Definitions Used in Title IX

Actual knowledge

Notice of sexual harassment or allegations of sexual harassment/misconduct to the Title IX coordinator or an official who has the authority to institute corrective measures on behalf of the institution.

Additional measures

Minimizing contact between complainant and respondent; may include, but is not limited to: change in academic and extracurricular activities, living arrangements, transportation, dining, and college-related work assignments, as appropriate. 

Administrative officer

Anyone designated at the college as being on the administrative staff such as president, vice president, dean of students or student services, chief academic officer, dean of instruction, or business manager.

Advisor

An individual identified by the complainant or respondent to assist them in navigating and understanding the investigation and hearing process. An advisor may accompany a complainant or respondent in all meetings and interviews in which the parties are entitled to be present. An advisor may not make argument or question or cross examine witnesses on behalf of the complainant or respondent during a Title IX hearing.

Appeal

A process used by the institution to allow both the complainant and respondent to request a review of a hearing outcome.

Approved method of notification

Any communication from college personnel through a communication channel to which the student has consented or which confirms receipt of the communication by the student, such as a hand-delivered letter, restricted mail delivery services, or email. A student who communicates with the college via email or otherwise provides an email address in connection with communications relating to a grievance thereby consents to the service of documents and all other correspondence associated with the grievance by email, and the date and time of such email(s) shall be deemed the date and time of service.

Campus

Any place where the college conducts or sponsors educational, public service, or research activities.

Chief academic officer

An administrative officer at the college who has overall management responsibility for academic programs and services, or his/her designee.

Chief Student Services Officer

An Administrative Officer at the College who has overall management responsibility for student services, or his/her designee.

Close of business

The time that the administrative offices of the college close on that specific workday.

College

Any college in the South Carolina Technical College System.

Complainant

An individual who is alleged to be the victim of conduct that could constitute sexual harassment. (NOTE: Parents and guardians who have a legal right to act on behalf of parties may do so, including by filing formal complaints).

Conduct

Unwelcome conduct if it is unrequested, uninvited, undesirable and/or offensive. Unwelcome conduct may take various forms, including, name-calling, graphic or written statements (including the use of cell phones or the internet), or other conduct that may be physically threatening, harmful, or humiliating. Unwelcome conduct does not have to include intent to harm, be directed at a specific target, or involve repeated incidents. Participation in the conduct or the failure to complain does not always mean that the conduct was welcome. The fact that a student may have welcomed some conduct does not necessarily mean that a student welcomed other conduct. Also, the fact that a student requested or invited conduct on one occasion does not mean that the conduct is welcome on a subsequent occasion.

Consent

Explicit approval and permission to engage in sexual activity demonstrated by clear action, words, or writings. Consent must be informed, voluntary, and mutual, and can be withdrawn at any time. There is no consent when there is force, expressed or implied, or when coercion, intimidation, threats, or duress is used. Whether a person has taken advantage of a position of influence over another person may be a factor in determining consent. Silence or absence of resistance does not imply consent. Past consent to engage in sexual activity with another person does not imply ongoing future consent with that person or consent to engage in that same sexual activity with another person. 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 that meets this standard, or being asleep or unconscious. Consent to any one form of sexual activity cannot automatically imply consent to any other forms of sexual activity. Consent can be withdrawn once given, as long as the withdrawal is clearly communicated.

Deliberately indifferent

An institution’s response to sexual harassment that is clearly unreasonable in light of the known circumstances.

Disciplinary probation

A written reprimand documenting that the student violated a student conduct regulation. Probation is for a specified period of time and it serves as a warning that subsequent violations could most likely result in more serious disciplinary sanctions.

Designee

A person selected to carry out a duty or role.

Educational program or activity

Locations, events, or circumstances over which the recipient exercised substantial control over both the respondent and the context in which the sexual harassment/misconduct occurs.

Expulsion from the college

Permanent separation from the college. An expelled student may not return to the campus unless prior permission by the chief student services officer, or designee, has been granted. An expelled student will not receive academic credit for the semester in which the expulsion was imposed.

Formal complaint

A document signed by a complainant or by the Title IX coordinator alleging sexual harassment against a respondent and requesting that the institution investigate the allegation of sexual harassment.

Gender-based harassment

Unwelcome conduct of a nonsexual nature based on a student’s actual or perceived sex, including conduct based on gender identity, gender expression, and nonconformity with gender stereotypes.

Grievable actor decision

A misapplication of a college’s policies, procedures, or regulations, or a violation of a state or federal law.

Hostile environment

When sex-based harassment is sufficiently serious to deny or limit the student’s ability to 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, students, and campus visitors).

Instructional day

Any weekday (M-F) in which classes are in session. 

Instructor

Any person employed by the college to conduct classes.

Investigation

A process used to determine whether an institution’s policy has been violated.

Loss of privileges

Suspension or termination of particular student privileges.

Preponderance of evidence

The standard used to evaluate the evidence for purposes of making findings and drawing conclusions for an investigation conducted under this regulation. 

