Title IX and Sexual Harassment
Title IX is a part of the Education Amendments of 1972 and is a comprehensive federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity, regardless of status. Title IX applies to employees and students alike. Examples of the types of discrimination that are covered under Title IX include the failure to provide equal opportunity in athletics, discrimination based on pregnancy, and sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is a form of discrimination and sexual assault is the most pernicious form of sexual harassment.
Title IX provides protection for students in connection with all academic, educational, extra-curricular, athletic, and other programs of the school. This includes U of I-sponsored or U of I-related activities (off-campus trips, sororities and fraternities affiliated with school, etc.). This also affects students during academic breaks and summer. It may also cover activity that occurs off school grounds if there is carry-over into the educational setting (e.g., if a student is sexually assaulted off-campus by another student and must continue to interact with or see the other student on campus). All U of I students are expected to abide by the Student Code of Conduct as long as they are students at the U of I. The code applies to any location or any time of the year to current, accepted or enrolled students.
Title IX requires the University of Idaho to respond to certain harassment on the basis of sex, which it knows about or reasonably should have known about. That means almost every employee on campus is required to report behavior or incidents that may be sexual harassment or sexual misconduct. The university must:
- Investigate what happened.
- Take appropriate steps to resolve the matter.
- Do its best to eliminate the harassment, prevent recurrence and remedy effects, even if no formal complaint has been made or when a person making a complaint does not wish to participate further in the process.
- Take interim measures during the investigation to prevent potential further harassment.
- And, potentially remove an individual from the campus community if necessary.
The U of I takes Title IX violations very seriously. We want to ensure U of I is a safe and engaging place for students to learn and be successful.