Sexual Harassment
The Academy takes the issue of sexual harassment very seriously. Students, staff and faculty are urged to adhere to standards established by state and federal regulations.
The Academy recognizes that sexual harassment undermines the integrity of the academic and work environment, and prevents its victims and their peers from achieving their full potential. All members of the Academy community are entitled to work and study in an atmosphere free from sexual overtures or innuendos that are unsolicited and unwelcome. It is the particular responsibility of those members of the Academy community who hold positions of authority over others to avoid actions that are or can be considered sexually abusive or unprofessional.
Consensual and Therapeutic Relationships
The Academy strongly discourages faculty/students and staff/faculty or students entering into a romantic/sexual relationship while an instructional or professional relationship exists. Engaging in a romantic/sexual relationship with any student for whom a faculty member has, or should expect to have in the future, academic, instructional, evaluative, or supervisory responsibility is unacceptable, as is academic or clinical supervision of any student with whom a faculty member has a sexual/romantic relationship. Faculty members are asked to disclose to the Administration if a dating relationship does develop between themselves and a student. Doing so will not only help the Administration protect the student(s) but the faculty member(s) as well.
Additionally, the college discourages students and faculty from having a therapeutic relationship anywhere other than in a professional, treatment office setting.
Harassment
While it is not easy to define precisely what harassment is, it includes: slurs, epithets, threats, derogatory comments, visual depictions, unwelcome jokes and teasing.
Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and/or verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature which: 1) makes submission to or rejection of such conduct either an explicit or implicit basis for employment and/or academic decisions affecting the individual; or 2) unreasonably interferes with the individual’s employment or academic performance by creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment.
Conduct which falls into the definition of sexual harassment includes, but is not limited to:
- unwelcome physical contact of a sexual nature such as patting, pinching or unnecessary touching.
- overt or implied threats against an individual to induce him or her to perform sexual favors or to engage in an unwelcome sexual relationship.
- verbal harassment or abuse of a sexual nature, including intimating by way of suggestion a desire for sexual relations, or making jokes or remarks of a sexual nature to or in front of a person who finds them offensive.
- use of sexually suggestive terms or gestures to describe a person’s body, clothing or sexual activities.
displaying or posting offensive sexually suggestive pictures or materials in the work place.