Raritan Valley Community College (RVCC) is committed to providing a work and academic environment that promotes personal integrity, civility, and mutual respect in an environment free of discrimination on the basis of sex, which includes all forms of sexual misconduct. Sex discrimination violates an individual’s fundamental rights and personal dignity. Raritan Valley Community College considers sex discrimination in all of its forms to be a serious offense. This policy refers to all forms of sex discrimination committed against students, including but not limited to: unfair treatment based on sex, sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual misconduct, and sexual violence by other students, employees, or third parties.
WHAT IS TITLE IX
Title IX is a federal civil rights law passed as part of the Education Amendments of 1972. This law protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive Federal financial assistance.
Title IX states that:
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.
Title IX applies to any institution receiving federal financial assistance from the Department of Education, including state and local educational agencies. Educational programs and activities that receive federal funds from the Department of Education must operate in a nondiscriminatory manner. Also, a recipient may not retaliate against any person for opposing an unlawful educational practice or policy, or because a person made charges, testified or participated in any complaint action under Title IX.
TITLE IX POLICY AND PROCEDURES
TITLE IX COORDINATOR
Raritan Valley Community College has a designated team of responsible employees who received Title IX training and are available to help in cases of sexual harassment, sexual violence, or other unwelcome sexual behavior which occurs on campus or during activities related to school, such as athletic events.
Overseeing the team of trained employees is the college’s Title IX Coordinator.
The Title IX Coordinator is responsible for coordinating a response to all complaints involving possible sexual discrimination.
If a case of sexual harassment or sexual violence occurs, RVCC will promptly and equitably investigate under Title IX to ascertain what happened. We are also required to implement certain actions to resolve the situation.
Title IX Coordinator
Cheryl Wallace
VP of Human Resources & Administration
Office of Human Resources
118 Lamington Road, Branchburg, NJ 08876:
(908) 526-2100, ext. 8260
Email: Cheryl.Wallace@raritanval.edu
Deputy Title IX Coordinator
Jason Fredericks
Dean of Student Affairs
Vice President of Student Affairs
118 Lamington Road, Branchburg, NJ 08876
908-526-1200, ext. 8311
Email: Jason.Fredericks@raritanval.edu
Investigator
Robert Szkodny
Director of Security & Emergency Management
Office of Campus Safety
118 Lamington Road, Branchburg, NJ 08876
908-231-8800 (may receive calls during non-business hours)
REPORTING AN INCIDENT
EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE
- Campus Security: 908-231-8800
Or - Dial 911
IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS AND EXAMPLES
Complaint
A complaint brought under this Policy.
Complainant
The alleged victim of an act of Prohibited Conduct, whether reported by the alleged victim or by a third party.
Complicity
Any act that knowingly aids, facilitates, promotes, or encourages the commission of Prohibited Conduct by another person.
Confidential Resources
Any person who has a legal obligation to protect confidentiality when acting in a professional capacity unless there is an imminent threat to health or safety or other legal basis for disclosure. Confidential Resources include licensed mental-health counselors, pastoral counselors, social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists.
Consent
Words or actions that demonstrate an affirmative, knowing and voluntary agreement to engage in a mutually agreed-upon sexual act. Consent must be informed and freely given by a person aged 16 years or older. Consent cannot be given when it is forced, coerced, or when a person is physically and/or mentally incapable of giving consent. For example, a person who is substantially impaired by drugs or alcohol may not be able to consent.
Consent is an active, on-going process. It can be withdrawn at any time, and consent for one sexual act does not imply consent for another subsequent sexual act. Consent, a lack of consent, or a withdrawal of consent can be expressed by words, actions, or both. For example, verbal silence or the absence of physical resistance does not automatically mean someone has consented to a sexual act; nor is physical resistance required for a person to verbally communicate a lack of consent or to withdraw consent.
- Some of the key points regarding Consent include:
Consent to one form of sexual activity does not automatically imply consent to any other form of sexual activity - Consent may be withdrawn at any time
- Previous relationships or prior consent does not automatically imply consent to future sexual acts;
- Consent cannot be given by an individual who one knows to be, or, based on the circumstances, should reasonably have known to be, substantially impaired
- Intoxication is not a basis for failing to obtain Consent.
