Title IX & Sexual Misconduct
Title IX Reporting Information
How to Report
Any person can make a report by contact the Title IX Coordinator. A report can be made at any time.
Otero College employees, unless deemed a confidential resource by law, have an ethical obligation to promptly report any incidents they are aware of concerning civil rights violations. Reports should be made within 24 hours, unless there is reasonable justification for a delay. Employees unsure of the scope of this requirement may direct their questions to the Title IX/EO Coordinator. Failure to report will be considered a violation of BP 3-70, Colorado Community College System Code of Ethics, and may result in discipline, up to and including termination. All other individuals affiliated with CCCS are strongly encouraged to report civil rights violations.
To file a report of discrimination/harassment:
- Contact the Title IX/EO Coordinator at the contact information provided.
- Report an Incident of Discrimination/Harassment using the form below.
Title IX/EO Coordinator
Mike Rager
Colorado Community College System
9101 E. Lowry Blvd
Denver, Colorado 80230
(720) 858-2444
mike.rager@cccs.edu
Deputy Title IX Coordinator
Kelsey Barbee
Director of Human Resources
(719) 384-6824
kelsey.barbee@otero.edu
SCORE Center Room 140
Contact La Junta Police Department
(719) 384-2525
601 Colorado Ave, La Junta, CO 81050
Notice of Nondiscrimination
Individuals affiliated with the Colorado Community College System, including Otero College shall not discriminate or harass on the basis of sex, gender, race, color, age, creed, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, familial status, veteran or military status, pregnancy or related conditions, marital status, religion, genetic information, gender identity, sexual orientation, sex characteristics, sex stereotypes, gender expression, or any other protected class or category under applicable local, state or federal law (also known as “civil rights laws”), in connection with employment practices or educational programs and activities (including in admissions). BP 19-60 further provides that individuals affiliated with CCCS shall not retaliate against any person who opposes discrimination, harassment, or retaliation, or participates in any complaint or investigation process.
What is Title IX
Title IX is a federal law passed in 1972 that states, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
Retaliation Statement
Otero College prohibits any acts of retaliation. Retaliation is defined as any adverse employment or educational action taken against a person because of the person’s participation, or perceived participation, in a complaint or investigation of discrimination and/or harassment. Retaliation also includes any act to intimidate, threaten, coerce, or discriminate against any individual for the purpose of interfering with any right or privilege provided by applicable civil rights laws, policies, and procedures.
Policies, Definitions, and Procedures
For more information about Otero College’s policies, procedures, and definitions related to discrimination and harassment complaints, including Title IX, see:
SP 19-60a Policy – after 8/1/24
SP 19-60a Policy – prior to 8/1/24
Outside Reporting
Students have the right to make inquiries and/or file a complaint with:
Office for Civil Rights (OCR) U.S. Department of Education Cesar E. Chavez Memorial Building
1244 Speer Boulevard, Suite 310
Denver, CO 80204-3582
Telephone: (303) 844-5695
Facsimile: (303) 844-4303
Email: OCR.Denver@ed.gov
Web: http://www.ed.gov/ocr
In addition to OCR, employees have the right to make inquiries and/or file a complaint with:
Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA)
Colorado Civil Rights Division (CCRD)
1560 Broadway
Suite 825
Denver, CO 80202
Telephone: (303) 894-2997
Facsimile: (303) 894-7570
Email: dora_CCRD@state.co.us
Web: https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/dora/civil-rights
United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) 950 17th Street, Suite 300
Denver, CO 80203
Telephone: (800) 669-4000
Facsimile: (303) 866-1085
Web: https://www.eeoc.gov/field-office/denver/location
Student Pregnancy or Related Conditions
Employees who become aware of a student’s pregnancy or related condition are required to provide the student with the contact information of the Title IX/EO Coordinator so they can coordinate specific actions to ensure the student’s access to the college’s educational program or activity. To request reasonable modifications for pregnancy or related conditions, contact the Title IX/EO Coordinator at the above information.
Reasonable modifications may include, but are not limited to:
- Breaks during class to express breast milk, breastfeed, or attend to health needs associated with pregnancy or related conditions, including eating, drinking, or using the restroom
- Intermittent absences to attend medical appointments
- Access to online or homebound education
- Changes in schedule or course sequence
- Extensions of time for coursework and rescheduling of tests and examinations
- Allowing a student to sit or stand or carry or keep water nearby.
