Definitions
Advisor/Advocate
An Advisor/Advocate can be any person of a Complainant or Respondent's choosing to support them throughout the investigative process such as a parent, friend, trusted faculty or staff member, or even a lawyer. Advisors/Advocates can attend any meeting or proceeding throughout the entire process as long as they are not a relevant witness.
Affrimative Consent
An affirmative, conscious, and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity. Consent is never implied and cannot be assumed, even in the context of a relationship. It is the responsibility of each person involved in sexual activity to ensure that they have the Affirmative Consent. Affirmative Consent must be ongoing throughout a sexual activity and can be revoked at any time.
Lack of protest or resistance does not mean consent, nor does silence mean consent. The existence of a dating relationship between the persons involved, or the fact of past sexual relations between them, should never by itself be assumed to be an indicator of consent. In California, a minor (meaning a person under the age of 18) cannot consent to sexual activity.
Consent cannot be the result of force, physical violence, threats, intimidation, coercion. or incapacity as a result of drugs, alcohol, sleep, mental or cognitive impairment, injury, or other condition, which was or should have been known to the accused. The absence of “No” does not mean "Yes." Only "Yes" means "Yes."
Complaint
A written or oral statement that alleges Prohibited Discrimination, Unlawful Harassment, or Sexual Misconduct as defined in District policies.
Complainant
A Complainant refers to a person who may file or has filed a Title IX complaint for an alleged violation of LACCD Title IX policy that occurred against them. You may also see Complainants referred to as alleged victims, the reporting party, reporting individual, or survivors.
Dating Violence
Violence, on the basis of sex, committed by a person who is in or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the Complainant.
Domestic Violence
Violence, on the basis of sex, committed by a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the Complainant, by a person with whom the Complainant shares a child in common, or by a person who is cohabitating with, or has cohabitated with, the Complainant as a spouse or intimate partner, or by a person similarly situated to a spouse of the Complainant under the domestic or family violence laws of California, or by any other person against an adult or youth Complainant who is protected from that person’s acts under the domestic or family violence laws of California.
Formal Complaint
For C-15 specific Title IX complaints, a formal complaint is a written document that is submitted or signed by the Complainant or signed by the District Title IX Coordinator that alleges, with sufficient detail, a violation of the District’s policy prohibiting Title IX sexual harassment by a Respondent and requests that the District investigate the allegation(s).
Respondent
A person who is responding to allegations in a complaint filed against them for an alleged violation of LACCD Title IX or discrimination, harassment, and retaliation policies. You may also see Respondents referred to as the alleged offender, perpetrator, or accused.
Retaliation
An adverse action taken against an individual based primarily upon an their participation in protected activity such as an investigation, proceeding, or lawsuit concerning prohibited conduct, discrimination, or harassment as prohibited by state or federal law.
Sexual Harassment
Unwelcome verbal, visual, or physical conduct against a Complainant that is of a sexual nature where the conduct is severe or pervasive enough to create a workplace or academic environment that would be intimidating, hostile, or offensive to a reasonable person.
Sexual Misconduct
Sexual activity where Affirmative Consent is absent. Sexual Misconduct also includes Sexual Harassment, Stalking, Dating Violence, Domestic Violence, and Intimate Partner Violence.
Stalking
Engaging in a course of conduct on the basis of sex 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, a course of conduct means two or more acts, including, but not limited to, acts in which the Respondent 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.