Texas Tech University

What is Sexual Misconduct?

Texas Tech University does not tolerate any form of sexual misconduct or harassment. TTU's gender-based harassment and sexual misconduct policies are contained within the Code of Student Conduct, found in Part I, Section B.2.c of the 2015-2016 TTU Student Handbook (found here). Sexual misconduct offenses include, but are not limited to:

Sexual Harassment:

Unwelcome verbal, written, or physical conduct of a sexual nature that is sufficiently severe, persistent,There are three distinct categories of individuals who can receive reports of harassment and discrimination, all three with different obligations regarding confidentiality.

Sexual harassment can manifest in most any medium, including verbal comments, physical actions and activities, or conduct disseminated online or via social media.

Harassing conduct will be disciplined if it unreasonably interferes with, denies, or limits someone's ability to participate in or benefit from the University's educational, social, and/or residential program. (See Section G in the TTU Student Handbook: Freedom of Expression)

Some examples of possible Sexual Harassment include:

  • A professor insists that a student have sex with him/her in exchange for a good grade. This is harassment regardless of whether the student accedes to the request.
  • A student repeatedly sends sexually oriented jokes around on an email list s/he created, even when asked to stop, causing one recipient to avoid the sender on campus and in the residence hall in which they both live.
  • Explicit sexual pictures are displayed in a professor's office or on the exterior of a residence hall door
  • Two supervisors frequently ‘rate' several employees' bodies and sex appeal, commenting suggestively about their clothing and appearance.
  • A professor engages students in her class in discussions about their past sexual experiences, yet the conversation is not in any way germane to the subject matter of the class. She probes for explicit details, and demands that students answer her, though they are clearly uncomfortable and hesitant.
  • An ex-girlfriend widely spreads false stories about her sex life with her former boyfriend to the clear discomfort of the boyfriend, turning him into a social pariah on campus.
  • Male students take to calling a particular brunette student “Monica” because of her resemblance to Monica Lewinsky. Soon, everyone adopts this nickname for her, and she is the target of relentless remarks about cigars, the president, “sexual relations” and Weight Watchers.

Quid Pro Quo Sexual Harassment

  • Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature by a person having power or authority over another constitutes sexual harassment, when submission to such sexual conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of rating or evaluating an individual's educational (or student employment) progress, development, or performance.
  • This includes when submission to such conduct would be a condition for access to receiving the benefits of any educational program.
  • Examples include: an attempt to coerce an unwilling person into a sexual relationship; to repeatedly subject a person to egregious, unwelcome sexual attention; to punish a refusal to comply with a sexual based request; to condition a benefit on submitting to sexual advances.

Sexual Exploitation:

Taking non-consensual or abusive sexual advantage of another for the benefit of oneself or a third party. Prohibited behavior includes, but is not limited to:

Purposeful distribution or dissemination of sexual or intimate images or recordings of another person without that person's full knowledge or consent;

  • Sexual voyeurism;
  • Inducing another to expose one's genitals or private areas;
  • Prostituting another student;
  • Knowingly exposing someone to or transmitting an STI, STD or HIV to another person;

Non-Consensual Sexual Contact:

Intentional sexual touching, however slight and with any object or part of one's body, of another's private areas without consent (Consent).

Sexual Contact includes:

  • Intentional contact with the breasts, buttock, groin, or genitals;
  • Touching another with any of these body parts;
  • Making another touch you or themselves with or on any of these body parts; or
  • Any other intentional bodily contact in a sexual manner.

Non-Consensual Sexual Intercourse:

Sexual penetration or intercourse, however slight and with any object, without consent (Consent). Penetration can be oral, anal, or vaginal.

Intercourse includes:

  • Vaginal or anal penetration by a penis, object, tongue or finger, no matter how slight the penetration.
  • Oral sex (mouth to genital contact) is considered a form of sexual intercourse. Accordingly, no matter how slight the contact, non-consensual mouth to genital contact is a violation.

Public Indecency:

Engaging in private or sexual acts in a publicly viewable location, such that it is offensive to accepted standards of decency. Including, but not limited to publicly exposing one's genitals or private area(s), public urination, defecation, and/or public sex acts.

Title IX