Photo of the Alumni Plaza and the Student Services and Classroom Building on the University of Houston-Clear Lake campus. Image courtesy of UHCL Office of Communications. — UHCL Student Services and Classroom Building. Image courtesy of UHCL Office of Communications.

Sexual Misconduct Policy

By Online Editor Last updated Nov 19, 2015 176 1

At every component within the University of Houston System (UHS), the safety of its students, faculty and staff is vital. Last fall, as part of our commitment to provide a safe learning and working environment, I established the Chancellor’s Sexual Violence Education and Prevention Advisory Committee to address the issue of sexual misconduct. The committee is comprised of representatives from throughout the System to advise me on ways UHS could reduce the risk of sexual harassment, sexual assault, domestic/dating violence, and stalking from occurring on its campuses. After careful review of the various issues related to sexual misconduct at UHS, the Committee has recommended and I approved the new policy as well as several initiatives.

After receiving approval from the Board of Regents, UHS has published a new Sexual Misconduct Policy. The new policy provides information regarding how each component within UHS will proceed once it has been made aware of sexual misconduct and what procedures it will follow to meet its legal obligations under Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination (“SaVE”) Act, Texas Education Code and other legal mandates.

In addition to our new Sexual Misconduct Policy, UHS will also launch Salutations, an online sexual misconduct prevention and awareness training for students as well as an app for student safety, Circle of 6 U, which will be another resource for our students.

Please note that the Salutations training will be required by all new students to comply with the legal mandates that require UHS to provide training on the topic of sexual violence. These efforts promote our collective responsibility as community members to adhere to our standards of conduct and to foster an educational, working and living environment free from sexual misconduct. For more information regarding Salutations, or for information or support resources regarding sexual misconduct, please click here to visit the Salutations website.

The University of Houston System has no tolerance for sexual misconduct, discrimination, fraud or for noncompliance. They are antithetical to all we stand for. As in years past, I encourage you to report any issues related to sexual misconduct to your Title IX Coordinator. Please click here to find your Title IX Coordinator. Issues related to fraud and noncompliance as well as sexual misconduct or discrimination can be reported through our anonymous reporting system, MySafeCampus, which can be found here.