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WSU is subject to multiple federal and state laws and regulations regarding sexual harassment and sex and gender-based violence, each with differing requirements. WSU Executive Policy 15 (EP 15) prohibits hostile environment harassment, quid pro quo harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence and stalking, pursuant to Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972., ad its implementing regulations.

EP 15 Definitions

WSU addresses dating violence, domestic violence, stalking, and sexual assault. Conduct meeting the definition of and applicability of Title IX Sexual Harassment has specific procedural requirements, but WSU covers a wide range of conduct occurring both on and off-campus. Compliance and Civil Rights (CCR) can help individuals understand their options for conduct meeting the definitions under EP 15 Part B (Title IX Sexual Harassment) and EP 15 Part A (other forms of sexual harassment).

For allegations of EP 15 Part A misconduct, EP 15 applies if the alleged incident(s)

• Occurs on WSU-owned or -controlled property;
• Occurs in connection with WSU’s activities, programs, or events;
• Occurs in a building owned or controlled by a student organization that is officially recognized by WSU, the effect of, or the potential to: unreasonably interfere with or limit an individual’s work, academic performance, living environment, personal security, or participation in any activity at WSU; includes unlawful acts that directly affect WSU programs, community members, or property insofar as such acts materially and substantially interfere with the missions, functions, processes, and goals of the WSU community.
• Includes unlawful acts that result in a guilty plea to or conviction of a felony.

For allegations of EP 15 Part B misconduct (Title IX Sexual Harassment), EP 15 applies if the alleged incident(s):

• Occurs within WSU’s educational program or activity, which includes:

Locations, events or circumstances over which WSU exercises substantial control over both the respondent and the context in which the sexual harassment occurs; and

• Any building owned or controlled by a student organization that is officially recognized;
  • Occurs against a person in the United States; and
  • Occurs against a person who is participating in or attempting to participate in WSU’s educational program or activity.

In addition, the conduct must have been committed while the respondent was a WSU community member.

Prohibited conduct includes:

1. Sex-based discriminatory harassment (EP 15 Part A) -unwelcome sex-based, intentional conduct on the basis of sex, which is so severe or pervasive, and objectively offensive, that it substantially and unreasonably:
   1. Interferes with, or has the potential to interfere with, an individual’s ability to participation in WSU employment, education, programs, or activities;
   2. Adversely alters the condition of individual’s WSU employment, education, or participation status;
   3. Creates an objectively abusive employment, program, or educational environment; or
   4. Results in a material or substantial disruption of WSU’s operations or the rights of students, staff, faculty, visitors, or program participants.

