Complainants and Respondents are entitled to be accompanied and assisted by an advisor in all interactions involving the Policy, including the investigation interviews, and, if applicable, a subsequent Title IX hearing. Advisors may not actively participate in the process or speak on behalf of the Complainant or Respondent except as set forth in the applicable grievance procedures. Complainants and Respondents may choose but are not required to have an attorney serve as their advisor. Even if an attorney serves as an advisor, the attorney may not participate in the process or speak on behalf of the Complainant or Respondent except as set forth in the applicable grievance procedures.

An individual who is alleged to be the victim of sexual harassment or other types of prohibited sexual misconduct and is participating in or attempting to participate in MGCCC’s education programs or activities or is employed by MGCCC.

Licensed Professional Counselors in the College’s Enrollment Services Centers who provide mental-health counseling to members of the school community are not required to report any information about an incident to the Title IX coordinator, and/or Campus Police, without a complainant ‘s permission. These employees are known as Confidential Employees. While these professionals may maintain a complainant’s confidentiality from the college, they may have reporting or other obligations under state law.

A complainant who speaks to a Confidential Employee must understand that, if they want to maintain confidentiality, the College will be unable to conduct an investigation into the particular incident or pursue disciplinary action against the alleged respondent.

Confidential Employees will still assist the complainant in receiving other necessary protection and support, such as victim advocacy, academic support or accommodations, disability, health or mental health services, and changes to living, working or course schedules. A complainant who at first requests confidentiality may later decide to file a formal complaint with the college or report the incident to local law enforcement, and thus have the incident fully investigated. Confidential Employees will provide the complainant with assistance if the complainant wishes to do so.

Consent between two or more people is an affirmative agreement, expressed through clear actions or words, to engage in sexual activity. The person giving consent must do so knowingly, freely, voluntarily, and with an understanding of their actions. Title IX and this policy prohibit nonconsensual sexual activity. To establish a violation, it must be shown that a participant knew or reasonably should have known that the other party did not consent to the sexual activity.

A person who willingly participates in sexual activity is responsible for obtaining consent. Consent must be present throughout the sexual activity, and any participant can withdraw consent at any time. If consent is withdrawn, sexual activity must cease immediately.

While consent can be non-verbal (such as nodding), it should never be assumed or inferred from silence, passiveness, or a lack of resistance. Lack of protest or failure to resist does not constitute consent. If there is confusion about consent, participants should stop the activity until clarity is obtained.

Consenting to a specific sexual activity with an individual does not imply consent for all sexual activity with that person. Consent for one occasion does not extend to future encounters. Additionally, consent with one person does not imply consent with any other individual.

Consent cannot result from force, threats, coercion, fraud, or intimidation. Using force or threats to induce consent violates this Policy, regardless of whether the force is physical, violent, or involves intimidation.

A person who is unconscious, unaware, or physically helpless cannot provide effective consent for sexual activity. When someone is incapacitated, they cannot fully understand or appreciate the context of the sexual interaction.

An incapacitated person lacks the ability to voluntarily, knowingly, and rationally decide whether to consent to sexual activity. Incapacitation can result from alcohol or drug consumption, sleep, or unconsciousness. It also includes individuals who lack the required understanding to make a decision due to medical conditions, cognitive or physical disabilities. Engaging in sexual activity with someone you know or reasonably should know is incapacitated violates the definition of consent.

Age can render a person unable to give consent. According to state law, an individual aged fourteen (14) to sixteen (16) lacks the legal capacity to consent to sexual intercourse with someone seventeen (17) years or older, provided that the age difference is at least thirty-six (36) months. Similarly, a student under eighteen (18) cannot legally consent to sexual activity with a person in a position of trust or authority over them. This includes teachers, counselors, physicians, psychologists, ministers, legal guardians, parents, and other figures of authority.

When uncertain about consent or incapacitation during a sexual interaction, the safest course of action is to refrain from engaging in sexual activity. A party cannot use their own intoxication as an excuse for failing to recognize another person’s incapacitation or lack of consent.

MGCCC prohibits retaliation, including peer retaliation, in its educational programs and activities. Retaliation is defined as intimidation, threats, coercion, or discrimination against any person who has reported information, made a complaint, participated, or refused to participate in the Title IX process, including informal resolution. Charges against an individual for code of conduct violations that do not involve sex discrimination but arise out of the same facts or circumstances as a complaint or information reported about possible sex discrimination, constitutes retaliation.

The College will not charge an individual with code of conduct violations that do not involve sex discrimination but arise out of the same facts or circumstances as a complaint or information reported about possible sex discrimination, for the purpose of interfering with any right or privilege secured by Title IX and this policy.

