Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) prohibits sex (gender-based) discrimination and harassment in educational programs and activities at institutions that receive federal financial funding, including for employment, academic, educational, extracurricular and athletic activities.

Title IX:

* Protects all people regardless of their gender or gender identity from sex discrimination, including sexual harassment and sexual violence, which are forms of discrimination, and

* Requires institutions to take necessary steps to prevent sexual misconduct on their campuses, and to respond promptly and effectively when sexual misconduct is reported.

Key Definitions

Consent:

Consent means affirmative, conscious, and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity.  Both Parties must give affirmative consent to sexual activity.  It is the responsibility of each person involved in the sexual activity to ensure that they have the affirmative consent of the other or others to engage in the sexual activity.  Lack of protest, lack of resistance, or silence does not indicate consent.  Affirmative consent must be ongoing throughout a sexual activity and one can revoke their consent at any time.  The existence of a dating relationship between the persons involved, or the fact of past sexual relations between them, is not an indicator of consent.

The Respondent’s belief that the Complainant consented will not provide a valid defense unless the belief was actual and reasonable, based on the facts and circumstances the Respondent knew, or reasonably should have known, at the time of the incident.  A Respondent’s belief is not a valid defense where:

  • The Respondent’s belief arose from the Respondent’s own intoxication or recklessness;
  • The Respondent did not take reasonable steps to ascertain whether the Complainant affirmatively consented; or
  • The Respondent knew or a reasonable person should have known that the Complainant was unable to consent because the Complainant was incapacitated, in that the Complainant was:
  • asleep or unconscious;
  • unable to understand the fact, nature, or extent of the sexual activity due to the influence of drugs, alcohol, or medication; or
  • unable to communicate due to a mental or physical condition.

Sexual Harassment under Title IX:

Conduct that satisfies one or more of the following:

  • A District employee conditions the provision of an aid, benefit, or service of the District on an individual’s participation in unwelcome sexual conduct (quid pro quo harassment);
  • 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 District’s education program or activity;
  • Sexual assault, including the following:
  • Sex Offenses:  Any sexual act directed against another person, without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent.
  • Rape (except Statutory Rape):  The carnal knowledge of a person, without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of their temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity.  There is carnal knowledge if there is the slightest penetration of the genital or anal opening of the body of another person.
    • Sexual Assault with an Object:  To use an object or instrument to unlawfully penetrate, however slightly, the genital or anal opening of the body of another person, without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of their age or because of their temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity.  An "object" or "instrument" is anything the offender uses other than the offender's genitalia, e.g., a finger, bottle, handgun, stick.
    • Fondling:  The touching of the private body parts of another person for the purpose of sexual gratification, without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of their age or because of their temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity.
    • Sex Offenses, Non-Forcible Unlawful, Non-Forcible Sexual Intercourse:
        • Incest:  Non-Forcible sexual intercourse between persons who are related to each other within the degrees wherein marriage is prohibited by law.
        • Statutory Rape – Non-Forcible:  Sexual intercourse with a person who is under the statutory age of consent. There is no force or coercion used in Statutory Rape; the act is not an attack.
    • Dating violence:  Violence against a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim.  The existence of 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.
    • Domestic Violence:  Violence committed:
        • By a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim;
        • By a person with whom the victim shares a child in common;
        • By a person who is cohabitating with, or has cohabitated with, the victim as a spouse or intimate partner;
        • By a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under the domestic or family violence laws of California; or
        • By any other person against an adult or youth victim protected from that person’s acts under the domestic or family violence laws of California.
    • Stalking:  Engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to fear for their safety or the safety of others or suffer substantial emotional distress.