GT & MSE Policy on sexual harassment & resources 

The faculty, staff, and students in the School of Materials Science and Engineering are committed to recognizing sexual harassment, understanding its differential impacts on our community, and taking personal responsibility and action to create an organizational climate that resists sexual harassment and promotes equality.

POLICY

Discrimination on the basis of sex is prohibited by the Georgia Institute of Technology. This prohibition applies to students, faculty, staff, and all other members of the Institute community.

Complaints of sex discrimination, including but not limited to nonconsensual sexual contact, sexual harassment, stalking, intimate partner violence, dating violence, and retaliation, shall be addressed as provided in Policy 6.7 (Sexual Misconduct Policy) and Policy 4.6.5 (Standards for Institutional Student Conduct Investigation and Disciplinary Proceedings) of the Policy Manual of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia.  The Student Code of Conduct (Non-Academic Misconduct) may also apply where the Board of Regents policies are silent.

The Board of Regents Sexual Misconduct Policy (Policy 6.7) applies to all members of the Institute community. Policy 4.6.5 sets forth the process and procedures for claims of sexual misconduct committed by students.

UNDERSTANDING SEXUAL MISCONDUCT

What is sexual misconduct?  

  • ANY sexual behavior that is unwelcome and without consent 

1. Sexual harassment includes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature in the workplace or learning environment, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Sexual harassment does not always have to be specifically about sexual behavior or directed at a specific person. For example, negative comments about women as a group may be a form of sexual harassment. 3 type of sexual harassment

2. Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors.[1] Sexual harassment includes a range of actions from verbal transgressions to sexual abuse or assault.[2] Harassment can occur in many different social settings such as the workplace, the home, school, churches, etc. Harassers or victims may be of any gender.[3]

  • Can be committed by a person of any gender to a person of any gender
  • Can be, but is not limited to:
    • Dating Violence: Violence committed by a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the alleged victim. Dating violence includes, but is not limited to, sexual or physical abuse or the threat of such abuse. Dating violence does not include acts covered under the definition of domestic violence.
    • Domestic Violence: Violence committed by a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the alleged victim; by a person with whom the alleged 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, or by a person similarly situated to a spouse of the alleged victim.
    • Incapacitation: The physical and/or mental inability to make informed, rational judgments. It can result from mental disability, sleep, involuntary physical restraint, status as a minor under the age of 16, or from intentional or unintentional taking of alcohol and/or other drugs. Whether someone is incapacitated is to be judged from the perspective of an objectively reasonable person.
    • Nonconsensual Sexual Contact: Any physical contact with another person of a sexual nature without the person’s consent. It includes but is not limited to touching (or penetrating) of a person’s intimate parts (such as genitalia, groin, breasts, or buttocks); touching (or penetrating) a person with one’s own intimate parts; or forcing a person to touch his or her own or another person’s intimate parts.
    • Sexual Exploitation: Taking non-consensual or abusive sexual advantage of another for one’s own advantage or benefit, or for the benefit or advantage of anyone other than the one being exploited. 

Examples of sexual exploitation may include, but are not limited to, the following: 

  • Invasion of sexual privacy; 
  • Prostituting another individual; infographic
  • Non-consensual photos, video, or audio of sexual activity; 
  • Non-consensual distribution of photo, video, or audio of sexual activity, even if the sexual activity was consensual
  • Intentional observation of nonconsenting individuals who are partially undressed, naked, or engaged in sexual acts;
  • Knowingly transmitting an STD or HIV to another individual through sexual activity;
  • Intentionally and inappropriately exposing one’s breasts, buttocks, groin, or genitals in non-consensual circumstances
  • Sexually-based bullying
  • Sexual Misconduct: Includes, but is not limited to, such unwanted behavior as dating violence, domestic violence, nonconsensual sexual contact, sexual exploitation, sexual harassment and stalking. 
  • Stalking: Engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to fear for his or her safety or the safety of others or suffer substantial emotional distress. Course of conduct means two or more acts, including, but not limited to, acts in which the stalker directly, indirectly, or through third parties, by any action, method, device, or means, follows, monitors, observes, surveils, threatens, or communicates to or about a person, or interferes with person’s property. Reasonable person means a reasonable person under similar circumstances and with similar identities to the victim. Substantial emotional distress means significant mental suffering or anguish that may but does not necessarily, require medical or other professional treatment or counseling.

Reporting Resources (Students)

Women’s Resource Center (WRC) - 404-385-0230 
http://www.womenscenter.gatech.edu/ Georgia Tech Police Department (GTPD) 404-894-2500 
http://www.police.gatech.edu/ 

Dean of Students - 404-894-6367  
http://www.deanofstudents.gatech.edu/ Women’s Health Clinic 404-894-1434  
https://health.gatech.edu/services/women/

Health Initiatives – Victim Survivor Support - 404-894-9980 
https://healthinitiatives.gatech.edu/support-services/advocacy Georgia Tech Counseling Center 404-894-2575 
http://www.counseling.gatech.edu/ 

Stamps Health Services - 404-894-1420 
http://health.gatech.edu/ GT Sexual Assault Info Line 404-894-9000 
https://counseling.gatech.edu/content/sexual-assault-response 

Center for Assessment, Referral and Education - 404-894-3498 
https://care.gatech.edu/ GT LGBTQIA Resource Center 404-385-4780 
https://lgbtqia.gatech.edu/ 

VOICE: Sexual Violence Prevention & Victim-Survivor Support -

Reporting Resources (Faculty/Staff)

Title IX Coordinator 
Marcia Bull Stadeker, marcia.stadeker@gatech.edu, 404-385-5583 

Deputy Title IX Coordinators 
> Where Staff is Accused: 
   Ivy Gardner, Director of Employee Relations, Human Resources 
   (404) 894-2007, ivy.gardner@ohr.gatech.edu 

> Where Faculty is Accused: 
   Kyla Turpin Ross  
   Assistant Vice Provost for Advocacy and Conflict Resolution 
   404-894-2863, kyla.ross@gatech.edu 

Georgia Tech Police Department.   (GTPD) 404-894-2500 
http://www.police.gatech.edu/ EthicsPoint Hotline:  
https://secure.ethicspoint.com/domain/media/en/gui/7508/index.html 

Human Resources 

 

Local Community Resources

  • Grady Rape Crisis Center - 404-616-4861
  • DAY LEAGUE (Formerly DeKalb Rape Crisis Center) - 404-377-1428
  • Cobb County - LiveSAFE Resources - 770-427-3390
  • Gwinnet Sexual Assault Center - 770-476-7407
  • Clayton County - Southern Crescent Sexual Assault Center - 770-477-2177
  • Partnership Against Domestic Violence (PADV)  - 404-873-1766
  • WOMEN'S RESOURCE CENTER - 404-688-9436
  • NORTHWEST GEORGIA FAMILY CRISIS CENTER - 706-278-5586