Tackling racial
harassm
ent:
Universities
challenged
equalityhumanrights.com
Thank you
We would like to thank all of the students and staff who so openly shared with us
their experiences and the changes they would like to see. We would also like to
thank the universities and sector representatives who candidly spoke about the
challenges they face and the scope for improvement.
Contents
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Contents
Foreword 4
Executive summary and
recommendations 6
Methodology 21
What is racial harassment? 23
Experiences 26
Reporting and complaints 44
- Reporting incidents of racial
harassment and making a
complaint
44
- Routes and barriers to reporting
incidents and pursuing complaints 52
- Complaints handling and redress
for students and staff 68
3
Institutional learning and
improvement 84
Leadership and culture 94
Annex A : Respondents and
non-respondents
104
Annex B : Legal protections 109
Bibliography 113
Glossary
115
Contacts
119
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Foreword
Foreword
from Pavita Cooper
Higher education is a hotbed of innovation and learning
that helps to drive Britain’s economy at a time of great
uncertainty, developing breakthroughs in science and
technology and boosting our industries.
We need to support our brightest minds to
work collaboratively across disciplines, solve
global challenges and nd new ways forward,
but this innovation and forward thinking has
not been used to solve the challenge of racial
harassment.
Racism should not be tolerated on campus.
Sadly, this report reveals that racial
harassment is a common occurrence
for many students and staff in British
universities.
The effects are seriously damaging to
individuals and our society. Students with
huge potential are being left behind, with
their grades suffering, a negative impact on
their mental health and, in some cases, not
nishing their course at all.
For ethnic minority staff, being excluded and
marginalised, overlooked for professional
development, and facing hostile comments
and stereotyping are an all-too-common
experience. Senior academic staff who
are vital to a university’s reputation and
funding are sometimes seen as untouchable,
leaving their behaviour unchallenged.
Microaggressions are often shrugged off
and harassment brushed under the carpet,
forcing some staff to leave their jobs.
A diverse workforce is needed in creating
a more tolerant and inclusive study
environment, but far more needs to be done.
Clear and visible action to prevent and tackle
racial harassment will make it easier to attract,
grow and retain ethnic minority talent.
Ethnic minority staff and equality leads
should not be charged with getting this right
by themselves. Instead, we call for greater
leadership and ownership on preventing and
tackling racial harassment across all institutions
because no institution is immune from it.
We have a responsibility to protect all students
and staff from feeling unsafe, unwelcome
and inferior. While adults in the eyes of the
law, students are often living away from
home for the rst time and shouldn’t start
their independent lives on such a negative
footing. Universities are promoted as places of
freedom, open-mindedness and self-discovery;
harassment should not be part of that
experience.
This is an issue of national importance whether
you work or study in higher education or not. If
this behaviour isn’t stamped out at university, it
will perpetuate through our society.
4
Historically, British universities are seen
as attractive places to study and work for
international students. But we can’t afford to
be complacent if we want to retain our slice
of the global education market. A feeling of
belonging and inclusion is important to people
deciding whether or not to work and study in
Britain. We must therefore do all we can to
make sure the university experience is positive
for everyone.
That’s why we are calling on universities to
take greater responsibility to prevent racial
harassment before it happens, to ensure they
understand the scale of the issue. We want
universities to make sure people who are
racially harassed can speak up secure in the
knowledge that their complaint will be taken
seriously and effective redress will be available.
In recent years, the higher education sector
has been taking steps to better understand
the harassment that goes on. But we now
need to come together, listen to the real life
experiences of those studying and working at
our universities and tackle the issue once and
for all.
Let the learning begin.
Pavita Cooper
Commissioner at the Equality and Human
Rights Commission
5
We have a responsibility
to protect all students and
staff from feeling unsafe,
unwelcome and inferior.
Executive
summary
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Executive summary and recommendations
We launched our inquiry into racial
harassment in publicly funded
universities in Britain to examine
staff and students’ experiences of
racial harassment and the effect
they might have on their education,
career and wellbeing. We also
wanted to look at the extent to
which universities have in place
available, accessible and effective
routes to redress for their staff and
students if they experience racial
harassment.
This report summarises the ndings from our:
• public call for evidence
• university survey
• student survey
• roundtable discussions, and
• interviews with universities, students
and staff.
1
We also make recommendations for change.
6
Experience and impact of racial
harassment
Racial harassment is a common experience
for a wide range of students and staff at
universities across England, Scotland and
Wales.
Around a quarter of students from an ethnic
minority background (24%), and 9% of White
students, said they had experienced racial
harassment since starting their course. This
equates to 13% of all students.
20% of students had been physically attacked.
56% of students who had been racially
harassed had experienced racist name-calling,
insults and jokes. Other common experiences
included:
• subtle and nuanced acts, often known as
microaggressions
• being ignored or excluded from
conversations or group activities, and
• being exposed to racist material or
displays.
In most cases students said their harasser
was another student, but a large number said
it was their tutor or another academic.
1
The full findings are available in our research reports: ‘Racial harassment inquiry: survey of
university students' (available on request) and
'Racial harassment inquiry: survey of
universities’ and ‘Racial harassment in British universities: qualitative research findings'.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Executive summary and recommendations
Over half of staff who responded to us
described incidents of
being ignored or
excluded because of their race. More than
a quarter said they experienced racist
name-calling, insults and jokes. Much of this
harassment took place in oce environments,
frequently in plain sight of their colleagues.
International students told us about feeling
unwelcome, isolated and vulnerable.
We received examples of anti-Semitic and
Islamophobic slurs, and anti-English sentiment
at Scottish and Welsh universities, for both
staff and students.
We were told that most incidents were part of
a pattern of repeated harassment.
Racial harassment can have a profound
impact on an individual’s mental health,
educational outcomes and career.
Racial harassment can cause humiliation,
isolation, loss of condence and serious harm
to mental health and wellbeing. Students who
experienced racial harassment said they were
left feeling angry, upset, depressed, anxious
and vulnerable; 8% said they had felt suicidal.
Staff reported experiencing similar impacts.
Students and staff disengaged from core
activities, to keep themselves safe or to
prevent further erosion of their condence
and wellbeing, but at a cost to their studies
or careers. Around 1 in 20 students who
responded to our call for evidence said
racial harassment caused them to leave
their studies. Around 3 in 20 staff said racial
harassment caused them to leave their jobs,
with many more saying they were considering,
or had considered, doing so.
7
Over
1/2
of staff
who responded to us described
incidents of being ignored or
excluded because of their race.
More than a
told us they experienced
racist name-calling,
insults and jokes.
of staff
1/4
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Executive summary and recommendations
Transparency and scrutiny
Staff and students are not adequately
protected by the law
The main source of legal protection from racial
harassment for university staff and students
is the Equality Act 2010. There are limits to
the protection the Equality Act 2010 provides,
particularly regarding harassment of staff
or students by third parties, including for
student-on-student and student-on-staff
harassment.
Publicly funded universities are subject to
the public sector equality duty (PSED) which
puts a duty on universities to pay due regard
to the need to eliminate harassment. It does
not place a positive duty on universities to
take all reasonable steps to prevent racial
harassment. In the absence of this positive
duty, the onus falls on individuals to challenge
by pursuing legal cases, which can be a
daunting and expensive prospect.
8
Effective redress
The higher education sector does not fully
understand racial harassment and university
staff lack condence in dealing with race
issues
University staff often lack the understanding,
skills and condence to manage
conversations about race effectively. This
can lead to anxiety in managing incidents of
racial harassment, because of a fear of getting
it wrong and possibly facing allegations of
discrimination. This in turn undermines fair
treatment and the prospect of early resolution.
Some staff receiving complaints informally
may not act effectively or at all. Students
and staff gave examples of how this lack
of understanding has led to poorly handled
complaints and in some cases, complaints
being dismissed altogether.
1 in 20 students said they left their studies due to racial harassment
3 in 20 staff said racial harassment caused them to leave their jobs
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Executive summary and recommendations
Most students and staff do not report racial
harassment
Our student survey found that two-thirds of
students who said they had experienced racial
harassment during the rst half of the 2018/19
academic year did not report it to their university.
Fewer than half of all staff respondents to
our call for evidence, who had been racially
harassed, reported their experiences. They told
us this was because they:
• had no condence that the university
would address it
• did not know how to report
• could not judge whether it was serious
enough to report, or
• had diculty proving what occurred.
Others feared the personal consequences that
reporting might have on their education, career
and wellbeing, or worried they would be seen
as a troublemaker. For students, this was most
evident where their tutors had the potential
to directly affect long-term career prospects,
especially for students on medical placements
and postgraduates carrying out research
working closely with senior academics.
9
Under-reporting and recording restricts the
universities' ability to take action
Many universities signicantly underestimate
the prevalence of racial harassment and have
misplaced condence in people’s willingness
to come forward.
In fact, within a six month period in 2018/19,
8% of all respondents to our student survey
(an estimated 180,000 if scaled up to the
entire student population) said they had
experienced racial harassment. One third of
these students (equivalent to 60,000) said
they reported it to their university. However,
our survey of universities found that, across
all 159 publicly funded universities in Britain,
they had recorded 559 complaints of racial
harassment from students over a period
of three-and-a-half years. This works out at
only around 80 formal complaints every six
months.
Although many universities thought that staff
and students were likely to raise complaints
informally, for example, through their tutor or
students’ union representative, more than half
did not have processes for collecting data on
informal complaints.
from students over a three-and-a-half
year period across all 159 publicly funded
universities in Britain
recorded complaints
of racial harassment
559
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Executive summary and recommendations
Universities received an average of just 2.3
total
staff complaints of racial harassment,
and 3.6 total student complaints of racial
harassment, between the start of the 2015/16
academic year and January 2019. Around
4 in 10 institutions in our university survey
(38%) reported having received no complaints
of racial harassment from staff; around 3 in
10 (29%) received no reports from students.
Almost 1 in 5 institutions (18%) received no
complaints of racial harassment from either
group.
Universities have an incomplete picture of
the scale of racial harassment because of
underreporting and informal complaints
not being recorded routinely. This calls into
question the extent to which universities are
meeting their PSED obligations which
include having regard to the need to eliminate
harassment and to foster good relations.
To meet these obligations, universities must
have reliable evidence when developing and
reviewing their policies and procedures. If a
university has a poor understanding of the
scale of the problem, this can lead to their
priority setting, resource deployment and
activities being inadequate to tackle the
issues.
10
Universities are overcondent in their
complaint handling proc
esses
Universities tended to think they were
handling complaints of racial harassment
well. However, the majority of universities did
not seek feedback on the complaints process.
Many students and staff said they had not
been told about the support that was available
or were given insucient information.
Nearly all universities we surveyed who had
received complaints felt that they had dealt
with them fairly. However, our call for evidence
found a much higher level of dissatisfaction
with investigative processes than university
responses would suggest.
A signicant concern for many students and
staff was that those involved in handling their
complaint could lack the independence to do
so effectively.
The majority of students and staff we heard
from did not get the outcome they wanted.
Our call for evidence found that fewer than 4
in 10 student complaints of racial harassment,
and around 1 in 6 staff complaints, were
upheld and offered some kind of redress.
Where sanctions were applied against the
perpetrator following a disciplinary process,
universities often felt unable to tell the person
who made the complaint due to concerns
about breaching data protection rules. This
left the individual feeling unsupported and that
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Executive summary and recommendations
11
justice had not been served. For universities,
it repr
esents a missed opportunity to promote
the consequences of unacceptable behaviour
more widely and increase condence in the
complaints system.
Universities are not following guidance on how
to handle complaints
Staff and students who made complaints told
us they:
• did not always know how to do so
• did not know what the possible outcomes
might be, and
• were not kept informed of progress and felt
unsupported, suggesting that institutions
are failing to follow complaints handling
guidance.
Several universities acknowledged that
complaints handling often took too long and
understood how this undermined effective
redress.
Some universities are taking steps to improve
reporting
When
universities were asked about their main
priority in addressing racial harassment, they
most often talked about building trust, raising
awareness of unacceptable behaviour and
ensuring that all incidents are reported.
Universities also mentioned improving
reporting tools, to provide a central and
consistent method for students and staff
to report harassment and access support.
This includes anonymous reporting to help
universities gain a clearer picture of the scale
of the issue.
Universities highlighted the need for better
guidance on:
• good practice approaches
• dealing with more nuanced and covert
instances of racism or harassment, and
• how to explain and deal with racial ‘banter’.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Executive summary and recommendations
12
Higher education culture
There needs to be leadership to help embed
a culture where racial harassment is not
tolerated
A lot of recent university action to tackle
harassment has focused on sexual
harassment. There was not the same
condence in talking about, and tackling,
racial harassment.
Students and staff said that policies
and leadership commitments were often
undermined by a lack of meaningful
enforcement. Yet universities saw little need
to change their existing policies and rarely,
if ever, talked about the need for greater
enforcement of those policies.
There was a strong perception that
universities too often place their reputation
above the safeguarding and welfare of their
students and staff. University leaders need
to create and maintain environments where
racial harassment is not tolerated and where
race, and racial inequality, is discussed
competently, condently and constructively.
This will create a culture where individuals
across the whole institution – both students
and staff – are able to work and study in a
safe environment, be themselves and full
their potential.
There was a strong perception that
universities too often place their
reputation above the safeguarding and
welfare of their students and staff.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Executive summary and recommendations
13
Recommendations
Our recommendations centre
on the following themes:
1. Protections, transparency and
scrutiny focuses on increasing
university transparency about how
they are tackling harassment and
creating safe spaces, as well as their
progress in building trust in reporting
mechanisms.
2. Effective redress centres on how
available, accessible and effective their
routes to redress are, as well as how
data is used to build trust and inform a
cycle of learning and improvement.
3. A change in university culture
where leaders understand issues of
harassment, set expectations, provide
oversight and scrutiny and implement
training to embed a culture which is
free from harassment and supports
good relations.
University governing boards carry out
due diligence and, where appropriate,
take action on tackling harassment in
line with their PSED duties.
Higher education institutions (HEIs)
take more responsibility for preventing
and addressing harassment, drawing
on evidence of what works.
Theme 1: Protections, transparency
and scrutiny
Recommendation 1: The UK Government must
reinstate third party harassment protections and
introduce a mandatory duty on employers to
increase protections for staff from harassment.
We recommend that:
i. The UK Government reintroduce the third
party harassment provisions in subsection
40(2) to (4) of the Equality Act 2010 and
amend them to remove the requirement for
the employer to know that the employee
has been subjected to two or more
instances of harassment before they
become liable.
ii. The UK Government introduce a mandatory
duty on employers to take reasonable
steps to protect workers from harassment
(including third party harassment) and
victimisation in the workplace. Breach
of the mandatory duty should constitute
an unlawful act for the purposes of
the Equality Act 2006, which would be
enforceable by the Equality and Human
Rights Commission.
iii. The UK Government deliver its commitment
to introduce a statutory code of practice
on harassment at work (drafted by the
Equality and Human Rights Commission),
specifying the steps that employers should
take to prevent and respond to harassment,
and which can be considered in evidence
when determining whether the mandatory
duty has been breached.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Executive summary and recommendations
14
Recommendation 2: Go
vernments should
review regulatory frameworks and court
hearing structures within each nation, to
determine how best to increase protection
from harassment for students.
We recommend that:
i. Governments across Britain consult on
how best to enable the Oce for Students
(OfS), Higher Education Funding Council
for Wales (HEFCW) and Scottish Funding
Council (SFC) to effectively:
a. assess whether higher education
providers have taken sucient steps
to tackle harassment and to impose
conditions of funding or registration
where they have not (such as
withholding or requiring repayment of
funding or imposing a ne) by improving
their powers or increasing the use of
their existing powers, and
b. measure higher education provider
progress in preventing and tackling
harassment.
Governments and higher education sector
bodies, particularly the OfS, HEFCW and
SFC, should monitor the progress being
made by higher education providers in this
regard. Where there has been insucient
action by higher education providers to
prevent harassment, we recommend the UK
Government amend the Equality Act 2010
to make HEI’s liable for acts of harassment
committed by students (against students or
staff), unless they have taken all reasonable
steps to prevent it.
ii. The UK Government reviews which
courts or tribunals hear non-employment
discrimination claims such as claims
by students, and work with devolved
governments to ensure that complainants
can access an affordable and prompt
hearing before an adjudicator with
experience in equality cases.
Recommendation 3: Governments
should strengthen the PSED specic
duties to enable action on sector-wide
inequalities to be tackled more quickly and
consistently, drawing on evidence from our
inquiry and ‘Is Britain Fairer?’ reports.
We recommend that:
i. All public bodies should set equality
objectives or outcomes, and publish
evidence of action and progress on the
ndings and recommendations relating to
their functions in our formal inquiry and ‘Is
Britain Fairer?’ reports.
ii. Governments across Britain should
review how PSED specic duties could
be amended to focus public bodies on
taking action to tackle the challenges in
our formal inquiry and ‘Is Britain Fairer?’
reports.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Executive summary and recommendations
15
Theme 2: Effective redress
mechanisms
Recommendation 4: Higher education
providers must enable students and staff
to report harassment and ensure their
complaints procedures are t for purpose and
offer effective redress.
We recommend that higher education
providers:
i. Ensure that all students and staff
understand the options to report incidents
(for example, named or anonymously), the
potential limitations of each option and the
support available to them.
ii. Ensure publicised mechanisms are in
place to enable students on placements,
studying abroad, on joint degrees,
or internships in industry, to report
harassment. Providers should consider
setting clear expectations of the relevant
placement provider.
iii. Review their procedures to ensure they
consistently follow guidance from Acas,
the Oce of the Independent Adjudicator /
Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, and
the Equality and Human Rights Commission
2
on complaint handling and managing
harassment, and amend their approach
where this is not the case.
iv. Ensure formal complaints handling
procedures:
a) are led by impartial staff who are
trained to understand and investigate
harassment, including racial harassment
b) enable complainants to understand the
possible outcomes from the start and
receive a clear explanation for complaint
decisions, and
c) when disciplinary action is taken, inform
the complainant and alleged perpetrator
that the provider may communicate any
sanctions imposed, where it is appropriate
to do so, subject to the requirements of
data protection legislation.
2
Forthcoming in 2019.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Executive summary and recommendations
16
Recommendation 5: Higher education
providers should ensure effective data
collection procedures are in place to enable
them to develop a baseline in order to evaluate
and improve their prevention and response
strategies.
We recommend that higher education
providers:
i. Implement centralised reporting and case
management systems, which enable
universities to review and analyse reported
incidents and complaints to inform
continuous improvement.
ii. Conduct a periodic and regular survey
of staff and students
3
to measure the
prevalence of racial harassment and
assess their condence in reporting and
complaints procedures.
Recommendation 6: Universities UK (UUK),
the Information Commissioners Oce
(ICO) and higher education providers’ data
protection ocers (DPOs) should work
together to increase understanding around
data sharing to support effective complaints
handling and redress.
We recommend that:
i. UUK should work with the ICO to ensure
that universities better understand the
requirements of data protection legislation,
in particular:
a) the circumstances in which they are
able to share the outcome of disciplinary
proceedings with complainants and the
steps they need to take to do so lawfully,
and
b) how anonymous reporting systems
can be operated in accordance with
the requirements of data protection
legislation.
ii. DPOs within universities should take steps
to allow their institutions to share the
outcomes of disciplinary proceedings with
complainants where it is appropriate to do
so, including:
3
Higher education providers can adapt their existing surveys to include this.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Executive summary and recommendations
17
a) reviewing contracts with staff and
students, policies and procedures and
privacy notices to ensure that they
inform staff and students when the
outcome of disciplinary proceedings
may be shared, and
b) considering, on a case-by-case basis,
whether the university has a lawful
basis for disclosure under Article 6 of
the General Data Protection Regulation
(GDPR) and whether disclosure
would be proportionate in all of the
circumstances.
iii. UUK should form a working group
with other DPOs to discuss these data
protection issues and create case studies
to ensure consistency of practice across
universities.
