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

Relevant Excerpt

Harassment is offensive conduct that is so severe or pervasive that it interferes with an individual's ability to participate in the University’s programs or activities when judged against a Reasonable Person standard and that occurs on the basis of an individual’s Protected Characteristics. 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 (Title IX) Misconduct Policy.

Colgate encourages individuals experiencing or witnessing offensive behavior to make a report as early as possible so as to have the situation corrected before it reaches the level of a Policy violation. Individuals with a concern need not worry about whether the behavior is sufficiently serious to constitute a Policy violation.

Harassing conduct 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.
• 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.

The fact that a person was personally offended by a communication or incident does not alone constitute a violation of this policy. The determination as to whether this policy has been violated takes into account the totality of the circumstances, including but not limited to the context of the conduct, the relationship of the individuals involved in the conduct, whether the conduct was an isolated incident or part of a broader pattern or course of offensive conduct, the seriousness or severity of the conduct, the intent of the individual who engaged in the allegedly offensive conduct, and its effect or impact on the individual or group and the learning community. In all instances, a key factor is whether the complained-of behavior occurred because of Protected Characteristics. However, even if the conduct is not based upon a Protected Characteristic and/or does not rise to the level of Prohibited Conduct under this policy, the University may respond by providing individual and community support and resources to those who have been impacted. In addition, such conduct that is not based on Protected Characteristics may constitute a violation of the University’s Code of Student Conduct and, if so, will be addressed pursuant to the applicable policies.