Felbry College School of Nursing firmly believes that all of its students, faculty, staff, and visitors on its premises should be free to pursue their academic studies or business activity without being subjected to the crimes and offenses of sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking.
The college has a zero tolerance policy toward any such behavior and does not condone or tolerate any form of such acts against any person on its premises or at any college-sponsored event or activity.
The college will support and assist any person who has been the victim of such crime or offense on its premises or at any off-campus, college-sponsored event or activity and will take the strongest possible punitive actions available to the college against the person or persons committing the offenses.
Sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and/or any conduct of a sexual nature – whether verbal or physical – directed at an individual. Any retaliatory action taken against an individual for reporting an instance of sexual harassment is itself also considered sexual harassment. Sexual harassment includes, but is not limited to, the following behaviors:
Sexual assault is defined as forced acts of intercourse, sodomy, or sexual penetration by a foreign object and includes the deliberate touching of a person’s intimate body parts such as their genitals, groin, buttocks or breasts, either directly or through the person’s clothes, without their consent or forcing an unwilling person to touch either the aggressor’s (perpetrator’s) intimate body parts or those of another person, either directly or through clothing.
To constitute lack of consent, the acts of sexual assault must be committed by force, threat of force, intimidation, duress, or by the use of the victim’s physical or mental incapacity. It does not matter if the physical or mental incapacity of the victim was caused by the use of alcohol or drugs, the aggressor will still be guilty of sexual assault.
Domestic Violence is defined as “a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner. Domestic violence can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic, or psychological actions or threats of actions that influence another person. This includes any behaviors that intimidate, manipulate, isolate, frighten, terrorize, coerce, threaten, blame, hurt, injure, or wound someone.”
Stalking is defined as “a course of conduct directed at a specific person that involves repeated (two or more occasions) visual or physical proximity, non-consensual communication, or verbal, written, or implied threats, or a combination thereof, that would cause a reasonable person fear. Stalking behaviors also may include persistent patterns of leaving or sending the victim unwanted items or presents that may range from seemingly romantic to bizarre, following or lying in wait for the victim, damaging or threatening to damage the victim’s property, defaming the victim’s character, or harassing the victim via the Internet by posting personal information or spreading rumors about the victim.
Dating Violence is defined as violence committed against the victim by a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic nature or intimate nature with the victim.
Any person who has been the victim of sexual harassment should report the incident to the CEO or the Program Administrator immediately.
Any person who has been the victim of a sexual assault should immediately take the following actions:
Go to a safe place as quickly as possible; get someone to stay with you.
Appropriate measures will be taken by the college’s Disciplinary Committee to investigate a complaint or allegation of any sexual assault, dating violence, or stalking crime committed against a student. The committee will initiate a hearing with both the victim and the alleged aggressor present, and, depending on the outcome of that hearing, take appropriate disciplinary action against the aggressor. Both parties may choose to have an attorney or other representative present at any hearing. If, for reasons of personal safety or incapacity, the alleged victim cannot be present, the committee will arrange to have that person’s deposition taken and shared with the accused prior to the disciplinary hearing.
Both parties to the hearing will be informed of the committee’s final decision and of the sanction to be applied, if any. A determination by the committee that the offense or crime did occur will result in the accused, if a student, being permanently expelled from the college or, if the accused is a faculty member or other employee, will result in the person being terminated for cause.
In the case of reportable crimes, where the disciplinary committee found the accused to be in violation of its policy on the crime, the final results of the disciplinary hearing against the alleged perpetrator will be shared with appropriate law enforcement personnel and will be open to anyone who requests information on the matter. The committee will based its final determination on a preponderance of the evidence and testimony presented during the hearing.
All violations of the policy and all allegations of violations of the policy will be included in Felbry College’s annual crime report.
The Disciplinary Committee will consist of a Felbry College School of Nursing administrator, one faculty member, the Program Administrator, one advisory board member, and a professional counselor from the community who specializes in the area of the alleged offense. Each member of the committee will be polled by the CEO to ensure that there is no conflict of interest between the member and either of the parties.
Before hearing any case, each member will have completed annual training on how to conduct an investigation and on the proper procedures to conduct a fair and impartial hearing, respecting the rights of each party to the hearing and protecting the safety of the alleged victim. The committee must conduct itself and the hearing in such a way as to justify its final decision. Justification for the final decision will be committed to writing and incorporated as a part of the hearing record.
A hearing will be convened within 30 days of the date that the allegation was made. If, for any reason, the college must delay the start of the hearing, it will notify both parties in writing, informing them of the reason(s) for the delay and the rescheduled hearing date. The college anticipates that a hearing will typically last about a week but whatever time is needed to conduct a fair and comprehensive hearing will be taken. It also anticipates that the final, written determination of the committee will be completed within one week of the hearing’s end date. Copies of the final determination and its rationale will be given to both parties at the same time.
The only sanctions imposed by the Disciplinary Committee for a final determination that the crime occurred is permanent expulsion for a student perpetrator and termination for cause for an employee perpetrator. The sanction(s) become effective immediately upon the committee’s release of its final determination.
These sanctions are only appealable if additional evidence comes to light that the accused did not commit the crime or if, in a court of law, the accused was found not guilty of the crime.
Prohibition on Retaliation:
Regardless of the outcome of any committee hearing or whether or not a complainant filed a formal charge against an alleged aggressor, absolutely no officer, employee, agent of the college or the college itself may retaliate, intimidate, threaten, coerce, or otherwise discriminate against any individual for exercising their rights or responsibilities under any provision in this section.
Post-secondary schools and colleges are required by the Campus Crimes Prevention Act of 2000 to advise its students, staff, faculty, and anyone else within its campus community of how to obtain information regarding any registered sex offenders who may be located within the college’s service community. For the State of Ohio, that information may be obtained at the following website:
http://sheriffalerts.com/cap_main.php?office=55149