The following conduct is prohibited at Douglas Education Center.

Sexual Assault – Sexual assault refers to sexual contact or intercourse that occurs without the explicit consent of the victim. Some forms of sexual assault include:

• Attempted rape
• Fondling or unwanted sexual touching
• Forcing a victim to perform sexual acts, such as oral sex or penetrating the perpetrator’s body
• Penetration of the victim’s body, also known as rape
• Any intentional sexual touching no matter how slight

Sexual Exploitation – is an act or acts committed through non-consensual abuse or exploitation of another person’s sexuality for the purpose of sexual gratification, financial gain, personal benefit or advantage, or any other non-legitimate purpose

Intimate Partner Violence( Dating or Domestic Violence) – Intimate partner violence is any act of violence or the threat of violence that occurs between two individuals who are involved or have been involved in a dating, sexual, spousal, domestic or other intimate relationship. It includes any form prohibited conduct under our policies which includes sexual assault, stalking, sexual exploitation, etc.

Stalking – Stalking occurs when a person engages in a course of conduct directed at another person under circumstances that would cause a reasonable person to fear injury, death, and/or experience significant mental suffering or anguish. Stalking is any method done directly or indirectly (third-party) and can be done physically or electronically (cyber-stalking). It is an act which seeks to monitor, threaten, observe, communicate to or about another person, or interfere with a person’s property.

Sexual Harassment – Sexual harassment is conduct on the basis of sex that:

1. Is committed by a school employee that conditions the provision of an aid, benefit, or service of the school on a individual’s participation in unwelcome sexual conduct

2. Is unwelcome conduct determined by a reasonable person to be so severe pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a personal equal access to a school’s education program or activity

3. Creates a hostile environment which can be judged objectively or subjectively meaning the impacted individual felt the environment was hostile. A single, isolated incident of sexual harassment alone may create a hostile environment if the incident is sufficiently severe. The more severe the conduct, the less need there is to show a repetitive series of incidents to create a hostile environment, particularly if the harassment is physical.

Gender-Based Harassment – Gender-based harassment occurs when a person harasses another based on their gender, sexual orientation, gender expression, or gender identity. This includes any act or the threat to commit an act of aggression, violence, or hostility and can be done verbally or non-verbally. The harassment can but does not need to be based on anything of a sexual nature.

Only a small number of individuals who have experienced prohibited conduct report the incident. There are many reasons why an individual doesn’t report. Common reasons include the fear of not being believed, not having enough evidence that the incident occurred, and the fear of having others find out about the incident. In addition, reporting can sometimes re-traumatize because disclosing the information is similar to reliving the experience.

Douglas Education Center (DEC) strongly advocates that a victim of prohibited conduct report the incident in a timely manner because the ability to gather adequate information, may be limited if a significant length of time as passed. However, we understand that there are reasons why an individual may choose to delay or decline to report.

There is no timeframe to make your decision, and if you do make the decision to report, you can be assured of the following:

1. 1. Your privacy is of the utmost importance to us. Details regarding your case will be kept confidential and only shared with a small number of individuals who need to know.
   2. You can file a report anonymously. This applies only to students who file a personal or third-party report. Employees cannot report anonymously.
   3. Reporting the incident to the school does not obligate you to report the incident to law enforcement. DEC will not report details of your case to law enforcement unless it involves a minor (individuals under the age of 18). If you decide to report the incident to law enforcement, and would like assistance from the school we can accompany you to the police station.
   4. Reporting the incident will not subject you to scrutiny or judgmental opinions from DEC faculty or staff.
   5. Reporting an incident does not necessarily mean that you are requesting an investigation. When making a report you have the option to simply request supportive measures or resources, request that no further action be taken, or request an investigation and remediation of the incident.
   6. You will be given amnesty from our drug and alcohol policy, if either were involved during the prohibited conduct. This can also include respondents to the complaint prohibited conduct, any witnesses, or an individual making a third-party report to the extent that such individual provides information in good faith regarding an investigation of prohibited conduct. Please note that this amnesty applies only to DEC’s policy and does not include an criminal, civil, or legal ramifications that may arise.

    

   How Do I Make a Report?– An individual may make a report using any of the following methods:

   1. Contact DEC’s Title IX Coordinator Michael Crosby. You may stop in his office during regular business hours Monday –Friday 8:30am-5:00pm, Administration Building, Room 203, 130 Seventh Street Monessen, PA 15062.
   2. Through our online reporting form at https://dec.edu/title9.
   3. By email tixcoordinator@dec.edu.
   4. By phone at 724-653-2196.

    

   You may make an initial report to a faculty or staff member that you feel comfortable with. Please note that certain employees are obligated to share this information with the Title IX Coordinator. The Title IX Coordinator will then follow up with you to offer resources, support, and determine how you would like to proceed.

    

   If you would like to file a complaint with law enforcement you may contact the Monessen Police Department at (724) 684-4600.

    

   If you are not ready to make a report, but need someone to talk to about the incident, counseling support is available from Blackburn Center by calling 1-888-832-2272. All of Blackburn Center’s services are free, confidential, and can be anonymous.

Helpful information for survivors of sexual assault or intimate partner violence

There are no rules for what you should do if you are raped or abused. Your safety and survival are always the most important considerations. If you are still alive, you did the right thing. But you still may not feel safe. Here are some suggestions that can help you to heal both physically and emotionally:

• As soon as you can, try to get help. Find a safe place and call the police, a family member, a friend, or look in the telephone book blue pages for a rape crisis or domestic violence hotline (In Westmoreland County, PA, call Blackburn Center at: 724-836-1122 or 1-888-832-2272. National sexual assault hotline: 1-800-656-4673; national domestic violence hotline: 1-800-799-7233). You do not need to give your name to speak with a hotline counselor.

