Key Definitions

Discrimination – Discrimination is defined as an adverse employment- or education-related action or decision that is based on or motivated by an individual’s sex, race, color, creed, religion, ethnicity, national origin, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, pregnancy or veteran status or any other characteristics protected by law. 

Gender Identity means “each person’s deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with sex assigned at birth, including the person’s sense of the body (which may involve, if freely chosen, modification of bodily appearance or function by medical, surgical or other means) and other experiences of gender, including dress, speech and mannerism.” 

Gender Expression refers to all of the external characteristics and behaviors that are socially defined as either masculine or feminine, such as dress, grooming, mannerisms, speech pattern and social interactions. Social or cultural norms can vary widely and some characteristics that may be accepted as masculine, feminine or neutral in one culture may not be assessed similarly in another. 

Genetic Information includes information about an individual’s genetic tests and the genetic tests of an individual’s family members, as well as information about any disease, disorder, or condition of an individual’s family members (i.e., an individual’s family medical history). Family medical history is included in the definition of genetic information because it is often used to determine whether someone has an increased risk of getting a disease, disorder, or condition in the future. 

Civil Status “means being single, married, separated, divorced, widowed, in a civil partnership within the meaning of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Acts 2010 or being a former civil partner in a civil partnership that has ended by death or been dissolved or being or having been a cohabitant or qualified cohabitant within the meaning of Section 172 of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010.” 

Other Covered Veteran means a veteran who served in active duty during a war or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized; veterans who, while serving in active duty in the Armed Forces, participated in a United States military action for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order No. 12985 (61 Fed. Reg. 1209); and recently separated veterans. 

Harassment – Unwelcomed or unsolicited behavior directed at an individual or group of people based on or motivated by race, color, creed, religion, ethnicity, national origin, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, pregnancy, or veteran status or any other characteristics protected by law. The behavior must be sufficiently severe, persistent or pervasive that it could reasonably be expected to create an intimidating, hostile or offensive working or learning environment. Harassment includes sexual harassment and harassment based on sexual, gender-based, or racial stereotyping. 

Racial Prejudice – A preconceived negative judgment about the characteristics or behavior of a racial group, or about the character of an individual, based on that person’s membership in a racial group. A racial prejudice may be held by anyone. 

Racial Discrimination – Any action against a person or group based on racial prejudice. Such actions may include, but are not limited to, failure to admit, hire, or promote on the basis of race; spoken or unwritten insults and racial slurs; and nonverbal gestures that convey or reflect racial prejudice (especially when such behavior has been met with clear rebuke). Racial discrimination may be practiced by anyone. 

Gender Discrimination – Discrimination or harassment based upon one's gender (sex); unfair treatment, attitudes, or behaviors towards an individual based upon their gender (sex); gender identity discrimination as covered by Title VII; sexism, sexist attitudes, and sex stereotyping; and disproportionate athletic programs or activities offered to all genders in relationship to the school's enrollment. Examples of gender discrimination include: 

• Gender-based bullying 

• Derogatory or sexist remarks 

• Gender discrimination in an activity, program, office, or classroom 

Sex-Based Misconduct – One or more acts of sex discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual violence, or gender-based harassment. Sex-Based Misconduct includes sexual abuse of minors or vulnerable adults with substantial functional or mental impairment. 

Sex Discrimination – Treating a person differently because of the person’s sex in the terms and conditions of educational programs, activities, and/or employment. Example: A professor requires all male students in a class to do an extra assignment that is not required of other students. 

Sexual Harassment – Uninvited and unwelcome gender or sex-based verbal or physical conduct that is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive that it is used as the basis for unlawful discriminatory practice or such conduct that has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive environment for employees and/or students. 

The harassment can be verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature (such as sexual advances or requests for sexual favors) and sufficiently serious that it unreasonably interferes with or limits a person’s ability to participate in or benefit from the Seminary’s educational programs, activities, and/or employment. Sexual harassment may be based on a power differential, the creation of a hostile environment, or retaliation. 

Sexual harassment can take many forms, occurs in a variety of circumstances, and may be directed at an individual or group of individuals. It is not the intention of the harasser but the conduct itself and the impact on the recipient that determines what constitutes harassment. The impact of harassment can result in the recipient feeling discomfort or humiliation and/or may adversely affect the recipient’s academic or job performance, undermine academic or job security or prospects, or create a threatening or intimidating work or learning environment. It can also provoke aggressive, retaliatory attitudes and actions. Certain behavior will be, by its nature or severity, unwelcome even on a single occasion, such as sexual assault. 

