Policy Against Discrimination, Discriminatory Harassment and Retaliation

Prohibited Conduct

The Policy prohibits all conditions and all actions or omissions, including all acts of discrimination, discriminatory harassment and retaliation, which deny or have the effect of denying to any person their rights to equity and security on the basis of their membership in or association with a member(s) of any protected class. This Policy reaffirms the values of civility, pluralism and pre-eminence of individual human dignity as preconditions to the achievement of an academic community, which recognizes and utilizes the resources of all people.

The prohibited conduct contained in this Policy shall apply to and be enforced against all members of the University community, including, but not limited to, faculty, librarians, administrators, staff, students, vendors, contractors and all others having dealings with the institution.

Examples of discrimination, all of which are prohibited by this Policy, include, but are not limited to:

• Differences in terms, conditions and privileges of employment (including, but not limited to hiring, promotion, reassignment, termination, salary, salary increases, discipline, granting of tenure, selection for awards, etc.) on a prohibited basis.
• Disparity of treatment in educational programs and related support services on the basis of membership in a protected class.
• Differences in salaries or other benefits that are paid to one or more men or women if the differences are not based on a bona fide occupational qualification.
• Developing position descriptions or qualifications, which, without lawful justification, are so specific as to have a disparate exclusionary impact on a group of individuals because of their membership in a protected class.
• Limiting access to housing, or participation in athletic, social, cultural or other activities to students because of membership in a protected class not based on a bona fide requirement or distinction.
• Failing or refusing to hire or promote a person because of their age.
• Classifying a position or positions as unsuitable for persons of certain religions.
• Excluding members of a certain race or national origin from a category of positions or from a department or division.
• Restricting the number of veterans or qualified persons with disabilities in a category of positions or in a department or division.
• Using information on marital or parental status for employment decisions where the use of such information has a disparate impact on persons of one gender or sexual orientation.
• Advising students of similar interests and backgrounds differently because of their gender or gender identity.
• Forcing female students to sit in the back of the class on the stereotyped assumption that each of them has a lower aptitude for learning that particular subject than male students.
• Placing unreasonable expectations upon students of particular races or national origins based on stereotyped assumptions that members of those protected classes have a better aptitude for certain academic subjects than students not of those protected classes.

Examples of discriminatory harassment, all of which are prohibited by this Policy, include, but are not limited to:

• Physically harassing another individual or group because of that person’s or persons’ membership in a protected class by assaulting, touching, patting, pinching, grabbing, staring, leering at them, making lewd gestures, invading their personal space, blocking their normal movement, or other physical interference.
• Encouraging others to physically or verbally abuse an individual (or group of individuals) because of that person or persons’ membership in a protected class.
• Threatening to harm an individual or group because of that person or persons’ membership in a protected class.
• Directing epithets, slurs, derogatory comments, unwelcome jokes or stories at an individual or group because of that person or persons’ membership in a protected class.
• Displaying hostile, derogatory and/or intimidating symbols/objects, such as posters, cartoons, bulletins, drawings, photographs, magazines, written articles or stories, screen savers, or electronic communications, to an individual or group because of that person or persons’ membership in a protected class.

Examples of retaliation, all of which are prohibited by this Policy, include, but are not limited to:

• Terminating an employee for stating an intention to file a complaint of discrimination or for assisting another employee in filing a discrimination complaint.
• Refusing to hire an employee because the employee pursued an age discrimination charge against a former employer.
• Denying a promotion to an employee for complaining about alleged sexual orientation harassment.
• Refusing tenure to a faculty member for filing a complaint of sexual harassment pursuant to the Complaint Investigation and Resolution Procedures.
• Issuing an unjustified negative evaluation to an employee for testifying in a legal proceeding concerning a complaint of discrimination or harassment.
• Assigning a student an unearned poor grade for requesting a reasonable academic accommodation based on religion.
• Assigning a student an unearned failing grade for cooperating with an internal investigation of alleged discriminatory practices or a complaint of discrimination or harassment.
• Refusing to admit a student for requesting a reasonable accommodation based on disability in the admission process.

Members of the academic community should not assume that any of the forms of speech described above are protected by the principles of academic freedom or the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Conduct that is Not Prohibited 

The Universities are committed to protecting, maintaining and encouraging both freedom of expression and full academic freedom of inquiry, teaching, service, and research. Nothing in this Policy shall be construed to penalize a member of the University community for expressing an opinion, theory, or idea in the process of responsible teaching and learning. Accordingly, any form of speech or conduct that is protected by the principles of academic freedom or the First Amendment to the United States Constitution is not subject to this Policy.