• If you have been raped, consider going to a hospital, even if you don’t think that you have been injured. You may have internal injuries, or have been exposed to a sexually transmitted disease. You can also learn about your options concerning pregnancy. If you decide to go to the hospital:

         ◦ You will be examined for injuries, and evidence will be collected in case you decide to press

         charges, either now or later. It will help if you do not shower, go to the bathroom, brush your teeth,

         drink, eat, or destroy or wash any of the clothing you were wearing. Wear the clothes you were

         wearing at the time of the assault to the hospital. Take a change of clothes with you because they

         will probably keep the clothes you were wearing as evidence. To preserve evidence, try not to

         disturb the scene of the assault.

        ◦ If you think you may have been drugged, tell the nurse and request a urine test. Don’t go to the

         bathroom until you get to the hospital; if you can’t wait, catch the urine in a jar and bring it to the

         hospital. Drugs are usually only detectable for the first 72 hours after ingestion. The first urine voided

         is the best chance for proving a date rape drug was used, but it also will identify any other drugs that

         are in your system.

        ◦ Hospitals are required to report any injury caused by a criminal act, such as a rape, to the police.

         You can choose to speak to the police, refuse to speak with them, or make arrangements to speak

         to them at a later time.

        ◦ A trained medical advocate can come to the hospital to provide information and emotional support.

         If the hospital staff does not offer to get a medical advocate, you can ask them to call your local rape

         crisis center to request one. In Westmoreland County, PA, call Blackburn Center at: 724-836-1122 or

         1-888-832-2272.

• If you have been physically assaulted by an intimate partner or family member, consider going to the hospital if you have injuries that require medical treatment. A trained medical advocate can come to the hospital to provide information and emotional support. If the hospital staff does not offer to get a medical advocate, you can ask them to call your local domestic violence program to request one. In Westmoreland County, PA, call Blackburn Center at: 724-836-1122 or 1-888-832-2272.

• Consider talking about what happened with people you trust and who care about you. They can help you to make and carry out a plan that will keep you safe from the person who harmed you, even if you have to go to school with that person.

• Consider talking to a counselor. You can call a confidential 24-hour hotline (In Westmoreland County, PA, call Blackburn Center at: 724-836-1122 or 1-888-832-2272) any time—immediately after the assault, the next day, months later, or even years after it happened.

The hotline counselor will help you to work through your feelings and fears, to recognize what you can do for yourself and how other people can help you, and make referrals for any other help that you believe you need.

The above information was retrieved from “Blackburn Center Greensburg Anti-Violence Organization.” Blackburn Center Greensburg Anti-Violence Organization, https://www.blackburncenter.org

What is Consent?

Consent is….

• Active: silence is not consent.  The absence of no is not consent.  A person has to actively say YES or otherwise communicate consent.
• Sober: a person who is drunk or on drugs cannot consent to sexual activity.
• Based on Equal Power: a person who is underage, asleep, of lower mental capacity or otherwise vulnerable cannot consent to sex.
• A Choice: consent is not based on pressure, coercion, threats or physical threats.
• Enthusiastic: you should aim for getting a “yes” instead of just avoiding a “no.”  Only have sex if your partner WANTS to have sex with you!
• A Process: consent requires an ongoing conversation; just because a person consents to one sexual activity does not mean that they consent to other sexual activities.  Talk to your partner!

Consent is not….

• Based on What a Person Is Wearing: revealing clothes cannot consent to sex.  Only a person can do that.
• Silence: just because a person is silent does not mean that they are consenting. If it’s not yes, it’s no.
• Drunk/High: an incapacitated person cannot consent.
• Unconscious: an unconscious person cannot consent.
• Coercion: if someone is pressured or threatened, then they have not truly consented. It isn’t consent if you make the other person afraid to say no.
• Implied from Past Encounters: just because someone once agreed to have sex with you (or even if they agreed to marry you), does not mean that they have consented to any future sexual activity

Consent should be given freely and enthusiastically, without pressure or fear. It involves communicating with your partner (or potential partner), and listening to them.  Most importantly, sexual contact without consent is rape (or sexual assault).

The above information was retrieved from “Blackburn Center Greensburg Anti-Violence Organization.”
Blackburn Center Greensburg Anti-Violence Organization, https://www.blackburncenter.org

Federal regulations require all schools to publish the materials used to train their Title IX personnel and make them available for public viewing. Below is the training used by our Title IX staff. If you have any questions regarding this training please contact DEC’s Title IX Coordinator, Michael Crosby at 724-653-2196 or tixcoordinator@dec.edu.

Title IX Coordinator Training part 1 – https://youtu.be/-wK1tETlEHk

Title IX Coordinator Training part 2 – https://youtu.be/a5oCqgiN_ic

Title IX Coordinator Training part 3 – https://youtu.be/lvjT_dTdgvA

Decision Maker Training – https://youtu.be/lziqEn6urtg

Title IX Investigator Training – https://youtu.be/N_HP8vS6A2A

All DEC employees, except those designated as Confidential Resources, are considered Mandated Reporters. This means that once information is disclosed to a Mandated Reporter they are required to report that information to the Title IX Coordinator. Before a person discloses any information to a Mandated Reporter, the Mandated Reporter should ensure that this person is aware of the reporting obligations of the Mandated Reporter.

Certain individuals are designated as Confidential Resources. Confidential resources are able to offer support and resources and will not share information with the Title IX Coordinator or any other employee of Douglas Education Center without the express permission of the disclosing party to the extent permissible by law while still ensuring compliance with other reporting obligations. For example, complaints involving minors are subject to mandatory reporting requirements.