Student Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment, and Sexual Misconduct Policy: Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Violations- Harassment (other than Sex-based harassment)

Relevant Excerpt

Harassment is offensive conduct based on an individual’s Protected Characteristics that is so severe or pervasive that it unreasonably interferes with an individual's ability to participate in the University’s programs or activities when judged against a Reasonable Person standard. Prohibited harassment based on sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy or pregnancy-related conditions, and other forms of sexual misconduct, are defined and referenced in the Student Sexual/Gender-Based Misconduct Policy.

Harassing conduct that rises to the standards noted above can occur in various forms, including:

• Verbal – Conduct such as unwelcome, demeaning, intimidating or graphic comments; using ethnic, racial, religious, or other slurs to refer to a person or group; or jokes or comments that demean a person or a group on the basis of one of the Protected Characteristics.
• Physical – Conduct such as physical threats toward or intimidation of another on the basis of one of the Protected Characteristics.
• Visual – Conduct such as creating or displaying racially, ethnically, or religiously offensive pictures, symbols, flags, cartoons, or graffiti that disparages another person or group because of one of the Protected Characteristics.
• Communication-based – Conduct such as phone calls, e-mails, text messages, social media direct messages, chats, blogs or online communications that demean or intimidate another on the basis of one of the Protected Characteristics. Members of the community are expected to be good digital citizens and to refrain from online misconduct, such as feeding anonymous gossip sites, sharing inappropriate content via social media, unwelcome messaging, or otherwise using the ease of transmission and/or anonymity of the Internet or other technology to harm another member of, or group within, the University community.

These various forms constitute Prohibited Conduct when they rise to the standard of harassment set forth above.