Religious Discrimination

No University student, staff or faculty member shall, on the basis of religion, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any University program or activity. Harassment based on religious principals can take many forms; however, there are two general categories of religious discrimination: a) coercion of participation or non-participation in religious activities; and b) hostile environment.

Coercion of Religions Participation or Non-Participation
No one with the authority to affect your status as a student or employee at the University may, explicitly or implicitly, insist that you participate in religious activities or hold particular religious views. In addition, no one has the right to insist that you not participate in the religious activities of your choice.

Hostile Environment (Religion)
As with sexual or racial harassment, whether a person’s environment is hostile for the purposes of religious discrimination depends on the totality of the circumstances, including the frequency and severity of the harassing conduct, whether the conduct is physically threatening or humiliating, and whether the conduct unreasonably interferes with academic or employment performance. The key question is whether, on balance, the harassing conduct is sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of the environment and create an abusive environment, when judged both objectively (using the reasonable person standard) and subjectively (from the actual perspective of the affected individual). The repeated use of religiously derogatory language in an abusive manner can constitute hostile environment religious harassment.

Religious Accommodation
Similar to reasonable accommodations provided to qualified persons with disabilities, the University will provide a reasonable accommodation based on a persons sincerely held religious belief, unless the University believes that providing such an accommodation would create an undue hardship. The accommodation request imposes responsibilities and obligations on both the individual requesting the accommodation and the University. For example, the person requesting the accommodation is obligated to make the University aware of his or her need for a religious accommodation. Once a request is made, the University will explore reasonable accommodations to address the person’s religious belief or practice, unless, again, the request creates an undue hardship. The person requesting the accommodation is obligated to cooperate with the University’s attempts to accommodate their request. The University is not obligated to provide the accommodation preferred by the individual, as long as the accommodation it does provide effectively eliminates any religious conflict.