- Counseling
- Changes in physical space or supplies (for example, access to a larger desk or a footrest)
- Elevator access
- Other changes to policies, practices, or procedures
For more information about the college’s policy regarding pregnancy or related conditions, contact the Title IX/EO Coordinator.
Supportive Measures
“Supportive Measures” are non-disciplinary, non-punitive individualized services offered as appropriate, as reasonably available, and without fee or charge to the Complainant or the Respondent before or after the filing of a formal complaint or where no complaint has been filed. Such measures are designed to restore or preserve equal access to educational and employment programs and/or activities without unreasonably burdening the other party, including measures designed to protect the safety of all parties or the educational/employment environment or deter sexual harassment. Supportive measures may include (but not limited to):
- Counseling
- Reporting to law enforcement
- Extensions of deadlines or other course-related adjustments
- Modifications of work or class schedules
- Campus escort services
- Mutual restrictions on contact between the parties
- Changes in work or housing locations
- Leaves of absence
- Increased security and monitoring of certain areas of the campus
- Other similar measures
VAWA Brochure (Title IX Resource Guide)
For more information about supportive measures, contact the Title IX/EO Coordinator
Confidential Resources
On Campus Resources
Mental Health Counselor
Danya Herrell
(719) 384-6945
danya.herrell@otero.edu
Learning Commons 117
Off Campus Resources
Southeast Mental Health Services
711 Barnes Avenue – La Junta, CO 81050 (719) 384-5446 – www.southeasthealthgroup.org
Arkansas Valley Resource Center and Otero College have come together to collaborate to serve victims of violent crimes. Arkansas Valley Resource Center serves victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking and all other victims of violent crime. Arkansas Valley Resource Center will provide safety planning, peer counseling, advocacy, info/support, assistance with victim’s compensation and victim’s rights to Otero College students upon direct student request, or by referral from Otero College staff or faculty.
Referrals will be made when necessary to other networking agencies.
Victims of sexual offenses can also be seen confidentially through the Arkansas Valley Resource Center.
Arkansas Valley Resource Center, Inc.
PO BOX 716
415 Colorado Ave La Junta, CO 81050
24/7 Hotline (719) 384-7764
Fax (719) 384-1938
TTD (719) 384-1938
www.arkansasvalleyresourcecenter.org
24/7 National Agency Support
RAINN – 1-800-656-HOPE
Immediate Medical Attention, Preservation of Evidence Statement & SANE Examination:
If you are a victim of a sexual assault, you may decide to request a medical forensic exam from a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) to preserve evidence that may be used for the purposes of legal action. While you do not need to decide immediately if you want to report to law enforcement or pursue legal action, the preservation of evidence is most effective when done immediately after an assault. It is ideal to obtain medical treatment as soon as possible before bathing, showering, douching, or changing clothes. There is no cost to the exam. You may go to the following emergency room providers to request a SANE exam:
Ryon Medical Center 1420 East 3rd Street La Junta, CO 81050 phone: 719-383-0303
Parkview Medical Center 400 West 16th Street Pueblo, CO 81003 phone: 719-584-4400.
If you do not have transportation to the facility, you may contact a friend or family member, or Arkansas Valley Resource Center at 719-384-7764. Any cost for transportation is the responsibility of the student.
Victims who chose to have a medical forensic examination done are not obligated, at any time, to participate in a law enforcement investigation or any criminal justice response along with any administrative proceedings with the College. If you have further questions, please contact the Deputy Title IX/EO Coordinator.
Training Materials
For information about obtaining training materials for Coordinators, Informal Resolution Facilitators, Investigators, Decision-Makers, and Appeals, please contact the Title IX/EO Coordinator.
Clery Annual Security Report
For more information about campus safety and the annual security report, visit Otero College’s Campus Safety page.
Civil Rights and Sexual Harassment Definitions
Any distinction, preference, advantage, or detriment given to a person based on one or more actual or perceived protected classes.
A form of discrimination that involves unwelcome physical or verbal conduct or any communication directed at an individual or group because of their membership or perceived membership in a protected class, which conduct is subjectively offensive to the Complainant, and objectively offensive to a reasonable individual who is a member of the same protected class. It need not be severe or pervasive, but petty slights, minor annoyances, and lack of good manners do not constitute harassment. Types of harassment include quid pro quo and hostile environment. Factors to consider include the degree to which the conduct affected the Complainant’s ability to access the education program or activity; parties’ ages; roles within the education program or activity; previous interactions; and other factors about each party that may be relevant to evaluating the effects of the alleged unwelcome conduct. With respect to harassment based upon sex, types of harassment also include sexual assault (e.g., rape, fondling, incest, statutory rape), dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking.
