Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) is committed to establishing and maintaining a community rich in equality and free from all forms of discrimination and harassment. Relationship violence and sexual misconduct are prohibited at EMU. As a Christian institution of higher education, EMU affirms that relationship violence and sexual misconduct is harmful to the individuals involved as well as to the campus community. Furthermore, instances of relationship violence and sexual misconduct are often experienced as trauma and can thus have lasting impacts even many years after the originating event/incident.
The university will take prompt and equitable action to eliminate relationship violence and sexual misconduct and prevent its recurrence. When the conduct has a propensity to create a hostile, manipulative, or coercive environment on campus, the university obligates itself to respond in support of all parties involved, the campus community, and others who have been impacted. The university strives to achieve this by ensuring the safety of those who have been harmed and holding accountable those who have done harm.
The purpose of the Relationship Violence and Sexual Misconduct Policy is to define relationship violence and sexual misconduct, describe the process for reporting violations of the policy, outline the procedures used to investigate and resolve alleged violations of the policy, and identify the resources available to members of the EMU community who are involved in an incident of relationship violence and/or sexual misconduct.
In order to establish and maintain a campus community that values the dignity of all, this policy and resolution procedure commits the university to:
- Identify the forms of relationship violence and sexual misconduct that violate this policy;
- Disseminate clear policies and procedures for responding to relationship violence and sexual misconduct or other forms of conduct prohibited under this policy that are reported to the university;
- Develop an ongoing coordinated effort for delivering prevention and awareness programs and ongoing training and education programs to students, faculty, and staff so that they:
- May identify what behavior constitutes relationship violence and sexual misconduct; and
- Understand how to report such misconduct;
- Engage in investigative inquiry and resolution of reports in an adequate, reliable, impartial, prompt, fair, and equitable way;
- Support those who have been harmed and hold persons accountable for established violations of this policy; and
- Provide a written explanation of the rights and options for the Title IX process, interim accommodations, process accommodations, confidential services and community resources to every student or employee that has experienced relationship violence and/or sexual misconduct,regardless of when or where the conduct occurred (Appendices C & D).
In addition, this policy identifies and describes the various roles of the university’s Title IX Coordinator, deputy Title IX Coordinators, Title IX Investigators, and Title IX Review Board; identifies how students, faculty, and staff can report relationship violence, sexual misconduct, or other forms of conduct prohibited under this policy to the university, confidentially; identifies access to on- and off-campus resources available to reporting and responding parties, including the right to notify local law enforcement, be assisted in that notification, and/or decline to notify such authorities; and provides the university with a means to take all reasonable steps to identify relationship violence and sexual misconduct, support prevention of its recurrence, and repair the harmful effects on the reporting party, as appropriate.
Revised August 2019
Approved by President's Cabinet, 2017