Recommendation 7: The regulator, the funding
councils and UUK should pro
vide more
guidance to support providers to prevent and
tackle harassment.
We recommend that:
i. University ministers, in their next remit
letters to HEFCW and SFC, set out their
expectations that preventing and tackling
racial harassment in higher education
is a priority for British higher education
providers.
4
ii. The OfS, HEFCW, SfC and Scottish
Government support higher education
providers to prevent and tackle harassment
by publishing an advice notice / guidance
and draw attention to the links between
harassment and differential outcomes for
students.
5
4
The Minister made this request to the OfS in England on 16 September 2019. See: 'Letter from
the Education Secretary: September 2019' (PDF).
5
OfS may draw attention to Regulatory Advice 6, which advises higher education providers on
considering the links between harassment and differential outcomes for students.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Executive summary and recommendations
18
iii. UUK Advisory Group
6
develops approaches
that will support higher education providers
to:
a. hold inclusive discussions about
race in a supportive and appropriate
environment, and
b. understand the different forms of racial
harassment and how best to tackle them,
including racial microaggressive acts.
Theme 3: A change in higher
education culture
Recommendation 8: Ensure that initiatives
to support mental health in higher education
reect the impact of harassment on people’s
mental health and wellbeing, and the needs of
people with different protected characteristics,
to best support a diverse student and staff
population.
We recommend that Universities UK’s
#StepChange programme on mental health,
Student Minds’ work on developing a
University Mental Health Charter and the
Scottish Government’s Student Mental Health
and Wellbeing Working Group review our
ndings, alongside other recent academic
research on the effects of harassment, and:
i. take into account how student and staff
experiences of harassment negatively
affect mental health and wellbeing,
attainment and career progression, and
ii. encourage higher education providers to
review their approach to mental health,
particularly:
a) how it provides access to support and
assesses impact for different groups
under the Equality Act, and
b) how effectively it responds to the
specic mental health needs of students
and staff who experience harassment,
including racial harassment.
6
UUK is developing an advisory group, which draws on this inquiry’s ndings and
recommendations, to support members to prevent and respond effectively to incidents of
race-based harassment and hate crime, with a view to supporting continuous improvement for
individuals as well as at an institutional and sector-wide level. UUK should draw on learning
from their own sector-wide survey to tackle harassment and hate crime and work with Advance
HE for this recommendation.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Executive summary and recommendations
19
Recommendation 9: Higher education leaders
and governing bodies demonstrate leadership
and accountability for embedding an inclusiv
e
culture across their institution.
7
We recommend that:
i. Heads of providers and senior leaders:
a) take steps to better understand
issues of harassment, including racial
harassment
b) publish a public commitment to tackling
harassment, and
c) embed the responsibility to eliminate
harassment into their institution’s
culture, knowledge and practices.
This includes ensuring that their
approach is informed by evidence and
that appropriate safeguarding activity
is embedded within their existing
governance structures, building on
UUK’s ‘Changing the Culture’ strategic
framework.
ii. Governing bodies of higher education
providers have procedures in place to:
a. satisfy themselves that their
institutions identify, reduce and report
on harassment as part of their due
diligence processes, and
b. support their obligations under the
PSED, where these apply.
iii. To satisfy themselves that higher
education providers are identifying and
reducing harassment, governing bodies
of higher education providers should ask
for information and evidence on how the
provider has:
a) reinforced its commitment to tackling
harassment among students and staff
b) allocated responsibility for tackling
harassment, particularly racial
harassment, and equipped staff for
those roles
7
Along with guidance from OIA and SPSO, UUK and Advance HE have made recommendations
on how higher education providers take practical steps to prevent and tackle harassment
and embed a more respectful culture. See, in particular, Universities UK (2016), ‘Changing
the Culture’; Baird H. et al. (June 2019), ‘Evaluation of Safeguarding Students Catalyst Fund
Projects: Summative Evaluation Report. Report to: The Oce for Students’. Advance HE.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Executive summary and recommendations
20
c) identied indicators to assess the
effectiveness of its processes to prevent
and address harassment, and to review
progress annually
d) integrated these insights into informing
and measuring progress on its equality
objectives / outcomes and into its
decision-making, policies and practices,
and
e) in England, taken information on
harassment into account when
preparing information on closing gaps
in outcomes, as part of registered
providers’ progress reports on their
access and participation plans.
8
We support Advance HE’s recommendation
that OfS, with others, develop and promote a
framework of minimum safeguarding practice
to help drive change in addressing student
safeguarding issues.
9
Recommendation 10: Higher education
providers use the National Student Survey to
improve their understanding around student
safety and harassment.
If the OfS conducts a review on the National
Student Survey, we recommend that the OfS
and UK funding bodies propose that the two
questions on student safety become core
questions rather than optional questions,
to provide all survey respondents with the
opportunity to respond.
10
8
Universities should use the checklist developed by UUK and NUS to support them in closing
the attainment gap.
9
Baird, H. et al. (June 2019), Evaluation of Safeguarding Students Catalyst Fund Projects.
Summative Evaluation Report. Advance HE, pp.9-12.
10
Optional questions in the National Student Survey are: i) I feel safe to be myself at university;
ii) My institution takes responsibility for my safety.
Methodology
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Methodology
Our inquiry gathered evidence from
a wide range of sources to capture
the experiences of staff, students
and universities.
1. Online call for evidence
We invited staff and students from universities
in England, Scotland and Wales to tell us
about their experiences of racial harassment
since the start of the 2015/16 academic year.
This call for evidence opened on 4 December
2018 and closed on 28 February 2019. It was
aimed at people with direct experience of
being racially harassed and those who had
witnessed racial harassment taking place or
supported a victim of it.
We heard from 585 students and 378 staff who
personally experienced racial harassment. All
details have been anonymised.
We received 845 responses from students
and 571 responses from staff which were
in the scope of our inquiry. Of these, 585
students and 378 staff personally experienced
racial harassment. All details have been
anonymised.
21
2. Roundtable discussions, interviews
and desk-based research
To explore people’s professional views
and experiences, we organised roundtable
discussions across England, Scotland and
Wales and spoke to some people individually.
Participants included those involved in
managing student and staff complaints,
student and staff unions, third sector
organisations, regulators and professional
bodies.
We also completed some desk-based online
research and drew on previous research and
policy documents to compile the report.
response rate from
159 universities
89%
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Methodology
3. Quantitative and qualitative
research with universities
IFF Research conducted an online survey of
all publicly funded universities in England,
Scotland and Wales. The eldwork took place
in January and February 2019.
Of the 159 universities we asked to complete
the survey, 141 did so in time: the response
rate was 89%. The ndings are statistically
representative of all publicly funded
universities.
The survey asked universities to provide:
• information on the numbers of cases of
racial harassment of staff and students
they had dealt with since the start of the
2015/16 academic year
• details on the most recently closed case
• information on their policies and
procedures, and
• a self-assessment of how successfully
they felt they were dealing with racial
harassment.
We have anonymised the survey data in this
report so that individual institutions cannot
be identied. Details of respondents and
non-respondents are in Annex A.
IFF Research conducted follow-up qualitative
telephone interviews with 30 employees of
universities (who had agreed to take part in
further research when completing the online
22
survey). Institutions were chosen to represent
a range of differ
ent types of universities
across Britain. Participants reected on their
professional views and experiences and were
not acting as formal representatives of their
employers.
The full reports for the quantitative and
qualitative research are available on our website.
4. Statistical su
rvey of students
To assess the prevalence of racial harassment
within the student population, IFF Research
conducted an online survey of a random sample
of more than 1,000 higher education students
across Britain. The ndings are statistically
representative of all students in Britain. The full
research report is available on our website.
Online survey of more than
1,000
randomly selected higher
education students across Britain
What is racial harassment?
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – What is racial harassment?
How does the Equality Act 2010
dene racial harassment?
The Equality Act 2010
11
says that a person
harasses another if they engage in unwanted
behaviour related to a relevant protected
characteristic and the behaviour has the
purpose or effect of:
• violating the other person's dignity, or
• creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading,
humiliating or offensive environment for
that person.
Unwanted behaviour will amount to
harassment if it has such an effect, even if
that was not the intended purpose of the
behaviour. In deciding whether behaviour has
23
that effect each of the following must be taken
into account:
• the perception of the person
• the other circumstances of the case, and
• whether it is reasonable for the behaviour
to have that effect.
12
Race is a ‘relevant protected characteristic’ for
these purposes, as are age, disability, gender
reassignment, religion or belief, sex, and
sexual orientation.
13
Not all behaviour that is experienced as
offensive will be unlawful harassment under
the Equality Act 2010. For example, students’
learning experiences may include exposure
to course material, discussions or speaker’s
views that they nd offensive or unacceptable,
and this is unlikely to be considered
harassment when balanced against the right
to freedom of expression.
14
11
S.26(1) Equality Act 2010.
12
S.26(4) Equality Act 2010.
13
S.26(5) Equality Act 2010. ‘Pregnancy and maternity’ and ‘marriage and civil partnership’
are not relevant protected characteristics’ in relation to harassment. The harassment
provisions apply to ‘religion or belief’ and ‘sexual orientation’ only in some contexts including
employment and education but not in the context of service provision or associations.
14
Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. See our guidance: ‘Freedom of
expression: a guide for higher education providers and students' unions in England and Wales’
and ‘Freedom of expression: a guide for higher education providers and students' unions in
Scotland’.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – What is racial harassment?
24
Microaggressions
Our evidence r
efers to the subtle nature
of much of the behaviour experienced as
harassing. A lot of the evidence related to less
obvious everyday forms of racism. These more
nuanced forms include behaviours that are
commonly referred to as ‘microaggressions’.
Microagressions have been dened as:
brief, everyday interactions that send
denigrating messages to [people of
colour]
15
because they belong to a racially
minoritised group. Compared to more overt
forms of racism, racial microaggressions
are subtle and insidious, often leaving the
victim confused, distressed and frustrated
and the perpetrator oblivious of the offense
they have caused (Rollock, 2012).
‘Microagressions’ is not a legal term and such
behaviour will not necessarily
amount to
harassment under the Equality Act 2010. This
will depend on the facts of each case. As the
denition of microaggressions suggests, the
perpetrator of the microagression may not have
any harassing intent. Therefore, whether their
behaviour amounts to harassment is likely to
depend on the effect it had on the victim.
However, microagressions that do not meet
the Equality Act 2010 denition of harassment
could lead to behaviour which does meet the
denition through repetition or escalation of
the behaviour.
15
While Rollock’s denition refers specically to ‘people of colour’, people could be subjected to
these behaviours because of their colour, nationality or ethnic or national origins. For example,
our report found evidence of anti-English sentiment directed at White English staff by White
Welsh staff in some universities in Wales.
25
Through our call for evidence
(585 student responses).
365
students
(almost two-thirds)
told us about racial harassment
perpetrated by other students
154
students
(more than a quarter who
experienced harassment)
described incidents in which
they were racially harassed by
their tutor or another academic
154
students
(m
ore than a quarter of those who
experienced racial harassment)
de
scribed incidents perpetrated
by members of the public
nearly a fth of those who said they
experienced racial harassment
students
107
sa
id that incidents were
perpetrated by other
university staff
26
Student and staff experiences
of racial harassment
• Racial harassment is a common
experience for many students and
staff in universities across England,
Scotland and Wales, especially those
from ethnic minority backgrounds.
• Students and staff experience a
broad spectrum of racial harassment,
including verbal abuse, exposure
to racist material, exclusion
and less obvious forms such as
microaggressions.
• Racial harassment can seriously affect
an individual’s mental health, sense
of belonging and progress, as well as
their decision to remain in education or
employment.
• Racial harassment of students doesn’t
just take place online. It is most likely
to happen in teaching settings and on
campus and is most commonly from
fellow students or academics.
• Staff are most likely to experience
harassment from their managers or
senior staff, either privately in one-
to-one meetings or openly in the
workplace, with colleagues often
witnessing the behaviour.
Through our call for evidence
(585 student responses).
Who experiences racial harassment?
Our evidence shows a complex picture of
racial harassment experienced by many
different groups of university students and
staff.
Students
Our survey revealed that around a quarter of
students from ethnic minority backgrounds
16
(24%) and 9% of White British students had
experienced racial harassment since starting
their course. This is equal to 13% of all current
students in British universities (EHRC, 2019a).
The gures were highest for Black students
(29%) and Asian students (27%).
The incidence of racial harassment was higher
among students at English universities (15%)
than at Scottish or Welsh institutions (11%
and 6% respectively). In part, this is likely to
reect that England has a more ethnically-
diverse student population than Scotland and
Wales.
Overall, male students (16%) were twice as
likely as women (8%) to have experienced
racial harassment (EHRC, 2019a).
Racist name-calling, insults and jokes (56%),
followed by other forms of verbal abuse (45%),
were revealed to be the most commonly
experienced forms of racial harassment
(EHRC, 2019a). Our call for evidence exposed
16
We use the term ‘ethnic minority’ to mean any ethnic backgrounds other than White British.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Experiences
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Experiences
27
the persistence of blatant racial slurs and
insults. We heard from students about the use
of the ‘N’ and ‘P’ words, and other offensive
insults, by other students, lecturers, students’
union representatives and members of
societies and the wider public.
On multiple occasions, myself or my friends
have had the N word shouted at us [by fellow
students], or been told they are "pretty for a
black girl" amongst many other situations that
have happened over the last few years. (UK
national undergraduate, Welsh university).
The professor asked my friend where she lives.
She said Hounslow. So he said “there weren't
many Pakis before year X”. (UK national
undergraduate, English university).
Students were nasty, very nasty. They were
White students and they treated me like I were
a Black object … and then there were racist
comments made by other teachers about
Black students. (Former student, English
university).
We were told about the use of racist and
inappropriate language between different
ethnic minority groups.
I witnessed numerous incidents of international
students (particularly students from China and
Saudi Arabia) using racial slurs, derogatory
language and generally being highly prejudiced
against Black British students, Afro-Caribbean
students and African students. (UK national
postgraduate, English university).
A fth of students (20%) said they experienced
physical attacks, and nearly a third (32%) of
students who had experienced harassment
told us they had seen racist material and
displays during the 2018/19 academic year
(EHRC, 2019a). These displays included
groups of students wearing white t-shirts
showing offensive, racist, misogynistic and
homophobic slogans and comments, which
are often linked to student society events and
‘initiations’.
Racial harassment often goes hand-in-hand
with religiously-motivated harassment. One of
the most widely reported anti-Semitic issues
was harassment experienced by students
in and around protest events on campus,
including physical intimidation.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Experiences
28
One student told me “they were baking Jews
like cupcakes in Auschwitz” and that they
would like to put me in an oven. (UK national
undergraduate, English university).
We also heard from Muslim students who
had been subject to offensive references to
‘terrorists’ and additional security checks at
events, and said they felt the need to hide or
play down their religious identity.
Our student survey showed that 9% of White
British students had also experienced racial
harassment since starting their course.
We heard about incidents of anti-English
sentiment at Scottish and Welsh universities
and offensive comments about Gypsy and
Irish Traveller students.
[I] was asked if my people “shit in the ground”
or were we civilised enough to know how to
use toilets. (UK national – Irish Traveller –
postgraduate, English university).
From international students there was a
strong theme of feeling unwelcome, isolated
and vulnerable. Some described feeling like
commodities: only wanted by universities for
the fees they bring. They wanted to engage
with a more diverse group of students but felt
‘forced’ to stay in their ‘own’ groups because
of negative experiences.
34% of students who reported racial
harassment had been racially harassed by
being excluded or ignored during the 2018/19
academic year (EHRC, 2019a). Students told
us this behaviour made them feel invisible and
led them to believe that they needed to work
harder to prove themselves.
It impacted my academic performance
because I didn't enjoy studying or doing group
work with students who were so casually
racist, sexist and homophobic. I couldn't opt
out of group work with these people and it was
dicult to challenge their behaviour because
we had to collaborate on assignments. (UK
national postgraduate, English university)
Generally feeling that people would prefer not to
talk to me or to sit with me. Leaving me often sat
alone. Also the feeling that I need to work extra
hard and be extra friendly in order to get on in
lessons, especially in group tasks. (International
undergraduate, English university).
Our student survey revealed that almost 3 in 5
students had experienced racial harassment
more than once in the few months since the
start of the 2018/19 academic year.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Experiences
29
The ‘subtle and insidious’ character
of microaggressions
Microaggressive acts featured frequently in
our evidence.
17
We found that these behaviours are often
based on stereotypical assumptions made
about students and staff because of their
race or appearance.
Ethnic minority students told us about their
peers and lecturers expressing surprise at
them being on a particular course, as though
they didn’t expect them to be there. They
also described how they were given fewer
learning opportunities or had their work
scrutinised excessively compared to other
students.
Staff were more likely to mention dismissive
comments about foreign accents and
command of English language being used
to question the professional competence of
ethnic minority staff.
A recurring theme in our evidence was
students and staff being dismissed as
‘oversensitive’ and their experiences of
microaggressions viewed as isolated
incidents rather than a cumulative and
alienating pattern of repeated slights and
insults.
Many staff and students reported that
racial harassment doesn’t only happen
overtly. All too often, offensive comments
were justied by perpetrators as ‘jokes’ or
‘banter’. The damaging effect of repeated
microaggressions is often made worse by
a lack of empathy and understanding when
individuals decide to speak up about their
treatment.
All too often, offensive
comments were justied
by perpetrators as ‘jokes’
or ‘banter’.
17
Microaggressive acts may not always amount to racial harassment in law.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Experiences
30
42% of students who experienced racial
harassment during the 2018/19 academic year
reported being subjected to microaggressive
acts. Our call for evidence heard from
many students who had experienced
microaggressions on at least a monthly basis.
Nicknames have to be adopted by lecturers
for minority students for whom their names
are deemed too dicult. Often this takes
place initially when the lecturer screws their
face up upon seeing an “ethnic” name on the
register. (UK national undergraduate, English
university)
It's very dicult to have proof of racial
harassment because most of the time it's in
the way the teachers talk to you, their body
language, their demeanour. They'll use certain
phrases that they wouldn't use with your other
Caucasian peers. There is a change in the
attitude when they address you. And you can
feel it. (UK national undergraduate, English
university)
This particular lecturer would constantly divide
the group between international and home
students and aim all his “racial” questions to
the international students. Although I was not
an international student but because I was
black and dressed in religious garments he
would assume I was an international student
and often ask me and my fellow students
questions like I’m not sure if they have
things like this in your country. (UK national
postgraduate, Welsh university).
of students who experienced
racial harassment during
the 2018/19 academic year
reported being subjected to
microaggressive acts.
(EHRC, 2019a)
42%
Through our call for evidence
(585 staff responses).
171
staff said they
experienced
harassment from
an academic
colleague
respondents
disclosed incidents
in which staff were
racially harassed by
their line manager
148
staff experienced
harassment from
professional
services or
support staff
134
involved incidents
where a senior
manager was
implicated
134
staff said they
experienced racial
harassment from
students
51
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Experiences
32
Staff
Our call for evidence
18
heard from more than
250 university staff from ethnic minority
backgrounds who had been racially harassed.
These were people working as academics, in
professional services and as support staff.