Cyberstalking
A form of Stalking in which electronic media, such as the Internet, email, social networks, text messages, cell phones, or other electronic devices are used.
Dating Violence
Violence committed by a person who is or who has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim. The existence of such a relationship will be determined based on the Complainant’s statement, and with consideration of the length of the relationship, type of relationship, and frequency of interaction between the persons in the relationship. Dating Violence includes, but is not limited to, sexual or physical abuse or the threat of such abuse.
Dating Violence does not include conduct that constitutes Domestic Violence.
Discrimination
The treatment of a member of the College less favorably because that person is a member of or associates with a member of a protected class. The College prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), gender identity, sexual orientation, reproductive health decision, national origin, age (over 40), disability (mental or physical), genetic information, marital status, family responsibilities, victim of domestic violence, sexual offense, or stalking, or veteran status.
Domestic Violence
Violence committed by a current or former intimate partner of the victim or by any person against a victim who is protected from the person’s acts under the domestic or family-violence laws of the jurisdiction in which the act of violence occurred. Domestic Violence includes, but is not limited to, sexual or physical abuse or the threat of such abuse.
Gender-Based Harassment
A form of Sexual Harassment and refers to unwelcome conduct based on an individual’s actual or perceived sex, including harassment based on gender identity or nonconformity with sex stereotypes, and not necessarily involving conduct of a sexual nature.
Hostile Environment
Results from unwelcome conduct that is sufficiently severe, pervasive, or persistent that it interferes with or limits the ability of a member of the College community to participate in, or receive benefits, services, or opportunities from the College’s programs or activities.
Incapacitated
A state in which an individual cannot make rational, reasonable decisions because the individual lacks the capacity to give knowing Consent (e.g., to understand the “who, what, when, where, why, or how”) of his or her sexual interaction. Examples include, but are not limited to, being: unconscious; asleep; voluntarily or involuntarily intoxicated; or use of any drug, intoxicant, or controlled substance. An individual who is incapacitated cannot give Consent.
Interim Measures
Reasonably available and feasible measures, accommodations, or steps the College may take while a Complaint is pending in order to assist, support, and/or protect the Complainant, Respondent, or another person, and/or to protect the integrity of the investigation and resolution process.
Non-Consensual Sexual Contact
Any intentional sexual touching, however slight, with any body part or object, by an individual upon another that is without Consent. Sexual contact includes intentional touching of the individual’s anus, breast, buttocks, or genitalia; or any intentional touching of another person with the Respondent’s anus, breast, buttocks, or genitalia.
Preponderance of the Evidence
Based on the evidentiary record, the Respondent more likely than not engaged in the conduct at issue.
Prohibited Conduct
The conduct prohibited by this Policy, which includes Sexual Misconduct, Complicity, and Retaliation.
Relationship Violence
Dating Violence and Domestic Violence.
Respondent
The person alleged to have engaged in or committed the Prohibited Conduct
Responsible Employee
Any College employee, who has the authority to take action to report Sexual Misconduct, has the duty to report incidents of Sexual Misconduct to the Title IX Coordinator, or whom a student reasonably believes has such authority or duty. Responsible Employees do not include Confidential Resource. Responsible Employees include academic administrators, advisors, supervisors, department heads and chairs, deans, student affairs staff, faculty, human-resources personnel, campus-security officers, and athletic coaches. Responsible Employees must promptly report all known relevant information to a Title IX Coordinator, including the name of the Complainant, Respondent, and any witnesses.
Retaliation
Intimidating, threatening, coercing, or in any way discriminating against an individual because the individual filed a Complaint or who participates in the investigation or resolution of a Complaint in any way, or opposes in a reasonable manner an act or policy believed to constitute sex discrimination. For example, Retaliation occurs where a professor gives a student a lower grade because the student appeared as a witness in a proceeding under this Policy, or where a supervisor denies an employee’s request for time off because the employee claimed that she was sexually harassed by the supervisor.