2. Title IX Sexual Harassment (EP 15 Part B) – a form of harassment unwelcome sex-based conduct determined by a reasonable person to be so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to WSU’s education programs or activities. Sexual harassment includes but not a wide range of behaviors, including, limited to:
   1. Verbal or physical sex-based conduct;
   2. Sexual exploitation;
   3. Causing or attempting to cause the incapacitation of another person to gain sexual advantage over that person;
   4. Invading another person’s sexual privacy;
   5. Prostituting another person;
   6. Engaging in voyeurism;
   7. Knowingly or recklessly exposing another person to a significant risk of sexually transmitted disease or infection;
   8. Exposing one’s intimate parts in nonconsensual circumstances; or
   9. Sexually-based stalking and/or bullying.
3. Quid Pro Quo – a form of sex-based harassment in which an employee or other person over whom WSU has disciplinary authority providing an aid, benefit, or service under WSU’s education programs or activities explicitly or impliedly conditioning the provision of an aid, benefit, or service on a person’s participation in unwelcome sexual conduct.
4. Sexual Assault – a forcible or nonforcible sex offense under the uniform crime reporting system of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. NOTE: If the following sexual assault definitions are updated in the NIBRS User Manual (available online at ), the updated definitions are applied.
   1. Sex Offense: Any sexual act directed against another person, without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent.
   2. Rape (except Statutory Rape): Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, or by a sex-related object, without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of their age or because of their temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity.
   3. Sodomy: Oral or anal sexual intercourse with another person, without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of their age or because of their temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity.
   4. Sexual assault with an object: To use an object or instrument to unlawfully penetrate, however slightly, the genital or anal opening of the body of another person, without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of their age or because of their temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity.
   5. Fondling: The touching of the private body parts of another person for the purpose of sexual gratification, without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of their age or because of their temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity.
   6. Incest: Nonforcible sexual intercourse between persons who are related to each other within the degrees wherein marriage is prohibited by law.
   7. Statutory Rape: Nonforcible sexual intercourse with a person who is under the statutory age of consent.
5. Dating Violence – 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 is to be determined based on length of the relationship, the type of relationship, and the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship.
6. Domestic Violence – a felony or misdemeanor crime of violence committed:
   1. By a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim or a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim;
   2. By a person with whom the victim shares a child in common;
   3. By a person who is cohabitating with, or has cohabitated with, the victim as a spouse or intimate partner;
   4. By a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under the domestic or family violence laws of Washington, or
   5. By any other person against an adult or youth victim who is protected from that person’s act under the domestic or family violence laws of Washington.
7. Stalking – engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to:
   1. Fear for the person’s safety or the safety of others; or
   2. Suffer substantial emotional distress.
   3. For the purposes of this definition:
      1. 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.
      2. Reasonable person means a reasonable person under similar circumstances and with similar identities to the victim.
      3. Substantial emotional distress means significant mental suffering or anguish that may, but does not necessarily, require medical or other professional treatment or counseling.
8. Retaliation is defined as intimidation, threats, coercion, or discrimination against any individual for the purpose of interfering with any right or privileged secured by this policy, or because the individual has made a report or complaint, testified, assisted, or participated or refused to participate in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under this policy. First amendment activities do not constitute retaliation.
9. Interference includes actions that intentionally:
   1. Dissuade or attempt to dissuade reporting parties, responding parties, or witnesses from reporting or participating in an investigation;
   2. Attempt to influence a complainant, respondent, or witness to make an inaccurate statement in the investigation;
   3. Delay or disrupt, or attempt to delay or disrupt, any university processes related to this policy; and/or
   4. Alter or attempt to alter the evidence provided to or received by investigative or disciplinary processes.
10. False Statements is defined as making a materially false statement in bad faith during any proceeding or process under this policy. No complaint is considered false solely because it cannot be corroborated.

Consent

Consent to any sexual activity must be clear, knowing, and voluntary. Anything less is equivalent to a "no." Clear, knowing, and voluntary consent to sexual activity requires that, at the time of the act, and throughout the sexual contact, all parties actively express words or conduct that a reasonable person would conclude demonstrates clear permission regarding willingness to engage in sexual activity and the conditions of such activity. Consent is active; silence or passivity is not consent. Even if words or conduct alone seem to imply consent, sexual activity is nonconsensual when:

1. Force or coercion is threatened or used to procure compliance with the sexual activity.
   1. Force is the use of physical violence, physical force, threat, or intimidation to overcome resistance or gain consent to sexual activity.
   2. Coercion is unreasonable pressure for sexual activity. When an individual makes it clear through words or actions that the individual does not want to engage in sexual contact, wants to stop, or does not want to go past a certain point of sexual interaction, continued pressure beyond that point may be coercive. Other examples of coercion may include using blackmail or extortion to overcome resistance or gain consent to sexual activity.
2. The person is asleep, unconscious, or physically unable to communicate his or her unwillingness to engage in sexual activity; or
3. A reasonable person would or should know that the other person lacks the mental capacity at the time of the sexual activity to be able to understand the nature or consequences of the act, whether that incapacity is produced by illness, defect, the influence of alcohol or another substance, or some other cause. When alcohol or drugs are involved, a person is considered incapacitated or unable to give valid consent if the individual cannot fully understand the details of the sexual interaction (i.e., who, what, when, where, why, and how), and/or the individual lacks the capacity to reasonably understand the situation and to make rational, reasonable decisions.

CCR Amnesty Policy

During a CCR process, when a student voluntarily shares information about the possession or use of alcohol or drugs, CCR does not refer the student to the Center for Community Standards (CCS) for alcohol or drug related conduct proceedings, except where drugs or alcohol were used to gain advantage, incapacitation, or exploitation over another individual. CCS also uses discretion under WAC 504-26-510, the Good Samaritan Policy, and may refrain from imposing formal discipline for alcohol or drug use and possession under the Standards of Conduct for Students.

For more information, see: