Student Handbook

We want all of our students to have a great educational experience at ASU-Mountain Home, so we have a few rules/regulations to ensure that will happen. Our Student Handbook is where you can find all of the rules/regulations that we have put in place for students. We encourage you to read and be familiar with this document so that you know what we expect from you and what resources we have put in place to help you. 

Title IX and Sexual Misconduct

Title IX is a comprehensive federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity. Arkansas State University is committed to providing an educational and work environment for its students, faculty, and staff that is free from sexual discrimination including sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual violence, stalking, domestic violence, and dating violence, as prohibited by Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, and/or Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. 

According to the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network (RAINN), 11.2% of college students experience rape or sexual assault through physical force, violence, or incapacitation. 4.2% of students experience stalking in college. Sexual misconduct in any form is strictly prohibited at ASU-Mountain Home. 

What is Sexual Discrimination? 

• Sex discrimination involves treating someone (an applicant or employee) unfavorably because of that person's sex, including the person's sexual orientation, gender identity, or pregnancy.

What is Sexual Harassment? 

• Unwanted touching or physical contact. Unwelcome sexual advances. Discussing sexual relations/stories/fantasies at work, school, or in other inappropriate places. Feeling pressured to engage with someone sexually.

Sexual Harassment is categorized in three ways:

• Quid Pro Quo Harassment - occurs when a university employee causes a student to believe that he/she must submit to unwelcome sexual conduct in order to participate in a university program or activity. 

• Hostile Environment - occurs when unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature is sufficiently serious that it affects the student's ability to participate in or benefit from educational programs. activity, or create an intimidating, threatening, or abusive educational environment.

• Retaliatory Harassment - occurs when any adverse employment or educational action is taken against a person because of the person's participation in a complaint or investigation of discrimination or sexual misconduct.

What is Sexual Assault?

• Sexual Assault occurs when a person is subjected to an unwanted sexual act by force or threat without consent. Sexual assault includes rape, sexual contact such as touching or fondling, and the forced performance of sexual acts involving bodily contact between the parties.

• Before engaging in any sexual activity, it is important to obtain clear, enthusiastic, and ongoing consent from the other party.

Reduce the risk of becoming a sexual assault victim:

• Avoid hazardous situations. Sexual assault can occur in any situation and is never your fault regardless of the circumstances. However, by taking such steps as traveling accompanied and avoiding alcohol and drugs, you can substantially reduce your risks for being victimized.

• Communicate your limits clearly. If someone starts to offend you or cross a line that you have set for yourself, tell them firmly and early. Polite approaches may be misunderstood or ignored. If the person does not respect your wishes, remove yourself from the situation immediately. Miscommunication can be explained later. Do not give someone the chance to violate your wishes or boundaries. This can often contribute to the guilt felt following unwanted sexual advances, but it does not make it your fault.

• Be assertive. Often passivity can be interpreted as permission – it is not. Be direct and firm with someone who is sexually pressuring you. Tell an acquaintance or your partner what you want – or don’t want – and stick with your decision. Regardless, there must always be active consent on both sides. Consent to one thing does not imply another.

• Trust your instincts. If you feel you are being pressured into unwanted sex, you probably are. If you feel uncomfortable or threatened around an acquaintance or your partner, get out of the situations immediately. If you misread someone’s signals, you can always explain later.

• Respond physically. Even clear communication is not always effective. Some people simply don’t listen or don’t care. If either person is intoxicated of high, it may also complicate the situation. However, it is not an excuse for someone to commit sexual assault. If someone is assaulting you and not responding to your objections, you have the right to respond physically or to physically defend yourself if you feel you can do so. If possible, push the person away, scream “No!”, and say that you consider what the person is doing to be rape. It is understandable that most people instinctively do not respond forcefully to people they know. It is not your fault if you find that you are unable to do so.