For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply.

1. (1) “Complainant”: For the purposes of ORS 350.345, the term "complainant" means a student or employee who was the target of sexual misconduct.
2. (2) “Completion rate”: The number of students who complete a survey and submit their answers, compared to the number of students who were offered the survey.
3. (3) "Consent" means freely given permission to participate when the option to say no is present and viable. Consent cannot be given by a person who is asleep, unconscious, incapacitated by any means, including by intoxicants, or otherwise unable to make informed decisions.
4. (4) “Domestic violence” is attempting to cause or causing physical or emotional injury; placing another in fear of physical or emotional injury; or engaging in any sexual contact without the other person’s consent when the other person is a spouse, former spouse, adult related by blood or marriage, a person cohabitating, a person having cohabitated in the past, a person involved or previously involved in a sexually intimate relationship, or unmarried co-parent of a minor child. Domestic violence includes coercive control; physical abuse; financial abuse or control; emotional abuse; technological abuse; reproductive coercion; sexual violence; sexual exploitation; and stalking.

5. (5) "Gender-based harassment or violence" means either gender-based harassment or gender-based violence.

   1. (a) Gender-based harassment means unwelcome conduct against an individual based on their biological sex, gender identity or expression, or perceived deviation from socially defined expectations of male-female binary gender stereotypes. This includes unwelcome gender-based advances, economic manipulation, requests for sexual favors, or other verbal, nonverbal or physical conduct of a gender-based nature where such conduct is sufficiently severe or pervasive that it has the effect, intended or unintended, of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work or academic performance or it has created an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment and would have such an effect on a reasonable person.
   2. (b) Gender-based violence means any form of violence against an individual based on their biological sex, gender identity or expression, or perceived deviation from socially defined expectations of male-female binary gender stereotypes. This includes physical, sexual, and psychological abuse; threats; coercion; and arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether in public or private life.

6. (6) "Harassment or violence based on sexual orientation" means either harassment based on sexual orientation or violence based on sexual orientation.

   1. (a) Harassment based on sexual orientation means unwelcome conduct based on a person's real or perceived sexual orientation. This includes unwelcome advances, economic manipulation, requests for sexual favors, or other verbal, nonverbal or physical conduct based on sexual orientation and of a nature where such conduct is sufficiently severe or pervasive that it has the effect, intended or unintended, of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work or academic performance or it has created an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment and would have such an effect on a reasonable person.
   2. (b) Violence based on sexual orientation means any form of violence against an individual based on the person's real or perceived sexual orientation. This includes physical, sexual, and psychological abuse; threats; coercion; and arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether in public or private life.
7. (7) "Institution of higher education" or "institution" means a public university listed in ORS 352.002; Oregon Health and Science University; community college operated under ORS chapter 341; or an Oregon-based private university or college, as provided in ORS 350.330. An Oregon-based private university or college includes an out- of-state private university or college that has a campus located in Oregon at which students attend classes in person.
8. (8) "Intimate partner violence" is a form of domestic violence in which the persons involved are in a relationship of a romantic or sexual nature. The relationship may be past or current. Other terms for this might include "dating violence" or "relationship abuse."
9. (9) "Local victim advocacy organization" means a community-based domestic and sexual violence advocacy agency providing services in the same county as the campus of the institution of higher education.

10. (10) “Personally identifiable information (PII)”: any information about an individual maintained by an institution or its agent that can be used by itself or in combination with other information to distinguish or trace an individual’s identity, including:

    1. (a) First or last name;
    2. (b) Mailing address or residence;
    3. (c) Telephone number;
    4. (d) E-mail address;
    5. (e) Date of birth;
    6. (f) A personal identifier, such as the applicant's or participant's Social Security number or student number;
    7. (g) A list of personal or physical characteristics which would make the applicant's or participant's identity easily traceable; or
    8. (h) Other information which would make the applicant's or participant's identity easily traceable.
    9. (i) Any other information or records that can be linked to an individual, such as medical, educational, financial, and employment information.
11. (11) “Response rate”: The number of students who opened a survey, compared to the number of students who were offered the survey. The response rate includes all those that complete and submit the survey and those that do not.

12. (12) "Sexual exploitation" means any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes in the absence of consent. Sexual exploitation includes:

    1. (a) Creating or sharing an intimate or sexual image or recording of a person's likeness without their consent or sending intimate or sexual images or recordings to a person without their consent; coercing another person to create an intimate image or record a sexual act under threat of physical, emotional, or financial abuse;
    2. (b) Displaying intimate areas of one's body to another person without their consent in a place where such display would not reasonably be expected; engaging in sexual activity while another person was present without their consent; or
    3. (c) Observing another person's intimate areas or sexual activity without their knowledge or consent and in a place where the person has a reasonable expectation of privacy.
13. (13) "Sexual harassment" means unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature. Sexual harassment includes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other verbal, nonverbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature where such conduct is sufficiently severe or pervasive that it has the effect, intended or unintended, of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work or academic performance or it has created an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment and would have such an effect on a reasonable person." ORS 350.330(2)(a).
14. (14) "Sexual violence" means actual or attempted physical contact of a sexual nature or in a sexual context without the other person's consent, if the other person is incapacitated in any way, or without their ability to refuse the physical contact. Sexual violence includes physical contact through violence, coercion, or when the person is unable to give consent or refuse the physical contact because of vulnerability, intoxication, or unconsciousness. Examples of physical contact of a sexual nature or in a sexual context include forcible kissing, penetration of someone's body by another person's body part or an object, or the use of their body to penetrate another, and touching another person's intimate areas (for example, breasts, genitals, or buttocks), including groping, fondling, rape, sexual assault, and sexual abuse.
15. (15) "Stalking" means repeated and unwanted contact that causes the victim reasonable apprehension regarding the personal safety of the victim or a member of the victim's immediate family or household and it is objectively reasonable for a person in the victim's situation to have been alarmed or coerced by the contact. Stalking includes, but is not limited to, repeated and unwanted contact such as: electronic or in-person surveillance; sending communications including unwanted items to the target or people in the target's family, school, or workplace; tracking the target's physical location; accessing or monitoring a person's phone and other computing devices; property damage; and threats. Stalking may involve the use of third parties to accomplish the behaviors.
16. (16) "Supportive measures" are individualized services, changes, exceptions, or accommodations provided by an institution of higher education to restore or preserve equal access to education and employment, protect student and employee safety, or deter sexual misconduct. Waivers granted under ORS 350.344 are supportive measures.

Statutory/Other Authority

ORS 350.346

Statutes/Other Implemented

ORS 350.335

History

HECC 8-2025, amend filed 12/12/2025, effective 12/12/2025
HECC 3-2025, adopt filed 10/10/2025, effective 10/10/2025