This section serves as a College resource on issues of sexual misconduct pertaining to students, faculty, staff, and visitors who are part of the community at Bronx Community College. Bronx Community College is committed to providing a learning, working and living environment that promotes personal integrity, civility and mutual respect in an environment free of sexual misconduct and discrimination.

Please familiarize yourself with the following College resources:

• Title IX at CUNY
• CUNY Policy on Sexual Misconduct Training Series
• Students’ Bill of Rights
• Title IX Guidance for Students and Employees Participating in Study Abroad Programs
• BCC Title IX Compliance Page

CUNY Student Related Video Presentations:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJNkN__SZxc
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGoWLWS4-kU

Important Resources

The College has issued additional information, tips and local/national resources for the campus community:

• Title IX 40th Anniversary from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)
• Knowing your IX: Empowering students to stop sexual violence

Links to Local Resources

• Bronx Community College Office of Personal Counseling
• Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services
• The Children’s Aid Society Domestic Violence Intervention Services
• DV Guide – Bronx Directory
• Violence Intervention Program – Serving the Five Boroughs
• New York State Unified Court System – Safety Planning Guide
• Pandora’s Project: Support and resources for survivors of rape and sexual abuse
• National Sexual Assault Hotline
• New York State Division of Human Rights
• New York City Commission on Human Rights

Risk Reduction Tips from the College’s Department of Public Safety:

• If you have limits, make them known before things go too far.
• Tell a sexual aggressor “NO” clearly and loudly, like you mean it.
• Try to extricate yourself from the physical presence of a sexual aggressor.
• Grab someone nearby and ask for help.
• Be responsible for your alcohol intake/drug use and realize that alcohol/drugs lower your sexual inhibitions and may make you vulnerable to someone who views a drunk or high person as a sexual opportunity.
• Watch out for your friends and ask that they watch out for you. A real friend will get in your face if you are about to make a mistake. Respect them if they do.
• If you find yourself in the position of being the initiator of sexual behavior, you owe sexual respect to your potential partner.

These suggestions may help you to reduce your risk for being accused of sexual misconduct:

• Don’t make assumptions about consent. About someone’s sexual availability. About whether they are attracted to you. About how far you can go. About whether they are physically and mentally able to consent to you.
• Clearly communicate your intentions to your partner and give them a chance to clearly relate their intentions to you.
• Mixed messages from your partner should be a clear indication that you should step back, defuse the sexual tension, and communicate better. Perhaps you are misreading them. Perhaps they haven’t figured out how far they want to go with you yet. You need to respect the timeline with which they are comfortable.
• Don’t take advantage of someone’s drunkenness or drugged state, even if they did it to themselves.
• Realize that your potential partner could be intimidated by you or fearful. You may have a power advantage simply because of your gender or size. Don’t abuse that power.
• Understand that consent to some forms of sexual behavior does not necessarily imply consent to other forms of sexual behavior.
• On this campus, silence and passivity cannot be interpreted by anyone as an indication of consent. Read your potential partner carefully, paying attention to verbal and non-verbal communication and body language.

The mission of the Office of Personal Counseling is to assist students with emotional, developmental or psychological concerns that may be interfering with their personal and academic growth. We provide free, confidential, short-term counseling to help students find healthy ways to cope with college and life stressors in order to enhance their personal growth and support their academic focus at Bronx Community College. All students are treated with respect and are seen as individuals with unique strengths. Our services are free and confidential.

We are also a liaison to the community, linking appropriate students to more intensive and longer term services as needed. We are committed to supporting the faculty and staff in the identification of students who may benefit from our services and then reaching out to those students in need. We provide educational programming to the campus community and work to emphasize wellness and prevention in our outreach efforts.

SPARC (Sexual & Interpersonal Violence Prevention And Response Course) is an online program developed by the State University of New York in partnership with the City University of New York. Its purpose is to educate members of an institution’s community, on what the policies are, how they can report incidents and resources to assist them. SPARC is delivered on a Blackboard platform, and successful completion is noted in the student’s CUNYfirst account with a “milestone.”

According to New York State legislation called Enough is Enough all Freshman, Transfer students, Club/Organization Officers, Study Abroad participants, and Student Athletes are required to take SPARC. Student Athletes must complete SPARC annually to be eligible to play.

For all freshmen and transfer students SPARC will be added to your CUNYfirst checklist as a “TO DO”

For Club/Organization Officers, Study Abroad participants, and Student Athletes you will be provided a link to access SPARC on Blackboard via self-enrollment.

If you took the SPARC training already at another institution and you transfer within the CUNY system you must retake the SPARC training at your new institution. If you completed the training within the past academic year, you do not need to retake it. If you took it during your freshman year but then during a subsequent year you became an Officer of a club, are participating in a sport, studying abroad or live in the residence hall, you must retake SPARC.

SPARC Troubleshooting Tips:

• The course is not smartphone or Apple product friendly so you must take the course on a desktop, laptop or tablet.
• Please disengage any pop-up blockers while using BlackBoard
• Enable flash
• Use Firefox or Google Chrome as your browser
• Complete all slides – you will see a certificate once the entire course is complete
• If there is a due date appearing on your checklist but you completed SPARC, please disregard the deadline it will not affect your registration.
• Please save the completion history page of your blackboard after completing the SPARC training.
• If you have completed SPARC and you still notice that your status indicates “in process” or you continue having issues even after reviewing and implementing these tips then send an email to sparc@bcc.cuny.edu.

If you continue having issues after reviewing and implementing these tips then send an email to sparc@bcc.cuny.edu. If you do not complete the course by the specified date indicated on the communication sent to you, a hold may be placed on your account or you may be unable to participate in a particular activity.

For New-to-BCC students: Once you complete the SPARC training on BlackBoard the hold should be removed within 48 hours.

For Athletes: You will not be able to participate if you do not complete the course.

For Student Government (SGA) and Club Officers: You will not be able to participate as an Officer of a specific club/organization if you do not complete the course.

If you have completed the course and the hold remain on your account AFTER 48 hours post-completion, then please contact the following to assist with removal. Holds will not be removed prior to the 48 hours post-completion timeline unless explicit exception.

• Athletes: Kelly.Peloquin@bcc.cuny.edu
• ASAP: Celso.Alvarez@bcc.cuny.edu
• College Discovery: Jeannette.Davila@bcc.cuny.edu
• First Year Seminar: Tica.Frazier@bcc.cuny.edu
• Student Organization Officers:  Yvonne.Erazo@bcc.cuny.edu
• Success Coach Advisees: Cheryl.Byrd@bcc.cuny.edu

If you cannot complete the online training due to the content please email Jessenia.Paoli@bcc.cuny.edu and explain why. If applicable, we will try to find an alternative means of completing the sexual misconduct training.

How to enroll in SPARC instructions (.pdf)