It is important to us that our camps are safe and that if you have any concerns or issues we are here to help.

Misconduct Reporting:

• If misconduct occurs during VH camps in any location between any participants, we want to know.

• Talk to a camp teacher, or if speaking to someone in person is not an option, or if the issue involves someone in leadership, please fill out the form below to notify our committee chair and board co-chair Rebecca Russell.

• Rebecca will be in touch within 3 business days, and the procedures are based on individual circumstances.

• Long-term consequences for the person(s) responsible for the misconduct, as well as future participation in VH will be on a case by case basis.

• NOTE For TEEN CAMPERS: All VH teachers are mandated reporters. This means we are required to report to the authorities when minors (those under 18) are involved.

Unwelcome Conduct, Conduct is considered “unwelcome” if the student did not request or invite it and considered the conduct to be undesirable or offensive. Unwelcome conduct may take various forms, including, name-calling, graphic or written statements (including the use of cell phones or the Internet), or other conduct that may be physically threatening, harmful, or humiliating. Unwelcome conduct does not have to include intent to harm, be directed at a specific target, or involve repeated incidents. Unwelcome conduct can involve persons of the same or opposite sex. Participation in the conduct or the failure to complain does not always mean that the conduct was welcome. The fact that a student may have welcomed some conduct does not necessarily 3 mean that a student welcomed other conduct. Also, the fact that a student requested or invited conduct on one occasion does not mean that the conduct is welcome on a subsequent occasion.

Hostile Environment: A “hostile environment” exists when sex-based harassment is sufficiently serious to deny or limit the student’s ability to participate in or benefit from VH programs or activities. A hostile environment can be created by anyone involved in the program or activity (e.g., administrators, faculty members, students, hosts or members of the community). In determining whether sex-based harassment has created a hostile environment, VH considers the conduct in question from both a subjective and objective perspective. It will be necessary, but not enough, that the conduct was unwelcome to the student who was harassed. But VH will also need to find that a reasonable person in the student’s position would have perceived the conduct as undesirable or offensive in order for that conduct to create or contribute to a hostile environment. To make the ultimate determination of whether a hostile environment exists for a student or students, VH considers a variety of factors related to the severity, persistence, or pervasiveness of the sex-based harassment, including: (1) the type, frequency, and duration of the conduct; (2) the identity and relationships of persons involved; (3) the number of individuals involved; (4) the location of the conduct and the context in which it occurred; and, (5) the degree to which the conduct affected one or more student’s education. The more severe the sex-based harassment, the less need there is to show a repetitive series of incidents to find a hostile environment. Indeed, a single instance of sexual assault may be sufficient to create a hostile environment. Likewise, a series of incidents may be sufficient even if the sex-based harassment is not particularly severe.

First Amendment Considerations This policy does not impair the exercise of rights protected under the First Amendment. The College’s sexual misconduct policy prohibits only sex-based harassment that creates a hostile environment. In this and other ways, the College applies and enforces this policy in a manner that respects the First Amendment rights of students, teachers, staff and others.

Sexual Harassment is unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature, including but not limited to unwelcome sexual advances; requests for sexual favors; or other verbal or nonverbal conduct of a sexual nature, including rape, sexual assault, and sexual exploitation. In addition, depending on the facts, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking may also be forms of sexual harassment.

Gender-Based Harassment is unwelcome conduct of a nonsexual nature based on a student’s actual or perceived sex, including conduct based on gender identity, gender expression, and nonconformity with gender stereotypes.

Sex-Based Harassment includes sexual harassment and gender-based harassment.

Sexual Assault is actual or attempted sexual contact with another person without that person’s consent. Sexual assault includes, but is not limited to:

• Intentional touching of another person’s intimate parts without that person’s consent; or

• Other intentional sexual contact with another person without that person’s consent; or

• Coercing, forcing, or attempting to coerce or force a person to touch another person’s intimate parts without that person’s consent; or

• Rape, which is penetration, no matter how slight, of (1) the vagina or anus of a person by any body part of another person or by an object, or (2) the mouth of a person by a sex organ of another person, without that person’s consent.

Consent must be informed, voluntary, and mutual, and can be withdrawn at any time. There is no consent when there is force, expressed or implied, or when coercion, intimidation, threats, or duress is used. Whether a person has taken advantage of a position of influence over another person may be a factor in determining consent. Silence or absence of resistance does not imply consent. Past consent to sexual activity with another person does not imply ongoing future consent with that person or consent to that same sexual activity with another person. If a person is mentally or physically incapacitated or impaired so that such person cannot understand the fact, nature, or extent of the sexual situation, there is no consent; this includes impairment or incapacitation due to alcohol or drug consumption that meets this standard, or being asleep or unconscious.

Sexual Exploitation occurs when a person takes sexual advantage of another person for the benefit of anyone other than that person without that person’s consent. Examples of behavior that could rise to the level of sexual exploitation include:

• Recording images (e.g., video, photograph) or audio of another person’s sexual activity, intimate body parts, or nakedness without that person’s consent;

• Distributing images (e.g., video, photograph) or audio of another person’s sexual activity, intimate body parts, or nakedness, if the individual distributing the images or audio knows or should have known that the person depicted in the images or audio did not consent to such disclosure and objects to such disclosure; and,

• Viewing another person’s sexual activity, intimate body parts, or nakedness in a place where that person would have a reasonable expectation of privacy, without that person’s consent, and for the purpose of arousing or gratifying sexual desire.