Nearly 1 in 3 staff (106) experienced racist
name-calling, insults and ‘jokes’. These often
drew upon racial and religious tropes.
We also heard from White British staff about
incidents of anti-English sentiment, in Scottish
and particularly Welsh universities:
Comment was made between two Welsh staff
while I was in the room. They said basically,
"Carmarthen is nicer. Here there are too many
'sais'". This is used as a negative slur for
English people. She was speaking in English
and changed to Welsh for that word thinking I
wouldn't understand. I've never come across
so much racism as when I moved to Wales.
(Professional services or support staff, Welsh
university).
More than half of staff (201) told us about
incidents of being ignored or excluded
because of their race.
Despite having worked with many colleagues
in my department for over a decade, I nd
that they frequently refer to or address me
by other BAME colleagues' names – as if we
were interchangeable. This is degrading and
depersonalising and I nd it highly offensive.
(Academic, English university)
The team would invite everyone to go for
coffee breaks or lunch and even if I was seated
with them they would ignore me and simply
make sure I was excluded. (Professional
services or support staff, English university).
Racial harassment was felt to impact on
people’s careers. Typical behaviours included
excluding ethnic minority staff from decision-
making meetings, routinely allocating work
beneath their roles and abilities, blocking
opportunities for learning and development,
withholding credit for their insight and
innovation, and praising White staff for ideas
that were put forward by an ethnic minority
colleague.
18
18% of staff who responded to our call for evidence preferred not to disclose their ethnicity.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Experiences
33
Having work taken away from me to devalue
my role in the oce. This took place over a
long period of time when they were acting
manager. I was the only Asian in the team.
(Professional services or support staff,
English university)
This was more subtle by denying the
opportunities to progress [my] career by
denying [me] training opportunities, attending
meetings where I could gain knowledge and
experience of how things are done. Certain
projects and tasks deemed more important
being given to White colleagues. (Professional
services or support staff, English university).
Additionally, several White staff – some
British, some with European or other non-
British backgrounds – reported examples
of being excluded and their professional
and academic expertise being dismissed or
undermined.
I am a university in-house lawyer and a
solicitor with the same pay grade and job
description as my other solicitor colleagues.
A couple of lower grade staff conded in me
that it took them time to process that I was
actually a solicitor (despite my job title and
qualication being clearly stated in my email
signature) and thought that I was just admin
support. (Professional services or support
staff, English university).
Staff who are European nationals described
being racially harassed at events, such as
university open days, in the aftermath of the
EU referendum.
Brexit [has] introduced a cold wind into
universities that has reduced civility and
increased harassment. (Professional services
or support staff, English university).
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Experiences
34
These experiences echo academic analyses
of
race and leadership in higher education in
which ethnic minority academics experience:
Diculties in trying to gain promotion
to senior leadership roles, normally
punctuated against a backdrop of racism,
discrimination, racist micro-aggressive
cultures and inequitable levels of hyper-
surveillance, which often results in a
questioning of professional capabilities
(Arday, 2018).
A recent study of the career experiences of
the UK’s Black female professors (Rollock,
2019) also found that ‘a culture of explicit
and passive bullying persists across higher
education along with racial stereotyping and
racial microaggressions’. The study described
how Black academics were ‘ostracised by
colleagues’ and felt the need to ’go out of
their way to demonstrate their competence,
experience and knowledge’.
As a member of faculty whose difference is
visible, I have been positioned as an outsider
and made to feel invisible in the school. Insults
in the White [university] are often replaced
with a ‘politics of exclusion’ which situates
BAME people rmly on the outside. This is a
dening characteristic of institutional racism.
(Academic, English university).
Some behaviours experienced by those
who provided evidence to the inquiry, such
as exclusionary behaviour, might be direct
discrimination
19
rather than harassment.
Direct discrimination is when a person
treats someone less favourably because of
a protected characteristic.
20
It is unlawful no
matter the motive or intention and regardless
of whether it is done consciously or not. The
discriminator may have prejudices that they
don’t even admit to themselves, may act out
of good intentions, or might not be aware
that they are treating the person differently
because of a protected characteristic.
19
As dened at section 13 of the Equality Act 2010.
20
For these purposes ‘protected characteristics’ are dened in section 4 of the Equality Act 2010.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Experiences
35
Responses to our call for evidence found few
differ
ences in the experiences of academic
staff compared with those of professional
services or support staff.
More than 7 in 10 staff (266) who said they
had experienced racial harassment told
us they experienced microaggressive acts
and demeaning behaviours. Most reported
experiencing these behaviours on at least a
monthly basis, while many said they did so on
a daily basis.
who told us they had
experienced racial
harassment said they
experienced microaggressive
acts and demeaning
behaviours.
More than
staff
7 in 10
A former colleague would always comment
on my race which made me realise she was
acutely aware of my heritage even though she
assumed what it was and got it completely
wrong despite being corrected several times.
(Professional services or support staff,
English university).
Automatic assumption that you are cleaning
staff, reluctance to share the same lift,
excluded from important emails, the list goes
on. (Academic, English university).
The day-to-day impact of systemic racism
and racial microaggressions is much harder
to express, partly because each act, in and of
itself, can seem small, but it is the repeated
and sustained accumulation of these acts
(and non-acts, i.e. being a bystander to
racism) which amount to being made to
feel unwelcome, by virtue of your race.
(Professional services or support staff,
English university).
More than 4 in 5 staff (314) told us about
incidents that were part of a pattern of
repeated harassment.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Experiences
36
Who is legally responsible for racial
harassment?
The Equality Act 2010 offers protection from
harassment when it is committed by certain
people in certain situations. Under section 26
of the Equality Act 2010, a university is liable
(legally responsible) for racial harassment in
the following contexts:
• As an employer it must not harass its
employees, workers or job applicants.
• As an education provider it must not
harass its students or applicants.
• As a service provider it must not
discriminate against those using or
requiring its services.
• If a university owns or manages premises,
it must not harass those who occupy the
premises or apply for them.
21
A university is liable for harassment,
discrimination or victimisation in breach
of the Equality Act 2010 committed by its
employees, or agents acting on its behalf,
unless it has taken all reasonable steps to
prevent such harassment happening (the
‘reasonable steps defence’).
22
Agents are
people who act on the university’s behalf. A
university will be liable for the acts of their
agents if the agent acts with their authority.
Examples of agent relationships might be an
external occupational health adviser engaged
by a university to provide an occupational
health report on a member of staff, or a rm of
management consultants appointed to deliver
a project.
A university is not liable for student-on-student
harassment, student-on-staff harassment
or harassment against students or staff
committed by other third parties, including
members of the public, unless any failure by
the university to take action in response to
that harassment was itself related to race.
For example, if the complaint investigator was
inclined to disbelieve the complainant and
to believe the alleged perpetrator because of
stereotypical assumptions made about their
race.
We have called for the reinstatement of
sections 40(2)-(4) of the Equality Act 2010
which (before they were repealed) made an
employer liable for third party harassment
of its employees if certain conditions were
met.
23
That would make universities liable
for student-on-staff harassment (but not for
student-on-student harassment).
21
Parts 5, 6, 3 and 4 Equality Act 2010 respectively.
22
Section 109(4), Equality Act 2010.
23
Equality and Human Rights Commission, ‘Turning the tables: ending sexual harassment
at work’.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Experiences
37
Who commits racial harassment?
Students
For many students, during term-time at least,
their whole lives are linked to their university
and the communities in which they study,
socialise and share accommodation.
Students told us the most common
perpetrator of harassment was other students.
Others were members of the public, their tutor
or another academic, or other university staff.
Postgraduate students were much more likely
to tell us about racial harassment perpetrated
by university staff.
[A senior academic] had a pattern of abusive,
racist and Islamophobic attacks directed at
a student she was supervising … The student
was verbally threatened with statements like,
“if you don't do xyz, I'm sending you back to
Saudi / taking away your visa”. (International
postgraduate researcher, English university).
Staff
Staff told us the most common perpetrator
of harassment was an academic colleague.
Others were professional services or support
staff, line managers, senior managers and
students. Academic staff told us they tended
to be harassed by their academic peers, while
professional services or support staff said it
tended to be perpetrated by their colleagues.
Some staff were shocked by the attitudes of
certain line managers and senior managers
and at how discriminatory cultures were
perpetuated.
[The person] doing the abuse was very senior
and well regarded by colleagues – and so
it is also an abuse of power. Their seniority
rendered me helpless. (Academic, English
university).
Some staff raised concerns that the
competition for students, and the funding they
attract, has led universities to be more tolerant
of unacceptable student behaviours.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Experiences
38
Where does racial harassment
happen?
Universities are only liable for incidents of
harassment by students and staff as an
employer, an education provider, a service
provider (for example, as the operator of
a student bar) or the owner or manager of
premises to those who occupy such premises
(for example, as the owner of student
accommodation).
This means that a university would be liable,
for example, for harassment of students by
a lecturer in a teaching context. However, for
harassment by a lecturer towards a student
in other contexts, such as in social situations,
the position is not as clear.
Universities should still address complaints
about forms of harassment for which they
may not be liable under section 26 of the
Equality Act 2010, as they may be liable in
other ways.
24
Despite the rise of online
harassment, students reported
that harassment was happening
in person, in teaching settings and
other areas of the campus..
Several students referred to the toxic ‘lad
culture’ of some students’ unions, when they
were expecting support and safe spaces to
report racial harassment.
Some students shared experiences of being
harassed outside their university campus.
International students were much more
likely than other students to share incidents
happening off-campus. This was frequently
reported as being perpetrated by members of
the public.
Some students highlighted the vicious nature
of online harassment, often in anonymous and
unregulated platforms.
Most staff described incidents happening
in workplace meetings and one-to-one
discussions with managers. Much of this
racial harassment took place in open plan
oce environments, frequently in plain sight.
24
See Annex B for examples of other sources of legal protection.
Through our call for evidence (585 student responses).
161
students
described experiencing racial harassment in teaching settings:
lectures; study and research groups; laboratories; and one-to-one
discussions with tutors
told us about being racially harassed
beyond the campus; in bars, clubs and
when using public transport
79
students
students
128
told us about incidents in other areas of
the campus: university cafés; bars and
clubs; libraries; ofces, conferences;
and outdoor areas of the campus
69
told us of harassment happening
in their accommodation, mainly
in student halls, but also privately-
rented student houses
students
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Experiences
40
What effect does racial harassment
have on the behaviour of those who
experience it?
Our evidence shows that for many students
and staff in our universities, especially those
from ethnic minority backgrounds, racial
harassment is a distressing and all-too-
familiar experience.
We heard how students and staff disengaged
from core activities at a cost to their studies
or careers, to keep themselves safe or to
prevent further erosion of their condence and
wellbeing.
My condence was completely knocked,
so I just hid away and tried to focus on my
courses. (UK national undergraduate, Scottish
university)
I do not trust anyone at university – I have
PTSD because of this all. It is also still on-
going. I just want to nish and go, I do not
feel safe here, I have no liberty or safety at
university – I just want an education and I
feel psychologically abused. I am trying to
be strong and brave – and keep going. (UK
national postgraduate, English university)
I don't interact with colleagues as much as I
used [to]. Worried about my personal safety.
(Academic, English university)
It also results in avoiding drawing attention to
yourself or speaking up, for example voicing
an opinion on a work matter, contributing
to a discussion or a meeting because both
condence is shaken and the wish to avoid
being at the receiving end of condescending
behaviour. (Professional services or support
staff, English university).
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Experiences
41
This sense of being made to feel that you do
not
belong restricts ethnic minority students’
attainment and progression into postgraduate
study (Universities UK and National Union
of Students, 2019) and restricts the career
development of Black female academics
(Rollock, 2019).
For some students and staff, their experiences
became so damaging that they felt they
had no option but to leave their studies or
employment.
Some students told us they had left their
course and many more told us they had
actively considered doing so. The UK
Government has recognised the negative
impact of students leaving their courses.
It has made it a priority for the Oce for
Students – through access and participation
plans for universities in England – to tackle
the gap in retention rates for some groups of
students. This includes considering the effect
of harassment on students’ willingness and
ability to complete their courses and reach
their potential (Oce for Students, 2018).
We heard from many staff who said they had
left their jobs, at least in part, because of the
racial harassment they experienced.
I work in an environment where staff are
leaving because of race issues and the
reaction from the University is to protect
themselves against grievances and not
change the culture. It's been a shocking
and eye opening experience. (Professional
services or support staff, English university).
Students and staff told us how they felt
unable to be themselves and used a variety of
strategies to hide their true identity.
I often tried to act more “White” and I used
to conceal the fact I speak Cantonese and
was embarrassed by my ethnicity. I now have
mostly international friends at university who
are all very accepting and have helped me
again be proud of my identity. (UK national
undergraduate, Scottish university).
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Experiences
42
Students and staff described how their
experience of
racial harassment eroded
trust in their peers and institutions. This
discouraged them from complaining about
any further incidents of racial harassment.
Women, in particular, were more likely to say
they avoided certain people and became
distrustful of others.
Our call for evidence found that being
subjected to racial harassment had limited
many students’ university experience: nearly
two-thirds told us they avoided certain people,
almost half avoided certain areas and nearly
a third told us they stopped going out at
night (almost two-thirds of those were female
students).
Similar narratives emerged from staff
responses about a loss of trust in their
colleagues as a result of their experiences.
What is the impact of racial
harassment on the mental health and
wellbeing of students and staff?
Our evidence shows that, for many students
and staff in our universities, racial harassment
results in humiliation, isolation, loss of
condence and serious harm to their mental
health. Our call for evidence heard how
harassment both caused and worsened
existing mental health conditions.
As someone with a pre-existing mental illness,
it’s dicult to express how much these
incidents contributed to a relapse which I
had that later that year. It was easier for me
to isolate myself and not interact with others,
even when I really needed support, because
of how close I was to my perpetrators … I
withdrew a few months after those incidents
and returned to my home city. (UK national
undergraduate, Scottish university)
There are incidents and micro-aggressions
on a daily basis I am so tired of it and know
that the incidents have a mental, emotional
and physical impact which I have no-one to
share with or receive meaningful support
from. (Professional services or support staff,
English university).
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Experiences
43
Women were more likely than men to say they
found the
experience upsetting (65% and 42%
respectively). They were also more likely than
men to say that the experience had left them
feeling vulnerable (44% compared with 19% for
men) (EHRC, 2019a).
Students’ experiences of racial harassment
left them feeling angry (55%), upset (48%),
depressed (36%), anxious (31%) and vulnerable
(25%). It was so serious for some that 8% of
students had felt suicidal (EHRC, 2019a).
I started to feel frightened and anxious at
university and lost a lot of condence I had
to take a year out to recover I had to pay for a
counsellor to process it all, but I'm still not as
condent as I was before I started university
and it will take me some time to recover from
the trauma. (UK national undergraduate,
English university).
I just don't want to be brown anymore. I wish
I could boil my skin off or bleach it entirely
so people can stop looking at me like I'm dirt.
(International postgraduate (taught), English
university).
I was left feeling depressed and lost belief in
the so-called values the university was telling
the outside world it upholds. (Professional
services or support staff, English university)
As a Muslim, suicide is never an option, but
I feel incredibly isolated and alone. This
institution is the rst time in my life I have
felt the target of racism. (Academic, Welsh
university).
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
44
Reporting incidents of racial
harassment and making a complaint
• There is a large discrepancy between
the number of racial harassment
incidents taking place and the number
of complaints recorded by universities.
• Informal complaints are often
unrecorded, therefore only certain
complaints are routinely captured and
analysed.
• Some universities do not have a true
sense of the scale of racial harassment
and are over-condent in reporting
rates.
• Over a three-and-a-half year period,
almost 4 in 10 universities received
no racial harassment complaints from
staff and 3 in 10 received no racial
harassment complaints from students.
• Over the same period, there was
approximately one complaint for every
1,850 university employees and one
complaint for every 4,100 students.
The discrepancy between incidents
of racial harassment and complaints
to universities
Our inquiry found large discrepancies between
the numbers of students who experience racial
harassment, the numbers who report those
incidents to their university, and the number of
complaints recorded by universities:
• British universities teach around 2.3 million
students.
• In approximately six months since the
start of the 2018/19 academic year, our
student survey found that 8% of students
had experienced racial harassment (EHRC,
2019a). Applied to the entire student
population, this equates to approximately
180,000 students in six months.
• One-third of those students reported
incidents to their university (EHRC, 2019a).
This equates to about 60,000 students.
• However, our survey of universities found
that, across all 159 publicly-funded
universities in Britain, there had been
an estimated 560 complaints of racial
harassment from students since the start
of the 2015/16 academic year – a period of
three-and-a-half years (EHRC, 2019b). This
works out at only 80 formal complaints
every six months.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
45
The responses to our call for evidence from
staff
and our university survey indicate
similarly large disparities between what
staff experience, what they report and the
number of recorded complaints received by
universities.
What is the difference between
reporting an incident and making
a complaint?
Reporting
Reporting, or ‘speaking up’, is the process
through which students or staff inform
their university that they have experienced
or witnessed behaviour that they consider
unacceptable. A report may trigger a
complaint, either informally or formally.
Equally, it may be something a student or
staff member chooses not to pursue further
having brought the issue to their university’s
attention.
Reporting doesn’t always need to be a
completely separate process to making a
complaint. For example, if a student has been
upset by racist language used by their tutor,
and has condence and trust in them, they
may simply report how they feel to that tutor
and seek assurance that they will not use
racist language in future. If the tutor accepts
the concerns and apologises, then the incident
has been reported and the complaint made
and resolved informally through a short
discussion.
Making a complaint
Student complaints handling frameworks
are provided by the Oce of the Independent
Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA) in
England and Wales, and the Scottish Public
Services Ombudsman (SPSO) in Scotland.
Ombudsman guidance denes a complaint
as ‘an expression of dissatisfaction by one
or more students about a providers’ action or
lack of action, or about the standard of service
provided, by or on behalf of the [university]’.
Both frameworks highlight the importance
of universities identifying what outcome
students are looking for in raising their
complaint.
As employers, universities should follow
the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration
Service (Acas) Codes of Practice on good
employment relations practice, particularly the
code of practice on disciplinary and grievance
procedures and the accompanying non-
statutory guidance.
Acas denes grievances as concerns,
problems or complaints. Employers should
invite employees to explain how they think
their grievance should be resolved.
For this inquiry, we have interpreted a
complaint to mean when students or staff
bring an allegation of racial harassment to the
attention of their university and are seeking
some form of redress. The forms of redress,
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
46
or outcomes, which might be sought in
harassment cases are v
aried, including:
• recognition from the alleged perpetrator
that the behaviour caused offence
• an apology from the alleged perpetrator
• action by the university to prevent similar
incidents in the future – for the individual
or at institution level
• disciplinary action against the alleged
perpetrator
• criminal action by the police, or
• legal remedy through the courts or an
Employment Tribunal.
Perception versus reality: university
condence in racial harassment
reporting rates
Our university survey ndings indicate a
signicant under-estimation of the scale of
the challenge facing a number of universities
and a large degree of over-condence in the
willingness of their students and staff to
report their experiences (EHRC, 2019b).
43% of universities believed that all incidents
of racial harassment of students were
reported (see gure 1). They were more
condent (56%) that all staff incidents that
took place were reported (EHRC, 2019b).
Very condent
Quite condent
Not very condent
Not at
all condent
Don't know
Universities’ condence that all
incidents of racial harassment of staff
and students were reported
Figure 1
7%
35%
30%
13%
14%
Students
Staff
13%
43%
26%
8%
10%
7%
35%
30%
13%
14%
Students
Staff
13%
43%
26%
8%
10%
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
47
Universities that had no recorded complaints
of
racial harassment of staff or students since
the start of the 2015/16 academic year were
more likely to express condence that every
incident of racial harassment was reported to
university authorities compared to those that
had received complaints (EHRC, 2019b).