Sexual Assault
Non-Consensual Sexual Contact, Non-Consensual Sexual Intercourse, and all forms of Sexual Violence that occurs without Consent. Resistance, or the absence thereof, is irrelevant to the determination of whether Sexual Assault has occurred.
Sexual Exploitation
Occurs when an individual takes non-consensual or abusive sexual advantage of another for that individual’s own advantage or benefit, or to benefit or advantage anyone other than the individual being exploited, and that behavior does not otherwise constitute Sexual Assault.
Examples of Sexual Exploitation include but are not limited to:
- Engaging in voyeurism
- Exposing one’s genitals or inducing another to expose his or her genitals
- Knowingly transmitting a sexually transmitted infection to another
- Taking, sharing, or publishing a photograph, video recording, or audio recording of sexual activity without the consent of all persons involved in the activity
- Going beyond the boundaries of consent (for example, allowing another person to hide in a closet to watch you engage in consensual sex)
- Prostituting another
- Possession, use, and/or distribution of alcohol or other drug (e.g., Rohypnol, Ketamine, GHB, Burundanga, etc.) for the purpose of engaging in or facilitating Sexual Misconduct
Sexual Harassment
Unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature, such as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal, nonverbal, or physical conduct of a sexual nature. Harassing conduct may take many forms, including verbal acts and name-calling, as well as non-verbal behavior, such as graphic and written statements, or conduct that is physically threatening, harmful, or humiliating. The more severe the conduct, the less need there is to show a repetitive series of incidents to prove a hostile environment, particularly if the conduct is physical.
Sexual Intimidation
Threatening behavior of a sexual nature directed at another person and includes threatening to sexually assault another; engaging in indecent exposure; and Stalking.
Sexual Misconduct
Sexual Harassment, Sexual Assault, Sexual Exploitation, Sexual Intimidation, Sexual Violence, Relationship Violence, and Stalking.
Sexual Violence
One or more physical sexual acts perpetrated against a person’s will or where a person is incapable of giving Consent.
Stalking
Engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to fear for his or her safety or the safety of others, or to suffer substantial emotional distress. For purposes of this definition, a “course of conduct” means two or more acts, including but not limited to, those in which the alleged perpetrator directly, indirectly, or through third parties, by any action, method, device, or means, follows, monitors, observes, surveils, threatens, or communicates to or about the Complainant, or interferes with the Complainant’s property. Stalking includes Cyberstalking.
Title IX Coordinator
The role of the Title IX Coordinator is described in this Policy. Where the “Title IX Coordinator” is used in this Policy, it is implied that this may refer to the Title IX Coordinator or his or her designee. (i.e., Deputy Coordinator).
COLLEGE HARASSMENT POLICIES
TRAINING MATERIALS
ON-CAMPUS RESOURCES
Campus Security
Somerset Hall Lower Level
908-231-8800
Dean of Student Affairs
Jason Fredericks
College Center, Room 143
908-526-1200, ext. 8311
Vice President of Human Resources and Administration
&Title IX Coordinator
Cheryl Wallace
Somerset Hall, Room 220
908-526-1200, ext. 8260
Mental Health Counseling
Tierra Hall-Edward LPC, CCFC (Confidential Resource)
Lower Level Library Building, Room L-029
908-526-1200, ext. 8336
OFF-CAMPUS RESOURCES
New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NJCASA)
Crossroads Corporate Center
3150 Brunswick Pike, Suite 230
Lawrenceville, NJ 08648-2420 609-631-4450
White House Taskforce to Protect Students from Sexual Assault
Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network
info@rainn.org
202-544-3064
Safe and Sound Somerset
PO Box 835
Somerville, NJ 08876
866-685-1122
SAFE in Hunterdon
PO Box 63
Flemington, NJ 08822
908-788-4044
Somerset County Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) Hotline
908-526-7444
Zufall Health Center Sexual Assault Support Center
71 Fourth Street
Somerville NJ 08876
908-526-7444
