Glossary of Terms
Administrative Review and/or Investigation: A non-criminal review and/or investigation initiated by Chaffey Administration (Human Resources, Title 5 Coordinator, Student Affairs, etc.). An administrative review and/or investigation may be conducted internally (by someone at Chaffey) or externally (by a third-party investigator).
Administrative Action: An action initiated or taken by Chaffey Administration. The commencement of an employee or student discipline, for example, would be administrative actions.
California Department of Justice: Investigative law enforcement agency and legal department of the California executive branch under the leadership of the California Attorney General (“AG”). The California Department of Justice, also referred to as the California DOJ, carries out complex criminal and civil investigations, prosecutions, and other legal services throughout the state of California.
California Penal Code: The primary set of statutes that define criminal offenses and procedures in California. Each crime in the penal code is made up of specific elements.
Criminal Investigation: The process by which law enforcement collects evidence to determine if a crime has been committed and to help identify the perpetrator(s). If the evidence collected shows probable cause that a crime has been committed (i.e., each element of the relevant criminal statute has been met), then law enforcement will refer the matter to the District Attorney (“DA” or “prosecutor”), which for Chaffey College is the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office. The prosecutor has the sole discretion whether to bring a criminal case. The prosecutor must prove beyond a reasonable doubt all elements of a crime at trial to secure a conviction against an individual.
Federal and State Privacy Laws (Personnel Matters): With some limited exceptions, current and former employees’ personnel/employment records are protected by state and federal privacy laws. Disclosure of protected employment records is prohibited without the expressed consent of the employee. Personnel or employment records include, among other things, disciplinary records, performance reviews, etc.
FERPA: The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds, like Chaffey, under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education. (See, 20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) “Student Records” include a vast body of documents and information, including but not limited to student grades, disciplinary records, investigatory information, etc.
Hate Crime: A criminal act committed, in whole or in part, because of one or more of the following actual or perceived characteristics of the victim including disability, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics. (California Penal Code section 422.55) A prosecutor must prove that the motivation of the perpetrator in committing the predicate crime was bias against a person or persons in a protected category, and that this bias, hatred, or prejudice was a “substantial factor” (and not an incidental factor) in the crime.
Hate Incident: Generally speaking, a hate incident is non-criminal conduct that is motivated by hatred or bigotry and directed at any individual, residence, house of worship, institution, or business expressly because of the victim's real or perceived disability, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or age or because of the person’s association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics.
Hate incidents often involve the same types of unacceptable behaviors found in hate crimes except that one or more of the formal statutory hate crime elements are not met (e.g., there is no actual underlying crime committed, the “because of” element is missing, etc.). Although hate incidents may not necessarily constitute a criminal act, they may violate District policies and can be the basis for an administrative action (i.e., a discipline, termination, expulsion, etc.).
Predicate Crime: For the purposes of a hate crime, the predicate crime is the underlying criminal act committed (e.g., arson, vandalism, assault, battery, etc.).
Title 5: “Title 5” refers to the body of California regulations that apply to California Community Colleges. The Title 5 regulations are created to help define, supplement, and support the laws set forth in the California Education Code.
Title IX: Title IX is a federal civil rights law passed as part of the Education Amendments of 1972. This law protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive Federal financial assistance. Title IX applies to any institution receiving federal financial assistance from the Department of Education, including state and local educational agencies. Chaffey’s Title IX webpage contains detailed information regarding Title IX, and it also contains instructions on how to file a Title IX complaint.
United States Code: Federal crimes are enumerated via statute in the United States Code. Title 18 of the United States Code is the primary set of statutes that defines federal crimes.