Institutions with low levels of ethnic minority
staff were also more likely to be condent that
all incidents of racial harassment of students
were reported to them. Conversely, those with
high levels of ethnic minority staff were less
likely to be condent (EHRC, 2019b).
However, just 1 in 3 students (33%) who had
experienced racial harassment during the
2018/19 academic year reported it to their
university. Students from an Asian background
were less likely to report racial harassment
than other ethnic groups (EHRC, 2019a).
Less than a quarter of student respondents
to our call for evidence (137) told us they
had reported the incidents they shared with
us. Fewer than half of staff reporting racial
harassment (174) to us said they had reported
these incidents to anyone.
It is important to acknowledge that some
universities, particularly those who were much
less condent that every incident of racial
harassment was brought to their attention, are
taking steps to enable students and staff to
report, or to speak up, about their experiences
and be supported to pursue a complaint.
A growing number of universities have
invested in improved reporting mechanisms.
Many of these allow students and staff to
choose how they want their university to
respond by including:
• an option to report incidents anonymously,
which helps their university to build a more
accurate picture of the scale and nature
of harassment across their institution
but means individuals may not be able
to pursue a complaint and seek personal
redress
• an option to report in their own name,
which also builds the university’s
understanding of the scale and nature
of harassment across their institution
but critically enables individuals to make
informed and supported decisions to
pursue a complaint and seek personal
redress, and
• advice and guidance to help individuals
to understand harassment and access
tailored, or more general, support.
Low reporting rates prevent
individuals from getting redress
and stop universities from
understanding the scale, nature and
impact of racial harassment.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
48
Racial harassment: how effective reporting and complaints handling
supports prevention strategies and redress for individuals
Figure 2
Racial harassment
incident is not reported
Level of reporting Outcome
Universities have
no evidence
Racial harassment
incident is reported but
anonymously
Universities have
some evidence but
can't offer redress
Racial harassment incident
is reported in own name
Universities have some
evidence and can offer redress
Racial harassment is pursued
as an informal complaint
Universities gather little
evidence and are unclear
whether redress was made
Racial harassment is pursued
as a formal complaint
Universities have good evidence
and can provide redress
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
49
How many complaints of racial
harassment do universities receive
from students and staff?
As noted earlier, over the three-and-a-half
year period for which universities were asked
to provide information, a total of around
559 complaints had been received from
students and around 360 from staff. British
universities employ 670,000 staff and teach
2.3 million students. Across Britain, based on
2017/18 population gures, this equates to
approximately one complaint for every 1,850
university employees and one complaint for
every 4,100 students since the start of the
2015/16 academic year (EHRC, 2019a).
In our student survey, 8% said they had
experienced racial harassment in the 2018/19
academic year but only 33% of them reported
it to their university (EHRC, 2019a). If each
of those students who spoke up about being
racially harassed had made a complaint, it
would represent a ratio of approximately one
complaint for every 40 students.
25
institutions
4 in 10
said they received no
complaints of racial
harassment from staff
Almost
25
This hypothetical scenario does not consider whether any reported incidents would merit a
complaint but is purely for illustrative purposes.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
50
Almost 4 in 10 institutions (38%) said they
r
eceived no complaints of racial harassment
from staff. The gure was a little lower
for students, with 3 in 10 (29%) saying no
students had reported racial harassment.
Almost 1 in 5 institutions (18%) said they
received no complaints of racial harassment
from either staff or students. The highest
number of student complaints recorded by a
single university over the survey period was
22, compared with 20 for staff complaints
(EHRC, 2019b).
Universities with fewer ethnic minority
staff were more likely to have received no
complaints. Over 4 in 10 (44%) of those
universities reported no racial harassment
complaints from students, with 60% reporting
no racial harassment complaints from staff.
A similar trend was found for institutions with
smaller ethnic minority student populations.
Almost two-thirds of these (63%) received no
complaints of racial harassment from staff
and 44% received no complaints of racial
harassment from students (EHRC, 2019b).
Just over a quarter of universities were able to
identify other student complaints (28%) which
included race as an alleged factor but were not
dealt with as racial harassment complaints.
The corresponding gure for staff was just
under a third (EHRC, 2019b).
For example, most support requests, with
race as a factor, received by staff unions
in Scotland involved junior ethnic minority
staff facing disciplinary action related
to their performance. These were not
seen as racial harassment complaints by
universities, despite staff unions’ concerns
that performance capability decisions were
often strongly informed by student evaluation
scores with little, if any, attention on measures
to support improved performance or to assess
whether racial bias was at play (staff union
roundtable).
This is particularly important as the OIA
told us that students, in England and Wales,
rarely raise a complaint with them that is
only concerned with bullying or harassment;
it is more common for students to raise
complaints about bullying or harassment
in conjunction with other matters (OIA
submission).
Paradoxically, while some universities saw low
numbers of racial harassment complaints as
evidence of their success, others viewed those
same low numbers as evidence that further
work was needed as incidents were not being
brought to their attention (EHRC, 2019b).
In England and Wales, students
rarely raise a complaint with
the Ofce of the Independent
Adjudicator that is only concerned
with bullying or harassment.
Higher Education inquiry report – Experiences
51
The main reasons for not reporting
harassment was a lack of condence
in incidents being addressed by
their university.
Source: Student survey, EHRC, 2019a
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
52
Routes and barriers to reporting
incidents and pursuing complaints
• Students and staff do not trust
universities to respond appropriately
to reports of harassment and some
fear repercussions in speaking up and
pursuing a complaint.
• Harassment protections are poorly
understood and insucient weight
is given to the effect of racial
harassment on students and staff
when incidents occur.
• This lack of knowledge means
that many universities struggle
to understand the extent to which
racial harassment is harming the
mental health and wellbeing of their
students and staff, undermining
student retention and attainment and
affecting the career development and
progression of their staff.
Frameworks to handle complaints
made to universities
The OIA framework (OIA, 2016) sets out
important principles and operational good
practice about handling complaints but is not
prescriptive. Universities are free to produce
their own complaints policies and procedures.
Scottish universities must comply with the
SPSO framework (SPSO, 2011) but can include
additional information in their procedures.
Sector ombudsmen and Acas guidance
requires that complaints processes are clear,
easy to navigate and well signposted.
The Equality Act 2010 protects staff and
students against victimisation. For example,
an employee or student must not be
disadvantaged because they have made
an allegation of harassment in good faith.
In addition, OIA guidance makes clear that
universities need to ensure students are
not disadvantaged as a result of making a
complaint.
OIA and Acas guidance advise that complaints
procedures should give importance to
recipients’ perceptions of the alleged
harassment, regardless of whether the
behaviour was intended or not.
Universities’ harassment policies explain how
an individual can make a complaint about a
racial harassment incident. They should also
set the expectations of students and staff in
relation to unacceptable conduct, explain how
universities will deal with alleged misconduct
and set out the likely sanctions.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
53
Why do some students and
staff pursue racial harassment
complaints?
The most common reason for students and
staff to make a complaint was to get their
university to take action to prevent future
racial harassment, either for themselves or
others. For many, an acknowledgement that
the perpetrator understood the impact of
their behaviour and made an apology was
important too.
I wanted an apology which I received. I also
wanted deeper learning outcomes to inform
all future decisions relating to the supervision
processes being made for BAME students and
staff (Academic, English university).
Some staff and students were looking for
harsher sanctions, such as disciplinary action,
with a small number hoping for a police
warning, criminal prosecution or redress
through the courts or an employment tribunal.
How are students and staff able to
report incidents and raise complaints
of racial harassment?
Universities offer a range of channels
for students and staff to report incidents
and complain about racial harassment.
Universities believe that informal channels
are the most commonly used routes (EHRC,
2019b).
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
54
Students
Many universities enable students to report
incidents, and make complaints, through
different points across the university: through
teaching staff, personal tutors, student
support services and student representative
bodies such as the students’ union. Some
universities we interviewed felt this meant
students could approach a range of people
depending on who they felt most comfortable
with.
We also have a network of bullying and
harassment advisers. These staff members
don’t investigate; they provide impartial advice
for someone who doesn’t want to yet go to HR
or student welfare (English university, EHRC,
2019c).
Almost half of the students (66) who told our
call for evidence that they had reported racial
harassment, said that they reported it to a
tutor or other academic.
Universities frequently highlighted the role
of dignity or racial harassment advisors in
establishing a more open culture for raising
concerns. They felt that these roles offered a
neutral point of contact. Several universities
said that these services, along with student
support services, students’ unions and more
informal volunteer-run overnight support
and listening services, provided important
channels for students to report concerns
(EHRC, 2019b).
One university has adopted a proactive
approach to tackle cultural misunderstandings
and the risk of them leading to racial
harassment in university-managed student
accommodation. In addition to existing
channels for students to report incidents,
residential life advisers and behavioural
coordinators work with student residents,
when problems are identied, through a
short, structured programme to help rebuild
relationships and tackle unacceptable
behaviour.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
55
Students’ unions also provide support,
frequently offering a safe place for students to
discuss their experience and get advice. Our
call for evidence heard from several students
who had reported racial harassment to their
students’ union. However, some students felt
that students’ unions could do more to provide
genuinely safe and supportive spaces for
ethnic minority students.
Despite the breadth of reporting methods, all
institutions that took part in our qualitative
research had a single process once a formal
complaint was made. This was typically
managed by dedicated student casework
teams.
Staff
The universities we interviewed tended to
offer three main routes for staff to report
incidents and make complaints: through line
managers, directly to a central HR function or
through an appointed equality and diversity
representative, sometimes a volunteer dignity
at work advisor.
The Dignity Advisors are there as a listening
ear, they are there to guide individuals in
the approach they might take, we would
always encourage people to rst of all raise
something informally, before they go down a
formal route. But we can also direct them to
information around the formal route (English
university, EHRC, 2019c).
Our call for evidence responses show
that more than half the staff we heard
from reported their experiences to their
line manager, and many others to a senior
manager. The responses they received were
mixed. Some reported a lot of understanding
and practical support from managers while
others were ignored, disbelieved, threatened
and / or victimised.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
56
Complaints received through line managers
or
equality and diversity representatives can
be resolved informally but are sometimes
escalated to HR. If a complaint cannot be
resolved informally, staff can proceed to a
formal investigation.
I told [my] line manager about this young
woman's behaviour. She took it as an informal
report, gaslighted me, and did not formalise
the report. In any case, I know that a formal
report would result in retaliation against me
and wish to avoid going through a painful
exhausting process that I believe will result in
no justice. (Academic, English university).
Some universities were also exploring greater
use of specialist advisors and training for
senior managers, including tackling defensive
attitudes towards staff reporting racialised
behaviours (EHRC, 2019c).
My plan is to establish a network of Dignity
Advisors that would be the rst port of call for
staff and students about … what support there
is in the institution if they want take it forward.
(English university, EHRC, 2019c).
Similarly, we heard from staff who reported
taking their concerns to their HR team. This
was sometimes done to avoid managers who
were part of the problem.
I reported it to HR (and many similar
instances). This is because time and time
again my manager and senior managers and
head of department have seemed to be a
part of this micro aggression. (Professional
services or support staff, English university).
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
57
Generally, complaints received by HR teams
wer
e considered formal grievances (EHRC,
2019c). The experience of taking problems to
HR was not always positive.
I think it is fairly easy to report these things.
What is dicult, is for them to be met with
respect, impartiality and the credence they
deserve. One colleague reported an incident
to HR and was met with “You need to be very
careful before reporting someone for racial
harassment, it's very hard to prove." How can
someone be condent reporting harassment
when met with that response from HR?
(Professional services or support staff,
English university).
We heard that most staff complaints were
made formally as individuals rarely raised
incidents when they rst occurred. Some
universities ‘triage’ incoming reports and
complaints, so they can direct them for
early resolution or process them as formal
grievances. One university told us they had
recently restructured their staff discipline
and grievance processes to centrally manage
them. While formal harassment complaints
have since increased, the institution views this
as positive as it reects greater faith in their
procedures (HR roundtable).
Several told us they had reported their
experiences to a staff union representative.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
58
Understanding the barriers to
reporting and complaining for
students and staff who experience
racial harassment
Our evidence found that students and staff
are motivated to report incidents of racial
harassment to stop the harassment and to
right an injustice. Many of those students
(50) and staff (75) who had reported told us
they only did so because the harassment they
experienced had escalated.
The presence of witnesses can encourage
victims to come forward and report incidents.
Witnesses can also report incidents
themselves. However, few who told us they
had witnessed racial harassment had actually
reported it. Some university staff who took
part in our roundtable discussions believed
there is a big challenge in encouraging the
silent majority of staff to speak up about
unacceptable behaviour.
Universities and individuals highlighted a
complex mix of barriers for students and staff
who want to report condently and safely.
These included:
• a lack of condence in institutions to act
effectively and, in some cases,
• a lack of clarity and condence about what
is and isn’t acceptable behaviour
• a lack of awareness of reporting routes,
and
• dissuasion by university staff.
Lacking trust and condence in
universities to act in the right way
Student concerns
For students who had experienced racial
harassment, the biggest barrier to reporting
and pursuing a complaint was a lack of
condence in their university.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
59
Almost half of the students (46%) who did not report their experiences said
this was
because they had no condence that incidents would be addressed
by their universities (see gure 3). This was the single most important reason
for a quarter (24%) of these students (EHRC, 2019a).
Figure 3
I had no condence that the incident
would be addressed
46%
24%
I didn't feel able to judge whether the
incident was serious enough to report
36%
23%
I wasn't able to prove
the incident took place
36%
7%
I did not know how to report
it or who to tell
32%
8%
I felt too embarrassed
or humiliated
30%
18%
I was concerned about
the personal impact
28%
4%
I was worried about being
seen as a trouble maker
25%
4%
I worried that I wouldn't
be believed
15%
1%
I had reported previous incidents
and no action had been taken
10%
2%
I was dissuaded from
reporting by others
6%
0%
I had reported previous incidents
and had not been believed
5%
2%
Other
7%
7%
All
Most important
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
60
Many students do not report about their
experiences because they know [that] nothing
would be done and that things would be
a lot worse for them if they complained.
(International postgraduate, English
university).
Staff concerns
University staff who responded to our call
for evidence shared many of the students’
concerns in speaking up about their
experiences of racial harassment, especially
a lack of condence in their university taking
effective action. Nearly three-quarters of staff
(150) told us that this was the main reason
for not reporting their experience. This lack of
condence often stemmed from the perceived
mistreatment of colleagues who had tried to
seek redress for racial harassment.
I have observed how these incidents (even
more obvious harassment) is dealt with and
I do not feel subtle harassment is going to
be effectively dealt with. So making an effort
to report these is futile, a waste of time and
effort. (Academic, English university).
Judging the seriousness of incidents
and the likelihood of a positive
response
Student concerns
More than a third of students (36%) who
experienced racial harassment had diculty
judging whether their experience was
serious enough to report (see gure 3 on
page 59) (EHRC, 2019a). We heard demands
from many students, through our call for
evidence, for universities to do more to
help them understand racial harassment,
including microaggressive behaviours, and
to feel empowered to report it. This included
workshops that look at the subtleties of
racism and understanding microaggressions,
as well as abusive language and actions.
They often felt that racial harassment was not
understood and not taken seriously (EHRC,
2019a).
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
61
Small offences like microaggression and
passive aggressive racism cannot even
be reported because nobody will take you
seriously. And people try to put you down
by repeatedly saying you’re using the “race
card”. (UK national undergraduate, English
university).
I didn’t feel I had anyone (tutors, pastoral
staff at college, etc.) that I could report to that
would understand properly. Past experience
of reporting to non BAME staff at school
inuenced me. (UK national postgraduate
researcher, English university).
Knowing how to report incidents and
raise a complaint
Student and staff concerns
Through our call for evidence, students and
staff consistently raised the need for clearer
information on how to report incidents and make
a complaint. A third of students (32%) - who
experienced racial harassment but did not report
it - said it was because they did not know how to
(see gure 3 on page 59) (EHRC, 2019a). More
than two-thirds of staff (114) said it had been
dicult to nd information on reporting.
Most students and staff who complained
about being racially harassed said the process
was not easy to navigate or was not clearly
explained. Nearly two-thirds of students
(326) and more than half (200) of staff - who
experienced racial harassment - told us that
better information from their university would
have made it easier for them to raise concerns.
Where harassment happens to those close to
me, I f
eel I have the condence and support
to resolve the situation locally (i.e., in my
department, college). Where it happens
more broadly, by those I don't know, it's
impossible to know where or how to report
it. (Professional services or support staff,
English university).
of students did
not report racial
harassment
because they
did not know
how to
32%
?
Source: Student survey, EHRC, 2019a
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
62
Dismissing and denying individuals’
experiences
Student and staff concerns
Our call for evidence found that complaints
being dismissed was a common experience.
There was a lack of understanding that
behaviour is harassment under the Equality Act
2010 if it violates a person’s dignity or creates
an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating
or offensive environment for them, regardless
of whether that was intended or not.
Several students and staff reported that
their complaint was dismissed because the
alleged perpetrator said they had not ‘meant
it, or it was dismissed as ‘banter’ without
understanding the effect of the behaviour.
An investigation by the Guardian also found
that ethnic minority students and lecturers
reported that White staff treated racial slurs as
‘banter’ (Batty, 2019).
The student verbally abused me. The
academic staff member made it worse by
saying the student 'had not meant to be racist'.
(UK national postgraduate, English university).
Roundtable discussions with university
staff highlighted that student complaints
investigations often focused on the ‘intent’ of
the behaviour at the expense of its ‘effect’.
I felt that when I submitted my grievance
in 2018, there was a lack of empathy and
understanding of the effects of bullying.
(Professional services or support staff,
English university).
Even where universities understood that
effect, rather than intent, was important,
staff and students were not condent that
universities understood the potential effect of
behaviours less obviously related to race. The
perception was that when deciding whether
behaviour had a harassing effect, and whether
it was ‘reasonable’ for it to be viewed as
harassment, too often the view of the majority
is applied. Universities did not display enough
understanding of the perspective of a minority
group and why it would be reasonable for a
member of that group to view behaviour as
offensive.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
63
Everyone I reported this issue to was white
and from every single person, I was told that I
was overreacting and that I should take it as
banter. (Professional services or support staff,
English university).
Universities must ensure that they fully
understand the Equality Act 2010 denition of
harassment so they understand what steps
they can take to prevent it. This is because
they:
• must comply with the PSED, and
• will be legally responsible for harassment
committed by their staff and agents
unless they have taken all reasonable steps
to prevent it, such as having appropriate
policies, procedures and training in
place.
26
Agents are people who act on
the university’s behalf. A university will
be liable for the acts of their agents if the
agent acts with their authority.
Also, universities must not ignore
microaggressions that do not meet the
denition of harassment in the Equality
Act 2010. Microagressions that do not
meet the Equality Act 2010 denition could
lead to behaviour which does meet the
denition through repetition or escalation.
Microagressions could also have an impact
on equality of opportunity and good relations
between different groups – universities must
consciously consider these matters to comply
with the PSED.
Through our call for evidence, many students
explained the diculty of proving their
experience, especially when incidents were not
witnessed or involved less obvious forms of
harassment.
I didn’t report it because I feared that it would
be dismissed as it was subtle, dealing with
it was very frustrating because it made me
feel very small and no one had my back.
