Unlawful Discrimination

Unlawful Discrimination

POLICY STATEMENT
Spelman is committed to providing an environment that is free of discrimination and unlawful harassment and in compliance with its legal obligations, Spelman College maintains a policy prohibiting unlawful discrimination. Discrimination of any kind, whether it is sexual harassment or discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, ethnic or national origin, gender, genetic information, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran’s status, or any other legally protected characteristic is unlawful and a prohibited under this policy and applicable law.

The purpose of the College’s policy is to prevent unlawful discrimination and to offer an individual who believes he/she has experienced such harassment a swift and secure means to end it. The College regards such behavior as a violation of the standards of conduct required of all persons associated with the institution. Accordingly, those inflicting such behavior on others within the College setting are subject to the full range of internal institutional disciplinary actions, including separation from the College. Unlawful harassment need not be intentional to violate this policy.

DEFINITIONS

Sex-Based Discrimination
Sexual harassment includes unwelcome conduct, based on sex or gender (expression and/or identity), when:

• Submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s employment or student status or;
• Submission to or rejection of such conduct is used as the basis for employment or academic decisions affecting such individual or;
• Such conduct is so severe and/or pervasive it has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with a person’s college employment, academic performance or participation in college programs or activities, or creates a working, learning, program or activity environment that a reasonable person would find intimidating, hostile or offensive.

Depending upon the severity and/or pervasiveness of the conduct, sexual harassment may include, for example, subjecting a person to egregious or unwelcome sexual attention, physical or verbal advances, sexual flirtations or propositions, vulgar talk or jokes, degrading graphic materials or verbal comments of a sexual nature about an individual or his or her appearance, or the display of sexually suggestive objects outside a scholarly context and purpose.

Sexual harassment also includes sexual misconduct, sexual violence, sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and stalking.

Sex and gender discrimination also includes gender-based bullying, discrimination based on pregnancy status, individual’s sexual orientation, gender identity and expression.

The problems sexual harassment (both overt and subtle) can present are often complex.  Defining the kinds of verbal or physical behavior that constitute sexual harassment, given the variety of different circumstances that exist within the Spelman community, often depend on the situation and status of the parties involved.

Other Forms of Discrimination
Discriminatory harassment includes verbal, physical, or graphic conduct that denigrates or shows hostility or aversion toward an individual or group on the basis of race, color, religion, ethnic or national origin, genetic information, age, disability, veteran’s status, or any factor that is a prohibited consideration under applicable law, and that is so severe and/or pervasive it:

• Has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive employment, educational, or living environment; or
• Has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance or a student’s academic performance.

Depending upon its severity and/or pervasiveness, the prohibited behavior may include conduct or material (physical, oral, written, graphic, electronic messages or media posted or circulated in the community) involving epithets, slurs, negative stereotyping, threatening, intimidating, or hostile acts, that serve no scholarly purpose appropriate to the academic or employment context and gratuitously denigrates or shows hostility or aversion toward an individual or group because of race, color, religion, ethnic or national origin, genetic information, age, disability, veteran’s status, or any factor protected by applicable law.

Actions, words, jokes, emails, materials or comments based on an individual’s race, color, religion, creed, national origin, age, disability, marital status, genetic tests, genetic information or any other legally protected characteristic is unlawful and prohibited.

Such harassment may create an intimidating, threatening or abusive environment, cause personal anguish, and, as an assault upon an individual’s dignity, it is clearly inconsistent with the nature of an academic community.

It should be noted that the informal process described below may not be appropriate in every circumstance. Therefore, the process should be considered a flexible one, which can be modified as appropriate to the situation.

Reporting Unlawful Discrimination to the College
The College encourages anyone who wants to report an incident of unlawful harassment or any form of discrimination, to promptly report the matter. Individuals can raise concerns and make reports without fear of reprisal and will not be retaliated against for reporting incidents of harassment or discrimination.

1. Complaints of sex-based discrimination, including sexual harassment and violence, dating violence, domestic violence and stalking should be reported to the College’s Title IX & Compliance Director, or Deputy Title IX Coordinators (Director of Human Resources, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Assistant Vice President for Students Affairs and Dean of Students).
2. Some forms of discrimination, such as sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence and stalking are also considered crimes, as such the members of the College community are encouraged to report crimes to the Spelman College Public Safety Department.
3. With the exception of sex-based discrimination, employees should report all forms of unlawful harassment to his or her supervisor. The supervisor should contact the Office of Human Resources. If the supervisor is unavailable or if the individual does not feel comfortable approaching his or her supervisor with the report, the individual should immediately contact the Director of Human Resources, the Associate Director of Human Resources, or the divisional Vice President, or Department Chair.
4. Any student who wants to report an incident of unlawful discrimination is encouraged to promptly report the matter to the Assistant Vice President and Dean of Students, Title IX & Compliance Director (sex based discrimination) Student Access Center (disability), or Public Safety (crime).

Responsibilities of Management
Any supervisor or manager who becomes aware of possible sexual or other unlawful discrimination must promptly advise the Director of Human Resources, the Associate Director of Human Resources, the divisional Vice President or Department Chair. All complaints will be taken seriously and thoroughly and fairly investigated. To the extent practical, the privacy of all parties involved will be protected.