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Relevant Excerpt

“Sexual harassment” means unwelcome conduct which is either of a sexual nature, or which is directed at an individual because of that individual’s sex or gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression, when such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work, academic, or extracurricular performance, or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work or learning environment, even if the reporting individual is not the intended target of the sexual harassment.

Harassing conduct can occur in various forms, including:

• Verbal – Conduct such as unwelcome sexually suggestive, demeaning, or graphic comments; unwelcome verbal sexual advances; using slurs to refer to a person; bullying, yelling or name-calling; refusing to use a person’s preferred pronouns or name; or jokes or comments that demean a person on the basis of sex or gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.

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• Visual – Conduct such as exposing another person to unwanted pornographic images; creating or displaying pictures, symbols, flags, cartoons, or graffiti that is/are sexually offensive or disparage(s) another person or group based on sex or gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.
• Communication-based – Conduct such as phone calls, e-mails, text messages, chats, blogs or online communications that offend, demean, or intimidate another on the basis of sex or gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. Members of the community are expected to be good digital citizens and to refrain from online misconduct, such as feeding anonymous gossip sites, sharing inappropriate content via social media, unwelcome sexual or sex-based messaging, distributing or threatening to distribute revenge pornography, breaches of privacy, or otherwise using the ease of transmission and/or anonymity of the Internet or other technology to harm another member of, or group within, the university community.
• Sex stereotyping – Conduct in which another person’s or group’s conduct or personality traits are treated as inappropriate simply because they may not conform to other people’s ideas or perceptions about how individuals of a particular sex should act or look.

A determination as to whether sexual harassment occurred depends on the totality of the circumstances, including the context of a communication or incident, the relationship of the individuals involved in the communication or incident, whether an incident was an isolated incident or part of a broader pattern or course of offensive conduct, the seriousness or severity of the incident, the intent of the individual who engaged in the allegedly offensive conduct, and its effect or impact on the individual or group and the learning community.

A “hostile environment” is created when the offensive behavior interferes with an individual’s ability to participate in the University’s programs (i.e., to work and to learn) when judged against a reasonable person standard. However, Colgate encourages individuals experiencing or witnessing offensive behavior to make a report as early as possible so as to have the situation corrected before it reaches the level of a hostile environment. Individuals with a concern need not worry about whether the behavior is sufficiently serious to constitute a hostile environment. The University reserves the right to remedy sexual harassment pursuant to this policy even if the behavior in question does not rise to the level of legally recognized or actionable harassment.