1.Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to articulate The University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s (“UNC Greensboro” or the “University”) opposition to unlawful discrimination, to lay out the scope, definitions, and key roles and responsibilities associated with implementation of this policy, to outline the University’s prohibition against retaliation, and to identify the University’s enforcement protocol. This policy prohibits specific forms of discriminatory behavior that violate Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and its implementing regulation (“Title IX”).

2.Scope

This policy applies to all UNC Greensboro students, employees (full-time, part-time, and temporary employees), and visitors. This policy pertains to acts of Sex Discrimination, including Sex-Based Harassment (“Sex Discrimination” or “Sex-Based Harassment”), as defined herein, committed by or against students and/or employees when the conduct occurs: 

  • on University Premises; or
  • in the context of a UNC Greensboro employment or education program or activity, including but not limited to, locations, internships, placements, events, or circumstances over which UNC Greensboro has substantial control over both the respondent and the context in which the Sex Discrimination or Sex-Based Harassment occurs, including off University Premises and outside the United States; or
  • in any building owned or controlled by a student organization that is officially recognized by UNC Greensboro.

3.Definitions and Roles and Responsibilities

3.1Definitions

3.1.1Complainant

  1. A student or employee who is alleged to have been subjected to conduct that could constitute sex discrimination; or
  2. A person other than a student or employee who is alleged to have been subjected to conduct that could constitute sex discrimination and who was participating or attempting to participate in UNC Greensboro’s employment or education program or activity at the time of the alleged sex discrimination.

3.1.2Complaint

An oral or written request to UNC Greensboro that objectively can be understood as a request for UNC Greensboro to investigate and make a determination about alleged sex discrimination.

3.1.3Confidential Employee

  1. An employee of UNC Greensboro whose communications are privileged or confidential under Federal or state law. The employee’s confidential status, for purposes of this part, is only with respect to information received while the employee is functioning within the scope of their duties to which privilege or confidentiality applies; or
  2. An employee of UNC Greensboro whom UNC Greensboro has designated as confidential for the purpose of providing services to persons related to sex discrimination. The employee’s confidential status is only with respect to information received about sex discrimination in connection with those services when the employee also has a duty not associated with providing those services; or
  3. An employee of UNC Greensboro who is conducting an Institutional Review Board-approved human-subjects research study designed to gather information about sex discrimination. This confidential status is only with respect to information received while conducting the study

3.1.4Consent

Informed (knowing), voluntary (freely given), active (not passive), meaning that, through the demonstration of clear words or actions, a person has indicated permission to engage in mutually agreed- upon sexual activity. Consent cannot be gained by taking advantage of the incapacitation of another and it cannot be obtained by force, including physical violence, threats, intimidation, and/or coercion. Consent, while applicable to students and employees alike, is more thoroughly explained in the Student Code of Conduct.

3.1.5Pregnancy or Related Conditions

  1. Pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, or lactation, and/or medical conditions, and/or recovery; or
  2. Medical conditions related to pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, or lactation; or
  3. Recovery from pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, or related medical conditions.

3.1.6Respondent

A person who is alleged to have violated UNC Greensboro’s prohibition on sex discrimination.

3.1.7Sex Discrimination

Discrimination, including Sex-Based Harassment, on the basis of sex, sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, and pregnancy and related conditions.

3.1.8Sex-Based Harassment

Sex-Based Harassment, is a form of sex discrimination and means sexual harassment and other harassment on the basis of sex, including on the basis of sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity, that is:

  1. Quid pro quo harassment: An employee, agent or other person authorized by UNC Greensboro to provide an aid, benefit, or service under UNC Greensboro’s employment or education program or activity explicitly or impliedly conditioning the provision of such an aid, benefit, or service on a person’s participation in unwelcome sexual conduct; or
  2. Hostile environment harassment: Unwelcome sex-based conduct that, based on the totality of the circumstances, is subjectively and objectively offensive and is so severe or pervasive that it limits or denies a person’s ability to participate in or benefit from UNC Greensboro’s employment or education program or activity (i.e. creates a hostile environment). Whether a hostile environment has been created is a fact-specific inquiry that includes consideration of the following:
    • The degree to which the conduct affected the complainant’s ability to access UNC Greensboro’s employment or education program or activity;
    • The type, frequency, and duration of the conduct;
    • The parties’ ages, roles within UNC Greensboro’s employment or education program or activity, previous interactions, and other factors about each party that may be relevant to evaluating the effects of the conduct;
    • The location of the conduct and the context in which the conduct occurred; and
    • Other sex-based harassment in UNC Greensboro’s employment or education program or activity;
  3. Specific offenses:
    • a. Sexual assault: an offense classified as a forcible or nonforcible sex offense under the uniform crime reporting system of the Federal Bureau of Investigation;
    • b. Dating violence: violence committed by a person:
      • Who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim; and
      • Where the existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on a consideration of the following factors:
        • 1. The length of the relationship;
        • 2. The type of relationship; and
        • 3. The frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship;
    • c. Domestic Violence: a felony or misdemeanor crime committed by a person who:
      • Is a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim under the family or domestic violence laws of North Carolina, or a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim;
      • Is cohabiting, or has cohabited, with the victim as a spouse or intimate partner;
      • Shares a child in common with the victim; or
      • Commits acts against a youth or adult victim who is protected from those acts under the family or domestic violence laws of North Carolina; or
    • d. Stalking: engaging in 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.

3.2Roles and Responsibilities

3.2.1Title IX Coordinator

The employee responsible for coordinating UNC Greensboro’s efforts to comply with UNC Greensboro’s responsibilities under Title IX. The Title IX Coordinator oversees the dual investigation model, to the extent determined necessary by the Title IX Coordinator.

