Our Policies, Procedures and Statements

Notices and Statements

Notices and statements are structured to affirm Swarthmore's commitment to equal opportunity, non-discrimination and non-retaliation. Further definitions of these can be found in our Policy.

Policy 

The Policy Prohibitng Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation is a unified, campus-wide policy applying to all campus community members (including contractors and visitors) to prevent and respond to Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation based on protected categories (e.g., Race, Disability, Religion) that do not implicate sex or sexual misconduct in all on and off-campus programs (including online conduct with campus impact). This policy ensures compliance with federal, state, and local laws including Title VI, Title VII, and Section 504. The College’s Title IX and College-Defined Sexual Misconduct Policy ensures compliance with Title IX.

Below you will find abbreviated definitions of Discrimination and Harassment. The full definitions of behavior prohibited can be found in the Policy Prohibiting Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation. 

Discrimination is defined as subjecting an individual or group to adverse action, including different treatment, on the basis of one or more actual or perceived Protected Categories. 

Examples of Discrimination

This list of examples is intended to help the reader better understand the real-world implications of this Policy and is not meant to be exhaustive. 

The following conduct may constitute Discrimination, depending on the specific facts and circumstances:

  • Refusing to grant a student a letter of recommendation because the student wears a Star of David on a necklace or a kippah.
  • Ridiculing a colleague or peer for using a mobility device. 
  • Not including or assigning a student in a lab group because they wear a hijab or keffiyeh.
  • Being more critical of a student’s work because they are Asian

Harassment is defined as unwelcome conduct based on actual or perceived Protected Categories that, based on the totality of circumstances, is subjectively and objectively offensive and is severe, pervasive or persistent such that it limits or denies a person’s ability to participate in or benefit from the education, employment, or other programs or activities of the College or has the purpose or effect of creating an academic or working environment that a reasonable person would consider to be intimidating, hostile, or offensive.

Examples of Harassment and/or Behaviors Contributing to a Hostile Environment

This list of examples is intended to help the reader better understand the real-world implications of this Policy and is not meant to be exhaustive. 

The following conduct may constitute Harassment, depending on the specific facts and circumstances:

  • Defacement of a person’s property that is religious, cultural or ethnic in nature with hateful words or symbols on the basis of their religious, cultural or ethnic nature.
  • “Jokes,” innuendo or perpetuating negative stereotypes about a person on the basis of their Jewish ancestry.
  • Verbal abuse or use of racist slurs or hostile behavior, which could include insulting, teasing, mocking, ridiculing, or degrading another person or group.
  • Repeatedly referring to a Muslim student as a “terrorist,” mocking the student’s keffiyeh, and taunting the student as they walk through campus.
  • Non-academic display, circulation or electronic transmission of images, memes or other materials that, when viewed from the standpoint of an objective person, are demeaning or hostile to one or more protected or perceived protected characteristics.
  • Persistently requiring a Black individual to remark on the beliefs or actions of the entire Black community.
  • Abusive, disruptive or harassing behavior (verbal or physical), which endangers another’s mental or physical health, including but not limited to threats, acts of violence, or assault based on a Protected Category and/or in the context of a Hate Crime; and,
  • Engaging in derogatory verbal and other behavior of a racial, cultural or religious nature in instructional settings.

These policies apply to all College community members, including faculty, staff, students, and volunteers.

Procedures

Our Procedures are meant to outline the process for resolving allegations of conduct that may violate these Policies.