Definitions
Consent: An understandable exchange of affirmative actions or words that indicate an active,
knowing, and voluntary agreement to engage in mutually agreed upon sexual activity.
- Silence or previous history does not indicate consent. Consent must be given for every
instance of every act.
- Consent can be withdrawn at any time.
- A person cannot consent if the person is incapacitated from alcohol or drugs, asleep,
or otherwise mentally or physically unable to consent to sexual activity. A person
must reasonably know or should have known the person was incapacitated for there to
be a lack of consent.
- A person cannot consent if the person is under the age of consent pursuant to Florida
law.
- Consent must be freely given and cannot be granted under psychological, emotional,
or physical force, manipulation, coercion, persuasion or threats.
Sexual Misconduct: An umbrella term used to refer to a broad range of sexually inappropriate behaviors
that includes sexual violence (rape/sexual battery/sexual assault); sexual harassment;
intimate partner violence (domestic violence, dating violence, relationship violence);
stalking; sexual exploitation; and other forms of sexually exploitative behavior that
can occur between strangers or acquaintances, including people involved in an intimate
or sexual relationship. Sexual Misconduct can be committed by any person and can occur
between people of the same or different sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity
or gender expression.
Sexual Harassment: As defined in Title IX, conduct on the basis of sex that satisfies one or more of
the following:
- A University employee conditioning the provision of an aid, benefit, or service of
the University on an individual's participation in unwelcome sexual conduct;
- Unwelcome conduct determined by a reasonably person to be so severe, pervasive, and
objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to the University's
education program or activity; or
- For instances where the conduct is outside the scope of Title IX but is within the
purview of the University jurisdiction or Title VII as it pertains to employment law,
the definition of sexual harassment is severe, pervasive, or objectively offensive.
- Sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, or stalking as defined below and
consistent with federal law.
Sexual Assault: As defined in the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 is any non-consensual sexual
act proscribed by the Federal, tribal, or State law, including when the victim lacks
capacity to consent. This includes, but is not limited to, attempted sexual assault
and the following:
- Rape. The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus, with any body part
or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent
of the victim.
- Fondling. The touching of the private body parts of another person for the purpose of sexual
gratification, without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim
is incapable of giving consent because of his/her age or because of his/her temporary
or permanent mental incapacity.
- Incest. Sexual intercourse between persons who are related to each other within the degrees
wherein marriage is prohibited by law.
- Statutory Rape. Sexual intercourse with a person who is under the statutory age of consent.
Dating Violence: As defined in the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, violence committed by a person
who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with
the victim. The existence of such a relationship is determined based on the Complainant’s
statement and with consideration of the length of the relationship, the type of relationship,
and the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship.
Dating violence includes, but is not limited to, sexual or physical abuse or the threat
of such abuse. Dating violence does not include acts covered under the definition
of domestic violence.
Domestic Violence: As defined in the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, any felony or misdemeanor crime
of violence committed:
- By a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim;
- By a person with whom the victim shares a child in common;
- By a person who is cohabiting with, or 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 the jurisdiction in which the crime of violence occurred;
- By any other person against an adult or youth victim who is protected from that person's
acts under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction in which the crim
of violence occurred.
Stalking: As defined in the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, a course of conduct directed
at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to:
- Fear for the person's safety or the safety of others; or
- Suffer substantial emotional distress.
- For the purposes of this definition:
- Course of conduct means two or more acts, including, but not limited to, acts in which
the stalker directly, indirectly, or through third parties, by any action, method,
device, or means, follows, monitors, observes, surveils, threatens, or communicates
to or about a person, or interferes with a person's property.
- Reasonable person means a reasonable person under similar circumstances and with similar
identities to the victims.
- Substantial emotional distress means significant mental suffering or anguish that
may, but does not necessarily require medical or other professional treatment or counseling.