Sexual Harassment also includes harassment of a sexual nature directed at LGBTQIA+ persons that is sufficiently serious to limit or deny the ability to participate in or benefit from the Seminary’s educational and employment programs. Likewise, sexual harassment can occur where Claimant and Respondent both identify with the same gender. 

Social interaction involving mutually acceptable behavior should be distinguished from harassment. However, it should be borne in mind that what is initially acceptable to some may be offensive to others, and what is acceptable between persons A and B may not be acceptable to person C. The key element to sexual harassment is that it is conduct that is unwanted, unreasonable, and offensive to the recipient. Where harassment is unintended, but still has the effect of violating the dignity or creating a hostile environment for the recipient, the conduct would be considered as harassment only after consideration of all the circumstances, which will include the perception of the recipient. 

Examples of sexual harassment include, but are not limited to: 

• A professor insists that a student have sex with the professor in exchange for a good grade. 

• A supervisor touches an employee in a sexual manner and/or insists that an employee has sex in exchange for a promotion. 

• A student repeatedly sends sexually oriented jokes, and ignores requests to stop, resulting in the recipient avoiding the sender on campus and in the residence hall in which they both live. 

• A staff member repeatedly touches and makes sexually suggestive remarks to a student while the two are waiting at a stop for the school’s shuttle bus, causing the student to walk long distances instead of taking the shuttle bus. 

• Rape and/or other acts of sexual violence. 

• Sexual abuse of a minor or vulnerable adult with a substantial functional or mental impairment. 

In addition to the above, verbal expression or physical conduct need not be overtly sexual to constitute sexual harassment. Examples of sexually harassing behaviors include, but are not limited to: 

• Lewd or sexually suggestive comments. 

• Vulgar language or jokes of a sexual nature. 

• Slurs, verbal or graphic expressions, or physical conduct relating to an individual’s sex. 

• Inappropriate or improper email communication. 

• Any public or unwelcome private display of sexually explicit pictures, greeting cards, articles, books, magazines, photographs, videos, devices, toys or cartoons in the absence of a valid educational purpose. 

• Unwanted touching that communicates a sense of dominance. 

• Repeated, unwanted or unwelcome texting about or verbally complimenting another’s appearance. 

Hostile Work and/or Learning Environment – A situation may constitute a hostile work and/or learning environment if: 

• The behavior is discriminatory against gender, race, religion, age, orientation, disability, or nation of origin. 
• A reasonable person would find the work or learning environment hostile or abusive. 
• A reasonable person’s desire or ability to work or learn has been affected. 
• The institution has failed to investigate and address a reported issue. 
• The institution fails to intervene and adequately address a known hostile behavior.  

Being teased or excluded by a colleague is rude, unprofessional, and in certain circumstances could possibly warrant a firing or disciplinary offense. Such conduct is not necessarily “hostile” under this policy, however, and a determination of whether such conduct violates this policy is made only after investigation and analysis. 

“A person with a disability” – Any person who: (1) has a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more of such person’s major life activities; (2) has a record of such impairment; (3) is regarded as having such an impairment; or (4) is otherwise deemed disabled under applicable federal or state law. 

Age Discrimination – Actions prohibited by the Age Discrimination in Employment of Act of 1967, which protects individuals who are 40 years of age or older from employment discrimination based on age, and also to the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, which prohibits discrimination based on age in education programs or activities. 

Clery Act – The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (the “Clery Act”) is a federal statute codified at 20 U.S.C. § 1092(f), with implementing regulations in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations at 34 C.F.R. 668.46. The Clery Act requires all colleges and universities that participate in federal financial aid programs to keep and disclose information about crime on and near their respective campuses. Statistics are reported for Clery Act crimes that occur (1) on campus, (2) on public property within or immediately adjacent to the campus, and (3) in or on non-campus buildings or property that the Seminary institution owns or controls. 

Complainant – The student, employee, family member, or other third party who suffers harassment and/or discrimination including discrimination on the basis of age, ethnicity, race, color, gender, sexual orientation, disability, military status, national or ethnic origin, or on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity or expression by the conduct of another; sex discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual violence, sexual exploitation, gender-based harassment, or stalking by the conduct of another; and pursues a charge or charges against Respondent under this policy. 

Respondent – The Respondent is the alleged offender/accused individual; a person alleged to have engaged in any of the conduct prohibited by this policy. 

