1. Advisor: An individual who provides support to a student or organization during the conduct process. This individual is usually selected by the student; however, upon request, a trained member of the College community can be appointed.
2. College property: Refers to all land, buildings, facilities, adjacent streets or sidewalks, and other property (vehicles, etc.) that is in the possession of or owned, used, or controlled by the College.
3. Community: Students, faculty, and staff, as well as contractors, vendors, visitors, and guests.
4. Complainant: An individual who is alleged to be a victim of conduct that would violate any College policy.
5. Confidential Employee: Institution employees who have been designated by the Institution to talk with a Complainant or Respondent in confidence. Confidential employees must only report that the incident occurred and provide date, time, location, and name of alleged respondent (if known) without revealing any information that would personally identify the alleged victim. This minimal reporting must be submitted in compliance with Title IX and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). However, to ensure campus safety, Confidential Employees may be required to fully disclose details of an incident in order to ensure campus safety.
6. Consent: Words or actions that show a knowing and voluntary willingness to engage in mutually agreed- upon sexual activity. Consent cannot be gained by force, intimidation, or coercion, by ignoring or acting despite objections of another, or by taking advantage of the incapacitation of another, where the respondent knows or reasonably should have known of such incapacitation. Consent is also absent when the activity in question exceeds the scope of consent previously given. Past consent does not imply present or future consent. Silence or an absence of resistance does not imply consent. Minors under the age of 16 cannot legally consent under Georgia law. Either party can withdraw consent at any time by using clear words or actions.
7. Dating Violence: Violence committed by a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the alleged victim. The existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on the totality of the circumstances including, without limitation to: (1) the length of the relationship; (2) the type of relationship; and (3) the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship. 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.
8. Domestic Violence: Violence committed by a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the alleged victim; by a person with whom the alleged 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; or, by a person similarly situated to a spouse of the alleged victim.
9. Hazing: “(vi) The term ‘hazing’, for purposes of reporting statistics on hazing incidents under paragraph (1)(F)(iv) [of the Stop Campus Hazing Act], means any intentional, knowing, or reckless act committed by a person (whether individually or in concert with other persons) against another person or persons regardless of the willingness of such other person or persons to participate, that--
a. is committed in the course of an initiation into, an affiliation with, or the maintenance of membership in, a student organization; and
b. causes or creates a risk, above the reasonable risk encountered in the course of participation in the institution of higher education or the organization (such as the physical preparation necessary for participation in an athletic team), of physical or psychological injury including--
i. whipping, beating, striking, electronic shocking, placing of a harmful substance on someone's body, or similar activity;
ii. causing, coercing, or otherwise inducing sleep deprivation, exposure to the elements, confinement in a small space, extreme calisthenics, or other similar activity;
iii. causing, coercing, or otherwise inducing another person to consume food, liquid, alcohol, drugs, or other substances
iv. causing, coercing, or otherwise inducing another person to perform sexual acts;
v. any activity that places another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm through the use of threatening words or conduct;
vi. any activity against another person that includes a criminal violation of local, State, Tribal, or Federal law; and
vii. any activity that induces, causes, or requires another person to perform a duty or task that involves a criminal violation of local, State, Tribal, or Federal law."
10. Hearing: A formal or informal process conducted to arrive at corrective recommendations regarding alleged student misconduct.
11. Hearing Panel: A group of individuals who hear cases of alleged student misconduct within the formal hearing process. Panel members for hearings of alleged student misconduct cases are composed of three members selected from the Student Conduct Committee; however, cases involving alleged sexual misconduct consist of three College faculty and/or staff.
12. Incapacitation: The physical and/or mental inability to make informed, rational judgments, and can result from mental disability, sleep, involuntary physical restraint, or from intentional or unintentional taking of alcohol and/or other drugs. Whether someone is incapacitated is to be judged from the perspective of an objectively reasonable person.
13. Non-consensual Sexual Contact: Any physical contact with another person of a sexual nature without the person’s consent. Sexual contact includes but is not limited to, touching of a person’s intimate parts (such as breasts, buttocks, groin, or genitalia); touching another person with one’s own intimate parts; or forcing a person to touch their own or another person’s intimate parts. This provision also includes “Fondling” as defined by the Clery Act.
14. Non-consensual Sexual Penetration: Any penetration of the vagina, anus, or mouth by a penis, object, tongue, finger, or other body part; or contact between the mouth of one person and the genitals or anus of another person. This provision also includes “Rape, Incest, and Statutory Rape” as defined by the Clery Act.
