Tackling Harassment and Sexual Misconduct for the Student Community

Harassment is defined as unwanted verbal, non-verbal, and physical conduct which violates a person’s dignity. It may be related to characteristic protected under the Equality Act 2010, such as age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy or maternity, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnership, sex or sexual orientation.  It creates an intimidating, hostile, humiliating and offensive environment and can lead to interference with the individual’s working, learning and social environment.  A person may be harassed even if they were not the intended "target". For example, a person may be harassed by racist jokes about a different ethnic group if they create an offensive environment.

Examples of harassment may include, but are not limited to the following which may take place in person or online:

• remarks, gossip or jokes about an individual
• obscene gestures or language
• the display or electronic transmission of offensive material
• physical contact of any kind to which an individual has not consented, or which they have not been given an opportunity to reject (this can range from touching through to serious assault)
• unwanted attention by any means, including electronic communication such as text messages, email, social media, etc.
• following, stalking or spying on an individual
• seeking advantage over someone by threatening or pressuring them in an unwelcome way
• isolation, non-cooperation, or exclusion from work-related activities.

Sexual misconduct covers a broad range of inappropriate, unwanted behaviour. It extends from the most severe forms of sexual violence including rape and sexual assault to unwanted touching, stalking, abusive or degrading remarks and a vast range of inappropriate behaviour in between.

Sexual misconduct does not necessarily have to mean either sexual violence or sexual harassment but can include a range of abuses relating to unequal power, issues of consent or abuse of power to pressurise someone into doing something they don’t want to.

All students are required to adhere to our Dignity at Study Principles at all times, including during off campus organised activities and when using communication channels related to studies, such as WhatsApp study groups.

Our Communicating with each other pages on Birkbeck’s Student SharePoint provide advice on ways to ensure that your fellow students feel welcome, included and heard as part of our community. Students should familiarise this and the Dignity at Study Principles.

A) Mandatory training for students

All students are required to complete mandatory online training covering issues of harassment and sexual misconduct and consent. This helps members of our community understand about seeking consent, consider how their behaviour may affect others, identify inappropriate behaviours, understand how to safely challenge harassment and sexual misconduct and how to disclose or report incidents, and access support. The training must be completed and passed within the first four weeks of the academic year. The online Tackling Harassment and Sexual Misconduct training developed by Epigeum covers four modules:

• Understanding and tackling harassment, hate, and misconduct
• Being an active bystander
• Looking out for friends and peers
• Building a safe and inclusive community

Once you are enrolled as a student at Birkbeck, the Tackling Harassment and Sexual Misconduct training will be available for you to complete in Moodle.

We understand that those with personal experience of harassment and sexual misconduct may find this training difficult or distressing to complete. If this applies to you, then we provide a route to request opting out of the training.

B) Additional Bystander Intervention Training

All students are also encouraged to complete our Bystander Intervention online training and workshops. Students who opt out of mandatory harassment and sexual misconduct training may be asked to complete this as an alternative.

C) Diversity and Inclusion Workshops

All students can also access Diversity and Inclusion workshops and Look After Your Mate Peer Support training run by Wellbeing Services.

All staff are required to adhere to the Dignity at Work Policy and the Relationships at Work Policy. Staff are expected to complete mandatory tackling harassment and sexual misconduct training and familiarise themselves with the content of Birkbeck’s comprehensive source of information. If staff witness or receive a report of harassment or sexual misconduct from a student, then they should seek advice from Birkbeck’s welfare team immediately by submitting an Ask query on the student’s behalf and selecting ‘Reporting an incident of sexual violence, harassment, hate incidents and bullying’.

All staff are required to complete mandatory online training focused on tackling harassment and sexual misconduct. This helps to ensure staff understand how their behaviour may affect others, are able identify inappropriate behaviours amongst staff and students, understand how to safely challenge harassment and sexual misconduct and their responsibilities as staff members, and how to disclose or report incidents, and access support. The training must be completed and passed within the first four weeks of probation or prior to the start of the new academic year. The online Tackling Harassment and Sexual Misconduct training developed by Epigeum covers four modules:

• Understanding harassment, hate and sexual misconduct
• Responding to disclosures effectively
• Next steps
• Building a safe and inclusive community

You can access the online mandatory Tackling Harassment Sexual Misconduct training on Moodle.

We recognise that experiencing any kind of abuse can be distressing and confusing. If you experience behaviour that makes you feel uncomfortable during your studies at Birkbeck and would like to tell someone about it, please disclose this to us so that we can support you. We encourage those who have experienced unwelcome behaviour to report it. We are committed to supporting our students, we will not pressure you to take any particular action but our safeguarding officers will work with you to discuss your options for formal reporting and help you to identify a way forward.

There are several reasons why you may wish to make a disclosure about harassment or sexual misconduct.  These may include:

• To learn about and access internal or external emotional or practical support to help manage any impact of your experience on your wellbeing and studies.
• To explore any measures that can be put in place to help manage your safety.
• To learn more about formal reporting options such as reporting to police or submitting an internal complaint.
• To access support whilst internal complaints, police investigations or legal proceedings are taking place to help manage the emotional demands or impact to your studies.
• To anonymously disclose an incident to enable the College to consider any emerging patterns, trends or action that can be taken to address these concerns.  Further information about anonymous reporting can be found below.

