Title IX

What is covered under Title IX?

  • Sex- & Gender-Based Harassment and Discrimination

    • Sex and Gender Discrimination : Behaviors and actions that deny or limit a person's ability to benefit from, and/or fully participate in the educational programs, activities and services because of a person's actual or perceived sex or gender.
       
    • Sexual Orientation Discrimination : Behaviors and actions that deny or limit a person's ability to benefit from, and/or fully participate in the educational programs, activities, and services because of a person's actual or perceived sexual orientation. 
       
  • Sexual Misconduct - A sexual act or contact of a sexual nature that occurs, regardless of personal relationship, without the consent of the other person(s), or that occurs when the person(s) is unable to give consent or whose consent is coerced or obtained in a fraudulent manner.
     
    • Sexual Harassment: Conduct on the basis of sex or gender that satisfies one or more of the following:
      • a. Quid pro Quo Harassment;
        • An employee conditioning the provision of aid, benefit, or service on the Complainant's participation in unwelcome sexual conduct.
      • b. Hostile Environment Harassment; or
        • Unwelcome conduct, determined by a reasonable person, to be so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive, that it effectively denies a person equal access to an education program or activity.
      • c. Retaliation.
        • Any acts against an individual for the purpose of interfering with or discouraging an individual from exercising a right or privilege under this policy. Activities protected from retaliation include reporting sex- or gender-based harassment and discrimination; filing a Formal Complaint; and participation in an investigation, process or Hearing, whether as a party, witness, Hearing Panel member, appeals officer, or Advisor. Prohibited retaliatory acts include, but are not limited to, intimidation, threats, coercion or discrimination. 
           
    • Sexual Assault: Sexual contact or penetration without consent
      • a. Sex Offenses, Forcible: Any sexual act directed against another person, without the consent of the Complainant including instances where the Complainant is incapable of giving consent.
        • i. Forcible Rape: 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.
        • ii. Forcible Sodomy: Oral or anal sexual intercourse with another person, forcibly and/or against that person's will, or not forcibly or against the person's will (non-consensually) in instances where the Complainant is incapable of giving consent because of age or because of temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity.
        • iii. Sexual Assault With An Object: To use 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, or not forcibly or against the person's will (non-consensually) in instances where the Complainant is incapable of giving consent because of age or because of temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity.
        • iv. Forcible Fondling: The touching of the private body parts of another person (buttocks, groin, breasts) for the purpose of sexual gratification, forcibly and/or against that person's will (nonconsensually), or not forcibly or against the person's will in instances where the Complainant is incapable of giving consent because of age or because of temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity.
      • b. Sex Offenses, Non-forcible: Non-forcible sexual intercourse.
        • i. Incest - Non-forcible sexual intercourse between persons who are related to each other within the degrees wherein marriage is prohibited by Louisiana law.
        • ii. Statutory Rape - Non-forcible sexual intercourse with a person who is under the statutory age of consent of Louisiana.
      • c. Sexual Assault also includes sexual battery as defined in La. R.S. 14:43.1. and La. R.S. 44:51; and any sexual abuse offense as defined      in La. R.S. 14:403
         
    • Sexual Exploitation: An individual taking non-consensual or abusive sexual advantage of another for their own benefit or for the benefit of anyone other than the person being exploited, and that conduct does not otherwise constitute sexual harassment under this policy. Examples of sexual exploitation include, but are not limited to, non-consensual observation of individuals who are undressed or engaging in sexual acts, non-consensual audio- or videotaping of sexual activity, 9 prostituting another person, human trafficking, allowing others to observe a personal consensual sexual act without the knowledge or consent of all involved parties, and knowingly exposing an individual to a sexually transmitted infection without that individual's knowledge.  
       
    • Dating Violence: Violence, when on the basis of sex or gender, committed 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 the Complainant's statement and with consideration of 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 threat of such abuse. Dating Violence does not include acts covered under the definition of Domestic Violence.
       
    • Domestic Violence: A felony or misdemeanor crime of violence, when on the basis of sex or gender, committed by a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the Complainant; a person with whom the Complainant shares a child in common; a person who is cohabitating with, or has cohabitated with, the Complainant as a spouse or intimate partner; a person similarly situated to a spouse of the Complainant under the domestic or family violence laws of Louisiana; or by any other person against an adult or youth who is protected from that person's acts under the domestic abuse or family violence laws of Louisiana. 
       
    • Stalking: Engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to fear for the person's safety or the safety of others or suffer substantial emotional distress. For the purposes of this definition:
      • a. Course of conduct means two or more acts, including, but not limited to, acts in which the stalker 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.
      • c. Substantial emotional distress means significant mental suffering or anguish that may but does not necessarily require medical or other professional treatment or counseling.
      • d. Nothing in these definitions will be interpreted in a way that violates the First Amendment rights of any individual.