There wasn’t an Afro-Caribbean society
for a long time at my university so I had to
navigate microaggressions and subtle racist
comments on my own. (Model Westminster
submission).
27
26
See 10.45 to 10.52 of the Employment Statutory Code of Practice for more information on the
reasonable steps defence.
27
2019 Model Westminster and Get IN Westminster survey of 40 ethnic minority students and
graduates on racism in higher education.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
64
Our evidence showed that this is a particular
issue for students and staff where there is
little, if any, tangible evidence of the alleged
racial harassment.
They also wanted “evidence”. How are they
dening evidence? When they are subtle
behaviours, how on earth do you go about
proving that? (Professional services or
support staff, English university).
A small proportion of universities
acknowledged that complaints had not
always been handled properly, especially
those involving microaggressions, and
understood how this undermined condence
in universities demonstrating that they take
racial harassment seriously. Universities
generally felt that it was easier to address
microaggressions where staff were involved,
as they were able to require them to attend
training sessions (EHRC, 2019c).
A few universities spoke about how the
deployment of dignity or racial harassment
advisors reassured students and staff that
their complaint would be taken seriously
(EHRC, 2019b). However, our call for evidence
highlighted disappointment from some
students with the lack of ethnic diversity in
these roles, which they felt undermined their
effectiveness.
Fearing the consequences of
speaking up and raising complaints
Student concerns
A quarter of students chose not to report their
experiences because they thought they would
experience negative consequences if they did
(28%) or worried about being considered a
trouble maker (25%) (see gure 3 on page 59)
(EHRC, 2019a).
Students felt that they needed to carefully
weigh up speaking out about being racially
harassed against any negative effects they
thought this might have on their studies. This
is particularly evident where relationships
have the potential to affect long term career
prospects, such as students on medical
placements and postgraduates carrying out
research work.
Medical students mentioned examples
of racial harassment from patients and
hospital staff during their placements.
Racial harassment was also perpetrated by
senior clinicians they were shadowing. They
described how isolating these experiences
could be but felt they were unable to report
them because:
• they did not know who they could reliably
turn to during their placement
• they worried if they did report, they might
have to repeat the placement elsewhere
costing them time and money
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
65
• the medical professional was, in most cases,
the person appraising their work and they
had concerns about the lasting inuence of
senior medical professionals’ and academics’
assessments on their futures
• they felt unable to challenge the behaviours
of patients, particularly when conducting
home visits, and feared that supervisors
may not understand or believe their
experience, and
• they knew that the university needed to
maintain positive links with the hospital to
facilitate future teaching placements, so they
were unsure whether the university would
support them if they made a complaint
(British Medical Association roundtable).
Postgraduate research students may study
in a very narrow eld and are dependent on
their tutor and a small academic network to
complete their studies and future employment.
Some students didn’t report concerns because
they were afraid of the impact this would have
on their futures. This was particularly pertinent
if they were international students, whose
visa was dependent on them fullling their
qualications.
The student was verbally threatened [by a
senior academic] with statements like, “If
you don’t do xyz, I’m sending you back to [the
student’s home country] and taking away your
visa”. The student in question didn't report,
because she feared that she would be forced
to leave her programme, lose her visa, and
have to go back to unsafe family conditions.
(International postgraduate researcher,
English university).
Both the student survey and our call for
evidence found that some students had been
accused of overreacting and, in some cases,
were actively dissuaded from reporting their
experience.
There were other instances that made it
clear that it would do me more harm than
good making a fuss about it. A friend had
reported an incident some time before that
and was encouraged by staff to keep quiet.
(International undergraduate, Scottish
university).
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
66
These experiences can have a chilling effect on
students coming for
ward and reporting their
experience. A quarter of students (25%) who
had been harassed but did not report it were
worried about being seen as a trouble maker
(see gure 3 on page 59) (EHRC, 2019a).
Reporting or even acknowledging racism
is a very easy way for a black person to be
ostracised, dismissed as a trouble maker and
victimised. It all too often leads to damaging
consequences. (UK national undergraduate,
English university).
Our call for evidence found that nearly half
the students (237) – who told us they had
experienced racial harassment – felt that
better protection from personal repercussions
would have made it easier to complain.
Some universities acknowledged this concern
and recognised that those seeking redress
worried they would be viewed as trouble
makers. Students sometimes worried about
having to face their harasser on campus while
they continue their studies.
A culture of blaming and “silence” shouldn't
exist, whereas the person experiencing
harassment is made to feel like a “trouble
maker”. (UK national postgraduate, English
university).
One institution offered those who had been
racially harassed the opportunity to pursue
a complaint in their own name or to have
the university take it forward on their behalf
(EHRC, 2019c).
One barrier is that people don’t like to be
seen as “that person”. One way we overcome
this is by taking this on as an institution –
we become the complainant … the [higher
education institution] taking on complaints
is removing a barrier but we need to make
students and staff aware of this (English
university, EHRC, 2019c).
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
67
Staff concerns
Some staff described how they had weighed
up how serious they thought the incident was,
and the likelihood of being believed, against
the potential repercussions of speaking out.
They worried that speaking out would make
things worse by being branded a trouble
maker.
I did not report the incident as being racial
harassment as this, in my view, would be
dicult to establish and prove and I felt could
have negative personal consequences for me
within the workplace. (Academic, Scottish
university).
Some universities also felt that a signicant
barrier for their staff was the fear that it would
affect future relationships with other staff
members (EHRC, 2019b). Some staff reported
that they had been actively dissuaded from
reporting their experience or pursuing a
complaint.
The University has harassment ocers who
do not belong to minority groups and when
you raise these issues they try to persuade
you that you are making the issues up and
there is not a real problem. (Professional
services or support staff, English university)
I have a line manager who threatened to
jeopardise my career if I continue with my
complaints. (Academic, English university).
Our call for evidence found that two-thirds of
staff (248) – who told us they had experienced
racial harassment – felt that better protection
from personal repercussions would have made
it easier to complain.
who had told us they had
experienced racial harassment
felt that better protection from
personal repercussions would
have made it easier to complain
of staff
2/3
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
68
Complaints handling and
redress for students and staff
• A clear barrier to effective redress is
a lack of staff knowledge, skills and
condence in understanding racial
inequality and racial harassment.
• Students and staff are often unclear
about what will happen when they
make a complaint and are afraid of the
personal consequences in doing so.
• Long complaints procedures prolong
student and staff anxiety and further
undermine condence in the fairness
of complaints handling.
• Inconsistent implementation of
policies and procedures can leave
those who complain feeling confused,
unsupported and without effective
redress.
• Too few universities seek to
understand student and staff
experience of their complaints
procedures and, as a result, do not
know how effective they are.
• The lack of student and staff
condence in their universities to
tackle racial harassment effectively
is harming their mental health and
wellbeing, undermining student
retention and attainment, and
affecting the career development and
progression of staff.
of staff
Early and informal resolution of
complaints
Ombudsman guidance promotes early or
informal resolution, wherever possible, to
address straightforward student concerns.
Acas guidance also recognises that some
harassment complaints can be successfully
resolved informally but may need support for
the employee to do so.
Our qualitative research found that universities
are generally positive about the potential for
early and informal resolution to provide a
quick and non-bureaucratic response to racial
harassment complaints. However, others are
concerned that it could lead to inconsistency
in how well complaints are handled.
Management training on handling complaints
and delivering early resolution
Oce of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA)
and Scottish Public Services Ombudsman
(SPSO) guidance encourages staff to be
empowered, trained and supported to deliver
early resolution and fair decision making.
Similarly, Acas guidance promotes training for
managers as part of any workplace policy on
bullying and harassment.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
69
However, we heard managers were often
uncomfor
table talking about race with ethnic
minority staff and struggled to understand
and empathise with experiences of everyday
racism. When asked to manage complaints
and seek early resolution, they worried
about getting it wrong, situations becoming
adversarial and about opening themselves up
to allegations of discrimination.
Some universities said their staff knew how to
tackle harassment related to other protected
characteristics, such as sex, but were less
condent when it came to race issues. Other
universities felt that staff who had received
specic training related to racial harassment,
for example bystander or unconscious bias
training, were in a much better position to
ensure that cases were considered with the
necessary level of seriousness.
The recent Guardian investigation found
that very few universities provided more
specic training on issues such as bullying
and harassment or dignity at work (Batty,
2019). More than two-thirds of staff who
responded to our call for evidence felt better
training is needed for all staff to understand
racial harassment and to give support to their
colleagues.
University ombudsmen and Acas all
acknowledge the value of mediation and
conciliation in helping parties understand
the reasons behind a complaint. Mediation
and conciliation can be offered at any stage
of a complaint, including early or informal
resolution.
However, it was relatively uncommon for racial
harassment complaints to be resolved in this
way. HR professionals and staff unions told
us that, by the time a formal complaint has
been raised, relationships have often broken
down so badly that a mediated or conciliated
resolution is no longer a viable option.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
70
Formal complaints, internal reviews
and external appeals
Ombudsman guidance and Acas codes and
guidance promote formal stages to investigate
and resolve complaints and grievances where
they are complex, high risk or serious, or could
not be resolved informally.
Support for students and staff to pursue a
complaint
OIA, SPSO and Acas guidance all acknowledge
the importance of supporting students to
pursue a complaint. OIA advise that students
are directed to advice and support from
appropriately trained staff.
Almost 90% of universities made support
available to staff and students throughout the
complaints process (EHRC, 2019b).
A variety of support was available to
students: case workers regularly check in with
students to discuss and review their support
requirements; some universities brief tutors
to provide support; and others have removed
this responsibility and created dedicated roles
to provide support throughout the complaints
process.
We then invested in one wellbeing ocer in
each of the schools … people who are trained
as their day job instead of as an add-on. That
is how we manage to ensure the consistency
and also the capacity of individuals to provide
support to the victims or the person who has
been accused. (English university, EHRC,
2019c).
Some of the universities using the ‘Report
+ Support’ tool described how it helps them
offer support as soon as incidents are raised
and assess whether the student wants to take
the complaint forward.
Overall, our call for evidence heard from
far more students who said they had not
been given information about the available
advice and support. Despite the support that
universities said they offered, more than three-
quarters of students (105 out of 137) who told
us they reported racial harassment said that
they felt unsupported.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
71
I only came to realise we had a specialist staff
member who acted as a counsellor in my third
year of studies and she supported me through
two moments of stress and panic attacks at
the end of my degree. If I was aware of her
position sooner … perhaps the racist behaviour
could have been spotted sooner. (UK national
undergraduate, English university).
We also heard examples of the positive impact
of dedicated student service teams and
counselling services.
My department's student support service have
been and
still are helping me. I am eternally
grateful that [they] listened to me because
I have contemplated suicide. (International
postgraduate, English university).
Universities provide support for their staff
through
individuals’ line managers and HR.
They also described the support offered
through employee assistance programmes,
such as a 24-hour helpline and professional
counselling support, and occupational health
services. However, many staff told us they
did not feel they had been given enough
information about the available advice and
support.
Another important part of support was
minimising contact, during any investigation,
between students or staff who complained
about serious racial harassment and their
alleged perpetrators. Several universities
separated students by moving them to
alternative accommodation or restricting
their movements on campus. This can be
challenging for universities, especially when
considering whether to suspend students
pending investigation (EHRC, 2019c).
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
72
You don’t do things like that lightly and you try
and think of other ways of say trying to keep
students apart while an investigation is on-
going. (English university, EHRC, 2019c).
Our call for evidence also heard from a
small number of staff who had been moved
after complaining of racial harassment –
sometimes without being consulted – with
a mix of positive and negative views on this
approach.
Independence, power and equality knowledge
in the handling of complaints
OIA, SPSO and Acas guidance all emphasise
the need for complaints handling and
investigations to be fair, independent and
objective.
Nearly all universities who had received
complaints felt they had dealt with them
fairly and without bias – 92% in relation to
student complaints and 89% in relation to staff
complaints (EHRC, 2019b).
However, many more students and staff – who
complained about racial harassment – told us
they were dissatised with the thoroughness
of the investigation process than those who
were satised.
Students’ responses to our call for evidence
highlighted concerns about independence
and power dynamics in the handling of their
complaint. Several were particularly concerned
that tutors and lecturers whose behaviour
was complained about, and their colleagues,
had undue inuence over the handling of the
complaint. Some students also felt there was
a lack of independence in complaints about
students’ unions.
It was clear from the start that it wouldn’t be
taken [seriously]. If your judge and jury are
the same then what’s the point. (UK national
postgraduate, English university).
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
73
Evidence from staff responses included
concerns that
issues were not being
addressed properly because the investigating
staff were inuential friends of the alleged
perpetrator. This power dynamic also played
out in reported experiences of participation in
complaint hearings.
[Human resources] arranged for me to have
a
meeting
with the people that I had reported
on my own without any representation. The
meeting was like walking into a lion’s den
with the people who I had reported and their
friends. (Academic staff, English university).
[Human resources] wanted to arrange a
meeting where I would be sat in the same
room as the perpetrator… [someone] in a
more senior position to me. I felt extremely
uncomfortable and vulnerable to do this and
refused. They threatened on more than one
occasion that they would have to drop the
investigation if I did not participate. [After
contacting] Acas I nally agreed upon having
the interview over telecoms in separate
room, on my own, with no support. [Human
resources] treated me as though I was a
spoiled child rather than someone who had
experienced racial abuse. (Professional
services or support staff, English university).
Our evidence indicates that training for staff
on complaints and disciplinary
panels rarely
included equality considerations. Some
universities did require panel members to have
undergone ‘unconscious bias’ training but
acknowledged that this is not always checked.
However, our survey found that just 1 in 5 (43%)
universities provided regular training for
staff investigating student complaints of
racial harassment and just 2 in 5 (43%) for
investigators of staff complaints (EHRC,
2019b). In roundtable discussions with
university staff, we were told that one university
had recently invested in sexual harassment
training for some of its panel members and
plans to extend training to other forms of
harassment too.
Timely outcomes and being kept informed of
progress when delays happen
Guidance emphasises the prompt handling
of complaints and grievances. For the OIA, a
student complaint should be resolved within
90 days, while the SPSO requires students to
receive a denitive response within 20 working
days following a thorough investigation. Acas’
Code of Practice requires prompt action and
requires employers to keep staff informed of
progress during long investigations.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
74
Evidence from our survey of universities
showed that institutions generally believed
both student complaints (75%) and staff
complaints (68%) to have been dealt with
promptly. However, based on universities’ own
data, more than 1 in 10 student complaints
(13%) and around a fth of staff complaints
(19%) took over six months to resolve, thereby
breaching the ombudsmen guidelines.
Formal complaints, internal reviews
and external appeals
Several universities in our qualitative research
acknowledged that the time taken to resolve
complaints needs to be improved. They felt
that the fragmented nature of reporting routes
often contributed to delays and sometimes
meant that student casework and HR teams
More than
1 in 10
student complaints
and around
2 in 10
staff complaints
took over six months to resolve
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
75
were not always made aware of complaints
until much later in the process. Some
highlighted that the rigidity of structures and
the number of different parties involved in
complaints handling potentially contributed
to delays. This was particularly the case when
complaints needed to be addressed outside of
term time (EHRC, 2019c).
Many students and staff told our call for
evidence that the timescale for dealing with
their complaint was either not made clear
at the outset or was not met. The majority
felt that their complaint was not dealt with
promptly and that the process took too long.
The complaint remains ongoing after nine
months.
Most aspects of the complaint have
not yet been investigated. No outcome has
been proposed. (Professional services or
support staff, English university).
The
time it has taken for the university to
We heard how lengthy complaints processes
can
affect students’ studies and wellbeing.
addr
ess this issue is shameful (over a year
of a formal investigation and three years of
verbal attacks and intimidation). We now have
a mere two months till we nish our undergrad
degree, as a result no serious punishments
will be given to the perpetrators. (UK national
undergraduate, English university).
Many students and staff told us they had
not been kept informed of progress. Some
students suggested they should be able to
track a complaint via the reporting app or
through their online university account.
I never heard from the university again.
It's been a year since the complaint was
submitted. They conrmed they received
the ocial complaint form and haven't
been in contact since. My lecturers have
been trying to help nd out why it has gone
nowhere but none of us have been told
anything. (International undergraduate, Welsh
university).
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
76
We heard from several students and staff
that they gave up their complaint because of
the delays. Some felt that the university used
delaying tactics to make it harder to complain.
The university kept stalling so that my
complaint was never dealt with. The [Human
Resources] ocer involved would just not turn
up to meetings and no one informed me that
they would not be attending. This happened
so many times that in the end I gave up.
(Academic staff, English university).
Effective and meaningful redress
We asked universities for details of their most
recently closed racial harassment complaints
from students and staff (EHRC, 2019b).
In 1 in 5 (22%) student cases, the alleged
perpetrator was reprimanded and / or given a
formal warning, and in 4% of cases they were
removed from the university. In 6% of student
cases, the matter was referred to the police.
An outcome was achieved through
conciliation or mediation in around 1 in 10
staff cases of harassment.
Around 3 in 10 universities’ most recent
student complaints concerning racial
harassment (30%) had been investigated and
not upheld; 9% were unresolved due to a lack
of evidence and 6% of cases were withdrawn.
In a third of reported cases of staff
harassment (33%), action was taken against
the alleged perpetrator. The most common
outcome, where action was taken, was that
the alleged perpetrator was disciplined by
the institution (18%). For universities with
higher levels of ethnic minority students, this
was a less common outcome (8% of alleged
perpetrators were disciplined). In only 1%
of staff cases, matters were referred to the
police.
Around 1 in 3 universities’ most recent staff
complaints concerning racial harassment
(38%) had been investigated and not upheld;
5% were unresolved due to a lack of evidence
and 8% were withdrawn.
Satisfaction with outcomes
OIA and SPSO guidance encourages
universities to identify what students want
to achieve from making a complaint, at the
outset, and to inform them whether their
expectations are reasonable. It also advises
universities to give clear reasons for the
decisions they reach.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
77
Guidance developed by Pinsent Masons
on
student misconduct (Universities UK
and Pinsent Masons, 2016) recommends
that universities publish a code of conduct
and disciplinary procedures which dene
unacceptable behaviours and set out the likely
sanctions that could be imposed on students.
The Acas Code of Practice requires employers
to allow an employee raising a grievance to
explain how they think it should be resolved.
Employees should also communicate a
decision to the employee in writing.
Our call for evidence heard from 96 students
who did not get the outcome they wanted,
compared with 8 who felt that the outcome
they received was reasonable (fewer than
1 in 10). Most students, who told us their
university had acted upon their complaint,
said they didn’t understand the reason for the
decision that was made.
We heard from over 100 staff who were
dissatised with the outcome they received,
compared with just seven who were satised.
No action was taken as the member of staff
was
going through a tough time so this
apparently excuses racism. (Professional
services or support staff, English university).
Data sharing and disclosure of disciplinary
outcomes
Complaints from students or staff, alleging
racial harassment by another student and / or
staff member, may lead to disciplinary action
against the alleged perpetrators.
Disciplinary procedures are separate from
complaints or grievance procedures. Students
or staff who made the initial complaint
often become a witness in the disciplinary
proceedings – either giving oral evidence or
making a written statement. However, the
disciplinary process is between the university
and the alleged perpetrator. At the end of the
process, universities make a decision about
what has happened and what action should be
taken, if any, against the alleged perpetrator.
University ombudsman guidance does not
mention disclosing the outcome of the
disciplinary process to the complainant.
However, the OIA is clear that the student
making the complaint should be given some
resolution to their complaint and Acas says
that disciplinary procedures must be fair to
both the complainant and the person accused.
