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Sexual Misconduct, Harassment, and Other Harmful Behaviours

At BCU, we are committed to providing a safe, supportive, and stimulating environment where everyone can thrive and feel free to be themselves. This includes taking action to prevent and address sexual misconduct, harassment, and other harmful behaviours.

In the sections below, you can read about what we do to ensure that members of our University community understand everyone’s expectations of behaviour; how we identify and address harmful behaviours; and what support is available to you as a student of BCU.

These actions help us meet our obligations under the Office for Students’ Condition of Regulation on sexual misconduct and harassment; but, more importantly, they ensure that we are actively seeking to eliminate sexual misconduct and harassment within our community, and are supporting those who experience it elsewhere.

Our commitment – and yours

On enrolling at BCU, you will sign up to our University Community Agreement – an agreement that sets out what we expect from you to ensure that you can thrive, grow and excel as a member of our community. More than that, the Agreement also says what you can expect from us as your chosen place of study; and from the Students’ Union as the champion of your student voice.

Harmful behaviours

We know that there are occasions when you might experience harmful behaviours at BCU, whether this involves other members of our community or is something that happens to you outside of your student experience. We have a Definitions document that will help you understand what we mean when we talk about specific harmful behaviours like sexual misconduct, harassment, and discrimination. We also provide students with specific training to help you understand these issues and what you can do if you experience any harmful behaviour (see Training and education below).

Report

However you encounter harmful behaviours, we have systems and processes in place to support you. You can report harmful behaviours in whatever way you feel most comfortable, whether that is online or in person, to a tutor or to another staff member like a counsellor. We encourage all students to make reports through our Report and Support online portal, which is the quickest way to ensure you receive support from our Mental Health and Wellbeing team. The team can talk you through the support available to you, from both internal and external support services, and can discuss what options you have if you want to take further action.

Support

We have a range of support services available to students: you can find details on the Student Support page of our website.

Our Mental Health and Wellbeing team can provide specific support for any student who experiences sexual misconduct or harassment, no matter how it happens: it doesn’t need to have happened on campus or have involved any other student, and you can access support without having to make any kind of formal report. Support is available to all affected students, including students who are the subject of allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment.

Training and education

The Mental Health and Wellbeing team undertake regular training to ensure they have the skills and knowledge to support students who have experienced sexual misconduct, harassment, or other harmful behaviours. We also have team members who are trained as Independent Domestic Violence Advisers and Independent Sexual Violence Advisers, to provide specialist advice and support where it is needed. The team run regular training sessions for both staff and students to support understanding of harmful behaviours, in addition to training delivered through interactive online modules.

All staff undertake mandatory training that includes content on sexual misconduct and harassment, and how to respond if a student discloses details of harmful behaviour to staff. Where we investigate cases of sexual misconduct or harassment internally, we use investigators and decision-makers who have undertaken specialist training to ensure that we conduct thorough, trauma-informed investigations.

For students, we have developed our own in-house module to provide learning on consent and healthy relationships, covering sexual misconduct; harassment; and other harmful behaviours. The module has been created in consultation with the Students’ Union and students and is contextualised for BCU – it is not an ‘off the shelf’ product. All students are required to complete the module, or to engage in alternative learning if completion of the module might cause trauma.

Policies and procedures

We have a suite of policies and procedures to support our work in the areas of sexual misconduct and harassment, and to ensure you can enjoy a safe environment where you can feel free to be your authentic self. This includes:

  • University Community Agreement: the Agreement sets out the commitments we will make to you as a student at BCU; the commitments our Students’ Union will also make to you; and what we expect from you to ensure your time at BCU can be as successful and rich as possible
  • Definitions of Harmful Behaviours and Related Issues: provides definitions for many of the harmful behaviours which might constitute misconduct at BCU, to help everyone understand clearly what we mean by these terms. We also define some terms that are linked to our work on harmful behaviours, such as freedom of speech.
  • Student Gender-Based Violence Policy: sets out our approach to gender-based violence (‘GBV’), incorporating sexual misconduct but also important issues such as domestic abuse.
  • Student Bullying and Harassment Policy: sets our approach to bullying and harassment, including our commitment to protecting freedom of speech and how it interacts with allegations of harassment in particular.
  • Student Disciplinary Procedure: sets out the steps we will take to consider allegations of misconduct made against BCU students, including both our informal and formal processes for investigating and seeking resolution.
  • Policy on Relationships Between Employees and Students:  intimate relationships between academic employees and any other employees with responsibility for students are strictly prohibited due to the risk of power imbalance and conflict of interest. This policy sets out our approach to relationships between staff and students and confirms the steps we will take where a staff member is found to be in breach of the policy.

Partnership working

We work closely with external agencies to help ensure you receive holistic support when you need it. We have a strong relationship with West Midlands Police, with an officer based on our campuses full-time and another providing regular liaison support for students – you can find details on the Safer Students website (scroll to the ‘Birmingham City University’ section). We can also help you access organisations you can give you specialist advice and support around issues like sexual assault; domestic abuse; so-called ‘honour-based’ abuse; or hate crime.

If you study at one of our partner institutions, whether in the UK or overseas, you can access our Report and Support portal and report any harmful behaviours you encounter. We will ensure any student reporting harmful behaviour receives appropriate support and guidance. We actively engage with our academic partners to ensure they understand the University’s approach to sexual misconduct and harassment, and have access to support resources.

Freedom of speech

Freedom of speech means that everyone has the right to express lawful views

and opinions freely, in speech or in writing, without interference. The University has a Code of Practice on Freedom of Speech.

Freedom of speech within the law is protected. This means that freedom of speech will not be protected if it contravenes some other law and illegal or unlawful acts will not be tolerated by the University.

The University has a duty to protect its staff and students from unlawful discrimination, harassment, intimidation or threats of violence on the grounds of race, sex, age, religion or philosophical belief, sexual orientation, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, or pregnancy or maternity. However, the provisions of the Equality Act 2010 should not be interpreted to undermine freedom of speech and academic freedom. As a result, students’ learning experience and the working environment of staff may include exposure to research, course material, discussion or speaker’s views that they find offensive, contentious or unacceptable, but are nonetheless within the law, and unlikely to be considered unlawful harassment or discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.

Academic freedom means freedom within the law to question and test received wisdom, and to put forward new ideas and controversial or unpopular opinions without being at risk of being adversely affected. An individual would be deemed to have been adversely affected if they had either lost their job or privileges at the University, or experiences a reduction in the likelihood that they would secure a promotion or different job at the University. The University is committed to ensuring that academic staff have the freedom to question and test received wisdom and put forward new ideas and opinions without placing them at risk of using their job, privileges or future opportunities.