Sarah Lawrence College is committed to providing an environment that is free of sexual assault and sexual harassment. Sexual assault or harassment have no place in an intellectual community founded on mutual respect and tolerance. Sexual assault and sexual harassment can impair or prevent the educational and occupational opportunities of individuals at Sarah Lawrence. The College will not tolerate sexual assault or harassment in the work or academic settings that it provides. This policy applies to all College faculty, administrators, staff and students as well as vendors and others who come on college premises with permission.

It is a violation of this policy for any faculty member, administrator, other employee or student, male or female to sexually assault or harass a student or faculty member, administrator or other employee.

It is the policy of the college to investigate promptly and fully all complaints of sexual assault and sexual harassment and to take any steps necessary to remedy the situation. All students and employees are expected to cooperate fully with any investigation of sexual assault and/or harassment.

Information provided during an investigation of sexual assault or harassment will be treated as confidential. This means that such information will be shared with others on a need to know basis only. Prior to any hearing held under this policy, the respondent will be informed of the charges against him/her and will be provided all other information available to the college that it determines to be relevant.

A student found to have engaged in sexual assault or harassment is subject to disciplinary sanctions, up to an including suspension or permanent exclusion from the college. An employee found to have engaged in sexual assault or harassment is subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment. Any retaliation, discrimination or other adverse action, such as intimidation, threats or coercion, taken against a student or employee because s/he complains of sexual assault or harassment or assists an investigation of sexual assault or harassment will also result in disciplinary sanctions, up to an including suspension or permanent exclusion from the college, in the case of a student, and up to and including termination of employment, in the case of an employee.

The college considers it unwise and inappropriate for faculty, administrators, staff or contractors to engage in romantic or sexual relationships with students, or for department heads or supervisors to engage in romantic or sexual relationships with employees under their supervision and potentially subject to their judgment concerning personnel actions. Although both parties may consider the relationship a matter of mutual consent, the imbalances of power and authority and the potential for manipulation and misunderstanding inherent in such relationships can undermine the freedom and equity of the academic work setting. All members of the Sarah Lawrence community should be aware that initial consent to a romantic or sexual relationship does not preclude the potential for charges of sexual assault or harassment, should consent be withdrawn by one party.

• Complaints against an administrator or a staff member should be brought to the Director of Human Resources.
• Complaints against a faculty member should be brought to the Dean of the College.
• Complaints against a student should be brought to the office of the Associate Dean of Student Affairs or the office of the Dean of Studies.

A faculty member or an administrator or other college supervisor who receives a complaint of sexual assault or harassment is expected to notify the appropriate administrator (listed above) immediately to initiate an investigation.

Information about the hearing procedures and composition of the hearing panel are available in the office of Human Resources.

Confidentiality and Reporting Obligation

If you are informed of a violent felony, such as a sexual assault, that occurred on campus you (or your supervisor) must report this information to the head of security, Larry Hoffman, who will contact the police.  You are not required to report offenses that occurred off-campus.  State education law requires police investigation of “violent felonies” which occur on campus.  Sarah Lawrence has interpreted this law to require all faculty and staff (except Health Services and ACCESS program staff) to report felony campus crimes.

Definition of Sexual Assault

A sexual assault has been committed when an individual engages in sexual activity without the explicit consent of the other individual involved.

Sexual activity is any touching of a sexual or other intimate part of a person for the purpose of gratifying sexual desire of either party. This includes coerced touching of the actor by the victim as well as the touching of the victim by the actor, whether directly or through clothing.

Sexual assault includes any forced act against one’s will where sex is the weapon. This can include, but is not limited to:

• Sexual battery: the unwanted touching of an intimate part of another person for the purpose of arousal by the actor.
• Sodomy: forced anal intercourse
• Oral Copulation: forced oral-genital contact
• Rape by a Foreign Object: forced penetration by a foreign object including digits (fingers and toes)
• Rape: penile-vaginal intercourse against a person’s will and without consent

Recent legislation also makes it a felony to engage in video voyeurism, secretly capturing images of another person in a private place without consent.

Whether or not specifically stated, it is an element of every sexual assault that the sexual act was committed without consent of the victim.

Lack of consent results from forcible compulsion, incapacity to consent, or, where the offense charged is sexual abuse, any circumstances, in addition to forcible compulsion or incapacity to consent, in which the victim does not expressly or impliedly acquiesce in the actor’s conduct.

A person is deemed incapable of consent when he/she is less than seventeen years old, mentally defective, mentally incapacitated, or physically helpless. Courts have interpreted mental incapacity to include those who have consumed any alcohol or drugs.

Forcible compulsion means to compel by either use of physical force or a threat, express or implied, which places a person in fear of immediate death or physical injury to himself, herself or another person, or in fear that he, she or another person will immediately be kidnapped.

A foreign object is any instrument or article, which, when inserted in the vagina, urethra, penis or rectum, is capable of causing physical injury.

Defninition of Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual advances or requests for sexual favors or other unwelcome verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when submission to or rejection of such advances, requests or conduct is made, either explicitly or implicitly, (i) a term or condition of educational benefits, privileges or placement services or as a basis for the evaluation of academic achievement of a student or (ii) a term or condition of employment or a basis for employment decisions concerning any employee; or

When such advances, requests or conduct are so severe or pervasive that they have the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with a student’s education or an employee’s work performance or of creating an intimidating, hostile, humiliating or sexually offensive educational, living or working environment, when judged by the standards of a reasonable person.

Also prohibited is any retaliation against any other person because s/he complains of sexual harassment or assists in investigation of harassment and any intimidation, coercion or other attempted interference with an investigation of a harassment complaint.

Sexual harassment does not refer to compliments or other behavior of a socially acceptable nature. It does not refer to discussions of material with a sexual component, introduced in class or conference for intellectual purposes, which might offend some teachers or students. Whether particular language and conduct constitutes sexual harassment depends upon the circumstances of an incident and will be determined by the college on a case-by-case basis. We urge members of the community to reflect carefully on the character and circumstances of potential harassment incidents, and to consider conversations with dons, the staff of the Office of Student Affairs, appropriate department heads, or Deans, as a first stage in development of charges of harassment.

Advisory Committee

In accordance with New York State law the college will appoint an Advisory Committee on Campus Security. The committee shall review current campus security policies and procedures and make recommendations for their improvement. It shall specifically review current policies and procedures for the following:

1. Educating the campus community, including security personnel and those who advise or supervise students, about sexual assault
2. Educating the campus community about personal safety and crime prevention
3. Reporting sexual assaults and dealing with victims during investigations
4. Referring complaints to appropriate authorities
5. Counseling victims
6. Responding to inquiries from concerned persons

The Committee shall report, in writing, to the President on its findings and recommendations at least once each academic year. The report will be available upon request.

The Advisory Committee on Campus Safety will provide upon request all campus crime statistics as reported to the United States Department of Education. The Sarah Lawrence College security report can be found on its website at www.sarahlawrence.edu. The College’s crime statistics can also be found at the United States Department of Education’s website at http://www.ope.ed.gov/security/search.asp

The Director of Public Safety and Security will also provide such statistics upon request and can be reached at 914-395-2384. In addition the college shall provide a hard copy, free of charge, mailed to the individual within ten days of the request.

The College encourages all employees to participate in an interactive online program that outlines current laws against sexual harassment and provides examples that clearly illustrate situations and behaviors to be avoided. Please log on to MySLC to access the online program: http://my.slc.edu/ics/campus_life/departments/hr/.