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Any act of violence committed by a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the Complainant under the family or domestic violence laws of New Jersey and, in the case of victim services, includes the use or attempted use of physical abuse or sexual abuse, or a pattern of any other coercive behavior committed, enabled, or solicited to gain or maintain power and control over the Complainant, including verbal, psychological, economic, or technological abuse that may or may not constitute criminal behavior, by a person who (1) is a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the Complainant, or person similarly situated to a spouse of the Complainant; (2) cohabiting with or has co-habitated with the Complainant as a spouse or intimate partner; (3) shares a child in common with the Complainant; or (4) commits acts against an adult or youth victim who is protected from those acts under the family or domestic violence laws of New Jersey.

Any act of violence committed by a person:

• who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the Complainant; and
• where the existence of such a relationship shall 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.

Stalking occurs when a person engages in a course of conduct on the basis of sex directed at a specific person under circumstances that would cause a reasonable person to: 

• fear for their own safety or the safety of others; or 
• suffer substantial emotional distress. 

Course of conduct means two or more instances including, but not limited to, unwelcome acts in which an individual directly, indirectly, or through third parties, by any action, method, device, or means, follows, monitors, observes, surveils, threatens, or communicates to or about a person, or interferes with a person’s property. Substantial emotional distress means significant mental suffering or anguish. Stalking includes the concept of cyber-stalking, a particular form of stalking in which electronic media such as the internet, social networks, blogs, cell phones, texts, or other similar devices or forms of contact are used.  

Retaliation is defined as any materially adverse action taken, or attempted, by 51�Թ���, a student, an employee, or a person authorized by 51�Թ��� against an individual because of their participation in a protected activity. Adverse actions include but are not limited to: intimidation, threats, interference, penalty, coercion, harassment or discrimination. Protected activity includes any right or privilege secured by law; reporting information in good faith; filing a Formal Complaint; filing an external complaint; testifying, assisting, or participating or refusing to participate in any manner in an investigation or Resolution Process under this Policy's procedures.

51�Թ���'s Sexual Misconduct and Title IX policy prohibits Sexual Harassment, and forms of Sexual Misconduct, as defined in other federal and state laws including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD).

Employees can report the following forms of sexual misconduct outside of Title IX:

Sexual Harassment

Unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature determined by a reasonable person to be so severe, pervasive or objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to 51�Թ���’s education programs or activities consistent with other laws such as Title VII and NJLAD.

Sexual Harassment may be committed by anyone regardless of sex or gender identity and may occur between members of the same or different sexes or gender identities. The Complainant does not have to be the person harassed but could be anyone affected by the conduct. Examples of behavior that could constitute Sexual Harassment may include but are not limited to the following: 

• Unwelcome sexual advances or inappropriate touching; 
• Requests for sexual favors; 
• Calling someone by a sexually-oriented or demeaning name; 
• Sexually suggestive comments; 
• Displaying sexually suggestive materials or sending notes, email, or jokes to a person that are sexually explicit; 
• Public display of pornographic or suggestive materials where such images are not connected to any legitimate academic or workplace purpose; 
• Touching someone sexually without their consent;
• Continuing to ask out a person who already has said they are not interested. 

Sexual Exploitation

• A person taking non-consensual or abusive sexual advantage of another, that does not constitute Sexual Harassment, for their own benefit or for the benefit of anyone other than the person being exploited. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Capturing, listening to, watching and/or distributing by any means images, audio or visual recordings of another in a state of undress or during sexual activity;   
• Exposing one’s genitals or inducing others to expose their genitals or intimate parts; 
• Knowingly exposing another to a sexually transmitted infection, disease or virus;
• Prostituting another person;
• ��ٳٱ𲹱��ٳ󾱲Բ�,” where an individual intentionally removes, damages or lies about the use of a condom when consent was given for protected sexual activity only;
• Misappropriation of another person’s identity on apps, websites, or other venues designed for dating or sexual connections (e.g., spoofing);
• Forcing a person to take an action against that person’s will by threatening to show, post, or share information, video, audio, or an image that depicts the person’s nudity or sexual activity;
• Knowingly soliciting a minor for sexual activity;
• Knowingly creating, possessing, or disseminating child sexual abuse images or recordings;
• “Image based sexual abuse (IBSA),” an umbrella category of sexually explicit or intimate images, audio or videos of an individual that are created, manipulated, distributed, and/or threatened to be distributed without consent; or
• ������ڲ�����,” creating or disseminating synthetic media, including images, videos, or audio representations of individuals doing or saying sexually-related things that never happened, or placing identifiable real people in fictitious pornographic or nude situations without their consent.

Listen. Support. Then Report.

While mandated reporters have the initial obligation to report incidents of sexual harassment or sex discrimination to the Title IX Coordinator or Deputy Coordinator as soon as possible, they should first provide support to the reporting party and ensure they are safe.  

All relevant details about the incident(s) that has been shared with the university employee must be reported. This includes the names of the alleged respondent, the student (or employee under your supervision) who experienced the alleged misconduct, any others involved in the alleged misconduct, as well as relevant facts, including the date, time and location. 

Employees are encouraged to review the Title IX for Employees Brochure for additional helpful tips and resources.

Any observed, experienced or known discrimination on the basis of sex including the following forms of sexual harassment: sexual violence, dating violence, domestic violence, sexual exploitation, and stalking involving any member of our university community, must be reported.

Depending on where the incident(s) took place, the alleged misconduct may not meet the requirements under Title IX but may fall under other University policies such as the Code of Student Conduct.  The Title IX Coordinator will make this determination.

Employees can either:

1.  as soon as feasibly possible, or
2. Directly contact the Title IX Coordinator for reports involving 51�Թ��� students. If you're unsure that what you witnessed or was reported to you is prohibited conduct under Title IX, it's best to directly contact the Title IX Coordinator to discuss.

The Title IX Coordinator will reach out to the individual experiencing sexual misconduct to provide them with reporting options, confidential resources, information on 51�Թ���'s policies and procedures, and an opportunity to meet. This outreach provides information for the individual to make an informed choice on how they'd like to proceed. 

Yes, it does.  Employees also have rights under Title IX and are expected to comply with requirements to not to discriminate on the basis of sex.  While Title IX covers sex discrimination in educational institutions, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 also prohibits employment discrimination based on sex (among other protected characteristics). There can be overlap between these two laws, and employees may have rights under both.