15. Not Responsible: An individual is found not be at fault after a review.
16. Privileged Employees: Individuals employed by the institution to whom a complainant or alleged victim may talk in confidence, as provided by law. Disclosure to these employees will not automatically trigger an investigation against the complainant’s or alleged victim’s wishes. Privileged Employees include those providing counseling, advocacy, health, mental health, or sexual assault related services (e.g., sexual assault resource centers, campus health centers, pastoral counselors, and campus mental health centers) or as otherwise provided by law. Exceptions to confidentiality exist where the conduct involves suspected abuse of a minor (in Georgia, under the age of 18) or otherwise provided by law, such as imminent threat of serious harm.
17. Reasonable Person: An individual who is objectively reasonable under similar circumstances and with similar identities to the person being evaluated by the institution.
18. Reporter: An individual who reports an allegation of conduct that may violate this policy but who is not a party to the complaint.
19. Respondent: An individual who is alleged to have engaged in behavior that would violate any College policy.
20. Responsible: An individual has admitted to, or a review has determined that the individual is at fault.
21. Responsible Employees: Those employees who must promptly and fully report complaints of or information regarding sexual misconduct to the Title IX Coordinator. Responsible Employees include any administrator, supervisor, faculty member, or other person in a position of authority who is not a Confidential Employee or Privileged Employee. Student employees who serve in a supervisory, advisory, or managerial role are in a position of authority for purposes of this policy (e.g., teaching assistants, residential assistants, student managers, orientation leaders).
22. Sexual Exploitation: Sexual exploitation occurs when an individual takes non-consensual or abusive sexual advantage of another for their own advantage or benefit, or to the benefit or advantage of anyone other than the one being exploited. Examples of sexual exploitation may include, but are not limited to, the following:
a. Invasion of sexual privacy.
b. Prostituting another individual.
c. Non-consensual photos, video, or audio of sexual activity.
d. Non-consensual distribution of photos, video, or audio of sexual activity.
e. Intentional observation of nonconsenting individuals who are partially undressed, naked, or engaged in sexual acts.
f. Knowingly transmitting an STD/STI or HIV to another individual through sexual activity.
g. Intentionally and inappropriately exposing one’s breasts, buttocks, groin, or genitals in non-consensual circumstances.
h. Bullying based on sex or gender.
24. Sexual Harassment (Student on Student): Unwelcome verbal, nonverbal, or physical conduct based on sex (including gender stereotypes), determined by a Reasonable Person to be so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to participate in or to benefit from an institutional education program or activity.
25. Sexual Harassment (Other Than Student on Student): Unwelcome verbal, nonverbal, or physical conduct, based on sex (including gender stereotypes), that may be any of the following:
a. Implicitly or explicitly a term or condition of employment or status in a course, program, or activity
b. A basis for employment or educational decisions; or
c. Is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive to interfere with one’s work or educational performance; thereby, creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work or learning environment, or interfering with or limiting one’s ability to participate in or to benefit from an institutional program or activity.
The USG also prohibits unwelcome conduct determined by a Reasonable Person to be so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to a USG education program or activity in violation of title IX.
26. Sexual Misconduct: Includes, but is not limited to, such unwanted behavior as dating violence, domestic violence, non-consensual sexual contact, non-consensual sexual penetration, sexual exploitation, sexual harassment, and stalking.
27. Stalking: Engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to fear for their safety or the safety of others, or to 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 in 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. Substantial emotional distress means significant mental suffering or anguish that may, but does not necessarily, require medical or other professional treatment or counseling.
28. Standard of Proof: The standard by which it is determined whether a violation of the Student Code of Conduct has occurred. For the Student Conduct Process, the Standard of Proof required is a preponderance of the evidence. A preponderance of the evidence means that evidence would lead a reasonable person to conclude that it is more likely than not that the act in question did occur.
29. Student organization: “(vii) The term ‘student organization’, for purposes of reporting under paragraph (1)(F)(iv) and paragraph (9)(A) [of the Stop Campus Hazing Act], means an organization at an institution of higher education (such as a club, society, association, varsity or junior varsity athletic team, club sports team, fraternity, sorority, band, or student government) in which two or more of the members are students enrolled at the institution of higher education, whether or not the organization is established or recognized by the institution. Student organizations that are referred to the conduct process will be represented by the president, or their designee, of that organization.