UCL News statement – Everyone’s Invited

Professor Sasha Roseneil, UCL Pro-Provost (Equity and Inclusion), said: “We are all too aware that sexual violence, harassment, and other forms of gender-based violence take place at UCL and that this can have a devastating effect on those who experience such behaviour. We condemn all forms of violence and harassment, and we are fully committed to a programme of work to change the cultures that allow violence and harassment and to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our students and staff.

“UCL is one of a few universities in the UK that has introduced a Personal Relationships Policy which explicitly bans personal relationships where there is a supervisory relationship. This recognises the power imbalances that exist between staff and students in higher education settings and seeks to prevent the abuse of power.

“We also have a Prevention of Bullying Harassment and Sexual Misconduct Policy and have an online reporting tool ‘Report + Support’ for students and staff to report unacceptable behaviour.”

UCL’s proactive measures to address bullying, harassment, and sexual misconduct:

• The creation of an online reporting tool for students and staff to report unacceptable behaviour - ‘Report + Support’;
• An institution-wide campaign called ‘Full Stop’. This focuses on how all members of the UCL community can play an active role in shaping a welcoming and inclusive environment for students and staff in which sexual and gender-based violence and harassment are unacceptable. Key to the campaign is the message that we must no longer excuse poor behaviour or minimise the experiences of those affected by sexual and gender-based violence.
• We regularly review policies and procedures to ensure that they are fair, transparent for all parties involved, and follow best practice in the UK and globally. We have recently launched a major review of our reporting procedures and policies, chaired by Professor Sasha Roseneil (UCL’s first Pro-Provost (Equity and Inclusion).

Significant progress has already been made in recent years including:

• Appointing a lead for the prevention of and response to Bullying, Harassment and Sexual Misconduct, and creating a Crime Prevention and Personal Safety Advisor role in the Campus Security team.
• Revising and delivering the Students’ Union Active Bystander training. These workshops give students the skills they need to intervene should they witness bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct on campus. This is done through a strong grounding in understanding consent and recognising sexual misconduct. Since the 2015 academic year to date, nearly 33,000 students have received Active Bystander training.
• Engaging staff and PhD students in ‘Where do you draw the line?’ training on preventing harassment and bullying. We have delivered training to nearly 4,000 staff to date.
• Delivering ‘Taking the Lead’ to 400 managers across UCL from Sept 2018 – January 2020.
• Banning the use of non-disclosure agreements in settlement agreements with staff or students who have raised complaints of sexual misconduct, bullying or harassment.
• Delivering specialist Rape Crisis training to staff in student-facing roles.
• Establishing an agreement with Intersol Global to improve the quality and consistency of investigations.
• Appointing 35 Dignity Advisers to provide support and guidance to staff and students at an informal, local level.
• Publishing data relating to reports of sexual misconduct and bullying. We hope this decision will provide further impetus for positive cultural change, as well as deliver increased transparency - both publicly and internally. 
• Establishing a dedicated phone line which officers support on bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct through our employee assistance programme.
• Hosting a global conference ‘Calling time on Sexual Misconduct’ in June 2020 to share learning from around the world on how to tackle sexual misconduct in higher education.

Links:

• Report + Support
• Full Stop
• Supporting women in our community and opposing gender-based violence