Key Definitions

Actual Knowledge means notice of sexual harassment or allegations of sexual harassment by the Title IX Coordinator or any University official with authority.

Complainant means an individual who is alleged to be the victim of conduct that could constitute sexual harassment.

Consent means a clear, knowing, and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity. Clear, knowing, and voluntary consent to sexual activity requires that, at the time of the act, and throughout the sexual contact, all parties actively express words or conduct that a reasonable person would conclude demonstrate clear permission regarding willingness to engage in sexual activity and the conditions of that activity. Consent is active; silence or passivity is not consent. 

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 complainant. The existence of such a relationship will be determined based on a consideration of the following factors: the length of the relationship, the type of relationship, and the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship.

Discrimination means unfavorable treatment because of the person’s protected characteristic. Unfavorable treatment in employment includes unfavorable treatment regarding hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, benefits, promotion, training, and any other term or condition of employment. For example, discrimination in employment based on race includes not hiring a person, firing a person, or not giving a person raise or benefit because of that person’s race. Unfavorable treatment of students in the University’s educational programs and activities includes unfavorable treatment in admissions, grading, financial aid, instruction, training programs, internships, externships, and social or recreational activities. For example, unfavorable treatment of a student based on sex includes giving the student an unjustified lower grade or not granting the student an internship placement based on the student’s sex.

Domestic Violence means a violent act committed by a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the complainant, by a person with whom the complainant shares a child in common, by a person who is cohabitating with or has cohabitated with the complainant as a spouse or intimate partner, by a person similarly situated to a spouse of the complainant, under state or local domestic or family violence laws (including Chapter 26.50), or by any other person against the complainant who is protected from that person’s acts under  any state or local domestic or family violence laws.

Education Program or Activity means all University’s operations, and includes all locations, events, or circumstances over which the University exercised substantial control over both the respondent and the context in which the sexual harassment occurred. The University’s locations include both on-campus locations and off-campus buildings owned or controlled by the University. 

Formal Complaint means a document (physical or electronic) filed by a complainant or signed by the Title IX Coordinator alleging sexual harassment against a respondent and requesting that the University investigate the sexual harassment allegation.

Harassment is a form of discrimination, and is unwelcome conduct based on a person’s protected characteristic. Harassment becomes unlawful when enduring the offensive conduct becomes a condition of the work or academic environment, or when the conduct is severe, persistent, or pervasive enough to create a work or academic environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive. Offensive conduct may include offensive jokes, slurs, epithets or name calling, physical assaults, threats, intimidation, ridicule or mockery, insults, offensive objects or pictures, interference with work or academic performance, or any other conduct that may be harmful or humiliating.

The harasser may be anyone, including the victim’s supervisor, professor, co-worker, fellow student; a campus visitor; an employee of an outside vendor; or any other non-employee or non-student. The victim of harassment does not have to be the person harassed but may be anyone affected by the offensive conduct. Harassment does not have to include an intent to harm. Harassment need not necessarily involve repeated incidents, depending on the severity of the harassment.

Respondent means an individual who is alleged to be the perpetrator of conduct that could constitute sexual harassment.

Sexual Assault means any sexual act directed against a complainant without the complainant’s consent. Sexual assault includes fondling, incest, rape, and statutory rape. Sexual assault also includes any sexual contact with another person without that person’s consent. As defined by RCW 9A.44.010(13), sexual contact means “any touching of the sexual or other intimate parts of a person done for the purpose of gratifying sexual desire of either party or a third party.

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

• a university employee (including a faculty member) conditions the provision of an aid, benefit, or service of the University on an individual’s participation in unwelcome sexual conduct.
• unwelcome conduct determined by a reasonable person to be so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to the University’s Education Program or Activity; or
• Sexual Assault, Dating Violence, Domestic Violence, or Stalking.

Stalking means engaging in a course of conduct (two or more acts) 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. Both in-person and electronic stalking are prohibited by the University.

Supportive Measures means non-disciplinary, nonpunitive, individualized services offered as appropriate, as reasonably available, and without fee or charge to a complainant or a respondent before or after the filing of a formal complaint or where no formal complaint has been filed. Supportive measures are measures designed to restore or preserve equal access to the University’s education program or activity without unreasonably burdening the other party, including measures designed to protect the safety of all parties or the University’s educational environment, or deter sexual harassment.

Title IX means Title IX under of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, which is a federal civil rights law that prohibits any person in the United States, on the basis of sex, from being excluded from participating in, denied the benefit of, or being subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance

Title IX Coordinator means the person authorized by the University to coordinate the University’s efforts to comply with its responsibilities under Title IX and to institute corrective measures on behalf of the University.