Definitions

Please click below to view the university’s official definitions for the following terms:

Discrimination

To be subject to different treatment based on membership in a protected classification and to thereby experience an adverse employment or academic action or to be excluded from participation in or denied the benefits of a University program.

Source: Nondiscrimination Policy

Harassment

A form of discrimination and unwelcome conduct based on an individual’s status within a Protected Classification. The unwelcome conduct may be verbal, written, electronic or physical in nature. This policy is violated when the unwelcome conduct is based on one or more of the protected classifications (defined below), and is either:

(1) sufficiently severe or pervasive; and (2) objectively offensive; and (3) unreasonably interferes with, denies, or limits a person’s ability to participate or benefit from educational or employment opportunities, assessments, or status at the University; or

performed by a person having power or authority over another in which submission to such conduct is made explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of educational and/or employment opportunities, participation, assessments, or status at the University.

Source: Nondiscrimination Policy

Retaliation

Retaliation as defined in the university’s Nondiscrimination Policy:
Any action, or attempted action, directly or indirectly, against any person(s), because they have, in good faith, reported or disclosed a violation of this policy, filed a complaint of discrimination, or in any other way participated in an investigation, proceeding, complaint, or hearing under this policy. Retaliation includes, but is not limited to harassment, discrimination, threats, job termination or other disciplinary action, negative job performance evaluations, adjustment in pay or responsibilities, or actions that have a negative impact on academic progress. Actions are considered retaliation if they have a materially adverse effect on the working, academic, or living environment of a person or if they hinder or prevent the person from effectively carrying out their University responsibilities. Any person or group within the scope of this policy who engages in retaliation is subject to a separate complaint of retaliation under this policy.

Source: Nondiscrimination Policy

Retaliation as defined in the university’s Sexual Misconduct Policy:
Retaliation means intimidation, threats, coercion, or discrimination against any individual for the purpose of interfering with any right or privilege secured by Title IX, its implementing regulations, or this policy, or because the individual has made a report or complaint, testified, assisted, or participated or refused to participate in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under this policy. Retaliation may include, but is not limited to harassment, discrimination, threats, or adverse employment action. Any person or group within the scope of this policy who engages in prohibited retaliation is subject to a separate complaint of retaliation under this policy.

Source: Sexual Misconduct Policy

Sexual Misconduct

Sexual Misconduct means Title IX Sexual Harassment, sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, stalking, unwelcome sexual, sex or gender-based conduct, sexual violence, or sexual exploitation, as defined below.

Source: Sexual Misconduct Policy

Title IX Sexual Harassment

Title IX Sexual Harassment means conduct on the basis of sex that satisfies one or more of the following:

  1. Quid Pro Quo Sexual Harassment: conduct (1) by an employee of the University, which (2) conditions the provision of an aid, benefit, or service of the University, on (3) an individual’s participation in unwelcome sexual conduct; or
  2. Hostile Environment Sexual Harassment: (1) unwelcome conduct that (2) a reasonable person would determine to be so (3) severe, (4) pervasive, and (5) objectively offensive that (6) it effectively denies a person equal access to the University’s education program or activity; or
  3. Sexual Assault (defined below); or
  4. Stalking (defined below); or
  5. Dating Violence (defined below); or
  6. Domestic Violence (defined below).

Source: Sexual Misconduct Policy

Sexual Assault

Sexual Assault means any sexual act directed against another person, without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent. This includes:

  1. 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 victim.
  2. The touching of the private body parts of another person for the purpose of sexual gratification, without the consent, as defined in this policy, of the victim.
  3. Sexual intercourse between persons who are related to each other within the degrees wherein marriage is prohibited by law.

Source: Sexual Misconduct Policy

Consent

Consent means informed, freely and actively given, mutually understandable words or actions that indicate a willingness to participate in a mutually agreed upon sexual activity. A person can withdraw consent at any time. There is no consent when there is coercion, force, threats, or intimidation. There is no consent when the victim is under duress or is deceived. A person’s lack of verbal or physical resistance or manner of dress do not constitute consent. Consent to past sexual activity with another person does not constitute consent to future sexual activity with that person. Consent to engage in sexual activity with one person does not constitute consent to engage in sexual activity with another person. A person cannot consent to sexual activity if the person is unable to understand the nature, fact, or extent of the activity or give knowing consent due to circumstances including without limitation the following:

  1. the person is incapacitated due to the use or influence of alcohol or other drugs;
  2. the person is asleep or unconscious;
  3. the person is under the legal age to provide consent; or
  4. the person has a disability that prevents such person from having the ability or capacity to give consent.

