EQUITY GRIEVANCE & TITLE IX

Equity Grievance and Title IX at SOU

Southern Oregon University is committed to fostering an environment that is safe, secure, and free from discrimination and harassment. When brought to the attention of the University, any such discrimination will be appropriately addressed by the Equity Grievance Office according to the Equal Opportunity, Harassment, and Sexual Misconduct Policy and any applicable collective bargaining agreement. The Office will respond to and manage concerns regarding discrimination and harassment based on a person’s actual or perceived protected class, including sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. Additionally, the Office can respond and coordinate adjustments or accommodations for pregnancy or related medical conditions.

The Office is committed to a timely, thorough, and thoughtful response to provide an educational environment that is safe and accessible to all.

SEE REPORTING FORM

Prevention and Awareness Education

The Offices of Equity Grievance and the Dean of Students, will be raising awareness during National Sexual Assault Awareness Month which is observed every April. We are partnering to raise awareness on campus, and to highlight the importance of acknowledging and preventing incidents of dating violence, domestic violence, sexual violence, stalking, sexual exploitation, and other related prohibited conduct.

PDF Flyer

Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM)

Week 2 – Focus on Survivors

This week, we focus on helpful information about how to stand with and support survivors, available resources for survivors and supporters. We will also identify what constitutes sexual violence and sexual assault, how to support someone who has experienced an assault, consent defined by SOU policy, reporting options, resources and more.

Did You Know?

1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men were raped by an intimate partner?
And more than half of both male and female victims were raped by an acquaintance? (Basile et al 2022).

How you can get involved this week: Day of Action!

The first Tuesday of every April is the SAAM Day of Action. The Day of Action is an opportunity to start the month with highly visible and coordinated actions. It’s the perfect opportunity to get involved at SOU. Here’s how you can get involved on April 7, 2026 to show your support for survivors, stand in solidarity, or recognition of SAAM on this day and beyond.

On April 7 Day of Action we are asking the SOU community to:

Wear teal (a teal ribbon, bow, or any clothing item etc.)
Choose a virtual background for any meetings you may have on the 7th or use the virtual background during the month of April.
If someone asks what’s it about, just let them know it is in recognition of the 25th year of Sexual Assault Awareness Month!

*Zoom Background to choose from: Golden Background, Teal Background

Week 1: History of SAAM

History

Even before its official declaration, SAAM was about both awareness and prevention of sexual assault, harassment, and abuse. Looking at the history of the movement to end sexual violence, it’s clear why: It’s impossible to prevent an issue no one knows about, and it’s difficult to make people aware of a problem without providing a solution. The two work in tandem, and they always have. From the civil rights movement to the founding of the first rape crisis centers to national legislation and beyond, the roots of SAAM run deep.

Roots of the Movement

As long as there have been people who care about making the world a better place, there have been individuals advocating for sexual assault prevention. In the United States, movements for social change and equality began to gain traction in the 1940s and 50s with the civil rights era. Although open discussion of the realities of sexual assault and domestic violence were limited at these times, activists for equal rights began to challenge the status quo.

Efforts during this time were championed by Black women and women of color. Advocates like Rosa Parks worked at the intersections of race-based and gender-based violence (a framework that years later in 1989, advocate and professor Kimberlé Crenshaw would call “intersectionality”).

Wide social activism around the issue of sexual assault continued into the 1970s, bringing with it support for survivors and heightened awareness. The first rape crisis center was founded in San Francisco in 1971, the same city where the first U.S. Take Back the Night event was held seven years later.

The following decades mobilized survivors and advocates to call for legislation and funding that would support survivors, such as the Violence Against Women Act of 1993 (VAWA).

Monumental changes like VAWA demonstrated that national efforts promoting sexual violence prevention were needed. Even before SAAM was first nationally observed in 2001, advocates had been holding events, marches, and observances related to sexual violence during the month of April, sometimes during a week-long “Sexual Assault Awareness Week.”

In an effort to further coordinate awareness and prevention efforts, in 2000, the newly launched National Sexual Violence Resource Center and the Resource Sharing Project polled sexual violence coalitions. They asked organizations about their preferred color, symbol, and month for sexual assault awareness activities. The results showed that those in the movement preferred a teal ribbon as a symbol for sexual assault awareness, and SAAM as we know it was born.

NSVRC’s Role

For advocates at state coalitions, college campuses, or other community organizations, funding and time are often barriers to developing campaigns or resources related to awareness and prevention. That is why, each year, NSVRC coordinates a national SAAM campaign complete with the resources, graphics, and tools needed to hold an event or otherwise raise awareness.

Each year, NSVRC solicits feedback on SAAM, asking constituents about preferred topics to focus on. This feedback then informs the creation of the theme, which spans from the slogan to the design elements to the type of resources created. Once those resources and supplies are created, NSVRC shares them with a wide range of state, territory, and local organizations working to end sexual violence as well as individuals who want to make change in their communities.

Awareness & Prevention

In the early 2000s, the primary goal of SAAM was awareness — both raising visibility of the teal ribbon and the meaning behind it. By the mid-2000s, SAAM incorporated prevention more heavily, focusing on areas such as communities, workplaces, and college campuses. These campaigns discussed ways that individuals and communities can stop sexual assault before it happens by changing behaviors and promoting respect.

These two goals of awareness and prevention carried over into the 2010s, laying the groundwork for the SAAM that we see today. While each campaign has a different theme, they all share same common goals: to raise visibility about sexual assault and share how it can be prevented, whether that’s through education about healthy sexuality, consent, or bystander intervention.

We will also share resources related to the history at the end of the week.

Week 2: Focus on Survivors

Beyond this week’s April 7th Day of Action, and we hope you will get involved, below is helpful information about how to stand with survivors, support survivors, and resources available for survivors.

