5. Prohibited Harassment
F.5.01 - Policy
LSCS, and each College, is strongly committed to ensuring that its learning and working environments are free of harassment because of a person's race, color, creed, national origin, gender, age, veteran's status, sexual orientation, or disability. The System shall respond in a swift and effective manner, with a view to stamping out such conduct.
The System will take serious disciplinary action, up to and including discharge of employment, against any person who retaliates against a person who has brought a complaint alleging harassment, participated as fact witness, or encouraged a person to bring forward a complaint alleging harassment.
F.5.02 - Definition of Prohibited Harassment
Harassment occurs by a System employee, student, or regular visitor to the System facilities that:
a. Conditions, explicitly or implicitly a career or educational benefit in exchange for sexual favors, and
b. Subjects a person to unwelcome sexual-, racial-, color-, creed, national origin-, gender-, age-, veteran's status-, sexual orientation-, or disability-based conduct that is so severe or pervasive that is effectively alters the conditions of education or employment by creating an intimidating or hostile environment for work or learning.
Harassment on the basis of race, color, creed, national origin, gender, age, veteran's status, sexual orientation, or disability is also unprofessional conduct that interferes with the pursuit of learning and the conduct of employment responsibilities and violates the "Ethical Standards" Subsection, Chapter IV. Human Resources, Board Policy Manual.
F.5.03 - Prohibited Harassment - Examples
The following are examples of conduct that targets an individual on the basis of race, color, creed, national origin, gender, age, veteran's status, sexual orientation, or disability and is prohibited in any College- or System-sponsored program, project or activity, including classrooms, workplaces or off-campus activities:
a. Assault and battery, sexual assault, and rape.
b. Overt threats, serious intimidation, stalking behavior, repeated refusal to take no for an answer, obscene messages on voice mail or computer, taking obvious advantage of someone who is intoxicated or on drugs.
c. Serious threats of retaliation and actual retaliation, and sexual bribes and blackmail.
d. Repeated, unwanted touching or kissing, especially if the behavior has been labeled unwelcome.
e. Degrading, public tirades from a coworker or supervisor regarding a person's race, color, creed, national origin, gender, age, veteran's status, sexual orientation, or disability.
f. Deliberate, repeated humiliation, including deliberate humiliation of a co-worker who is not a native English speaker, for the mispronunciation of words or phrases, or humiliation of a student or co-worker because of his or her sexual orientation.
g. Deliberate desecration of religious articles or places, repeated unwanted proselytizing and repeated interference with the reasonable pursuit of religious life.
h. Repeated insults about loss of personal and professional competence addressed to an older person.
F.5.04 - Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment includes conduct that is gender-based but not sexually provocative. Sexual harassment most often exploits a relationship between individuals of unequal power and authority, but may also occur between peers. Sexual harassment is also unprofessional conduct that interferes with the pursuit of learning and the conduct of employment responsibilities. The term Sexual Harassment refers to a form of sex discrimination that violates Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Sexual harassment means unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, verbal and written comments or physical conduct that is gender-based or of a sexual nature when:
a. Submission to such conduct:
i. is made, either explicitly or implicitly, a term or condition of instruction, employment or participation in a System or College activity;
ii. is used as the basis for evaluating academic or personnel decisions regarding an individual; or
b. The conduct:
i. has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive work or academic environment; or
ii. unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance.
Sexual harassment is not restricted to conduct between persons of the opposite sex; sexual harassment may involve the behavior of a person of either gender against a person of the opposite or same gender.
F.5.05 - Supervisory Personnel
A supervisor who becomes aware of conduct constituting prohibited harassment by an employee must take immediate steps to cause the conduct to cease, whether or not a formal complaint has been filed. It shall not be considered to be an adequate response to transfer the employee who is the recipient of the harassing conduct unless the employee consents to the transfer. A supervisor who engages in conduct in violation of this policy toward an employee under his or her supervision shall be subject to prompt discipline, up to and including discharge of employment.
F.5.06 - Sexual Harassment by Supervisor
An employee who believes he or she is being subjected to prohibited harassment by a supervisor is strongly urged to seek the assistance of the CRA.
F.5.07 - Criminal Processes
In some circumstances, harassment is also a crime. For example, sexual harassment by a public official is a criminal offense and some forms of harassment by any individual may constitute criminal assault, sexual assault, public lewdness or indecent exposure under the Texas Penal Code. Whenever appropriate, the System will provide information in its possession to outside government officials for further investigation and possible prosecution.
F.5.08 - Prevention
Prevention is the best tool for the elimination of prohibited harassment or conditions conducive to harassment within the System. Therefore. the Chancellor will take all the necessary steps to prevent and eliminate harassment, including, but not limited to:
a. Publishing this policy for all present and future employees.
b. Seeing that in-house training materials on harassment are prepared and distributed.
c. Publishing information on harassment materials in appropriate handbooks.
d. Including harassment topics in training for new employees and supervisors.
e. Requiring each fulltime employee to participate annually in a refresher training course on the topic of harassment and each part time employee to participate every 3 years