frame). The school should use a “preponderance of the evidence” standard to determine the outcome of a complaint, meaning discipline should result if it is more likely than not that discrimination, harassment and/or violence occurred. The final decision should be provided to you and the accused in writing. Both of you have the right to appeal the decision.
• Colleges must take immediate action to ensure a victim can continue their education free of ongoing sex discrimination, sexual harassment or sexual violence. Along with issuing a no contact directive to the accused, a school must ensure that any reasonable changes to your housing, class or sports schedule, campus job, or extracurricular activity and clubs are made to ensure you can continue your education free from ongoing sex discrimination, sexual harassment or sexual violence. These arrangements can occur BEFORE a formal complaint, investigation, hearing, or final decision is made regarding your complaint. It also can CONTINUE after the entire process since you have a right to an education free of sex-based discrimination, harassment or violence. Additionally, these accommodations should not over-burden complainant-victims or limit your educational opportunities; instead, schools can require the accused to likewise change some school activities or classes to ensure there is not ongoing hostile educational environment.
• Colleges may not retaliate against someone filing a complaint and must keep a victim safe from other retaliatory harassment or behavior. Schools must address complaints of sex discrimination, sexual harassment and sexual violence. As part of this obligation they can issue a no contact directive or make other accommodations to ensure the accused or a third party does not retaliate for any complaint. Additionally, the school may not take adverse action against the complainant-victim for their complaint. Any retaliation can and should be reported in a formal Title IX complaint to the U.S. Department of Education since it is your right to be free from a hostile educational environment.
• Colleges can issue a no contact directive under Title IX to prevent the accused student from approaching or interacting with the victim. When necessary for student safety, schools can issue a no contact directive preventing an accused student from directly or indirectly contacting or interacting with you. Campus security or police can and should enforce such directives. This is not a court-issued restraining order, but a school should provide you with information on how to obtain such an order and facilitate that process if you choose to pursue it.
• In cases of sexual violence, colleges are prohibited from encouraging or allowing mediation (rather than a formal hearing) of the complaint. The 2011 Title IX Guidance clearly prohibits schools from allowing mediation between an accused student and a complainant-victim in sexual violence cases. However, they may still offer such an alternative process for other types of complaints, such as sexual harassment. Realize it is your choice and you can and should seek a disciplinary hearing if you desire such a formal process. Schools are discouraged from allowing the accused to question you during a hearing.
• Colleges should not make victims pay the costs of certain accommodations that may be required in order for the victim to continue their education after experiencing violence. If you need counseling, tutoring, housing resources, or other remedies in order to continue your education, these resources will be provided at no cost to you.

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Glossary

Appeal Committee: A committee is formed to hear a Student’s proper appeal, which may follow a determination of Responsible or Not Responsible for violation(s) of the District’s Sexual Misconduct Policy. The Appeal Committee hears appeals where Students allege unlawful discrimination, prejudicial evidence exclusion during the investigation of Title IX complaints, and/or for the reasonableness of Sanctions imposed following a Sexual Misconduct investigation.

Campus Save Act: Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act; an amendment to the Clery Act that requires higher education institutions to increase transparency about the scope of sexual violence on campus, guarantee victims enhanced rights, provide for standards in institutional conduct proceedings, and provide campus community wide prevention educational programming.

Clery Act: Jeanne Clery Act; Federal law that requires colleges and universities across the United States to disclose information about certain crime statistics on and around their campuses.

Complainant: A person(s) alleging that they are the victim of Sexual Misconduct by another person subject to the District’s policy on Sexual Misconduct. The District or College shall also be considered a Complainant if the District or College elects to investigate reports of potential violation(s) of the District’s policy on Sexual Misconduct. Any person(s), other than the alleged victim (Complainant), who reports possible violation(s) of the District’s policy on Sexual Misconduct, shall be identified as a Reporter, as defined herein.

College Disciplinary Officer: The College official(s) designated by the College President, or designee, to administer the Sanctions under this Administrative Procedure by incorporating the Sanctions under District Administrative Regulations 4410.

Consent: Consensual sexual activity requires an ongoing, affirmative Consent, for the act in which the participants are involved. More specifically, affirmative Consent means an expressed, affirmative, conscious, and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity. It is the responsibility of each person involved in the sexual activity to ensure that he or she has the affirmative Consent of the other, or others, to engage the sexual activity. Lack of protest, or resistance, or silence does not mean Consent. There is no Consent when there is force, expressed or implied, or when coercion, intimidation, threats, or duress is used to obtain 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. If a person is mentally or physically incapacitated or impaired so that such person cannot understand the fact, nature, or extent of the sexual situation, there is no Consent; this includes impairment or incapacitation due to alcohol or drug consumption, or being asleep or unconscious.