Source: Sexual Misconduct Policy

Stalking

Stalking means 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 suffer substantial emotional distress. For the purposes of this definition,

  1. course of conduct means two or more acts, including, but not limited to, acts 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;
  2. reasonable person means a reasonable person under similar circumstances and with similar identities to the victim; and
  3. substantial emotional distress means significant mental suffering or anguish that may, but does not necessarily, require medical or other professional treatment or counseling.

Source: Sexual Misconduct Policy

Dating Violence

Dating Violence means violence committed by a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim, where the existence of such a relationship is determined based on the reporting party’s statement and with consideration of the length of relationship, the type of the relationship, and the frequency of the 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 the threat of such abuse. Dating violence does not include acts covered under the definition of domestic violence.

Source: Sexual Misconduct Policy

Domestic Violence

Domestic Violence includes felony or misdemeanor crimes of violence committed by:

  1. a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the alleged victim;
  2. a person with whom the alleged victim shares a child in common;
  3. a person who is cohabitating with, or has cohabitated with, the alleged victim as a spouse or intimate partner;
  4. a person similarly situated to a spouse of the alleged victim under the domestic or family violence laws of the State of Illinois; or
  5. any other person against an alleged adult or youth victim who is protected from that person’s acts under the domestic or family violence laws of the State of Illinois.

Source: Sexual Misconduct Policy

Unwelcome Sexual, Sex or Gender-Based Conduct

Unwelcome Sexual, Sex or Gender-Based Conduct means any unwelcome sexual, sex-based, or gender-based conduct occurring within or having an adverse impact on the workplace or academic environment, regardless of how it is conducted (physically, verbally, in writing, or via an electronic medium) and regardless of the sexes or genders of the individuals involved. This category of misconduct comes in three forms, each of which may also qualify as Title IX Sexual Harassment or violate the Nondiscrimination Policy in some circumstances:

  1. Gender-Based or Sexual Hostility: Objectively offensive treatment of another person or group, through words or conduct, with hostility, objectification, exclusion, or as having inferior status based on sex, gender (including gender identity or gender expression), or sexual orientation.
  2. Unwanted Sexual Attention: Objectively offensive sexual attention, advances, or comments that a person reasonably should know are unwanted or which continue to occur or persist after the recipient has communicated a desire that the behavior stop.
  3. Sexual Coercion: Use of force, violence, threats, or other threats of harm by an individual to compel or attempt to compel another individual to engage in unwelcome sexual activity.

Unwelcome sexual, sex or gender-based conduct need not be illegal under existing laws to violate this policy. To be disciplined through a formal complaint process, however, the behavior must be by an employee acting in the course of employment. In investigating and responding to reports of violations, due consideration will be given to an individual’s rights to free speech, expression, and academic freedom. While speech can be used to harass or engage in unwelcome sexual, sex or gender-based conduct and can provide evidence of discriminatory intent, speech does not violate this policy just because it is subjectively offensive. A reasonable person must also find it offensive, it must lack bona fide academic purpose, and it must fall within one of the definitions of misconduct found in this policy. What sanctions or other responsive actions may be deemed appropriate, if any, will depend on the facts and circumstances of the case.

Source: Sexual Misconduct Policy

Sexual Harassment

Sexual Harassment means any unwelcome sexual advances or requests for sexual favors or any conduct of a sexual nature when (1) submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s employment or educational opportunities, assessment or status at the University; (2) submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment or educational decisions affecting such individual, or (3) such conduct has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with an individual’s work or educational performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive working or educational environment.

Source: Sexual Misconduct Policy

Sexual Exploitation

Sexual Exploitation means the use of another person’s nudity or sexual activity without consent for the purpose of sexual gratification, financial gain, personal benefit, personal advantage, or any other non-legitimate purpose. Sexual exploitation includes, but is not limited to:

  1. without the knowledge and consent of all participants, observing, recording, or photographing nudity or sexual activity of one or more persons in a location where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy, allowing another to observe, record, or photograph nudity or sexual activity of one or more persons, or otherwise distributing recordings, photographs, or other images of the nudity or sexual activity of one or more persons; and
  2. sending sexually explicit materials of another person without consent of the recipient.

Source: Sexual Misconduct Policy

Sexual Violence

Sexual Violence means physical sexual acts attempted or perpetrated against a person’s will or when a person is incapable of giving consent. Sexual Violence includes Sexual Assault.

Source: Sexual Misconduct Policy