3.2.2Title IX Investigator

Official(s) appointed to investigate an alleged violation of this policy. Officials serving as Title IX Investigators may include both external individuals and employees. For matters involving staff employees, Human Resources may designate an employee to assist with the investigation. For matters involving faculty employees, the Office of the Provost may designate an employee to assist with the investigation.

3.2.3Title IX Office Response

UNC Greensboro will provide Title IX complainants with options for resolution:

  1. Supportive Measures: non-disciplinary, non-punitive individualized services offered to parties to restore or preserve that party’s access to UNC Greensboro’s employment or education program or activity or provide support during UNC Greensboro’s Title IX grievance procedures or informal resolution process.
  2. Informal Resolution: In lieu of resolving a complaint through the grievance procedures, the parties may instead elect to participate in an informal resolution process.
  3. Title IX Grievance Procedure: UNC Greensboro will provide for an adequate, reliable, and impartial investigation of complaints. The burden is on UNC Greensboro- not on the parties- to conduct an investigation that gathers sufficient evidence to determine whether Sex Discrimination occurred. Following an investigation, the Title IX Office and/or their designee, will forward the Investigation Report to the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities, Human Resources, and/or the Office of the Provost, depending on the respondent’s affiliation with the University, for evaluation of the evidence.

4.Policy

UNC Greensboro does not discriminate on the basis of sex and prohibits sex discrimination, including sexual harassment, and retaliation in any employment or education program or activity that it operates, as required by Title IX, including in admission and employment.

4.1Retaliation Prohibited

No student, employee, or visitor may intimidate, threaten, coerce, or discriminate against any individual for the purpose of interfering with any right or privilege secured under this policy, or because the individual has made a report or complaint, testified, assisted, or participated or refused to participate in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under this policy.

Charging an individual with a UNC Greensboro policy violation for making a materially false statement in bad faith in the course of a Title IX grievance procedure under this policy does not constitute retaliation, provided that a determination regarding responsibility, for allegations in the underlying Title IX grievance procedure, in and of itself, is not sufficient to conclude that any part made a materially false statement in bad faith. 

4.2Reporting Requirements

4.2.1Confidential Employees

Confidential Employees must explain, when receiving information from reporting parties:

  1. Their status as a Confidential Employee, including the circumstances in which they are not required to notify the Title IX Coordinator about conduct that reasonably may constitute Sex Discrimination;
  2. How to contact UNC Greensboro’s Title IX Coordinator and how to make a complaint of Sex Discrimination; and
  3. That the Title IX Coordinator may be able to offer and coordinate supportive measures, as well as initiate an informal resolution process or an investigation under the Title IX grievance procedures.

4.2.2All Other Employees

All employees who are not designated as Confidential Employees must:

  1. Notify the Title IX Coordinator when they have information about conduct that reasonably may constitute Sex Discrimination; and;
  2. Provide the contact information for the Title IX Coordinator to anyone reporting information about conduct that reasonably may constitute Sex Discrimination

4.3Annual Mandatory Training

All UNC Greensboro employees must be trained annually on:

  1. UNC Greensboro’s obligation to address Sex Discrimination in its education program or activity;
  2. The scope of conduct that constitutes Sex Discrimination under Title IX, including the definition of sex-based harassment; and
  3. All applicable notification and information requirements.

4.4NCAA Compliance

UNC Greensboro complies with the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletics Association) Board of Governors Policy on Campus Sexual Violence. All NCAA student-athletes must disclose any conduct that resulted in discipline through either a Title IX proceeding or in a criminal conviction for sexual, interpersonal, or other acts of violence. Transfer student-athletes must also disclose whether a Title IX proceeding was incomplete at the time of transfer. Failure to make a full and accurate disclosure could result in penalties, including loss of scholarship, inability to participate in athletics, and retraction of admission. Student-athletes with serious misconduct offenses may also be subject to penalties, at the discretion of UNC Greensboro.

5.Compliance and Enforcement

The Office of Institutional Integrity and General Counsel, Office of the Provost, and Human Resources, in cooperation with other UNC Greensboro administrators, will enforce this Policy, and establish standards, procedures, and protocols in support of the policy.

Students who violate this policy may be subject to the Student Code of Conduct and related disciplinary action. Employees who violate this policy may be subject to disciplinary action subject to the employee’s status (i.e. SHRA, EPS, faculty, etc.) For a description of UNC Greensboro’s procedures, see titleix.uncg.edu.

6.Additional Information

6.3Approval Authority

Chancellor

6.4Contacts for Additional Infomration and Reporting

Responsible Executive: Vice Chancellor for Institutional Integrity and General Counsel

Phone number: 336.256.0531; Location: Mossman Administration Building

Responsible Administrator: Title IX Coordinator ([email protected])

Phone Number: 336.256.0422; Location: 238 Elliott University Center

6.5Concerns

Concerns about UNC Greensboro’s application of Title IX may be addressed to the Title IX Coordinator by email [email protected], by phone 336.256.0422, or in person at 238 Elliott University Center and/or to the United States Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights at [email protected] or (800) 421-3481.

Revisions

Revision Date Revision Summary
08/10/2020 Replaced Policy on Sexual and Gender-Based Harrassment, Sex Discrimination, and Other Forms of Interpersonal Violence
08/22/2022 Revised to recognize resources and support for pregnant and parenting students; and to be consistent with Policy template
08/01/2024 Revised and Updated to Conform with Updated Federal Regulations

- Title IX Policy. Retrieved 10/12/2024. Official version at https://policy.uncg.edu/university_policies/title-ix-policy/. Copyright © 2024 The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.