The following Community Standards outline protections related to sex and gender at the University and prohibit sexual harassment/misconduct in its programs and activities.
Sexual Misconduct Policy and Procedure (CS 20; formerly 06-05-01)
Interim Title IX Policy and Procedure (CS 27)
Consensual Relationships Policy (CS 02; formerly 07-14-01)
Nondiscrimination, Equal Opportunity, & Affirmative Action Policy and Procedure (CS 07; formerly 07-01-03)
Notice of Nondiscrimination Statement and Anti-Harassment Policy Statement
Related Definitions
Sexual Assault: a sex offense is “any sexual act directed against another person without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent.” The VAWA definition of sexual assault includes rape, fondling, incest, and statutory rape.
Rape: The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.
Fondling: The touching of the private body parts 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 the victim’s age or because of the victim’s temporary or permanent mental incapacity.
Incest: Sexual intercourse between persons who are related to each other within the degrees wherein marriage is prohibited by law.
Statutory Rape: Sexual intercourse with a person who is under the statutory age of consent. (For Pennsylvania, the age of consent for sexual activity is 16 years or older.)
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 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 laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 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 in which the crime of violence occurred. Pennsylvania does not have a specific statute for domestic violence; those incidents are categorized as simple or aggravated assaults or other applicable offenses.
Dating Violence: The VAWA definition of dating violence is 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 based on the reporting party’s statement and with consideration of the length of the relationship, the type of relationship, and the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship. For the purposes of this definition, dating violence includes, but is not limited to, sexual or physical abuse or the threat of such abuse. Dating violence does not include acts covered under the definition of domestic violence.
Pennsylvania does not have a specific statute for dating violence; those incidents are categorized as simple or aggravated assaults or other applicable offenses.
Stalking: The VAWA definition of stalking is engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to (a) fear for the person’s safety or the safety of others, or (b) suffer substantial emotional distress.
For the purposes of this definition, (a) course of conduct means two or more acts, including, but not limited to, acts which the stalker 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; (b) reasonable person means a reasonable person under similar circumstances and with similar identities to the victim; and (c) substantial emotional distress means significant mental suffering or anguish that may but does not necessarily require medical or other professional treatment or counseling.
In Pennsylvania, a person commits the crime of stalking when the person either: (1) engages in a course of conduct or repeatedly commits acts toward another person, including following the person without proper authority, under circumstances which demonstrate either an intent to place such other person in reasonable fear of bodily injury or to cause substantial emotional distress to such other person; or (2) engages in a course of conduct or repeatedly communicates to another person under circumstances which demonstrate or communicate either an intent to place such other person in reasonable fear of bodily injury or to cause substantial emotional distress to such other person.