SECTION 3.4. Policy on Sexual Harassment, Sexual Assault, Dating Violence, and Stalking

(a) Each postsecondary educational institution shall adopt a policy on sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking applicable to each enrolled student and employee of the institution and have the policy approved by the institution's governing body. The policy must include:

(1) Definitions of prohibited behavior;

(2) Sanctions for violations;

(3) Protocol for reporting and responding to reports of sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking that complies with the electronic reporting requirement in §3.7 of this subchapter (relating to Electronic Reporting Requirement);

(4) Interim measures to protect victims of sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, or stalking pending the institution's disciplinary process, including protection from retaliation, and any other accommodations or supportive measures available to those victims at the institution. This section is not intended to limit an institution's ability to implement accommodations to others as needed; and

(5) A statement regarding:

(A) the importance of a victim of sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, or stalking going to a hospital for treatment and preservation of evidence, if applicable, as soon as practicable after the incident;

(B) the right of a victim of sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, or stalking to report the incident to the institution and to receive a prompt and equitable resolution of the report; and

(C) the right of a victim of a crime to choose whether to report the crime to law enforcement, to be assisted by the institution in reporting the crime to law enforcement, or to decline to report the crime to law enforcement.

(b) Each postsecondary educational institution shall make its policy on sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking available to students, faculty, and staff members by:

(1) including the policy in the student handbook and personnel handbook or the institution's equivalent(s); and

(2) creating and maintaining a web page dedicated solely to the policy that is easily accessible through a clearly identifiable link on the institution's homepage.

(c) Each postsecondary educational institution shall require each entering freshman or undergraduate transfer student to attend an orientation on the institution's sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking policy before or during the first semester or term of enrollment at the institution. The orientation:

(1) may be provided online; and

(2) must include the statements described by subsection (a)(5) of this section.

(d) Each postsecondary educational institution shall develop and implement a comprehensive prevention and outreach program on sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking for enrolled students and employees of the institution. The program must:

(1) address a range of strategies to prevent sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking, including a public awareness campaign; a victim empowerment program; primary prevention; bystander intervention; and risk reduction; and

(2) provide students with information regarding the protocol for reporting incidents of sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking, including the name, office location, and contact information of the institution's Title IX coordinator, by:

(A) e-mailing the information to each student at the beginning of each semester or other academic term;

(B) including the information in the institution's orientation (which may be provided online); and

(C) as part of the protocol for responding to reports of sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking adopted under subsection (a) of this section, each postsecondary educational institution shall:

(i) to the greatest extent practicable based on the number of counselors employed by the institution, ensure each alleged victim or alleged perpetrator of a sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking incident and any other person who reports such incidents are offered counseling provided by a counselor who does not provide counseling to any other person involved in the incident; and

(ii) notwithstanding any other law, allow an alleged victim or alleged perpetrator of a sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking incident to drop a course in which both parties are enrolled without any academic penalty.

(e) Each postsecondary educational institution shall review its sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking policy at least each biennium and revise the policy as necessary and obtain approval from the institution's governing board.

Source Note: The provisions of this §3.4 adopted to be effective January 1, 2020, 45 TexReg 150