As this week’s focus is on survivors, please find helpful information about what constitutes sexual violence and sexual assault, how to support someone who has experienced an assault, consent defined by SOU policy, resources and more.

Forms of Sexual Violence

Forms of sexual violence include:

Rape or sexual assault
Child sexual assault and incest
Sexual assault by a person’s spouse or partner
Unwanted sexual contact/touching
Sexual harassment
Sexual exploitation and trafficking
Exposing one’s genitals or naked body to other(s) without consent
Masturbating in public
Watching someone engage in private acts without their knowledge or permission
Nonconsensual image sharing

Consent

Consent is when someone gives permission for something to happen or when they agree to do something.  Consent must be freely given and must be an informed choice. A person can change their mind at any time.  Giving consent one time does not automatically mean the person is consenting to the same activity later on. Consent is more than a yes or no. In the context of sexual activity, it is an ongoing dialogue about desires, needs, and level of comfort with different sexual interactions. The legal definition of consent is determined on a state-by-state basis.

Consent Guide (NSVRC)

For the person seeking consent to sexual activity and how to listen. For the person being asked for sexual acts and response.

What does SOU Equity Grievance Equal Opportunity, Harassment, and Sexual Misconduct Policy (“Policy”) say about consent?

Consent is a knowing, voluntary, and mutual decision among all participants to engage in sexual activity, expressed through words or actions. For consent to be valid, there must be a clear expression in words or actions that the other individual consented to that specific sexual conduct with that particular person or people.

Individuals may experience the same interaction in different ways. Therefore, it is the responsibility of each Party to determine that the other has consented before engaging in the activity. If consent is not clearly provided prior to engaging in the activity, consent may be ratified by word or action at some point during the interaction or thereafter, but clear communication from the outset is strongly encouraged.

Consent to some sexual contact (such as kissing or fondling) cannot be presumed to be consent for other sexual activity (such as intercourse). Past consent does not imply future consent. A current or previous dating relationship is not sufficient to constitute consent.

Silence or the absence of resistance alone is not consent. In Oregon, a minor (meaning a person under the age of 18 years) cannot consent to sexual activity except in limited circumstances dictated by law. Per the Policy, “a minor (meaning a person under the age of 18 years) cannot consent to sexual activity except in limited circumstances dictated by law.” One of the limited circumstances dictated by state law is when the sexual activity is consensual, and both parties are over the age of 15 and there is no more than a three (3) year age gap between the parties.

Consent can be withdrawn at any time during sexual activity through reasonable and clear communication, including words or actions. When consent is withdrawn, sexual activity must stop. Consent cannot be given if any of the following are present: Incapacitation, Force, or Coercion.

1. Incapacitation: Incapacitation occurs when someone cannot make rational, reasonable decisions because they lack the capacity to give knowing and informed consent (e.g., to understand the “who, what, when, where, why, and how” of their sexual interaction).

2. Coercion/Force: Consent cannot be procured by the use of physical force, compulsion, threats, intimidating behavior, or coercion. Sexual activity accompanied by coercion or force is not consensual.

Coercion refers to unreasonable pressure for sexual activity. When someone makes it clear that they do not want to engage in sexual activity or do not want to go beyond a certain point of sexual interaction, continued pressure beyond that point can be considered coercive. The use of coercion can involve the use of pressure, manipulation, substances, or force. Ignoring objections of another person is a form of coercion.
Force refers to the use of physical violence or imposing on someone physically to engage in sexual contact or intercourse. Force can also include threats, intimidation (implied threats), or coercion used to overcome resistance.

See the Equity Grievance Policy for full definitions and context linked here.

What does the State of Oregon say about sexual violence, sexual and other abuse? Learn more here.

Sexual violence may also implicate legal violations. To learn about the laws in each sate around sexual violence and sexual assault visit this page.

Reporting

Rape is often not reported or convicted.

Most sexual assaults are not reported to police. Most often, survivors disclose to friends, family, and other trusted individuals rather than reporting to law enforcement. A person may choose not to report to law enforcement or tell anyone about a victimization they experienced for many reasons. The legal system is not a place where survivors often find justice and can often be retraumatizing.

What does SOU Equity Grievance say about reporting?

If you experience, learn about, witness or are a responsible employee who is seeking information about reporting, below are your reporting options.

Report/Disclose to a Confidential Resource

Confidential resources are not required to redisclose information about Prohibited Conduct to law enforcement or University officials without the disclosing Party’s permission, except for extreme circumstances, such as a health and safety emergency or child abuse.

This means that disclosing Prohibited Conduct to these resources will not lead to an Investigation.

Disclosure to confidential resources:

Professional, licensed medical providers and counselors and pastoral counselors (ordained clergy) acting in the scope of their employment whose official responsibilities include providing medical care and mental health counseling to SOU students, including those who act in that role under the supervision of a licensed medical provider or counselor.
La Clinica Student Health and Wellness Center at Southern Oregon University at health.sou.edu
Telus at myssp.app/us/home, 866.743.7732

Report to a Non-Confidential Resource

Reporting to the Equity Grievance/Title IX Office:
- Employees must report known or suspected violations of this Policy to the Equity Grievance Office by using the reporting form.
- Students, guests, or visitors who believe that this Policy has been violated should contact the Dir. EG/TIX or another member of the Equity Grievance Team listed in this policy.

Reporting Form may be found online at sou.edu/equity-grievance/.

Impact on Survivors

An assault may impact a survivor’s daily life no matter when it happened. Each survivor reacts to sexual violence in their own way and healing and justice looks different for each survivor.  Healing is an ongoing process, and everyone heals in their own way.

Common emotional reactions include