Dating Violence: The use of physical violence, coercion, threats, intimidation, isolation, or Stalking of another while in a dating relationship, or a social relationship which is of romantic or sexually intimate nature. Such violence may include other forms of emotional, sexual or economic abuse directed towards a person who is or has been in a dating relationship, or a social relationship of a romantic or sexually intimate nature with the victim. This includes any behaviors that intimidate, manipulate, humiliate, isolate, frighten, terrorize, coerce, threaten, blame, hurt, injure, or wound someone. Dating Violence can be a single act or a pattern of behavior in relationships.

Dear Colleague Letter: Guidance issued by the Office for Civil Rights on April 4, 2011 to assist colleges and universities with meeting their obligations under Title IX and to provide members of the public with information about their rights.

District Community: Any employee, contractor, Student, member of the public, or invitee present on District property, or on property being used by the District. For purposes of this definition, a Student is deemed a member of the District Community while enrolled in, or in the process of applying for, enrollment as a Student at any of the Colleges within the District.

Domestic Violence: The use of physical violence, coercion, threats, intimidation, isolation, Stalking, or other forms of emotional, sexual, or economic abuse directed towards (a) a current or former spouse or intimate partner; (b) a person with whom one shares a child; or (c) anyone who is protected from the Respondent’s acts under the domestic or family violence laws of California, including Family Code Section 6250 et seq., and any applicable federal law, including the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA), as amended. This can include behaviors that intimidate, manipulate, humiliate, isolate, frighten, terrorize, coerce, threaten, blame, hurt, injure, or wound someone. Domestic Violence can be a single act or a pattern of behavior in relationships.

Gender-based Harassment: Unwelcome Conduct of a nonsexual nature based on a Student’s actual or perceived gender, including conduct based on gender identity, gender expression, or nonconformity with gender stereotypes.

Hearing Panel: A panel formed by the College Title IX Coordinator or designee to make a determination and finding of whether a Student is Responsible or not for alleged violations of Sexual Misconduct.

Hostile Environment: Exists when Unwelcome Conduct of a sexual or gender-based type is sufficiently serious and/or pervasive to deny or limit a person’s ability to fully participate in or benefit from the College’s programs or activities. A Hostile Environment can be created by anyone involved in a College’s program or activity (e.g., administrators, faculty members, staff, Students, or campus visitors). In determining whether conduct has created a Hostile Environment, the District considers the conduct in question from both objective and subjective perspectives. The District will base findings on a variety of factors, including the severity, persistence, or pervasiveness of the conduct. The more severe the conduct, the less need there is to show a repetitive series of incidents to find a Hostile Environment. Likewise, a series of incidents may be sufficient even if the conduct is not particularly severe.

LGBTQ: Individuals who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning

Mandated Reporters: Individuals mandated to report violations that involve minors (All college employees).

Not Responsible: Based on the applicable evidence collected during the investigation, it is not more likely than not that the Student did not commit a violation.

OCR: Office for Civil Rights, whose mission is to ensure equal access to education and to promote educational excellence throughout the nation through vigorous enforcement of civil rights.

Party/Parties: Either the Complainant or the Respondent, involved in the alleged violation of Sexual Misconduct. The term Parties means both the Complainant and the Respondent collectively.

Reporter: Any person(s), other than the Complainant, who reports potential violation(s) of the District’s policy on Sexual Misconduct.

Respondent: A person/s who are alleged to have violated the District’s policy on Sexual Misconduct.

Responsible: Means, based on the applicable evidence collected during the investigation, it is more likely than not the Student committed one or more violation(s) of the District’s Policy or Regulation on Sexual Misconduct.

Responsible Personnel: College employees responsible (Mandated) for reporting Sexual Misconduct violations. These individuals include managers, club advisors, coaches, and law enforcement.

Retaliation: Any act of reprisal against a person who is involved in an allegation of Sexual Misconduct including but not limited to the Complainant, the Respondent, witnesses, investigators, and Hearing Panel, or Appeal Committee. Examples of actions that might be Retaliation against a Complainant, witness, or other participant in the complaint process include: a) Singling the person out for harsher treatment; b) lowering a grade or evaluation; c) failing to hire, failing to promote, withholding pay increase, demotion, or discharge; or d) providing negative information about the person in order to interfere with his or her prospects for employment, admission, or academic program.

Sanctions: Those disciplinary measures available to the College Disciplinary Officer or designee to impose upon a Student upon the finding of the Student’s responsibility for violation(s) of the Rules for Student Conduct or of the Sexual Misconduct Policy.

Sex: For purposes of this administrative procedure, sex may refer to gender designation as male or female or based upon a perceived association with a particular gender/s; or to a physical act of a sexual nature.

