Title IX Definitions and Key Terms

Section 106.2 of the 2024 amendments:

Complainant:

1. A student or employee who is alleged to have been subjected to conduct that could constitute sex discrimination under Title IX or its regulations; or
2. A person other than a student or employee who is alleged to have been subjected to conduct that could constitute sex discrimination under Title IX or its regulations and who was participating or attempting to participate in the recipient’s education program or activity at the time of the alleged sex discrimination.

Complaint: An oral or written request to the recipient that objectively can be understood as a request for the recipient to investigate and make a determination about alleged discrimination under Title IX or its regulations.

Disciplinary sanctions: Consequences imposed on a respondent following a determination under Title IX that the respondent violated the recipient’s prohibition on sex discrimination.

Party: A complainant or respondent.

Relevant: Related to the allegations of sex discrimination under investigation as part of these grievance procedures. Questions are relevant when they seek evidence that may aid in showing whether the alleged sex discrimination occurred, and evidence is relevant when it may aid a decisionmaker in determining whether the alleged sex discrimination occurred.

Remedies: Measures provided, as appropriate, to a complainant or any other person the recipient identifies as having had their equal access to the recipient’s education program or activity limited or denied by sex discrimination. These measures are provided to restore or preserve that person’s access to the recipient’s education program or activity after a recipient determines that sex discrimination occurred.

Respondent: A person who is alleged to have violated the recipient’s prohibition on sex discrimination.

Retaliation: Intimidation, threats, coercion, or discrimination against any person by the recipient, a student, or an employee or other person authorized by the recipient to provide aid, benefit, or service under the recipient’s education program or activity, for the purpose of interfering with any right or privilege secured by Title IX or its regulations, or because the person has reported information, made a complaint, testified, assisted, or participated or refused to participate in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under the Title IX regulations.

Sex-based harassment: A form of sex discrimination and means sexual harassment and other harassment on the basis of sex, including on the basis of sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity, that is:

1. Quid pro quo harassment. An employee, agent, or other person authorized by the recipient to provide an aid, benefit, or service under the recipient’s education program or activity explicitly or impliedly conditioning the provision of such an aid, benefit, or service on a person’s participation in unwelcome sexual conduct;
2. Hostile environment harassment. Unwelcome sex-based conduct that, based on the totality of the circumstances, is subjectively and objectively offensive and is so severe or pervasive that it limits or denies a person’s ability to participate in or benefit from the recipient’s education program or activity (i.e., creates a hostile environment). Whether a hostile environment has been created is a fact-specific inquiry that includes consideration of the following:
   1. The degree to which the conduct affected the complainant’s ability to access the recipient’s education program or activity;
   2. The type, frequency, and duration of the conduct;
   3. The parties’ ages, roles within the recipient’s education program or activity, previous interactions, and other factors about each party that may be relevant to evaluating the effects of the conduct;
   4. The location of the conduct and the context in which the conduct occurred; and
   5. Other sex-based harassment in the recipient’s education program or activity; or
3. Specific offenses:
   1. Sexual Assault: Any sexual act directed against another person, without consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent.
      1. 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, without the consent of the victim. This offense includes the rape of both males and females.
      2. Fondling: 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 his/her age or because of his/her temporary or permanent mental capacity.
      3. Incest: Sexual intercourse between persons who are related to each other within the degrees wherein marriage is prohibited by law.
      4. Statutory Rape: Sexual intercourse with a person who is under the age of consent.
   2. Dating violence meaning violence committed by a person:
      1. Who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim; and
      2. Where the existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on a consideration of the following factors:
         1. The length of the relationship;
         2. The type of relationship; and
         3. The frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship;
   3. Domestic violence meaning felony or misdemeanor crimes committed by a person who:
      1. Is a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim under the family or domestic violence laws of the jurisdiction of the recipient, or a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim;
      2. Is cohabitating, or has cohabitated, with the victim as a spouse or intimate partner;
      3. Shares a child in common with the victim; or
      4. Commits acts against a youth or adult victim who is protected from those acts under the family or domestic violence laws of the jurisdiction; or
   4. Stalking meaning 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.

Supportive measures: Individualized measures offered as appropriate, as reasonably available, without unreasonably burdening a complainant or respondent, not for punitive or disciplinary reasons, and without fee or charge to the complainant or respondent to:

1. Restore or preserve that party’s access to the recipient’s education program or activity, including measures that are designed to protect the safety of the parties or the recipient’s educational environment; or
2. Provide support during the recipient’s grievance procedures or during an informal resolution process.