Page 77 - Illinois Tech Student Handbook 2022-23

Active: Consent must be communicated in clearly understandable words or actions that reveal one's expectations and agreement to engage in specific sexual or intimate activity. This means that silence, passivity, submission, or the lack of verbal or physical resistance (including the lack of a "no") should not - in and of itself - be understood as consent. Consent cannot be inferred by an individual's manner of dress, the giving or acceptance of gifts, the extension or acceptance of an invitation to go to a private room or location, or going on a date.
Voluntary: Consent must be freely given and cannot be the result of force (violence, physical restraint, or the presence of a weapon); threat or coercion (defined below); or fraud (misrepresentation or material omission about oneself or the present situation in order to gain permission for sexual or intimate activity).
Present and ongoing: Consent must exist at the time of the sexual or intimate activity. Consent to previous sexual or intimate activity does not imply consent to later sexual or intimate acts; similarly, consent to one type of sexual or intimate activity does not imply consent to other sexual or intimate acts. Consent may also be withdrawn at any time by the person making known, by articulated word or concrete action, his or her intention to withdraw it, and thereupon, the sexual or intimate activity should immediately cease.
Threat or Coercion: The direct or implied threat of force, violence, danger, hardship, or retribution sufficient to persuade a reasonable person one would have to submit. Coercive behavior differs from seductive behavior based on the type of pressure someone uses to get consent from another. A person's words or conduct cannot amount to coercion unless they wrongfully impair the other's freedom of will or ability to choose whether or not to engage in sexual activity. When someone makes it clear that they do not want to engage in sexual activity, that they want to stop, or they do not want to go past a certain point of sexual interaction, continued pressure beyond that point can be threatening or coercive.
Incapacitation:
i. The inability to understand the nature of the activity or to give knowing consent;
ii. The inability to understand the "who, what, when, where, and how" of a situation;
iii. When a person is sufficiently intoxicated, high, intellectually disabled or the like such that the person is not capable of understanding and appreciating what is happening; or
iv. The legal inability to give effective consent because of age or declared incompetent.
b. Specific Acts of Sexual Misconduct
As set forth in the Code of Conduct, Illinois Tech prohibits sexual misconduct. Such conduct violates the community values and principles of Illinois Tech and disrupts the living, learning, and working environment for students, faculty, staff and other community members. Therefore, Illinois Tech's Code of Conduct prohibits the actions noted in the Code of Conduct as the same are defined below. An attempt to commit any such act, as well as assisting or willfully encouraging any such act, is also considered a violation of the Code of Conduct. An act may violate one or more provisions of the Code of Conduct; thus, Illinois Tech reserves the right to bring multiple charges against an individual for a single act. As circumstances warrant, a student may also be held responsible for the misconduct of their visitors and guests. The terms and definitions below are important components of Illinois Tech's Code of Conduct. The definitions are intended to give meaning to these terms in the context of the Illinois Tech community.
i. Sexual Assault
The following each are considered a form of sexual assault:
a. Sexual Penetration without Consent (e.g., rape): Any penetration of the sex organs or anus of
another person when consent is not present, or any penetration of the mouth of another person with a sex organ when consent is not present. This includes penetration or intrusion, however slight, of the sex organs or anus of another person by an object or any part of the body, specifically including cunnilingus, fellatio, vaginal intercourse, and anal intercourse.
b. Sexual Contact without Consent (e.g., fondling): Knowingly touching or fondling a person's genitals, breasts, thighs, groin, or buttocks, or knowingly touching a person with one's own genitals, breasts or buttocks, when consent is not present. This includes contact done directly or indirectly
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