Students can find out more information in our Safer Community - Report, Response, Resources. Information about how to disclose incidents of harassment and sexual misconduct can be found in the section below.

Students can make a report using their contact details so that the College can respond and offer support.

• Report an incident of ‘sexual violence, harassment, hate incidents and bullying’ via ASK.
• You will be asked to complete a short online form. You do not need to provide detailed information.
• We aim to respond to ASK disclosures within one working day.
• ASK disclosures are usually monitored Monday-Friday, 10am-6pm. They are not monitored during closure periods, bank holidays or weekends.
• Only Birkbeck Safeguarding Officers will be able to view your ASK request.

If you disclose to academic or professional staff through other mechanisms, they will inform the Safeguarding team to enable them to ensure you have access to the information and support you need.

Disclosures can be made by a third-party using the ASK system, however, this may limit the support and intervention we can provide.

On receipt of your disclosure, a member of our student team will contact you. Our Safeguarding Officers are trained, experienced professionals who support any student who has experienced harassment or sexual misconduct.  They will work with you to understand your experience, complete a review of risk, provide practical and emotional support to manage your wellbeing and safety, help you to understand your rights and options and ensure that you can make informed decisions about support and actions that meet your individual needs. The support is non-judgmental, is independent from your faculty and school and is not part of any investigation or disciplinary process.

We understand that not all students will feel comfortable disclosing their experiences to us but may wish to alert us anonymously in order to enable us to better understand the nature and frequency of incidents of harassment and sexual misconduct, monitor trends, plan and organise preventative initiatives to support and evaluate our work towards eliminating sexual violence, misconduct and harassment and maintaining the safety of our community. To make an anonymous report:

• Select ‘Reporting an incident of sexual violence, harassment, hate incident and bullying’  using the ASK system.
• From the next dropdown menu indicate your status (e.g., current student, graduate, applicant or not a student) and from the next drop-down menu select ‘I am reporting this anonymously for information only'
• You will be provided with a link to a brief online Microsoft Office form.
• Please note, if you report anonymously, we will not be able to contact you about the concern you are raising or offer you support.

Disclosing an experience of harassment or sexual misconduct via ASK does not initiate a formal complaint procedure. If you want to make a formal complaint for an internal review to take place, you must submit a complaint. After you have made an initial disclosure, the Safeguarding Officer will discuss the options available to you, including what will happen if you make a formal report, and how the College will support you through the process. The Students’ Union Support Service can support you with this process.

Read Birkbeck's Complaints Policy and Procedure and find the complaints form.

A) What happens if I make a formal report?

If you decide to submit a formal report about an incident of harassment or sexual misconduct, your report will be treated as a student complaint and an investigator will be appointed who will produce a report on your complaint.

If your report is against a Birkbeck student, this report will then be considered through the Student Discipline policy.

If your report is against a member of College staff, the case will be dealt with under human resources policies and procedures.

The College will decide any precautionary action it needs to take to protect your wellbeing through the process of the investigation and any disciplinary procedures that follow. This may involve the College putting in place a “no contact” agreement or requiring a student not to attend campus during the process. All investigators and chairs of disciplinary panels will be trained in trauma informed practice to ensure that the investigation and any related procedure which follows are conducted in a sensitive manner.

Birkbeck’s investigation of any alleged harassment and sexual misconduct will follow the principles of “natural justice” meaning that each party must have an opportunity for a fair hearing, those making the decision must engage with the process without bias or perception of bias, the process should be completed without delay and decision-makers should make reasonable decisions and valid reasons for their decisions to ensure transparency and accountability.

B) How will I be supported if I am the subject of an investigation?

The wellbeing and safety of all our students is a priority; we understand that for students who are the subject of an allegation of harassment or sexual misconduct, the process of being investigated can be anxiety provoking and stressful. The Student Complaints, Conduct and Appeals and Safeguarding teams will liaise to consider any precautionary action that may be applied to protect all parties, including you. A member of our Safeguarding team will contact you to discuss the support available to you and this will be kept under review during the course of an investigation. The staff supporting you will be separate from any staff involved either in the investigation or any disciplinary processes. The Students’ Union Support Service can also provide you with guidance and support through this process.

C) Feedback from your complaint

You will be notified of the outcome of your complaint after the completion of the investigation or after a panel hearing outcome. The disciplinary policy and procedure does not give specific numbers of days to inform a complainant of the investigation outcome. An investigation outcome can lead to a panel hearing.

All information shared with Birkbeck’s Safeguarding team or with the Student Discipline team as part of a formal report will be handled sensitively and confidentially.  To enable us to support you more fully and minimize the need for you to repeatedly disclose your experience, we may ask for your consent to share limited information with specific services, teams or individuals. We will not share any information without your consent, the only exception arises where there are serious concerns for your safety or the safety of someone else. In these instances, we will endeavour to discuss this with you in advance and inform you when confidentiality is broken.

There are limited circumstances in which we are legally obliged to break confidentiality and report to the police, these include:

• Terrorism and radicalisation
• Drug trafficking and money laundering
• Court orders or subpoenas