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SP 19-60a - Civil Rights and Sexual Misconduct Resolution Process |Colorado Community College System (cccs.edu) (newly effective as of August 1, 2024)
Listed here are the Civil Rights & Title IX Trainings that NJC's Title IX Coordinator and EO Coordinator have attended:
Non-Civil Rights Complaint Form - Employees
Non-Civil Rights Complaint Form - Students
Civil Rights and Sexual Misconduct Resolution Procedure
Safety and Security - Clery | Northeastern Junior College (njc.edu)
This procedure applies to the Colorado Community College System, including its Colleges (CCCS or System).
Allegations that an individual has engaged in any discriminatory, harassing, and/or retaliatory behavior, including sexual misconduct, after the effective date of this procedure will be resolved under this procedure.
Board Policy (BP) 19-60 provides that individuals affiliated with CCCS shall not discriminate or harass on the basis of sex, gender, race, color, age, creed, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, familial or marital status, veteran or military status, pregnancy status or related conditions, religion, genetic information, sexual orientation, sex characteristics, sex stereotypes, gender identity, or gender expression, or any other protected class or category under applicable local, state, or federal law (also known as “civil rights laws”), in connection with employment practices or educational programs and activities (including in admissions). BP 19-60 further provides that individuals affiliated with CCCS shall not retaliate against any person who opposes discrimination, harassment, or retaliation, or participates in any complaint or investigation process.
Individuals affiliated with the Colorado Community College System, including Northeastern Junior College, shall not discriminate or harass on the basis of sex, gender, race, color, age, creed, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, familial status, veteran or military status, pregnancy or related conditions, marital status, religion, genetic information, gender identity, sexual orientation, sex characteristics, sex stereotypes, gender expression, or any other protected class or category under applicable local, state or federal law (also known as “civil rights laws”), in connection with employment practices or educational programs and activities (including in admissions). BP 19-60 further provides that individuals affiliated with CCCS shall not retaliate against any person who opposes discrimination, harassment, or retaliation, or participates in any complaint or investigation process.
The College prohibits any acts of retaliation. Retaliation is defined as any adverse employment or educational action taken against a person because of the person’s participation, or perceived participation, in a complaint or investigation of discrimination and/or harassment. Retaliation also includes any act to intimidate, threaten, coerce, or discriminate against any individual for the purpose of interfering with any right or privilege provided by applicable civil rights laws, policies, and procedures.
Vice President of Student Services & Title IX Coordinator—Steve Smith; (970) 521-6657
Steven.Smith@njc.edu
Director of Human Resources & EO Coordinator-Jeri Estrada; (970) 521-6730
Jeri.Estrada@njc.edu
Assistant Director of Human Resources & Deputy Title IX Coordinator-Samantha Roberts; (970) 521-6661
Samantha.Roberts@njc.edu
Vice President of Academic Services—Sam Soliman; (970) 521-6606
Sam.Soliman@njc.edu
Director of Residence Life and Student Activities—Brant Davis; (970) 521-6655
Brant.Davis@njc.edu
Campus Safety Coordinator—Andrew De Souza; (970) 521-6683
Andrew.Desouza@njc.edu
• To file a report of discrimination/harassment:
Contact the Title IX/EO Coordinator at the contact information provided.
• To file a report with local law enforcement:
Report to local law enforcement.
Sterling Police Department
421 N 4th St
PO Box 4000
Sterling, CO 80751
(970) 522-3512
policemail@sterlingcolo.com
In addition to reporting to CCCS, any person has the right to file a police report. Complainants requiring assistance with this should contact the Title IX/EO Coordinator.
Student Complainants also have the right to make inquiries and/or file a complaint with:
Office for Civil Rights (OCR)
U.S. Department of Education
Cesar E. Chavez Memorial Building
1244 Speer Boulevard, Suite 310
Denver, CO 80204-3582
Telephone: (303) 844-5695
Facsimile: (303) 844-4303
Email: OCR.Denver@ed.gov
Web: http://www.ed.gov/ocr
Employee Complainants also have the right to make inquiries and/or file a complaint with:
Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA)
Colorado Civil Rights Division (CCRD)
1560 Broadway, Suite 825
Denver, CO 80202
Telephone: (303) 894-2997
Facsimile: (303) 894-7570
Email: dora_CCRD@state.co.us
Web: https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/dora/civil-rights
Or
United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
950 17th Street, Suite 300
Denver, CO 80202
Telephone: (800) 669-4000
Facsimile: (303) 866-1085
Web: https://www.eeoc.gov/field-office/denver/location
Employees who become aware of a student's pregnancy or related condition are required to provide the student with the contact information of the Title IX/EO Coordinator so they can coordinate specific actions to ensure the student’s access to the college’s educational program or activity. To request reasonable modifications for pregnancy or related conditions, contact the Title IX/EO Coordinator at the above information.