The exercise of rights protected under the First Amendment does not constitute retaliation. Charging an individual with the code of conduct violation for making a materially false statement in bad faith during a Title IX grievance proceeding does not constitute retaliation; however, a determination regarding responsibility, alone, is not sufficient to conclude that any party made a bad faith materially false statement.

Any individual who believes they have experienced retaliation may file a complaint with the Compliance Officer/Title IX Coordinator. Complaints alleging retaliation will be investigated promptly and follow this policy’s grievance procedure.

Includes
(1) pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, or lactation;
(2) medical conditions related to pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, or lactation; or
(3) recovery from pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, or related medical conditions.

Respondent is an individual who has been reported to be the perpetrator of conduct that could constitute sexual harassment.

Supportive measures are individualized services reasonably available that are non- punitive, non-disciplinary, and not unreasonably burdensome to the other party while designed to ensure equal educational access, protect safety, or deter sexual harassment. Supportive measures will be implemented based on what is appropriate and reasonable considering the known circumstances and may include, but not limited to:

• Counseling services with the College campus LPC
• Extensions of deadlines or other course-related adjustments
• Modifications of work or class schedules
• Campus escort services
• Restrictions on contact between the parties
• Changes in work or housing locations
• Leave of absence
• Parking accommodations
• Increased security and monitoring of certain areas of campus.
• Other similar measures

The Compliance Officer/Title IX Coordinator is responsible for coordinating the effective implementation of the supportive measures.

Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination and means sexual harassment on the basis of sex. Sexual harassment includes harassment in the form of:

1. Quid pro quo harassment. An employee, agent, or other person authorized by the College to provide an aid, benefit, or service under the College’s education program or activity explicitly or impliedly conditioning the provision of such an aid, benefit, or service on an individual’s participation in unwelcome sexual conduct.
2. Hostile environment harassment. Unwelcome sex-based conduct that, based on the totality of the circumstances, is subjectively and objectively offensive and is so severe or pervasive that it limits or denies a person’s ability to participate in or benefit from the College’s education program or activity. Whether a hostile environment has been created is a fact-specific inquiry that includes careful consideration.
3. Specific Offenses. Sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, or stalking, as defined below.

Sexual assault refers to an offense classified as a forcible or nonforcible sex offense under the uniform crime reporting system of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to include rape, sodomy, sexual assault with an object, fondling, incest, and statutory rape.

• Rape is 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 age or because of their temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity. Carnal knowledge exists if there is the slightest penetration of the sexual organ of the female (vagina) by the sexual organ of the male (penis).
• Sodomy is oral or anal sexual intercourse with 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.
• Sexual assault with an object is the use of an object or instrument to penetrate, without the consent of the victim, 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 disability. An “object” or “instrument” is anything used by the offender other than the offender’s genitalia, e.g., a finger, bottle, stick.
• Fondling is the touching of the private body part 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 disability.
• Incest is sexual intercourse between persons who are related to each other within the degrees wherein marriage is prohibited by law.
• Statutory rape is intercourse with a person who is under the statutory age of consent.

Dating violence means violence committed by a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim. The existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on consideration of the following factors: (1) the length of the relationship, (2) the type of relationship, and (3) the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship.

Domestic violence includes felony or misdemeanor crimes of 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 the applicable jurisdiction, or by any other person against an adult or youth victim who is protected from that person’s acts under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction.

Stalking is a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to: (1) fear for their safety or the safety of others; or (2) suffer substantial emotional distress.

These terms and definitions align with and are extracted from the Title IX regulations and the FBI’s uniform crime reporting program.

The exclusion from participation in, denial of benefits from, or subjection to unfavorable treatment in any University educational or employment-related program or activity on the basis of sex. Sex discrimination also includes discrimination on the basis of pregnancy or related conditions.

The Title IX statute applies to persons in the United States with respect to education programs or activities that receive Federal financial assistance. MGCCC must respond when sexual harassment occurs in the College’s education program or activity, against a person in the United States.

Education program or activity includes locations, events, or circumstances over which the College exercised substantial control over both the respondent and the context in which the sexual harassment occurred, and also includes any building owned or controlled by a student organization that is officially recognized by a MGCCC.

Title IX applies to all the College’s education programs or activities, whether such programs or activities occur on-campus or off-campus. MGCCC may address sexual harassment affecting its students or employees that falls outside Title IX’s jurisdiction in any manner the school chooses, including providing supportive measures or pursuing discipline.