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Most universities said they did not
inform students or staff of the outcome
of disciplinary action taken in these
circumstances. This was because universities
were concerned about data protection
legislation and feared breaching the data
rights of perpetrators. The specic concerns
we found were:
• whether a complainant can be told about
the outcome of disciplinary cases and any
sanction imposed by the university on a
perpetrator, and
• in which circumstances, and to what
extent, can a university publish the
outcomes of disciplinary cases, or other
action, on an anonymised basis where
harassment has been found, for example,
to inuence the behaviour of others by
showing the consequences of harassing
behaviour.
Universities recognised the need to meet data
protection obligations but were concerned
that this restricted their ability to deal with
harassment and to inspire condence that
they were doing so.
I know it’s tough with data protection, but the
complainant needs to know that the university
has done something about it. (Professional
services or support staff, English university).
While ICO guidance advocates a risk-based
approach, universities said they struggle
to understand how to apply this to their
complaints and disciplinary handling.
28
Universities recognised that a lack of
disclosure could leave students and staff
dissatised, and unconvinced they had
achieved anything by pursuing their complaint,
even when their complaint is upheld (EHRC,
2019c).
Disciplinary action was taken against the
individual but I do not know what that action
entailed. (Professional services or support
staff, English university).
28
Information Commissioners Oce, 'Some basic concepts’.
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79
Some institutions we interviewed did provide
complainants and witnesses with information
about sanctions imposed on the perpetrator,
but this was not common practice EHRC,
2019c). Overall, our evidence showed
many universities were taking a risk-averse
approach, preventing them from addressing
harassment in individual cases and at a
broader, institutional level. This highlights the
need for better and more consistent guidance
from the sector and the ICO on this issue.
Consequences for students and staff who
complain – retribution and victimisation
The Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful for
universities to victimise staff or students by
treating them badly if they do a ‘protected
act’. This includes complaining about
harassment by the university or its staff.
29
Complaints of harassment by students (which
is not prohibited by the Equality Act) would
not normally be protected, even though the
person may be entitled to complain under the
university’s internal procedures.
30
In our call for evidence, students were much
more lik
ely to say they had experienced
negative repercussions from making a
complaint (70 said this, 23 did not).
Upon reporting one incident involving a senior
staff member to the university she turned
my life at the university into a living hell. Her
abuse following my making the report became
so intolerable that I stopped attending lectures
at university. I became fearful of reporting
further abuses to the university. I was afraid
that I would suffer worse consequences. I
learned to accept the abuse and stay quiet and
despite staying quiet to the abuse I wound up
suffering worse consequences. (UK national
undergraduate, English university).
29
S.27, Equality Act 2010.
30
See ‘third party harassment’ in the Experiences chapter.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Reporting and complaints
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One student who witnessed the racial
harassment of a fellow student described the
consequences of making their complaint.
I have no doubt that some of us (including me)
suffered serious personal repercussions as
a result of making those complaints against
the lecturer. [He] affected them to the extent
they were considering quitting their studies
at best, and [suicide] at worst. (UK national
postgraduate, Welsh university).
More than 100 staff told us they felt that
they had been disadvantaged in making a
complaint and gave compelling accounts of
being victimised and their reputations being
undermined. This was more than four times
the number of staff (24) who told us that they
had not been disadvantaged.
I have a line manager who threatened to
jeopardise my career if I continue with
my complaints. (Academic staff, English
university).
Appeals – ombudsmen
In England, Scotland and Wales, once the
university’s complaints procedures have been
completed, students have the right to ask the
OIA or SPSO to review their case. The Acas
Code of Practice requires staff to be able to
appeal decisions and, wherever possible, for
their appeal to be heard by a manager who has
not previously been involved in the case.
Just one in twenty student complaints were
appealed compared with 1 in 8 cases for staff
(EHRC, 2019b).
We heard of few examples of students and
staff pursuing their complaints through the
ombudsman. Evidence from the OIA shows
that 108, of over 5,000 complaints it received
in the last three years, were categorised
as primarily about bullying or harassment.
It was not possible to identify how many
related specically to racial harassment (OIA
submission).
Legal challenges
A university will be legally responsible for an
act of harassment committed by an employee
or agent, unless it took all reasonable steps to
prevent harassment. However, this ‘reasonable
steps defence’ falls short of being a proactive
duty to prevent harassment.
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81
The public sector equality duty (PSED)
says universities must have due regard to
(consciously consider) the equality aims. It
is not a duty that requires specic outcomes.
While the specic duties in England, Scotland
and Wales require more specic steps to be
taken, these relate to assessing and reviewing
policies and publishing information and
objectives aimed at ensuring compliance with
the general duty.
Therefore, a university may be able to comply
with the PSED by having due regard to the
need to prevent harassment but then deciding
that factors such as cost and disruption
outweigh the potential positive effect of the
measure under consideration.
Apart from the PSED, there is no proactive
duty or other specic regulatory duties
placed on universities to take steps to
prevent harassment. This means that the
onus for challenging harassment falls on the
individual who has experienced it. That can
be challenging, even for those who are legally
qualied:
Current law makes it extremely dicult for
an employee to use the ultimate sanction of
taking a university to an Industrial Tribunal for
racial harassment. Though I am a barrister and
academic by occupation, I found the process
extremely daunting, time-consuming and
complex. I am informed that despite numerous
reports of bullying and harassment at my
former employment, I was the only person to
proceed with legal proceedings. (Academic,
English university).
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82
These issues are likely to be compounded,
in the case of students seeking to make a
legal challenge, by the imbalance of power
between the student and the university. The
cost of making such a claim in the county
court or sheriff court is likely to be prohibitive,
whereas the cost of defending the claim will
be affordable to the university. The student
may face diculties in establishing that the
university is legally responsible (for example,
if there is no documented evidence of the
harassment) and they face the risk of being
ordered to pay the university’s costs if they
lose the claim. When weighed against the
potential benets of making a claim, it may
not seem worthwhile to the student.
Another effect of placing the onus on
individuals to challenge harassment is that
this system is less effective in achieving
cultural change. The remedies for harassment
are aimed at addressing the wrongdoing to the
claimant only.
In relation to claims by employees in the
employment tribunal, a tribunal has the power
to make recommendations to the employer
aimed at reducing any adverse effect of the
harassment on the claimant.
31
However, the
power of tribunals to make recommendations
aimed at preventing harassment in the wider
workforce, previously contained within the
Equality Act 2010, has been removed.
Through our follow-up interviews with
universities, we heard one candid account of
the challenges staff face in seeking redress
through employment tribunals:
Recently every race case that went to court
was turned down … when they pre-assess it
they think it’s not worth hearing. Institutions
are becoming very clever at hiding these
things … it’s very dicult to evidence racial
harassment in higher education … they close
ranks. (English university, EHRC, 2019c).
31
S.124, Equality Act 2010.
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83
Our evidence showed that, in employment
tribunal claims involving multiple allegations
of breaches of the Equality Act 2010, some
universities seek to have specic allegations
of racial harassment ‘struck out’ at preliminary
hearings. While this action may be appropriate
in some cases, claimants told us that this
made them doubt the strength of their claim
and feel that it was less likely to satisfy the
tribunal’s evidential threshold. Complainants
felt they were left with little choice other than
to accept whatever settlement was offered,
without any admission of liability from the
university.
Universities’ perceptions of their
success in dealing with complaints
Evidence from our university survey showed
that institutions felt they were handling racial
harassment complaints well. Only a small
minority felt they were denitely not doing so.
However, only 38% of universities who had
received complaints had sought feedback
about complainants’ satisfaction with the
process (EHRC, 2019b).
This means most universities will have
diculty understanding how successfully they
handle complaints.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Institutional learning and improvement
84
Institutional learning and
improvement
• Universities across England, Scotland
and Wales don’t have a clear picture of
much of the racial harassment that is
taking place and are uninformed about
the impact of their policies. This can
cloud their assessment of the scale
of the problem and how well they are
responding to it.
• Failure to gather the correct
information restricts universities’
abilities to learn from people’s
experiences, effectively evaluate their
response and improve condence
in their redress mechanisms. It also
puts them at risk of legal challenge,
ombudsman scrutiny and reputational
damage.
• Some universities are taking steps
to increase their awareness of the
types of staff and student harassment
taking place. They have introduced
mechanisms to improve consistency
in how they handle reports and
complaints of harassment and to
support their understanding of the
nature and scale of the problem.
Effective data collection:
why it matters
Collecting and analysing data helps
universities to understand the effectiveness
of their complaints policies and procedures
and how they contribute to tackling racial
harassment. It is also an important way to
check and challenge assumptions about the
scale of the problem and how well they are
responding to it. University governing bodies
should use the evidence to evaluate risks to
staff, students and the university as part of
their due diligence processes and, for publicly-
funded universities, their obligations under the
public sector equality duty.
Ombudsmen for the higher education sector
in England, Wales and Scotland, highlight
the importance of analysis to identify and
address complaints trends or wider issues.
The SPSO model requires that analyses are
reported quarterly to senior management
and annually to the governing body. The OIA
also promotes reporting to staff and students
(including students’ unions) on actions taken
by the university in response to concerns and
complaints. This helps to raise awareness
and build the condence of students and staff
in their transparency and effectiveness of
complaints procedures.
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85
Data gathering and usage:
reporting, complaints management
and awareness
Incident reporting and intelligence
Our inquiry evidence shows there is signicant
under-reporting of student and staff
experiences of racial harassment.
Universities need to supplement their
complaints data with information that helps
them to understand how much of the racial
harassment experienced by staff and students
is reported and to develop an accurate picture
of the quality, consistency and effectiveness
of redress mechanisms.
Evaluating awareness and effectiveness of
policies and procedures
Universities generally felt that their
harassment policies were working well,
although they often had limited evidence of
their impact (EHRC, 2019c).
Just over a quarter of universities (26%) said
they used student surveys to evaluate their
student harassment policy, while 12% took
steps to assess students’ awareness and
understanding of their policies. A greater
proportion used surveys to evaluate their
staff harassment policies (66%) and staff
awareness and understanding of them (37%).
Several universities talked about how
they used sur
veys to identify and inform
improvements in formal policies and
processes and measure awareness of related
training (EHRC, 2019c).
Our evidence showed that students and
staff felt disillusioned because policies
and leadership commitments were often
undermined by a lack of meaningful
enforcement. Overall, universities saw little
need to change their existing policies and
procedures and rarely, if ever, raised the need
for greater enforcement of those policies
(EHRC, 2019c).
Quantifying informal complaints.
For universities without centralised
complaints systems, the different reporting
points available to students can often mean
that complaints are ‘resolved’ informally
without there being any institutional record
of the complaint. This makes it dicult to
accurately monitor the volume and nature of
complaints.
Fewer than half the universities in our survey
said they had processes for collecting data
on informal complaints (43% for students and
44% for staff). Some said that all complaints
brought to their attention were treated as
formal:
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Institutional learning and improvement
86
There is no mechanism for informal reporting,
all reports are recorded formally, but both
staff and student reports would receive
advice on options, e.g. informal resolution,
mediation, formal complaint, according to
the seriousness of the incident. Data are
used to monitor and identify particular trends
or problems which may require attention,
(English university, EHRC, 2019b).
For staff, informal reports are not captured
systematically. (English university, EHRC,
2019b).
Others had instructed staff to log all
complaints of racial harassment that were
brought to their attention, even if raised
informally. In a few cases, line managers were
encouraged to record numbers of informal
complaints, although, in general, these records
were not shared more widely and were not
included alongside formally reported gures
(EHRC, 2019b).
Informed understanding of the prevalence and
nature of racial harassment
Our call for evidence found that many
students and staff wanted their universities
to do more to help them to come forward and
report their concerns condently and safely.
When universities were asked about their
main priority in addr
essing racial harassment,
they most often talked about building trust,
awareness of unacceptable conduct and
ensuring that all incidents were reported
(EHRC, 2019b).
We heard that some universities were
seeking to capture all types of reports, and
improve their understanding of the types of
harassment taking place, through centralised
online reporting mechanisms such as
the ‘Report + Support’ system. As well as
allowing students and staff to report openly
or anonymously, they also provide guidance
and direct the individual to tailored, or more
general, support.
These mechanisms can help an institution to
identify behaviour that might be considered
harassment and extract information
and tailored reports – detailing types of
harassment, the perceived motivation, and
staff and student characteristics – to monitor
trends and take action. Alongside reported
incidents, the use of web analytics allows
universities to assess emerging concerns and
consider the need for awareness raising or
targeted interventions.
Following on from these reporting
mechanisms, it is important for institutions
to be aware of how the complaint is taken
forward by those who wish to do so (formally
or informally) and how well the university
offers resolution to those involved.
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87
Case study – Manchester University: Report + Support
Following work to promote zero tolerance of
sexual harassment and violence, Manchester
University developed an online reporting
mechanism for staff and students who
were reluctant to report incidents of sexual
misconduct. Its focus has been broadened
to capture all bullying, harassment and
discrimination.
The reporting tool provides students and staff
with a route to raise concerns, with the option
to speak to an advisor about the complaint
informally, in line with the university’s dignity
at work / harassment policies, or to report
anonymously.
Where an individual wants to receive support,
their report is referred to a harassment
support advisor who then approaches
them to explain their options, including
access to mediation or how to make a
formal complaint. Formal complaints are
dealt with by the relevant student and staff
complaints management teams. The system
also provides students and staff with online
information and advice, from the university
and external sources.
Where individuals want to make an
anonymous report, they are told in advance
that the university is unable to progress
their report through a formal complaints
process. However, their report is considered
by a member of the equality, diversity and
inclusion team and an appropriate HR partner
who decide what further action (if any) is
appropriate. The report is also recorded to
help the university understand the source,
scale and nature of allegations of bullying,
harassment and discrimination. There had
been initial concern that the ability to report
anonymously might encourage vexatious
complaints but very few have been identied.
Whichever choice students and staff make,
they are asked for details of the incident and
invited to say what they believe caused it.
This helps the university to identify prejudice
factors within the incident. Students and staff
are also asked for details of their ethnicity,
sex, etc. but have the option to withhold this
information.
The equality, diversity and inclusion team
raise serious or repeat concerns with HR or
the relevant heads of department. Analysis
of incident data is regularly provided to
the university’s equality, diversity and
incIusion leadership group. For example,
microaggressive acts are a common feature
of the incidents reported on the system. This
sort of analysis has shaped the content of
the training provided to harassment support
advisors and ‘student ambassadors’.
Manchester University is working with its staff
unions to provide effective reporting routes
for ancillary staff who do not have access to
a computer, such as cleaning operatives and
maintenance staff. Approximately 10% of the
university’s staff are in this position.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Institutional learning and improvement
88
Anonymous reporting
Many students
and staff who responded to
our call for evidence felt that universities
should adopt anonymous reporting to allow
them to raise concerns safely. Several
universities told us that they now offer – or
are planning to adopt – dedicated anonymous
reporting tools to enable students and staff
to report their experiences (EHRC, 2019b).
For students and staff, it was not always
clear that they understood the constraints
of anonymous reporting, particularly in
enabling universities to carry out meaningful
investigations and hold perpetrators to
account for their behaviour. Anonymous
reporting may reduce the prospect of personal
redress for an individual, but it can provide
the institution with intelligence to inform
their understanding of the type and scale of
harassment and enable them to implement
targeted preventative measures. This also
provides students and staff with clear
evidence that it is worth reporting all incidents,
even anonymously.
However, some universities were concerned
that records of anonymous reports, which held
identiable details of alleged perpetrators,
exposed them to the risk of legal challenge
from the alleged perpetrators. This would
happen where individuals were able to access
anonymous reports about them by making a
‘subject access request’.
The concern is a fear of breaching the
data rights of perpetrators, and alleged
perpetrators, and the extent to which
universities are able to collect or keep data
about alleged harassment without disclosing
it to the alleged perpetrator. The specic
concerns we heard about were:
• whether it is ever permissible for
allegations of harassment about an
individual to be retained without putting
those allegations to them, for example,
where the allegation has been made by
someone who explicitly says they do not
want action taken, and
• whether it is ever permissible, or required,
to put these allegations to an alleged
perpetrator when the person making the
allegation has explicitly asked that action
not be taken and / or asked to remain
anonymous.
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89
The Information Commissioner’s Oce (ICO)
has said that:
Every organisation is different and there is
no one-size-ts-all answer. Data protection
law doesn’t set many absolute rules.
Instead it takes a risk-based approach,
based on some key principles.
32
This highlights the need for better and more
consistent guidance from the sector and the
ICO on this issue.
Ensuring consistency of data collection –
early resolution and formal complaints
Roundtable discussions with staff showed
that several universities have centralised their
complaint processes. This has enabled better
understanding and consistency in responding
to issues that were previously handled by
individual schools or departments. Online
reporting systems ensure that all incidents
are recorded and enable universities to ‘triage’
complaints and make informed decisions
about how to manage them: directing the level
at which resolution is sought and, in the case
of formal complaints, who investigates.
Analysing and using data to improve
complaint handling
Almost 9 in 10 universities (87%), told our
survey that they analysed and reported data
from their complaints systems. As so many
universities are unable to analyse data about
informal complaints, their analyses can
only provide a partial assessment. It was
not always clear from our survey evidence
whether data was captured across the whole
process: reporting the incident, the outcome of
the complaint and how satised complainants
were with the process and the decision.
Some universities explained how information
gathered from complaints is reported to
equality and diversity staff or ‘student
experience teams’ to identify improvements.
All bullying and harassment complaints
data is analysed annually and reported in
the Diversity and Equality Annual Report
and reported through the committee
system. The Diversity and Equality Team
may recommend specic actions to
address trends more generally or make
recommendations to specic departments.
(English university, EHRC, 2019b)
32
https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/introduction-to-data-
protection/some-basic-concepts/
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Institutional learning and improvement
90
Some told us how they were acting on this
sort of analysis with plans for tailored training
programmes on managing complaints of racial
harassment, including microaggressions.
We have just held a session delivered by
Advance HE on student microaggressions,
and we wish to roll this out over the next few
months. (English university, EHRC, 2019b).
Rigorous enforcement and effective redress
We
found that fewer than half the universities
had data on student and staff satisfaction
with complaints handling (EHRC, 2019b).
Without this data, universities cannot
determine whether or not their processes are
t for purpose and improving over time. In our
call for evidence, students and staff raised
concern that universities protected senior
staff, and those who brought prestige and
funding, meaning that action was not taken
against them.
Cardiff University has developed a promising
approach
that supports individuals
experiencing racial harassment, across the
university, and looks to ensure institutional
learning and action.
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91
Case study – Cardiff University’s Race Equality Support Panel
The Race Equality Support Panel has been set
up to facilitate awareness raising, encourage
the reporting of racial harassment across
the university and ensure students and staff
are effectively supported when they do so.
It recognises that universities cannot afford
to deny, ignore or put the responsibility
onto those who suffer inequalities; the
responsibility lies with the institution.
When complaints are received, it brings
together academic and professional service
staff with knowledge of such cases, and of
the university’s processes, to offer students
and staff:
• a professional sounding board
• access to specialist staff with expertise
of racial harassment within the university
• tailored support and guidance in more
complex cases, and
• assurance that effective measures are in
place to deal with race hate crimes and
incidents.
When a referral is made, the panel uses
a restorative framework focusing on
maintaining good relationships. In all cases,
the panel considers:
• what happened
• what those involved are thinking and
feeling
• who else has, or may have been, affected
by the incident, and
• what those involved need to feel
supported and to move forward.