For more information about the college’s policy regarding pregnancy or related conditions, contact the Title IX or EO Coordinator.
“Supportive Measures” are non-disciplinary, non-punitive individualized services offered as appropriate, as reasonably available, and without fee or charge to the Complainant or the Respondent before or after the filing of a formal complaint or where no complaint has been filed. Such measures are designed to restore or preserve equal access to educational and employment programs and/or activities without unreasonably burdening the other party, including measures designed to protect the safety of all parties or the educational/employment environment or deter sexual harassment. Supportive measures may include (but not limited to):
2023-VAWA-Brochure-revised.pdf (nhlp.org)
For more information about supportive measures, contact the Title IX or EO Coordinator.
Colorado Department of Education (CDE) and Title IX
201 East Colfax Ave.
Denver, CO 80203
Phone: 303-866-6600
Fax: 303-830-0793
Sexual Assault Response Advocates (S.A.R.A.)
418 Ensign Street
Fort Morgan, Colorado 80701
(Phone) 970-867-2121 (Fax) 970-867-4714
(Toll Free) 1-855-440-SARA (7272)
http://sarainc.org/
Pandora’s Project: Support and resources for survivors of rape and sexual abuse www.pandys.org
Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network
www.rainn.org
If you are a victim of a sexual assault, you may decide to request a medical forensic exam from a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) to preserve evidence that may be used for the purposes of legal action. While you do not need to decide immediately if you want to report to law enforcement or pursue legal action, the preservation of evidence is most effective when done immediately after an assault. It is ideal to obtain medical treatment as soon as possible before bathing, showering, douching, or changing clothes. There is no cost to the exam. You may go to the following emergency room providers to request a SANE exam: SANELocations.pdf (state.co.us). If you do not have transportation to the facility, you may contact a friend or family member, or sexual assault advocates that will provide transportation, taxi service, public transportation, or other providers. Any cost for transportation is the responsibility of the student. Victims who chose to have a medical forensic examination done are not obligated, at any time, to participate in a law enforcement
investigation or any criminal justice response
along with any administrative proceedings with the College. If you have further questions, please contact the NJC Title IX Coordinator.
Colleges must keep a repository of all written or oral complaints for seven (7) years including date, identity of the Complainant (or anonymous), identity of Respondent, and substance of the complaint. This repository is not a public record.
Other records related to civil rights complaints (including Sexual Misconduct) must be maintained for a period of seven (7) years. Such records may include: informal resolution outcomes, preliminary investigation reports, final investigation reports, determination reports, recordings or transcripts, notices of findings, appeals and appeal outcomes, and discipline or remedies imposed.
CCCS reserves the right to change any provision or requirement of this procedure at any time and the change shall become effective immediately.
“ADA, Title VI and Title VII Coordinator (EO Coordinator), and Title IX Coordinator” is/are the employee(s) designated at the System Office and each College to oversee all civil rights, including sexual misconduct, complaints. A “Deputy” EO and/or Title IX Coordinator may also be designated to act on behalf of the Coordinator, but the Coordinator retains ultimate oversight over the responsibilities. All references in policies and procedures to the Coordinator include the Deputy Coordinator.
“Coercion”, in the context of sexual misconduct, is unreasonable pressure for sexual activity. Coercive behavior differs from seductive behavior based on the type of pressure someone uses to get consent from another. When a person makes it objectively clear that they do not want to engage in sexual activity, that they want to stop, or that they do not want to go past a certain point of sexual interaction, continued pressure beyond that point can be coercive.
“Complainant” is a person who is alleged to have been subjected to conduct that could constitute unlawful civil rights discrimination or retaliation. For purposes of this procedure, a Complainant can be a CCCS employee, student, or other person who is participating or attempting to participate in an activity over which CCCS has jurisdiction.
