| (a) Each postsecondary educational institution shall
adopt a policy on sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence,
and stalking applicable to each enrolled student and employee of the
institution and have the policy approved by the institution's governing
body. The policy must include:
(1) Definitions of prohibited behavior;
(2) Sanctions for violations;
(3) Protocol for reporting and responding to reports
of sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking
that complies with the electronic reporting requirement in §3.7
of this subchapter (relating to Electronic Reporting Requirement);
(4) Interim measures to protect victims of sexual harassment,
sexual assault, dating violence, or stalking pending the institution's
disciplinary process, including protection from retaliation, and any
other accommodations or supportive measures available to those victims
at the institution. This section is not intended to limit an institution's
ability to implement accommodations to others as needed; and
(5) A statement regarding:
(A) the importance of a victim of sexual harassment,
sexual assault, dating violence, or stalking going to a hospital for
treatment and preservation of evidence, if applicable, as soon as
practicable after the incident;
(B) the right of a victim of sexual harassment, sexual
assault, dating violence, or stalking to report the incident to the
institution and to receive a prompt and equitable resolution of the
report; and
(C) the right of a victim of a crime to choose whether
to report the crime to law enforcement, to be assisted by the institution
in reporting the crime to law enforcement, or to decline to report
the crime to law enforcement.
(b) Each postsecondary educational institution shall
make its policy on sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence,
and stalking available to students, faculty, and staff members by:
(1) including the policy in the student handbook and
personnel handbook or the institution's equivalent(s); and
(2) creating and maintaining a web page dedicated solely
to the policy that is easily accessible through a clearly identifiable
link on the institution's homepage.
(c) Each postsecondary educational institution shall
require each entering freshman or undergraduate transfer student to
attend an orientation on the institution's sexual harassment, sexual
assault, dating violence, and stalking policy before or during the
first semester or term of enrollment at the institution. The orientation:
(1) may be provided online; and
(2) must include the statements described by subsection
(a)(5) of this section.
(d) Each postsecondary educational institution shall
develop and implement a comprehensive prevention and outreach program
on sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking
for enrolled students and employees of the institution. The program
must:
(1) address a range of strategies to prevent sexual
harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking, including
a public awareness campaign; a victim empowerment program; primary
prevention; bystander intervention; and risk reduction; and
(2) provide students with information regarding the
protocol for reporting incidents of sexual harassment, sexual assault,
dating violence, and stalking, including the name, office location,
and contact information of the institution's Title IX coordinator,
by:
(A) e-mailing the information to each student at the
beginning of each semester or other academic term;
(B) including the information in the institution's
orientation (which may be provided online); and
(C) as part of the protocol for responding to reports
of sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking
adopted under subsection (a) of this section, each postsecondary educational
institution shall:
(i) to the greatest extent practicable based on the
number of counselors employed by the institution, ensure each alleged
victim or alleged perpetrator of a sexual harassment, sexual assault,
dating violence, and stalking incident and any other person who reports
such incidents are offered counseling provided by a counselor who
does not provide counseling to any other person involved in the incident;
and
(ii) notwithstanding any other law, allow an alleged
victim or alleged perpetrator of a sexual harassment, sexual assault,
dating violence, and stalking incident to drop a course in which both
parties are enrolled without any academic penalty.
(e) Each postsecondary educational institution shall
review its sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and
stalking policy at least each biennium and revise the policy as necessary
and obtain approval from the institution's governing board.
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