Sexual Assault: Actual or attempted sexual contact with another person without that person’s Consent. Sexual Assault includes, but is not limited to: 1) intentional touching of another person’s body in a sexual nature without that person’s Consent; 2) other intentional sexual contact with another person without that person’s Consent; 3) coercing, forcing, or attempting to coerce or force a person to touch another person’s body in a sexual nature without that person’s Consent; or 4) rape, which is penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina, or anus of a person by any body part of another person, or by an object, or the mouth of a person, or by a sex organ of another person, without the other person’s Consent.

Sexual Exploitation: Occurs when a person takes sexual advantage of another person for the benefit of anyone other than that person without the other person’s Consent. Examples of behavior that could rise to the level of Sexual Exploitation include:

• Prostituting another person
• Recording images (e.g. video, photograph) or audio of another person’s sexual activity, body when recorded for a sexual reason, or nakedness without that person’s Consent
• Disturbing images (e.g. video, photograph) or audio of another person’s sexual activity, images of another’s body for sexual purposes, or nakedness, if the individual distributing the images or audio knows or should have known that the person depicted in the images or audio did not Consent to such disclosure and objects to such disclosure;
• Viewing or distributing images of an individual’s sexual activity, of another person's body parts, or nakedness in a place where that person would have a reasonable expectation of privacy, without that person’s Consent, to have the image shared, or advance Consent to view such an image, for the purposes of arousing or gratifying sexual desire.

Sexual Harassment: Unwelcome Conduct of a sexual nature, including but not limited to unwelcome sexual advances; requests for sexual favors; or other verbal or nonverbal conduct of a sexual nature, including rape, Sexual Assault, and Sexual Exploitation. In addition, depending on the facts, Dating Violence, Domestic Violence, and Stalking may also be forms of Sexual Harassment.

Sexual Misconduct: Comprises a broad range of unwelcome behaviors focused on Sex and/or gender that may or may not be sexual in nature. Any intercourse or other intentional sexual touching or activity without the other person’s Consent is Sexual Assault, and is a form of Sexual Misconduct under this Policy. Sexual Misconduct encompasses Sexual Harassment, Sexual Assault, Sexual Exploitation, or Gender-based Harassment, which is a form of Harassment based on gender identity, gender expression, or non-conformity with gender stereotypes. Sexual Misconduct may also encompass acts of a sexual nature, including acts of Sexual Stalking, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Intimidation, or Retaliation, following an incident where alleged Sexual Misconduct has occurred.

Sexual Misconduct can occur between strangers or acquaintances, or people who know each other well, including between people involved in an intimate or sexual relationship. It can be committed by anyone regardless of gender identity, and can occur between people of the same or of a different Sex or gender.

Stalking: Behavior in which a Student repeatedly engages in a course of conduct directed at another person and makes a credible threat with the intent to place that person in reasonable fear for his or her safety, or the safety of his or her family; where the threat is reasonably determined by the College Disciplinary Officer to create substantial emotional distress, torment, create fear, or terrorize the person.

Sexual Stalking: Course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear or suffer substantial emotional distress due to another’s sexual interest or gender interest. Sexual Stalking involves repeated and continued harassment of a sexual or gender-based nature, against the expressed Consent of another individual, which causes the targeted individual to feel emotional distress, including fear or apprehension. Such Sexual Stalking behaviors may include: pursuing or following; unwanted communication or contact- including face-to-face encounters, telephone calls, voice messages, electronic messages, web- based messages, text messages, unwanted gifts, etc.; trespassing; and surveillance or other types of observation.

Title IX Coordinator: The designated person(s) responsible for oversight and implementation of Title IX compliance and for the effective oversight of the District’s Sexual Misconduct Policy and Procedures.

Title IX Deputy: Person(s) responsible for assisting in the oversight and implementation of Title IX compliance for the effective oversight of the District’s Sexual Misconduct Policy and Procedures. Title IX Deputies are specific managers located in Academic Affairs, Athletics, Human Resources, and Student Affairs.

Title IX Investigator(s): The Title IX Coordinator’s designated person(s) responsible for the investigation of complaints of Sexual Misconduct.

Unwelcome Conduct: Conduct of a sexual, gender-based, or harassing nature, which is not solicited, invited, or Consented to. Such conduct would be deemed unwelcome if the person receiving it did not request or invite it, and considered the conduct to be undesired, or offensive. Such conduct may take various forms, including name-calling, graphic or written statements (including the use of cell phones or the Internet), hazing, bullying, offensive, or other conduct that may be physically or psychologically threatening, harmful, or humiliating. Unwelcome Conduct does not have to include intent to harm be directed at a specific target, or involve repeated incidents. Unwelcome Conduct can involve persons of the same or opposite Sex. Participation in the conduct or the other Party’s failure to complain does not mean that the conduct was welcome.

VAWA: The Violence Against Women Act; meant to improve the criminal justice response to violence against woman.

Zero Tolerance: No tolerance and refusal to accept undesirable conduct and behavior, typically by strict and uncompromising application of the law.

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If you have any further questions contact the Ombudsperson at: 323.265.8614 or @email.

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