Title IX

Discrimination and Harassment

Discrimination occurs when an individual, or group of individuals, is treated adversely because they belong to a classification of individuals that is protected from discrimination by law or policy. The University of Arizona prohibits sex discrimination and sex-based harassment, including sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. Under Title IX, sex discrimination includes discrimination on the basis of sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity. 

Under Title IX, sex-based harassment is a form of sex discrimination and means sexual harassment and other harassment on the basis of sex that constitutes any of the following:

Title IX Quid Pro Quo Harassment occurs when an employee, agent, or other person authorized by the University to provide an aid, benefit, or service under the University’s educational program or activity explicitly or impliedly conditions the provision of such an aid, benefit, or service on participation in unwelcome sexual conduct.

Title IX Hostile Environment Harassment occurs when 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 University’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 degree to which the conduct affected a person’s ability to access the University’s education program or activity;
• The type, frequency, and duration of the conduct;
• The parties’ ages, roles within the University’s education program or activity, previous interactions, and other factors about each party that may be relevant to evaluating the effects of the conduct;
• The location of the conduct and the context in which the conduct occurred; and
• Other sex-based harassment in the University’s education program or activity, or

Title IX Sex-Based Harassment (specific offenses)

Title IX Sex-Based Harassment includes any of the following specific offenses: Sexual Assault, Dating Violence, Domestic Violence or Stalking.

Sexual Assault

Sexual Assault is any attempted or actual sexual act directed against a person, without their consent, including where a person is incapable of giving consent. Sexual Acts include forcible and non-forcible sexual offenses (under the Uniform Crime Reporting system of the Federal Bureau of Investigation).

Domestic Violence

Domestic Violence is conduct that would meet the definition of a felony or misdemeanor crime of violence committed: a. by a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim, by a person who is cohabitating with, or who has cohabitated with the victim, as a spouse or intimate partner, by a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under the domestic or family violence laws of an applicable jurisdiction; b. by a person with whom the victim has a child in common, or either party is pregnant by the other party; c. by a person residing or having resided in the same household; d. where a victim is related to the person or the person’s spouse by blood or court order as a parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, brother, or sister or by marriage as a parent-in-law, grandparent-in-law, stepparent, step-grandparent, stepchild, step-grandchild, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law; or e. where a victim is a child who resides or has resided in the same household as the person and is related by blood to a former spouse of the person or to a person who resides or who has resided in the same household as the person.

Dating Violence

Dating Violence is violence committed by a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with a victim. The existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on the information available and consideration of the following factors: 1) the length of the relationship, 2) the type of relationship, and 3) the frequency of the interaction between the persons involved in the relationship.

Stalking

Stalking means engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to fear for that person’s safety or the safety of others or to suffer substantial emotional distress.

Title IX Retaliation

Intimidation, threats, or discrimination against anyone by the University, a student, an employee, or anyone authorized by the University to provide an aid, benefit, or service under its education program or activity for the purpose of interfering with the rights and privileges established by Title IX and its implementing regulations, or because the person has reported information, made a Complaint, testified, or participated or refused to participate in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under these Procedures. 

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