President

The chief executive officer of the college.

Quid pro quo

When an employee conditions aid, benefit or service of the institution or an individual’s participation in unwelcome sexual conduct. Examples include a supervisor conditioning a promotion on participation in sexual advance or a professor conditioning a grade on participation in sexual advance.

Reprimand

A written warning documenting that the student violated a student conduct regulation and indicating that subsequent violations could result in more serious disciplinary sanctions. 

Respondent

An individual who has been reported to be the perpetrator of conduct that could constitute sexual harassment.

Responsible employee

Any employee who has the authority to take action to redress sexual violence or any other misconduct by students to the Title IX Coordinator or other appropriate school designee; or who a student could reasonably believe has this authority or duty. 

Retaliation

Action taken by an accused individual or an action taken by a third party against any person that has opposed any practices forbidden under this policy or because that person has filed a complaint, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation or proceeding under this policy. Action is generally deemed retaliatory if it would deter a reasonable person in the same circumstances from opposing practices prohibited by this policy. 

Sexual assault

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

Sex-based harassment

Sexual harassment and gender-based harassment. 

Sexual exploitation

When a person takes sexual advantage of another person for the benefit of anyone other than that person without that 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, intimate body parts, or nakedness without that person’s consent; distributing images (e.g., video, photograph, or audio)of another person’s sexual activity, intimate body parts, or nakedness, if prostituting another person; recording images (e.g., video, photograph, or audio)of another person’s sexual activity, intimate body parts, or nakedness without that person’s consent; distributing images (e.g., video, photograph, or audio) of another person’s sexual activity, intimate body parts, 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; and viewing another person’s sexual activity, intimate body parts, or nakedness in a place where that person would have a reasonable expectation of privacy, without that person’s consent, and for the purpose of arousing or gratifying sexual desire. 

Sexual harassment

Conduct on the basis of sex that satisfies one or more of the following: (1) an employee of the institution conditioning the provision of an aid, benefit or service of the college on an individual’s participation in unwelcome sexual conduct; (2) unwelcome conduct that a reasonable person would determine is so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it denies a person access to the institution’s education program or activity; or (3) “sexual assault” (as defined in the Clery Act), “dating violence,”  “domestic violence,” or “stalking” as defined in VAWA.

Sexual violence

A broader term than sexual assault. The term encompasses sexual homicide, rape, incest, molestation, fondling, stalking, intimate partner violence, and verbal harassment of a sexual nature. Sexual violence includes creating an environment that feels unsafe based on sexual messages or images. Sexual violence is a sexual act that is completed or attempted against a victim's will or when a victim is unable to consent due to age, illness, disability, or the influence of alcohol or other drugs. The act may involve actual or threatened physical force, use of weapons, coercion, intimidation or pressure.

SGA

The Student Government Association of the college or other group of students convened for the purpose of representing student interests to the college's administration or in the college's governance system.

Special conditions

Completion of a variety of educational activities, relating to the nature of the offense may be imposed. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: a formal apology, an essay or paper on a designated topic, or participation in a special project or activity.

Staff

Any person employed by the college for reasons other than conducting classes.

Stalking

Repeatedly following, harassing, threatening, or intimidating another by telephone, mail, electronic communication, social media, or any other action, device, or method that purposely or knowingly causes substantial emotional distress or reasonable fear of bodily injury or death to the targeted person or a member of their family.

Standard of evidence

The degree of proof needed to prove a Title IX violation.

Student

An individual currently enrolled in a program and/or registered for the current or upcoming academic term. 

Supportive measures

Non-disciplinary, non-punitive individualized services offered as appropriate, as reasonably available, and without fee or charge to the complainant or the respondent before or after the filing of a formal complaint or where no formal complaint has been filed. Such measures are designed to restore or preserve equal access to the institution’s education program or activity without unreasonably burdening the other party, including measures designed to protect the safety of all parties or the institution’s educational environment, or deter sexual harassment. Supportive measures may include counseling, extensions of deadlines or course-related adjustments, modifications of work or class schedules, campus escort services, mutual restrictions on contact between the parties, changes in work or housing locations, leaves of absence, increased security and monitoring of certain areas of the campus, and similar measures. The institution must maintain as confidential any supportive measures provided to the complainant or respondent, to the extent that maintaining such confidentiality would not impair the ability of the institution to provide the supportive measures. The Title IX coordinator is responsible for coordinating the effective implementation of supportive measures.

Suspension from the college

Separation from the college for a specified period of time. Suspended students will not receive academic credit for the semester in which the suspension was imposed. During the suspension period, the student may not return to the campus unless prior permission by the chief student services officer, or designee, has been granted. 

Violation of law

A violation of a law of the United States or any law or ordinance of a state or political subdivision which has jurisdiction over the place in which the violation occurs.

Witness

An individual who has direct experience or knowledge of events, issues or circumstances related to Title IX the investigation.