Effective Date: January 25, 2022
Last Reviewed: January 25, 2022
Stonehill College (the “College”) is committed to maintaining a respectful, professional, and nondiscriminatory academic, living, and working environment that emphasizes the dignity and worth of all students, faculty, staff, and visitors. This includes having an environment free from sexual and gender-based harassment, sexual assault, interpersonal violence, dating violence, stalking, sexual exploitation, complicity, and retaliation. The College prohibits such conduct and will take prompt and equitable action to eliminate it, prevent its recurrence, and remedy its effects. Students or employees found responsible for violating this Policy will face sanctions, up to and including dismissal from the College. The Office of the Dean of Students and the Office of Human Resources jointly maintain and publish online a list of the range of possible sanctions for violations of this Policy that apply to students and employees.
The Procedures shall include processes and guidelines that address the following:
Acts that are prohibited by this Policy and the Procedures are also prohibited by law and can therefore also be addressed by Campus Police or off campus law enforcement. The Procedures will address the options and resources available to any individual who may wish to initiate a criminal action through off campus law enforcement.
The Procedures shall comply with Title IX of the Higher Education Amendment of 1972 (“Title IX”), including its implementing regulations at 34 CFR 106, and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (“Clery Act”) as amended by the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act of 2013 (“VAWA”), which are collectively referred to as “the Laws.”
The Procedures shall directly address and define sexual/gender-based misconduct or interpersonal violence, which constitutes forms of sex discrimination prohibited by Title IX, a federal civil rights law. The procedures shall apply regardless of the complainant’s or respondent’s race, gender, disability, age, marital status, religion, color, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, genetics, veteran’s status, or other legally protected status.
This Procedures shall provide guidance for both the Complainant and the Respondent, and the Procedures shall:
- identify supportive resources;
- outline the College’s response to alleged incidents of sexual and gender-based misconduct;
- communicate the expectations of the College;
- specify departments within the College responsible for managing specific aspects of the College’s programs associated with its compliance with the Laws, including primary prevention and awareness programs and ongoing training and methods of support for parties involved in these processes;
- identify the forms of conduct that violate the Laws and the Policy; and
- explain the process for responding to sexual/gender-based misconduct or interpersonal violence reported to or reasonably known by the College, ensuring that an impartial, prompt, fair, and equitable investigative process is provided to resolve reports of sexual/gender-based misconduct or interpersonal violence and that the process includes the sharing of information regarding how reports are assessed, investigated, and
Additionally, the Procedures shall:
- identify the College’s Title IX Coordinator and Title IX Deputies and describe their roles in compliance with the Laws;
- identify how students and employees can report violations of this Policy to the College, the situations in which reports can be made confidentially, and the resources available both on and off campus to aid them, including the right to notify off campus law enforcement or be assisted by officials at the College in contacting law enforcement, as well as their right to decline to notify such authorities; and
- address the reasonable steps the College takes to identify violations of this Policy, prevent recurrence of the behavior outlined in this Policy, and to correct its discriminatory effects on the complainant and others, as appropriate.
The Procedures shall be reviewed at least annually by the College and shall be published on the College’s website.
** The Link was updated on 2/6/2023