The panel gathers and reports on emerging
themes to the university’s equality, diversity
and inclusion committee. Its purpose is to
ensure consistent practice and increase
knowledge and learning across the institution.
Its longer term aims are to narrow attainment
gaps, improve student and staff retention,
build trust in the institution and enhance its
local and national reputation.
This offers a promising approach in helping
universities to respect and understand the
effect of racial harassment on those affected,
provide meaningful redress and enable
individuals and institutions to learn and
improve.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Institutional learning and improvement
92
Working with others to support
continuous improvement
In 2016, Universities UK (UUK)
33
published
‘Changing the Culture: Report of the
Universities UK Taskforce examining
violence against women, harassment and
hate crime affecting university students’.
This encouraged UK universities to adopt a
strategic approach to preventing and tackling
all forms of harassment. It highlighted the
need for effective data collection, appropriate
governance, robust risk management and
regular impact assessments (Universities UK,
2016).
Following the UUK report, the Oce for
Students (OfS) supported universities in
England to develop and implement projects
to tackle harassment by providing nearly
£5 million in match funding for more than
100 Catalyst projects. Many of the projects
sought to improve reporting systems and offer
support for students and staff.
A recent evaluation of the Catalyst funded
projects found a range of views on the merits
of single versus multiple reporting channels.
Whatever approach is followed, it must enable
students to tell their story and get advice
about next steps and the support options
relevant to their circumstances.
Many of the universities involved in the
Catalyst funded projects experienced an
increase in reporting rates.
34
Surveys asking
students whether they knew how to report
incidents, and about their level of condence
in their university to tackle hate incidents,
found that ethnic minority students had
signicantly lower levels of condence than
white students. The evaluation report calls on
universities and sector bodies to do more to
understand the reasons for this (Advance HE,
2019a).
33
Universities UK (UUK) is the collective voice of 136 universities across Britain and Northern
Ireland.
34
Hate incidents are described in the report as ‘everyday harassment’ or ‘micro-aggressions’,
often related to students’ race, ethnicity, nationality or other protected characteristics.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Institutional learning and improvement
93
Universities UK plans to develop guidance on
tackling and investigating racial harassment.
This will build upon the ‘Changing the Culture’
framework, the evaluation of the Catalyst
fund and this inquiry and will explain what
an effective response looks like, drawing on
‘real life’ case studies. It will also provide
guidance on measuring impact and reducing
risk by improving reporting procedures. Many
of the Catalyst projects funded by OfS have
produced resources to improve universities’
responses to hate crime and harassment
that are openly available on the advice and
guidance section of the OfS website.
35
In our survey, we asked universities what
else would make it easier for them to tackle
harassment (EHRC, 2019b). Most commonly,
they said guidance on:
• how to deal with microaggressions and
less obvious instances of racism or
harassment
• understanding ‘banter’ in the context
of racial harassment and how to deal
with it (for student caseworkers and HR
professionals), and
• understanding racial harassment and the
concepts of ‘purpose’, ‘effect’, ‘violating
dignity’ and ‘creating a hostile, degrading,
humiliating or offensive environment’ set
out in the Equality Act 2010.
Some universities thought there was already
enough guidance but valued good practice
case studies and advice on how to interpret
and apply the available guidance (EHRC,
2019b).
35
Advice and guidance section of the Oce for Students website
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Leadership and culture
94
Leadership and culture
• Universities are failing to create
environments where racial harassment
is not tolerated and where race,
and racial inequality, is discussed
competently, condently and
constructively.
• While some universities are taking
action to improve their response to
harassment, all universities need to
recognise that harassment takes place
in their institutions and focus on how
they will understand the issues, learn
from them and take action.
University leadership
The importance and value a university
places on the safety and wellbeing of
its staff and students is set by its senior
leadership. In committing to creating an
inclusive environment, senior leaders
must set expectations about student and
staff behaviour and be clear that acts of
harassment and racism will be dealt with
effectively and promptly. They must take
responsibility for making sure that positive
change happens.
Three years ago, the ‘Changing the Culture’
report concluded that:
The absence of a rm and sustained
commitment from senior leadership poses
a serious risk to the effectiveness of both
prevention and response activities. In
turn, this is likely to impact the student
experience, retention rates, academic
outcomes, reputation and the institution’s
capacity to meet its duty of care to
students’ (Universities UK, 2016).
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Leadership and culture
95
The most recent evaluation of Catalyst
safeguarding projects calls upon English
universities to ensure that safeguarding
activities for students are embedded in their
institutional governance structures, monitored
and regularly reported to their governing
bodies (Advance HE, 2019a).
Commitment to safeguarding or tackling
harassment should be demonstrated through
senior leader ownership, sponsorship, scrutiny
and accountability. University boards must
regularly assess comprehensive information
about harassment within their institution. This
will ensure they can identify and reduce any
risks to students and staff, as well as to their
own reputation. Leaders in publicly-funded
universities should use their specic equality
duties
36
to reinforce their commitment, by
setting an equality objective (or outcome
in Scotland) to tackle racial harassment
and publishing equality information on their
baseline position and annual progress.
An important part of the framework, alongside
senior leadership commitment, is enough
resourcing for commitments to be effective
(Universities UK, 2016). Around half of the
English universities that have improved their
reporting arrangements have faced challenges
in responding to the increased number of
Ensure that each university has a pro-vice
reported incidents (Advance HE, 2019a). This
highlights an important consideration for other
universities planning improvements to their
reporting arrangements. A stronger leadership
focus, combined with effective data, will
help direct the resources needed, including
effective training, in line with the ‘Changing the
Culture’ strategic framework.
Some human resources professionals we
spoke to argued strongly that equality,
diversity and inclusion teams need to sit with
vice chancellors’ oces.
chancellor who is dedicated to equality and
diversity. Key leadership in a position of
power is what is going to catalyse change in
universities. (Professional services or support
staff, English university).
36
S.124, Equality Act 2010.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Leadership and culture
96
Fearing for the institution’s reputation
Despite evidence on the prevalence of racial
harassment within British universities, some
senior leaders are reluctant to acknowledge
it. Evaluation of Catalyst projects found that
the sustainability of approaches to tackle
harassment was at risk in some universities
in England. This is because competition
for students has created a climate in which
people think that openly promoting activities
to tackle racial harassment will portray
universities negatively to potential applicants
(Advance HE, 2019b).
Prejudice-based harassment is not unique
to universities. Nevertheless, universities
are a formative experience for society and
the economy and, as such, should be places
where harassment is not tolerated.
Students and staff need to have condence
that their university is taking effective action
to prevent and tackle racial harassment.
Universities UK’s President has described
harassment against students and staff
as an abuse of power (Universities UK
submission).
37
The safety and wellbeing of staff and
students is vital. I encourage universities
to think carefully about how they can make
their institutions safer places to live, work
and study so that no student or member of
staff is subject to any form of harassment,
intimidation or threatening or violent
behaviour in our universities. Such an abuse of
power is categorically at odds with our values
and the standards of behaviour expected in
the sector (Professor Dame Janet Beer, former
Universities UK President).
37
Universities UK submitted evidence which drew on their ‘Changing the Culture’ programme, in
England, Scotland and Wales, alongside input from: the Universities and Colleges Employers
Association (UCEA), Advance HE, AMOSSHE (the student services organisation), Academic
Registrars Council (ARC), and the Association of Universities Legal Practitioners.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Leadership and culture
97
Our call for evidence highlighted a strong
perception that, too often, British universities
put their reputation above protecting their
students and workforce against harassment.
[The university’s response] shows that [this]
university was more bothered about covering
the incident up to maintain a "spotless"
reputation, than it was about tackling racism
/ sexism / homophobia – hence a delayed
investigation, and the unfair sacking of [a
whistle blower] (UK national postgraduate,
English university)
Racism needs to be taken seriously; nobody in
senior management cares until it affects the
university's “reputation” (Professional services
or support staff, English university).
Creating an inclusive culture
University staff and students said creating
a university culture where they could be
themselves was an important part of
preventing and tackling harassment. Our call
for evidence heard from 302 students and
265 staff, who had been racially harassed,
about the importance of feeling safe to
be themselves. Many respondents talked
about universities increased condence
in discussing gender inequalities. But this
was not being replicated through open and
constructive discussions of race and racial
inequality. Our evidence has shown that a lack
of staff condence and competence in talking
about race can get in the way of effective
remedy for students and staff who experience
harassment. Many universities need to do
more to improve understanding, and the
increased condence in gender inequalities
shows that this change is achievable.
Talk more about race and make cultural
competence or racial awareness training a
university essential. Staff at our university
are keen to talk about gender equality but not
about race equality. There is a seeming fear
or sudden lack of interest when it comes to
talking about race. (Professional services or
support staff, English university).
Around four-fths of universities said that
they collected data on how far ethnic minority
students and staff felt included and engaged
in university life (EHRC, 2019b). Our call for
evidence heard from students about the
need for universities to do more to create
and facilitate opportunities for students
from different ethnic, racial and national
backgrounds to live and learn together. The
Catalyst project evaluation also highlighted
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Leadership and culture
98
concern for the safety of international
students because their levels of reporting
harassment were found to be very low.
The report recommended that universities
in England do more to understand the
harassment experiences and safeguarding
needs of international students, and ethnic
minority students more generally. Both groups
reported signicantly lower condence in
speaking up about harassment than white
students (Advance HE, 2019a).
Institutional culture is widely recognised as
an important inuence on ethnic minority
students’ sense of belonging and an important
factor in their attainment. But the ‘Closing the
Gap’ report also acknowledges resistance to
the problem from some in British universities
(Universities UK and NUS, 2019).
38
The report
calls for universities to focus on:
• developing racially diverse and inclusive
environments: a greater focus is needed
from universities, working with their
students, to understand how a poor
sense of belonging contributes to poorer
outcomes, and
• facilitating conversations about race and
changing the culture: universities and
students need to create more opportunities
to talk directly about race, racism and the
attainment gap.
Universities UK has made clear that a culture
promoting a ‘sense of belonging’, and zero
tolerance to all forms of harassment, will be
critical in encouraging staff and students to
raise complaints (Universities UK submission).
One respondent to our call for evidence, who
supported a racially harassed colleague,
illustrates this particularly well:
Seeing someone clearly talented and amazing
undermined has been upsetting. She was
sent on a dealing with stress course instead
of senior management tackling the problem
directly (the head of that school was known
for his bullying behaviour). (Academic, English
university).
38
The report highlights the importance of understanding the student decit model. This concept
attributes student characteristics as the main factor for explaining differences in attainment.
It assumes students lack skills, knowledge or experience rather than prompt an examination
of university structures and the discrimination that exists within them. It follows in the decit
model that ownership, accountability and responsibility for inequalities do not reside with the
institution but the individual.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Leadership and culture
99
Enabling managers and staff to implement harassment policy
Case study – Equally Safe in Higher Education, Scotland
The Scottish Government funded Strathclyde
University to develop Equally Safe in Higher
Education, to implement Equally Safe,
Scotland’s wider strategy to eradicate
violence against women, across Scottish
campuses.
This project produced a toolkit to help
universities to develop an effective,
evidence-based and collaborative method
of preventing gender-based violence on
campus. Its components included:
• a theoretical framework and strategic
governance
• trauma-informed support and a
wellbeing approach to survivors of
gender-based violence
• a whole campus method aimed at
students and staff, informed by the
views of survivors and their advocates
• partnership working with internal and
external public and third sector parties
• guidance on developing a robust,
evidence-based understanding of
harassment within the institution
• guidance on developing research to
produce high quality longitudinal data
on the prevalence and nature of the
problem, and
• a model prevention strategy and
implementation plan.
The Scottish Funding Council, the funding
body for all publicly-funded colleges and
universities in Scotland, sets outcomes
for institutions as a condition of funding.
These outcome agreements now include a
requirement to embed Equally Safe using the
toolkit.
The collaborative nature of the project,
and the resources, are helping to ensure
concerted action to implement the approach
in each institution. Universities are supported
to develop their own bespoke plan to prevent
all forms of gender-based violence affecting
their campus communities.
The consistent and transparent application
of this approach across the sector provides
reassurance to students and staff. It is visible
in education and training for students and
staff in primary prevention, for example,
as well as effective signposting for those
affected to appropriate support.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Leadership and culture
100
Several universities told us that targeted
training was not always delivered to support
effective implementation of their policies
(EHRC, 2019c).
• just over half of universities provided
Policies and zero tolerance are in place,
however we do not currently have targeted
programmes to prevent race-related or other
equality-related harassment, for example,
other HEIs have local harassment advisers,
bystander programmes, anonymous reporting,
etc. (English university, EHRC, 2019b).
This matters because our call for evidence
r
eceiv
ed many examples of student and
staff experiences of racial harassment being
disbelieved and dismissed by university staff.
More than half the students and over two-
thirds of staff, who had been racially harassed,
told us that better, and possibly mandatory,
training was needed. However, our university
survey found that:
• just a third of universities provided regular
training for teaching staff, and others
in student-facing roles, on the racial
harassment of students, while 3 in 10
provided this for staff in non-student-facing
roles
regular training for managers and senior
staff on
the racial harassment of staff,
and slightly fewer did so for staff in non-
managerial roles, and
• just a quarter of universities had provided
’bystander’ training for their staff in relation
to student harassment, with slightly fewer
having provided such training in relation to
staff harassment.
As mentioned previously, a Guardian
investigation found that most universities
across the UK provided general equality
training but very few provided more specic
training on bullying and harassment (Batty,
2019). A few universities acknowledged that
their staff knew how to tackle harassment
related to certain protected characteristics in
the Equality Act, such as sex. However, they
were less condent when it came to race
issues (EHRC, 2019b). It would be good to see
more universities providing specic training on
the understanding and effective management
of racial harassment.
When we started the journey on the [Race
Equality]
Charter, we found huge gaps in the
knowledge of staff and students around the
theme of race. In comparison, the gap is non-
existent in relation to gender and disability.
(English university, EHRC, 2019b).
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Leadership and culture
101
We heard from HR professionals and
trade union representatives that university
managers are often uncomfortable talking to
ethnic minority staff about race matters. While
universities emphasise the importance of
resolving racial harassment complaints early
and informally, managers often lack the skills
and condence to do so competently.
Have the condence to have conversations
about race. Most the managers I work with
nd race-related conversations dicult and
avoid the topic. (Professional services or
support staff, English university).
This is largely driven by an inability to
understand or empathise with their ethnic
minority colleagues’ experiences, and fear of
getting complaint handling wrong leading to
accusations of unlawful discrimination (HR
and staff union roundtables). Professional
development of managers needs to include a
focus on racial equality and the concept and
impact of white privilege.
I nd people hate addressing race or even
considering how they may be racially biased
but instead of avoiding these people, we
should always bring up the topic to make them
confront this fear. (UK national undergraduate,
English university)
Staff need to be trained to be better equipped
for dealing with dicult situations. My
line manager was unsure of how to take
disciplinary action and was left in quite a
dicult position, dealing with a situation they
weren't trained for. None of my managers
dealt with my situation appropriately and I
felt totally ignored. (UK national postgraduate
researcher, Scottish university).
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Leadership and culture
102
Creating a more ethnically diverse workforce
Students and staff frequently mentioned
that universities’ workforces need to become
more reective of wider society and their
student populations, as part of tackling
racial harassment. They also highlighted
how the widespread use of temporary and
casual appointments creates insecurity and
contributes to a reluctance to challenge racial
harassment in all its forms. Clear and visible
action to prevent and tackle racial harassment
provides an opportunity for a virtuous circle in
which it becomes easier to attract and retain
ethnic minority talent.
There is an established body of academic
research that shows how everyday racism
erodes belonging and constrains the potential
and progress of ethnic minority staff.
The ‘Staying Power’ report describes the
experiences of UK Black female professors
and how a pervasive and racist bullying culture
limits opportunities and progression (Rollock,
2019). In 2015, the Equality Challenge Unit
highlighted the need for universities to tackle
microaggressions and subtle forms of racism
to encourage ethnic minority academics
to stay in UK higher education (Equality
Challenge Unit, 2015). A recent Guardian
investigation found that ineffective handling of
racial harassment complaints is driving ethnic
minority academics to pursue their careers in
other countries (Batty, 2019).
I work in an environment where staff are
leaving because of race issues and the
reaction from the university is to protect
themselves against grievances and not
change the culture. It's been a shocking
and eye opening experience. (Professional
services or support staff, English university).
In February 2019, the Government launched
measures to tackle race inequalities in higher
education in England, including encouraging
universities to address race disparities in their
workforce (UK Government, 2019).
We heard from some universities that
thought greater ethnic diversity in university
workforces was needed to consolidate
progress in preventing racial harassment
(EHRC, 2019c). Roundtable discussions with
university staff highlighted how a lack of
cultural diversity makes it much harder for
institutions to recognise the nature, scale and
impact of racial harassment.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Leadership and culture
103
Human resources professionals also
cautioned that greater senior representation
should not be seen as the total solution. They
noted how senior ethnic minority appointees
are exposed to far greater scrutiny than their
white peers. They are also at risk of being
asked to bear the burden of delivering change.
This could marginalise the problem as a race
issue rather than an institutional one.
Universities need to engage with the groups
who are most likely to be affected by race
Universities UK has highlighted how
The only way to ensure fair treatment is to
ensure that there is representation … Failure to
do this means universities are simply offering
lip service, which doesn't help anyone and we
can certainly see through it. If you want to
ensure change, put yourself in a position of
disadvantage to understand what other people
may experience and how it might make them
feel. (International postgraduate researcher,
English university).
longitudinal research and initiatives, such as
the Diversifying Leadership programme for
staff, are helping to inform and shape Advance
HE’s work to support ethnic minority staff
progression into more senior leadership roles
(Universities UK submission).
related harassment and bullying and not just
rely on reports from HR or management. BME
staff in higher education are more likely to be
in lower status roles and with less favourable
tenure, particularly BME females. BME
people need to be in the room reporting their
experiences safely and inuencing actions
to change the paradigm. (Academic, English
university).
Universities cannot leave staff who
experience racial harassment to feel it is
their responsibility to nd coping strategies.