A type of harassment that exists when submission to the harassing conduct is explicitly or implicitly made a term or condition of employment or education, or when submission to or objection to the harassing conduct is used as a basis for employment or educational decisions.
When a person is subjected to harassment that unreasonably interferes with an employee’s work performance, denies or limits any person’s ability to participate in or benefit from an education program or activity, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working or educational environment. Factors to consider include the degree to which the conduct affected the Complainant’s ability to access the program or activity; the number of individuals engaged in the conduct; type, frequency, duration, and location of the conduct; the context in which the conduct occurred; other sex-based harassment in the education program or activity; the parties’ ages; previous interactions between the parties; whether the conduct is threatening; the parties’ roles within the System/College and the existence of a power differential; use of epithets/slurs that are humiliating or degrading; and stereotypes.
An offense classified as a forcible or nonforcible sex offense as defined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s uniform crime reporting system. Sexual assault includes rape, fondling, incest, and statutory rape.
Includes any act or threatened act of violence upon a person with whom the actor is or has been involved in an intimate relationship. Domestic Violence also includes any other crime against a person or property, including an animal, or any municipal ordinance violation against a person, or against property, including an animal, when used as a method of coercion, control, punishment, intimidation, or revenge directed against a person with whom the actor is or has been involved in an intimate relationship. (C.R.S. § 18-6-800.3). Domestic violence further includes felony or misdemeanor crimes of violence committed by a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim, by a person with whom the 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, by a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under the domestic or family violence laws of Colorado, or by any other person against an adult or youth victim who is protected from that person’s acts under the domestic or family violence laws of Colorado.
Violence committed by a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim. The existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on the reporting party’s statement and with consideration of the length of the relationship, the type of relationship, and the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship. There is no Colorado state law on dating violence; therefore, CCCS abides by the definition used in the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (VAWA) of 2013.
Engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to fear for the person’s safety, or the safety of others, or suffer substantial emotional distress. Stalking further includes directly or indirectly through another person, knowingly:
- Making a credible threat to another person and, in connection with the threat, repeatedly following, approaching, contacting, or placing under surveillance that person, a member of that person’s immediate family, or someone with whom that person has or has had a continuing relationship.
- Making a credible threat to another person and, in connection with the threat, repeatedly making any form of communication with that person, a member of that person’s immediate family, or someone with whom that person has or has had a continuing relationship, regardless of whether a conversation ensues.
- Repeatedly following, approaching, contacting, placing under surveillance, or making any form of communication with another person, a member of that person’s immediate family, or someone with whom that person has or has had a continuing relationship in a manner that would cause a reasonable person to suffer serious emotional distress and does cause that person, a member of that person’s immediate family, or someone with whom that person has or has had a continuing relationship to suffer serious emotional distress. (C.R.S. § 18-3-602).
Rights of the Parties
- To be treated equitably and with respect by CCCS employees
- To take advantage of Supportive Measures and other resources, such as counseling, psychological services, and health services
- To experience a safe living, educational, and work environment.
- To have an advisor of their choice present at any meeting
- To have access to a Title IX/EO Coordinator, investigator(s), hearing
officers/decision-maker(s) for Title IX cases, and/or other individuals assisting with the resolution process who do not have a conflict of interest or bias for or against either party - To receive amnesty for minor student misconduct (such as alcohol or drug violations) that is ancillary to the incident
- To be free from retaliation
- To be informed of the outcome/resolution of the complaint, and the sanctions and rationale for the outcome where permissible
- To have assistance in contacting law enforcement, if desired
- To request housing, employment, and/or educational modifications, as deemed appropriate and reasonable
- To request no further contact with the opposite party, as deemed appropriate, allowable, and reasonable
- A presumption that the Respondent is not responsible for the alleged conduct until a determination regarding responsibility has been made at the conclusion of the resolution process
Kelsey Barbee
Deputy Title IX Coordinator
(719) 384-6824
kelsey.barbee@otero.edu
McDivitt Hall - SCORE Center Rm 140