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Sexual Harassment and Misconduct Definitions

Do you know how sexual harassment, consent, sexual assault and stalking are defined? Take a moment to review these terms.

Consent is not specifically defined in Kansas law. However, Kansas law does provide that a person commits rape, as set out in K.S.A. 21-5503, when a person knowingly engages in sexual intercourse with someone who is (1) overcome by force or fear, (2) unconscious or physically powerless, (3) incapable of giving consent because of mental deficiency or disease, or because of the effect of any alcoholic liquor, narcotic, drug or other substance, (4) under the age of consent in Kansas, or (5) consent was obtained through fraud or misrepresentation.
Dating Violence is violence committed by a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim. The existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on the reporting party’s statement and with consideration of the length of the relationship, the type of relationship, and the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship. For the purposes of this definition, 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.

Domestic Violence is a felony or misdemeanor crime of violence committed by a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim; a person with whom the victim shares a child in common; a person who is cohabitating with, or has cohabitated with, the victim as a spouse or intimate partner a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction in which the crime of violence occurred; 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 jurisdiction in which the crime of the violence occurred.
Sexual Assault, as defined by the Clery Act, is any sexual act directed against another person, without consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent, including rape, fondling, incest and statutory rape.

Sexual Harassment means conduct on the basis of sex that satisfies one or more of the following:

  1. An employee conditioning the provision of an aid, benefit or service of the College on an individual’s participation in unwelcome sexual conduct (i.e., quid pro quo); or
  2. Unwelcome conduct determined by a reasonable person to be so severe, pervasive and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to the College’s education program or activity; or
  3. Sexual Assault (as defined in the Clery Act), Dating Violence, Domestic Violence or Stalking (as defined in the Violence Against Women Act or VAWA).
Stalking, as defined by VAWA, means engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to hear for the person’s safety or the safety of others; or suffer substantial emotional distress. “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. Reasonable person means a reasonable person under similar circumstances and with similar identities to the victim. “Substantial emotional distress” means significant mental suffering or anguish that may but does not necessarily require medical or other professional treatment or counseling.

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a statute (among others) enforced by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Title IX protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. It was passed to ensure all students and employees in educational settings are treated equally and fairly.