Consent – Consent is clear, knowing, and voluntary. Consent is active, not passive; silence, in and of itself, cannot be interpreted as consent. Consent to any one form of sexual activity, a previous relationship, and/or prior consent does not imply consent to any other form or instance of sexual activity. 

Determination Panel or Hearing Panel – The Determination Panel and Hearing Panel are appointed by the Coordinator, with input from the Director of Human Resources and the Academic Dean. Each member of the Determination Panel and Hearing Panel receives training on these policies, best practices in adjudications, bias, trauma-informed practices, and myths and biases of dating/domestic violence, sexual assault, and sexual harassment.  

Preponderance of the Evidence Standard - The standard of proof which the fact-finder applies to determine whether a claim or fact has been proven under this policy. The preponderance standard is met when the party offering a claim or fact proves to the satisfaction of the fact-finder that the claim or fact to be proven is “more likely than not” to have occurred. Put another way, the preponderance standard is met when the party offering the claim or fact convinces the fact-finder that there is a greater than 50% chance that the claim or fact is true. 

Definitions Applied under the Title IX Regulations 

A claim filed pursuant to this policy may also be considered as one that implicates Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (“Title IX”). The following definitions are listed separately to indicate that cases meeting the definitions and jurisdictional elements below will be considered as alleged violations of Title IX. Whether a case is determined to be a Title IX violation does not suggest that a case is more or less important, but instead a reflection of federal regulations that apply only to a specifically identified set of cases. Harassment cases that do not fit within the parameters of Title IX may still be handled through the provisions of this Nondiscrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy. 

Sexual Harassment as Defined under Title IX – Title IX Sexual Harassment is defined broadly to include any of three types of misconduct on the basis of sex, all of which jeopardize the equal access to education that Title IX is designed to protect: 

1. Unwelcome conduct that a reasonable person would determine is so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to the educational institution’s education program or activity; or 

2. An employee conditioning educational benefits on participation in unwelcome sexual conduct (i.e., quid pro quo); or, 

3. Sexual assault (as defined in the Clery Act), dating violence, domestic violence, or stalking as defined in the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). 

Sexual Assault without Consent – The following definitions also apply to 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 or physical incapacity. These include: (1) rape (except statutory rape), defined as the carnal knowledge of a person, without the consent of the victim; (2) sodomy, defined as oral or anal sexual intercourse with another person, without the consent of the victim; (3) sexual assault with an object, defined as to use an object or instrument to unlawfully penetrate, however slightly, the genital or anal opening of the body of another person, without the consent of the victim; and (4) fondling, defined as the touching of the private body parts of another person for the purpose of sexual gratification, without the consent of the victim. 

Sexual Assault (Clery Act Definition) – Any sexual act directed against another person, without consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent. Sexual assault includes: (1) rape, defined as 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. This offense includes the rape of a person of any gender. Attempts or assaults to commit rape, per this definition, are also included; (2) fondling, defined as touching of the private body parts of another person for the purpose of sexual gratification, without the consent of the victim; (3) incest, defined as sexual intercourse between persons who are related to each other within the degrees wherein marriage is prohibited by law; and (4) statutory rape, defined as sexual intercourse with a person who is under the age of consent (18 years old). 

Dating Violence – Violence, because of sex, committed by a person (1) who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim; and (2) where the existence of such a relationship will be determined based on a consideration of the following factors: the length of the relationship, the type of relationship, and the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship. 

Domestic Violence – Felony or misdemeanor crimes of violence committed, because of sex, 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 as a spouse of the victim under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction receiving grant monies, 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 state of Virginia or North Carolina.  

Stalking – Engaging in a course of conduct, because of sex, directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to experience either: (1) fear for one’s safety or the safety of others; or (2) suffer substantial emotional distress. 

Education Program or Activity – The Title IX statute applies to persons within the United States with respect to education programs or activities that receive Federal financial assistance. Schools must respond when sexual harassment occurs in the school’s education program or activity, against a person in the United States. The Title IX statute and existing regulations contain broad definitions of a school’s “program or activity,” and the Department of Education will continue to look to these definitions for the scope of a school’s education program or activity. 

An “educational program or activity” includes locations, events, or circumstances over which the Seminary exercises substantial control over both the Respondent to a complaint and the context in which the sexual harassment occurred, and, includes any building owned or controlled by a student organization that is officially recognized by the Seminary.