{"id":663,"date":"2026-11-03T15:26:41","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T15:26:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/title-ix\/definitions-of-sexual-misconduct\/sexual-harassment-hostile-environment\/"},"modified":"2026-11-03T15:28:32","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T15:28:32","slug":"sexual-harassment-hostile-environment","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/title-ix\/definitions-of-sexual-misconduct\/sexual-harassment-hostile-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"Sexual Harassment: Hostile Environment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hostile Environment: <\/strong>The College considers a variety of factors related to the objective offensiveness, pervasiveness, and severity of the sex-based harassment, including:<\/p>\n

(1) the type, frequency, and duration of the conduct;<\/p>\n

(2) the identity and relationships of persons involved;<\/p>\n

(3) the number of individuals involved;<\/p>\n

(4) the location of the conduct and the context in which it occurred; and,<\/p>\n

(5) the degree to which the conduct affected one\u2019s employment or educational opportunities. Examples of behavior that might be considered hostile environment sexual harassment include, but are not limited to:<\/p>\n

a. Unwanted sexual innuendo, propositions, sexual attention, or suggestive comments and gestures; inappropriate humor about sex or gender-specific traits; sexual slurs or derogatory language directed at another person\u2019s sexuality, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or gender expression; insults and threats based on sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or gender expression; and other oral, written, or electronic communications of a sexual nature that an individual communicates is unwanted and unwelcome.<\/p>\n

b. Written graffiti or the display or distribution of sexually explicit drawings, pictures, written materials; sexually charged name-calling; or the circulation, display, or creation of emails, text messages, or websites of a sexual nature.<\/p>\n

c. Display, presentation, or circulation of materials or pictures degrading to an individual or gender group where such display is not directly related to academic freedom or to an educational\/pedagogical, artistic, or work purpose. See Faculty Manual, Appendix B1, regarding academic freedom.<\/p>\n

d. Unwelcome physical contact or suggestive body language, such as touching, patting, pinching, hugging, kissing, or brushing against an individual\u2019s body.<\/p>\n

e. Use of a position of power or authority to: (1) threaten or punish, either directly or by implication, for refusing to tolerate harassment, for refusing to submit to sexual activity, or for reporting harassment; or (2) promise rewards in return for sexual favors.<\/p>\n

f. Acts of verbal, nonverbal, or physical aggression, intimidation, or hostility based on sex or sex stereotyping.<\/p>\n

g. Sexual exploitation\u2014taking sexual advantage of another person for the benefit of anyone other than that person, without that person\u2019s consent. Examples of behavior that could rise to the level of sexual exploitation include prostituting another person or viewing, recording, or distributing another person\u2019s sexual activity, intimate body parts, or the person in a state of undress, without their knowledge and consent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hostile Environment: The College considers a variety of factors related to the objective offensiveness, pervasiveness, and severity 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":775,"featured_media":0,"parent":160,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-663","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSexual Harassment: Hostile Environment - Title IX<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/title-ix\/definitions-of-sexual-misconduct\/sexual-harassment-hostile-environment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sexual Harassment: Hostile Environment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hostile Environment: The College considers a variety of factors related to the objective offensiveness, pervasiveness, and severity 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 […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/title-ix\/definitions-of-sexual-misconduct\/sexual-harassment-hostile-environment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Title IX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-11-03T15:28:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trincoll.edu\\\/title-ix\\\/definitions-of-sexual-misconduct\\\/sexual-harassment-hostile-environment\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trincoll.edu\\\/title-ix\\\/definitions-of-sexual-misconduct\\\/sexual-harassment-hostile-environment\\\/\",\"name\":\"Sexual Harassment: Hostile Environment - Title IX\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trincoll.edu\\\/title-ix\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-11-03T15:26:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-11-03T15:28:32+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trincoll.edu\\\/title-ix\\\/definitions-of-sexual-misconduct\\\/sexual-harassment-hostile-environment\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trincoll.edu\\\/title-ix\\\/definitions-of-sexual-misconduct\\\/sexual-harassment-hostile-environment\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trincoll.edu\\\/title-ix\\\/definitions-of-sexual-misconduct\\\/sexual-harassment-hostile-environment\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trincoll.edu\\\/title-ix\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Key Terms and Definitions\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trincoll.edu\\\/title-ix\\\/definitions-of-sexual-misconduct\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Sexual Harassment: Hostile Environment\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trincoll.edu\\\/title-ix\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trincoll.edu\\\/title-ix\\\/\",\"name\":\"Title IX\",\"description\":\"Information on Title IX requirements and compliance at Trinity College\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trincoll.edu\\\/title-ix\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sexual Harassment: Hostile Environment - Title IX","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/title-ix\/definitions-of-sexual-misconduct\/sexual-harassment-hostile-environment\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sexual Harassment: Hostile Environment","og_description":"Hostile Environment: The College considers a variety of factors related to the objective offensiveness, pervasiveness, and severity 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 […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/title-ix\/definitions-of-sexual-misconduct\/sexual-harassment-hostile-environment\/","og_site_name":"Title IX","article_modified_time":"2026-11-03T15:28:32+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/title-ix\/definitions-of-sexual-misconduct\/sexual-harassment-hostile-environment\/","url":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/title-ix\/definitions-of-sexual-misconduct\/sexual-harassment-hostile-environment\/","name":"Sexual Harassment: Hostile Environment - Title IX","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/title-ix\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-11-03T15:26:41+00:00","dateModified":"2026-11-03T15:28:32+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/title-ix\/definitions-of-sexual-misconduct\/sexual-harassment-hostile-environment\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/title-ix\/definitions-of-sexual-misconduct\/sexual-harassment-hostile-environment\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/title-ix\/definitions-of-sexual-misconduct\/sexual-harassment-hostile-environment\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/title-ix\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Key Terms and Definitions","item":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/title-ix\/definitions-of-sexual-misconduct\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Sexual Harassment: Hostile Environment"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/title-ix\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/title-ix\/","name":"Title IX","description":"Information on Title IX requirements and compliance at Trinity College","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/title-ix\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/title-ix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/title-ix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/title-ix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/title-ix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/775"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/title-ix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/title-ix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":667,"href":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/title-ix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/663\/revisions\/667"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/title-ix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/title-ix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}