Vermont State Colleges Policies & Procedures: Prevention of Discrimination

Relevant Excerpt

Under Vermont law, “harassment” means an incident or incidents of verbal, written, visual, or physical conduct or communication, including any incident conducted by electronic means, based on or motivated by a person's or person’s family member’s, actual or perceived race, color, ancestry, ethnicity, national origin, place of birth, sex, sexual orientation, sex characteristics, sex stereotypes, gender identity, pregnancy or related conditions, creed, religion, crime victim status, disability, age, veteran status, marital status, genetic information, HIV-positive blood test results, physical or mental condition or any other status protected by state or federal law that has the purpose or effect of objectively and substantially undermining and detracting from or interfering with a student’s educational performance or access to school resources or the effect of objectively undermining and detracting from or interfering with an employee’s work, or creating an objectively intimidating, hostile, or offensive environment.

Harassment includes the use of epithets, stereotypes, slurs, comments, insults, derogatory remarks, gestures, threats, graffiti, display, or circulation of written or visual material, and taunts on manner of speech and negative references to customs related to any of the protected categories.