Non-Discrimination and Harassment
Georgia Gwinnett College is committed to providing a learning, working and living environment that promotes personal integrity, civility and mutual respect and is free of all forms of discrimination and harassment.
Equal Opportunity and Title IX Compliance investigates complaints of alleged violations of the rights of persons based on membership in protected classes. If you or anyone you know at GGC has been discriminated against, harassed or threatened on the basis of: race, color, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, religion, creed, national origin, ethnicity, disability, veteran status, genetic information or other protected rights under federal and state laws, please contact our office.
GGC Policies and Procedures Summaries
Americans with Disabilities Act and Requests for Reasonable Accommodation
Georgia Gwinnett College is committed to supporting the needs of students, employees and visitors with disabilities in compliance with Section 504 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended.
Students and Visitors
If you are a student or visitor and would like information about or would like to make a request for reasonable accommodation, academic adjustments and/or auxiliary aids, please contact Disability Services.
Employees
If you are an employee seeking information on procedures for employee benefits coverage or reasonable accommodations, please contact Payroll and Benefits.
Discrimination
Discrimination is defined as decision-making based on race, color, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity or national origin, religion, age, genetic information, disability or veteran status. Generally, discrimination occurs when someone is treated differently or poorly based on one of the factors above.
Examples of Discrimination
- Refusing to hire an applicant or to promote an employee because of their race
- Refusing to provide an employee with reasonable accommodations for the employee’s religious beliefs
- Giving an employee a poor performance evaluation based on his or her veteran status
- Assigning a student, a low grade based on the student’s religion
- Refusing to provide reasonable accommodations to a student with a disability
Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action
Georgia Gwinnett College is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing employment opportunity without regard to an individual's age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation or veteran status. GGC also makes good faith efforts to recruit, hire and promote qualified women, minorities, individuals with disabilities and veterans.
Equal Opportunity and Title IX Compliance is responsible for reviewing GGC’s annual Affirmative Action Plan, and for implementing and monitoring the Equal Opportunity Policy. This policy guides our institutional commitment to diversity and fairness regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, sex, age, or genetic information and prohibits discrimination in all employment transactions.
Our primary role is to:
- Assist in the development and implementation of GGC’s affirmative action programs
- Conduct federally mandated workforce analysis for faculty and staff
- Serve as liaison between GGC and the federal and state agencies in areas of contract compliance, reporting, and regulatory matters
Harassment
Harassment is unwelcome conduct that is severe enough to significantly interfere with an individual’s work, education, living conditions or participation in university programs and activities.
Sexual harassment, including sexual violence, is perhaps the most commonly understood form of harassment, but it is important to note that harassment on any basis, such as age, color, disability, national origin, gender or sex, genetic information, gender identity, gender expression, race, religion or sexual orientation, can also occur.
Examples of harassment:
- Continued unwelcome questioning about intimate or personal matters
- Severe, persistent or pervasive comments or jokes based on race or national origin
- Emails that contain extreme or persistent comments about an individual’s disability
- Repeated derogatory comments relating a particular religion and targeted to a specific individual of that religion
- Violence based on race, national origin, disability, gender expression or identity, etc.
GGC Title IX / Sexual Misconduct Policy
The GGC Title IX / sexual misconduct policy refers to sexual- or gender-based harassment, sexual or gender violence, sexual exploitation, relationship violence (domestic violence and dating violence) and sex- or gender-based stalking. GGC is proactive in its efforts to address and reduce instances of sexual misconduct, including sexual violence, in order to create and maintain a welcoming learning and working environment.
Examples of sexual misconduct:
- Verbal of physical abuse at the hands of a partner or spouse
- Non-consensual contact of a sexual nature
- Stalking
- Sexual assault
- Sharing images of a sexual nature of someone without that person’s consent