“Complaint” means an oral or written request that objectively can be understood as a request for the System Office or College to investigate and make a determination about alleged prohibited conduct.
“Consent” for sexual activity must be clear, knowing, and voluntary. Consent is active, not passive. Silence, in and of itself, cannot be interpreted as consent. Consent can be given by words or actions, as long as those words or actions demonstrate permission, based on an objective standard, regarding willingness to engage in (and the conditions of) sexual activity. Further, consent to any one form of sexual activity does not automatically imply consent to any other forms of sexual activity. Previous sexual activity or prior consent do not imply consent to future sexual acts. The consideration of prior, irrelevant sexual conduct, except relating to a prior relationship or history between the parties if relevant to some material issue in the process, is prohibited. Consent cannot be given if force, incapacitation, or coercion are used to engage in sexual activity.
“Dating Violence” is 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 shall be determined based on the reporting party’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. There is no Colorado state law on dating violence; therefore, CCCS abides by the definition used in the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (VAWA) of 2013.
“Disciplinary Authority” is the individual with authority, or delegated authority, to impose discipline upon a Respondent.
“Discrimination” is any distinction, preference, advantage, or detriment given to a person based on one or more actual or perceived protected classes.
“Domestic Violence” includes any act or threatened act of violence upon a person with whom the actor is or has been involved in an intimate relationship. Domestic Violence also includes any other crime against a person or property, including an animal, or any municipal ordinance violation against a person, or against property, including an animal, when used as a method of coercion, control, punishment, intimidation, or revenge directed against a person with whom the actor is or has been involved in an intimate relationship. (C.R.S. § 18-6-800.3). Domestic violence further includes felony or misdemeanor crimes 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 cohabitating 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 Colorado, or 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 Colorado.
“Force” is the use of physical violence and/or imposing on someone physically to engage in sexual activity. Force also includes threats, intimidation (implied threats), and coercion that overcomes resistance.
“Harassment” is a form of discrimination that involves any unwelcome physical or verbal conduct, or any communication directed at an individual or group because of their membership or perceived membership in a protected class, which conduct is subjectively offensive to the Complainant and objectively offensive to a reasonable individual who is a member of the same protected class. It need not be severe or pervasive, but petty slights, minor annoyances, and lack of good manners do not constitute harassment. Types of harassment include quid pro quo and hostile environment. With respect to harassment based upon sex, types of harassment also include sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking.
“Hostile Environment” occurs when a person is subjected to harassment that unreasonably interferes with an employee’s work performance, denies or limits any person’s ability to participate in or benefit from an education program or activity, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working or educational environment. Factors to consider include the degree to which the conduct affected the Complainant’s ability to access the program or activity; the number of individuals engaged in the conduct; type, frequency, duration, and location of the conduct; the context in which the conduct occurred; other sex-based harassment in the education program or activity; the parties’ ages; previous interactions between the parties; whether the conduct is threatening; the parties’ roles within the System/College and the existence of a power differential; use of epithets/slurs that are humiliating or degrading; and stereotypes.
“Incapacitation” is a state where someone cannot make rational, reasonable decisions because they lack the capacity to give knowing consent. Incapacitation could result from mental or physical disability, sleep, unconsciousness, involuntary physical restraint, being underage, or from the ingestion of drugs or alcohol.
Sexual activity with someone whom one should know to be — or, based on the circumstances, should reasonably have known to be — mentally or physically incapacitated, is a form of sexual misconduct.
Use of alcohol or other drugs will never function as a defense to a violation of this procedure.
“Investigator” is a person charged to investigate the civil rights complaint by the Title IX/EO Coordinator.
“Jurisdiction” applies to behaviors that take place on a CCCS campus or site, at CCCS sponsored events, and may also apply to off-campus and online behavior when the Title IX/EO Coordinator determines that the off-campus or online behavior affects a substantial CCCS interest.
“Pregnancy or Related Conditions” means pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, or lactation; medical conditions related to pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, or lactation; or recovery from pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, or related medical conditions.
“Quid Pro Quo” is a type of harassment that exists when submission to the harassing conduct is explicitly or implicitly made a term or condition of employment or education, or when submission to or objection to the harassing conduct is used as a basis for employment or educational decisions.