They must enforce their dignity at work policy
commitments and create environments that
nurture talent and potential.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Annex A
104
Respondents and non-respondents
to the university survey
Annex A:
Universities who responded to our survey
Abertay University
Aberystwyth University
Anglia Ruskin University
Arts University Bournemouth
Aston University
Bangor University
Birkbeck College*
Birmingham City University
Bishop Grosseteste University
Bournemouth University
Brunel University London
Buckinghamshire New University
Cardiff Metropolitan University
Cardiff University
City University of London
Conservatoire for Dance and Drama
Coventry University
Craneld University
De Montfort University
Edge Hill University
Edinburgh Napier University
Falmouth University
Glasgow Caledonian University
Goldsmiths’ College
Guildhall School of Music & Drama
Harper Adams University
Heriot-Watt University
Imperial College of Science Technology and
Medicine
King’s College London
Kingston University
Leeds Arts University
Leeds Beckett University
Leeds College of Music
Leeds Trinity University
Liverpool Hope University
Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts
Liverpool John Moores University
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Annex A
105
London Business School
London
School of Economics and Political
Science
London School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine
Manchester Metropolitan University
Middlesex University
National Film and Television School
Newman University
Norwich University of the Arts
Nottingham Trent University
Open University
Oxford Brookes University
Plymouth College of Art
Queen Margaret University
Queen Mary University of London
Ravensbourne University London
Robert Gordon University
Roehampton University
Rose Bruford College of Theatre and
Performance
Universities who responded to our survey
Royal Academy of Music
Royal Agricultural University
Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
Royal College of Art
Royal College of Music
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
Royal Holloway and Bedford New College
Royal Northern College of Music
School of Oriental and African Studies
Sheeld Hallam University
Solent University
Scotland's Rural College (SRUC)
St Mary's University Twickenham
St. George's Hospital Medical School
Staffordshire University
Swansea University
Teesside University
University College Birmingham
University College London
University College of Osteopathy
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Annex A
106
University for the Creative Arts
Univ
ersity of Aberdeen
University of Bath
University of Birmingham
University of Bolton
University of Bradford
University of Brighton
University of Bristol
University of Cambridge
University of Central Lancashire
University of Chester
University of Chichester
University of Derby
University of Dundee
University of Durham
University of East Anglia
University of East London
University of Edinburgh
University of Essex
University of Exeter
Universities who responded to our survey
University of Glasgow
University of Gloucestershire
University of Greenwich
University of Hertfordshire
University of Hull
University of Keele
University of Kent
University of Lancaster
University of Leeds
University of Leicester
University of Lincoln
University of Liverpool
University of London
University of Manchester
University of Newcastle upon Tyne
University of Northampton
University of Northumbria
University of Nottingham
University of Oxford
University of Plymouth
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Annex A
107
University of Portsmouth
Univ
ersity of Reading
University of Sheeld
University of South Wales
University of Southampton
University of St Andrews
University of St Mark & St John
University of Stirling
University of Strathclyde
University of Suffolk
University of Sunderland
University of Surrey
University of Sussex
University of the Arts London
Universities who responded to our survey
University of the Highlands and Islands
University of the West of England
University of the West of Scotland
University of Wales Trinity Saint David*
University of West London
University of Westminster
University of Winchester
University of Wolverhampton
University of Worcester
University of York
Wrexham Glyndŵr University
Writtle University College
York St John University
*University’s survey submission was received too late to be included in the analysis
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Annex A
108
Universities who did not respond to our survey
AECC University College
Bath Spa University
Canterbury Christ Church University
Courtauld Institute of Art
Glasgow School of Art
Institute of Cancer Research*
London Metropolitan University
London South Bank University
Loughborough University*
Royal Veterinary College
Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and
Dance
University of Bedfordshire
University of Cumbria
University of Hudderseld*
University of Salford*
University of Warwick
*University offered to participate in the research but submission could not be accepted beyond
the deadline.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Annex B
109
Additional legal protections for
university staff and students
beyond the Equality Act 2010
Annex B:
Universities who responded to our survey
This is a non-exhaustive summary of staff
and student legal protections against racial
harassment.
Public law and the Human Rights Act
In some contexts where universities exercise
public functions relating to staff and students
they will also be liable in public law – the
law governing the conduct of public bodies –
including under the Human Rights Act 1998.
The Human Rights Act requires public bodies
to respect and protect a set of fundamental
rights and freedoms that everyone in the UK
is entitled to. This includes, for example, the
right to freedom from inhuman or degrading
treatment.
The decisions of public bodies can be
challenged through a claim for judicial review
in the administrative court in England and
Wales or the Court of Session in Scotland.
The remedy awarded in a successful claim
for judicial review will usually be to require
the public body to do or not to do something,
to overturn the public body’s decision or
to declare what the law is. Judicial review
does not usually result in the award of
compensation to the individual who makes
the claim.
Protection from Harassment Act 1997
Employers can be legally responsible for
breaches of the Protection From Harassment
Act 1997
39
by their employees. This act makes
it unlawful for a person to pursue a course
of behaviour which amounts to harassment.
39
Section 1 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 provides, in respect of England and
Wales, that a person must not pursue a course of behaviour which amounts to harassment of
another and which they know, or ought to know, amounts to harassment. Section 8 provides,
in respect of Scotland, that a person must not pursue a course of behaviour which amounts
to harassment of another and (a) is intended to amount to harassment of that person, or (b)
occurs in circumstances where it would appear to a reasonable person that it would amount
to harassment of that person. By section 7(3) and 8(3) a ‘course of conduct’ must involve
conduct on at least two occasions in relation to that person. By section 7(4) and 8(3), ‘conduct’
includes speech. There is no requirement that the harassment be on the grounds of a protected
characteristic, for example, race.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Annex B
110
This would include harassment related to race,
although there is no specic requirement for
the harassment to be related to any protected
characteristic. Unlike the harassment
provisions under the Equality Act, there must
be a course of behaviour consisting of at
least two incidents. A one-off incident will not
suce however serious.
Those who are subjected to harassment can
pursue a civil claim for damages in respect
of any anxiety or nancial loss caused by the
harassment. Courts can also grant injunctions
in England and Wales, or interdicts or non-
harassment orders in Scotland, to prohibit the
harasser from engaging in specied behaviour.
Breach of contract
Universities may also be legally responsible
in breach of contract. For example, where a
university has included its harassment policy
as a term of its contract with the student, the
student raises a complaint regarding racial
harassment and the university acts in breach
of the contractual policy when investigating
the complaint. If the breach results in loss to
the student then the student could pursue a
claim for damages in the civil courts.
Summary of legal protection
While there are limits to its protections, the
Equality Act 2010 offers greater safeguards
to staff and students in comparison to
other sources of protection listed above, as
it specically prohibits racial harassment,
provides the individual with a legal right of
action against the university, and does not
require an individual to be harassed on more
than one occasion before they can make a
claim.
Overview of the regulatory regime
In England, universities are funded by the
Oce for Students (OfS).
40
It is a condition of
registration with the OfS
41
that a university is
a member of the student complaints scheme
operated by the Oce of the Independent
Adjudicator (OIA) and makes students aware
of their ability to use the scheme.
42
The OIA
consider whether the university followed its
own procedures and reached a reasonable
decision, and can make recommendations
to the university regarding its handling of the
complaint and its procedures. Universities
must also have an access and participation
40
Higher Education and Research Act 2017 (HERA 2017).
41
Conditions of registration are set and published in accordance with sections 5 and 6,
HERA 2017.
42
Condition C2.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Annex B
111
plan (APP), approved by the OfS, in which
they must set out their objectives relating to
the promotion of equality of opportunity.
43
Universities must take all reasonable steps
to comply with the provisions of the plan.
However, the APP process does not require
universities to take specic steps to tackle
harassment.
In Wales, the Higher Education Funding
Council for Wales (HEFCW) is responsible
for distributing some public funding from the
Welsh Government to universities.
44
HEFCW
regulates areas including student fees and
quality of education. Universities must, in
relation to full time undergraduate students,
submit a fee and access plan to HEFCW for
approval which, like APPs, must include
provisions relating to equality of opportunity.
45
HEFCW is legally required, along with other
specied public bodies in Wales, to set and
publish objectives that are designed to
maximise its contribution to achieving seven
well-being goals.
46
Several of these goals
will require discrimination to be tackled and
equality of opportunity advanced to achieve
them, most notably ‘a more equal Wales’.
47
HEFCW is required to take all reasonable steps
to meet its published objectives and report on
progress in meeting them. One of HEFCW’s
published objectives is ‘to ensure that higher
education in Wales is relevant and accessible
to all who could benet from it, or contribute
to it.’
48
HEFCW does not require, by guidance
or otherwise, higher education institutions
to have a particular form of complaints
procedure.
The Welsh Government intends to replace
HEFCW with a new body called the
Commission for Tertiary Education and
Research (CTER) by 2023. CTER will oversee
all aspects of post-compulsory education
and training and will therefore become the
regulator and the primary funder of further
education provision.
43
Condition A1 and Higher Education (Access and Participation Plans) (England) Regulations 2018
in conjunction with s32 HERA 2017.
44
Further and Higher Education Act 1992 and the Higher Education (Wales) Act 2015 (HEWA 2015).
45
Section 6, HEWA 2015.
46
Part 2, Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 (WFGWA 2015).
47
The goal description of ‘a more equal Wales’ under section 4 WFGWA 2015 is ‘a society that
enables people to full their potential no matter what their background or circumstances
(including their socio economic background and circumstances).’
48
HEFCW Wellbeing Statement, March 2018.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Annex B
112
Universities in Scotland are funded by the
Scottish Funding Council (SFC). The SFC
has conditions of funding
49
and can impose
sanctions for non-compliance. The SFC’s
current conditions of funding do not include
specic requirements about how complaints
of racial harassment should be dealt with.
However, universities must negotiate outcome
agreements with the SFC and ensure that
they deliver them.
50
The SFC will consider
taking back funding from a university or
reducing future funding if they do not deliver.
51
The guidance on outcome agreements
52
states that equality and diversity should
be considered with the highest priority in
the development of outcome agreements.
In relation to race, the guidance notes that
the Scottish Government Race Equality
Framework 2016-30 sets out a number of
principles and goals for improving fairness,
equal access and participation, tackling
barriers and improving all aspects of society,
including education.
There is also a legal requirement
53
for
universities in Scotland to implement their
own complaints handling procedures that
comply with the Complaints Standards
Authority’s model Complaints Handling
Procedure.
54
49
Section 9A, Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2005.
50
Financial Memorandum with Higher Education Institutions.
51
Annex C, Outcome Agreement Funding for Universities - Final Allocations for AY 2019-20.
52
Scottish Funding Council, Guidance for the development of University Outcome Agreements:
2019-20 to 2021-22.
53
Section 16C, Scottish Public Services Ombudsman Act 2002.
54
Complaints Handling Procedure for the higher education sector in Scotland.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Bibliography
113
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Advance HE (2019a), ‘Evaluation of Safeguarding Students Catalyst Fund Projects: Summative
Evaluation Report’. Advance HE
Advance HE (2019b), Evaluation of Safeguarding Students Catalyst Fund Projects: Thematic
Analysis Report 2. Advance HE
Arday, J (2018), ‘Understanding race and educational leadership in higher education: Exploring
the Black and ethnic minority experience’. Management in Education, vol. 32, no.4, pp. 192-200
Batty, D. (2019), ‘UK universities condemned for failure to tackle racism’, The Guardian
Culture Shift (2017), ‘Report + support’. Culture Shift
Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) (2019a), ‘Racial harassment inquiry: survey of
university students’. IFF Research
Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) (2019b), ‘Racial harassment inquiry: survey of
universities. IFF Research
Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) (2019c), ‘Racial harassment in British
universities: qualitative research findings’. IFF Research
Equality Challenge Unit (2015), ‘Academic ight: how to encourage black and minority ethnic
academics to stay in UK higher education’. Equality Challenge Unit
Information Commissioner's Oce, ‘Introduction to data protection: some basic concepts’
International Bar Association (2019), ‘Us too: Bullying and sexual harassment in the legal
profession’. International Bar Association
Oce of the Independent Adjudicator (2016), ‘Good practice framework: handling student
complaints and academic appeals’. Oce of the Independent Adjudicator
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Oce of the Independent Adjudicator (2018), ‘Good practice framework: disciplinary procedures’.
Oce of the Independent Adjudicator
Oce for Students (2018), ‘Access and Participation: Secretary of State for Education Guidance
to the Oce for Students’. Oce for Students
Rollock, N. (2011), ‘Unspoken rules of engagement: navigating racial microaggressions in the
academic terrain’. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 2011, 1–16, First
article
Rollock, N. (2019), ‘Staying Power’. University and College Union
Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (2011), ‘The Scottish Higher Education Model Complaints
Handling Procedure’. Scottish Public Services Ombudsman
UK Government (2019), ‘Universities must do more to tackle ethnic disparity’, Gov.UK
Universities UK (2016), ‘Changing the culture: Report of the Universities UK Taskforce
examining violence against women, harassment and hate crime affecting university students’.
Universities UK
Universities UK (2017), ‘#step change: mental health in higher education’. Universities UK
Universities UK and National Union of Students (2019), ‘Black and ethnic minority student
attainment at UK universities: closing the gap’. Universities UK and National Union of Students
Universities UK and Pinsent Masons (2016), ‘Guidance for Higher Education Institutions: How to
Handle Alleged Student Misconduct Which May Also Constitute a Criminal Offence’ Universities
UK and Pinsent Masons
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Glossary
115
Glossary
Advance HE: A registered charity which
supports transformative leadership and
management, teaching and learning,
equality, diversity and inclusion, and effective
governance in higher education, including
accreditation of the Race Equality Charter. It
includes the Equality Challenge Unit.
Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration
Service (Acas): A public body which, among
other services, provides free and impartial
information and advice to employers and
employees on all aspects of workplace
relations and employment law.
British Medical Association (BMA): The trade
union and professional association for doctors
and medical students across the UK.
Catalyst safeguarding fund: A fund
established by the Oce for Students
to support the improvement of student
safeguarding in English universities.
Complaint: For the purpose of this inquiry,
a complaint is when students or staff bring
an allegation of racial harassment to the
attention of their university and are seeking
some form of redress.
Discipline and misconduct procedures:
University procedures used to deal with
student and staff behaviour which appears to
have breached an institution’s standards of
behaviour.
Early and informal resolution: Often the rst
stage in a complaints process and commonly
used to address straightforward student
and staff complaints at a frontline, school or
department level, before problems escalate.
Employee Assistance Programme (EAP):
A benet provided by an employer to
its employees which is intended to help
employees deal with personal problems that
might impact their work performance or health
and wellbeing. EAPs often provide access to
support and counselling.
Equality Act 2010: An Act of Parliament which
protects individuals against discrimination
and harassment at work, in the provision of
education and in other specied contexts. The
act also requires public bodies to give due
regard to the need to eliminate discrimination
and harassment, to advance equality of
opportunity, and to foster good relations
between different protected groups.
Equally Safe in Higher Education: The Scottish
Government’s strategy to eradicate violence
against women, implemented by the University
of Strathclyde who were funded to create a
free toolkit for Scottish universities to use in
preventing gender-based violence on campus.
Ethnic minority: For the purpose of this inquiry,
we use the term ethnic minority to mean any
ethnic backgrounds other than White British.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Glossary
116
Formal complaint or grievance: A complaint
made
by a student or staff member under
the formal stages of a complaints process
because it has not been resolved through early
and informal resolution, or where informal
resolution would not be appropriate because,
for example, the complaint is more complex,
high risk or serious.
Gaslighting: A form of psychological
manipulation which leaves the victim doubting
themselves, events or their memories. It can
be used to undermine legitimate concerns.
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):
EU legislation which governs how personal
information is used, handled and protected
by organisations including businesses
and governments. Within the UK it is
supplemented by the Data Protection Act
2018.
Higher education institution (HEI): For the
purpose of this inquiry, a higher education
institution is any publicly funded university in
England, Scotland and Wales.
Higher Education Funding Council for Wales
(HEFCW): A Welsh Government sponsored
body which regulates fee levels at universities,
ensures a framework is in place for assessing
the quality of higher education and scrutinises
the performance of universities and other
designated providers in Wales.
Information Commissioner’s Ofce (ICO): The
UK’s independent authority set up to uphold
information rights in the public interest,
promoting openness by public bodies and
data privacy for individuals.
International student: For the purpose of this
inquiry, an international student is any non-
UK national student. This includes overseas
students from EU and non-EU countries.
Microaggression: A brief, everyday interaction
that sends a denigrating message to a person
because they belong to a racially minoritised
group. Compared to more overt forms of
racism, racial microaggressions are subtle and
insidious, often leaving the victim confused,
distressed and frustrated and the perpetrator
potentially oblivious to the offence caused.
National Union of Students (NUS): A
confederation of 600 students’ unions.
It represents the interests of more than
seven million students in further and higher
education across the UK.
Ofce for Students (OfS): The independent
regulator of higher education in England.
Ofce of the Independent Adjudicator for
Higher Education (OIA): A registered charity
set up to review student complaints about
higher education providers in England and
Wales.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Glossary
117
Protected char
acteristic: A term used
in the Equality Act 2010 to describe the
characteristics that people have in relation to
which they are protected from discrimination
and harassment. Under the Act, there are
nine protected characteristics: age, disability,
gender reassignment, marriage and civil
partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race,
religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation.
Marriage and civil partnership and pregnancy
and maternity are not protected under the
harassment provisions.
Public sector equality duty (PSED): A duty
under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010
which states that a public authority must,
when performing its functions, have due
regard to the need to eliminate discrimination,
advance equality of opportunity, and foster
good relations between different groups.
Race Equality Charter (REC): The Equality
Challenge Unit’s Race Equality Charter
provides a framework through which
institutions work to identify and self-reect on
institutional and cultural barriers standing in
the way of minority ethnic staff and students.
Race Equality Support Panel: An initiative
at Cardiff University to facilitate awareness
raising, encourage the reporting of racial
harassment and ensure students and staff are
effectively supported when they do so.
Race: Race in this inquiry has the same
meaning as set out at section 9 of the Equality
Act 2010. Race includes colour, nationality and
ethnic and national origins.
Racial harassment: Racial harassment in this
inquiry has the same meaning as harassment
related to race as dened by section 26 of
the Equality 2010: when someone engages
in unwanted conduct which is related to
race, and which has the purpose or effect
of violating a person’s dignity or creating an
intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or
offensive environment for them.
Report + Support: An online platform, in use at
several universities, which enables students
and staff to report an incident of harassment
and get practical help and guidance.
Reporting: Reporting or ‘speaking up’ is
the process through which students or
staff inform their university that they have
experienced or witnessed behaviour that they
consider unacceptable. A report may trigger a
complaint, but it may be something a student
or staff member chooses not to pursue further
having brought the issue to their university’s
attention.
Redress: The means by which alleged racial
harassment is addressed, which may involve
an apology, disciplinary action against the
alleged perpetrator, improved policies or
working practices within the university, or a
legal remedy.
Residential life advisers: Advisers employed
by universities to support and advise students
living in halls. They have extensive knowledge
of the support services available at the
university.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Glossary
118
Scottish Further and Higher Education
F
unding Council (SFC): The national strategic
body for funding teaching and learning,
research, innovation and other activities in
Scotland’s colleges, universities and higher
education institutions.
Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO):
An organisation which handles complaints
about colleges, universities and other public
bodies in Scotland, and provides the nal
stage for such complaints.
Staff: University employed staff, including
academics, those in professional services,
and support staff, for example, working in
administrative or ancillary roles.
Student: Undergraduates and postgraduates
who have been studying (or carrying out
research) at a publicly funded university at any
time since the start of the 2015/16 academic
year.
Students’ union: Students’ unions (sometimes
known as a guild or association) represent
the interests of their members at a university.
They carry out a range of functions, including:
lobbying, campaigning, volunteering
opportunities, sport clubs, and providing
support through advice centres and helplines.
Subject access request: A request by an
individual for a copy of their personal data
held by an organisation, exercising their
statutory right to such information.
Support: All forms of help at any stage of the
complaints process, including practical advice
on how to complain, support in pursuing a
complaint, and pastoral or mental health
support and counselling during and following
complaints.
University and College Union (UCU): A trade
union representing academics, lecturers,
trainers, instructors, researchers, managers,
administrators, computer staff, librarians and
postgraduates in universities and other adult
education establishments across the UK.
Universities UK (UUK): A representative
organisation for 136 universities in England,
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Its
members are the vice-chancellors or principals
(executive heads) of universities in the UK.
Universities Scotland and Universities Wales
are national councils representing the interest
of universities in the respective nations.
Vice-chancellor: The vice-chancellor is the
principal academic and administrative ocer
of a university in England or Wales. The
equivalent role in Scotland is a principal.
Victimisation: Is dened by the Equality Act
2010 as subjecting someone to a detriment
(treating them badly) because they have
done, or because it is believed they have
done or may do, a protected act. A ‘protected
act’ includes making a claim or complaint of
harassment under the Equality Act.
Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged – Contacts
119
Contacts
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