“Relevant” means related to the allegations that are under investigation. Evidence is relevant when it may aid a decision-maker in determining whether the alleged civil rights violation occurred.
“Respondent” is a person whose alleged conduct is the subject of a complaint. For purposes of this procedure, a Respondent may be a CCCS employee, student, or other person who engages in conduct over which CCCS has jurisdiction.
“Retaliation” is any adverse employment or educational action taken against a person because of the person’s participation or perceived participation in a complaint or investigation of discrimination and/or harassment. Retaliation also includes any act to intimidate, threaten, coerce, or discriminate against any individual for the purpose of interfering with any right or privilege provided by applicable civil rights laws, policies, and procedures.
“Sexual Assault” is an offense classified as a forcible or nonforcible sex offense as defined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s uniform crime reporting system. Sexual assault includes rape, fondling, incest, and statutory rape.
Sexual assault further includes any sexual intrusion, sexual penetration, or sexual contact on a victim if the actor knows the victim does not consent, the actor knows the victim is incapable of appraising the nature of the victim’s conduct, the actor knows the victim submits erroneously believing the actor to be the victim’s spouse, the victim is not of legal age to consent, the actor knows the victim is physically helpless and has not consented, or any other circumstances defined by state law to be sexual assault or unlawful sexual contact. (C.R.S. §§ 18-3-402, 404).
“Sexual Misconduct” is any discrimination, harassment, or retaliation based on sex, including sex harassment, sexual assault (e.g., rape, fondling, incest, statutory rape), domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking.
“Stalking” is 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. Stalking further includes directly or indirectly through another person, knowingly:
“Supportive Measures” are non-disciplinary, non-punitive, individualized services offered as appropriate, as reasonably available, and without fee or charge to the Complainant or the Respondent before or after the filing of a formal complaint or where no formal complaint has been filed. Such measures are designed to restore or preserve equal access to educational and employment programs and/or activities without unreasonably burdening the other party, including measures designed to protect the safety of all parties or the educational/employment environment, or deter sexual harassment. Supportive measures may include counseling, extensions of deadlines or other course-related adjustments, modifications of work or class schedules, campus escort services, mutual restrictions on contact between the parties, changes in work or housing locations, leaves of absence, increased security and monitoring of certain areas of the campus, and other similar measures.
CCCS will maintain as confidential any supportive measures provided to the Complainant or Respondent, to the extent that maintaining such confidentiality would not impair the ability of CCCS to provide the supportive measures. The Title IX/EO Coordinator is responsible for coordinating the effective implementation of supportive measures. Following the completion of the matter, supportive measures may be ended, continued, or made permanent as deemed necessary.
Colleges must publish the following information on their website and in any employee or student handbooks/catalogs:
Colleges must also publish the following information on their website:
In addition, at least annually, Colleges must disseminate notice of their policy and procedure, and Title IX/EO Coordinator contact information, targeting current students and employees (e.g., by sending an email containing the information), and prospective students and employees (e.g., by including it with the admission or employment application).
For CTE publications, the notice of nondiscrimination must include: “[COLLEGE] will take appropriate steps to ensure that the lack of English language skills will not be a barrier to admission and participation in vocational education programs.”
For Colleges operating in a service area that contains a community of national origin minority persons with limited English language skills, public notification materials must be disseminated to that community in its language. (34 CFR § 100 Appx. B (IV-VI)).
Colleges must ensure that employees receive regular training related to their role in civil rights or sexual misconduct matters.
All employees working with Title IX or sex-based harassment matters (including Title IX/EO Coordinators, investigators, hearing officers, and informal resolution facilitators) must receive training on the following topics:
Additionally, Colleges must offer training to promote awareness of and prevention of sexual misconduct and training on the Prohibition of Discrimination, Harassment, or Retaliation policy and Civil Rights and Sexual Misconduct Resolution procedure (or the College-specific nondiscrimination policy and complaint procedure). This training must be offered annually to all incoming students and new employees and to all students and employees anytime there is a substantial update to the policy or procedure.
For information about obtaining training materials for Coordinators, Informal Resolution Facilitators, Decision-Makers, and Appeals, please contact the Title IX or EO Coordinator.
On or before October 1st every year, CCCS must provide to the Colorado Department of Higher Education:
On or before October 1st every year, CCCS must provide to the Colorado Department of Higher Education:
