An illustration of a woman crossing her arms to suggest a preventative approach to tackling sexual misconduct and harassment in colleges and universities.

In February 2023, the Office for Students (OfS) launched a consultation on tackling harassment and sexual misconduct in universities and colleges. This has brought the issue of sexual violence into clear focus across the higher education sector, encouraging providers to review and evaluate the ways to prevent and address harassment.

As Universities UK (UUK) noted in 2022, driving cultural change is a key pillar in the task to eradicate sexual violence in higher education. Their survey results showed that, contrary to findings from previous reports, prevention is beginning to foreground response in many institutions. These initiatives have the potential to create change that is sustainable.

In this article, we explore 3 key action areas for universities seeking to enhance their preventative approach to tackling sexual misconduct. We draw on examples of innovative work being carried out across the sector to deliver impactful cultural change that encourages a high standard of behaviour from all students and staff.

Make Tackling Misconduct a Priority: Senior Leadership Buy-In

The first step to enacting cultural change to tackle sexual misconduct is to ensure your students understand it is a priority for your institution. There is no better way to signal this than by demonstrating that senior leaders in your university are on board.

This does not simply mean distributing communications in which senior leaders talk about the importance of the issue (although that can be part of it). It means seeing key figures take proactive, visible steps that indicate their commitment. This could include actively collaborating and leading on interventions such as consultations, communicating the outcomes of initiatives and working closely with students and staff to understand key issues, barriers and potential solutions.

A great example of making senior leadership buy-in meaningful and impactful is Nottingham Trent University’s ‘Respect at NTU’ campaign, which launched the institution’s new dignity and respect policy. This multifaceted communications strategy included a monthly video and e-newsletter to all staff and students, as well as a welcome address to incoming students. On the policy side, the campaign also included the drafting of a new Dignity and Respect Policy and a review of the university’s existing EDI policy, with the former seeing the introduction of Dignity and Respect advisory service who could help to support students making claims and culture change, all backed by senior leadership.

It's also worth noting that, historically, senior leaders in higher education that have failed to deliver trust and transparency on harassment, so making sure leadership is vocal and committed to tackling the issue can help us move towards culture change. Using the voice of senior leaders in communications campaigns indicates to students that your institution takes the issue of sexual violence seriously, so long as it is backed up by policy changes in place to tackle it – conversations in which leaders should, equally, be involved in. It also signals that this tackling is a key part of the institution’s values and signals that reports and incidents will be taken seriously, encouraging students to disclose and holding up a behavioural standard.

For senior leaders seeking to be active changemakers in instating a preventative approach to sexual harassment, the following questions may be useful for reflection:

Where has trust between students and leaders broken down when it comes to tackling sexual harassment?
How can we work in unison with students to understand the institutional and cultural barriers to tackling sexual misconduct and find effective solutions?
When communicating the importance of tackling harassment, what policy changes can we highlight to prove we are not just ‘talking the talk’ but can also ‘walk the walk’?
How can we create a streamlined and efficient way of supporting staff dealing with high volumes of reports? This might be through the introduction of new working patterns or software.

Raise Awareness Throughout the Student Lifecycle

If you want to enact sustainable cultural change that serves to stamp out incidents of sexual misconduct, you will have to set behavioural expectations and standards for students from the outset. These must then be reinforced throughout the student lifecycle, to ensure incoming, current and outgoing students understand what is expected of them, and what the consequences will be if they fail to meet those expectations.

This can start even before induction. You might consider how you can work with your university marketing team to embed a zero-tolerance stance on harassment in your branding campaigns, in order to indicate the values of your institution to prospective students.

This, then, should be followed up by clear communications and resources during induction. Include it in student handbooks, embed consent training into introductory activities and signpost students to resources and support on your website in a clear, accessible way. Having a video as part of a package of resources is not enough – your message needs to be received by all students, so consider running a high-profile campaign.

For example, having a session that outlines the student code of conduct and having all incoming students sign this, ensuring they understand the consequences if they don’t meet these standards. We would also recommend including local support services for victims and survivors in this process, as it indicates to students that it is a serious issue that goes beyond the realm of the institution.

Similarly, training and information shouldn’t stop after first year; refresher guidance on topics such as consent should be available to students at all stages in the lifecycle.

While students are part of the university, UUK suggests that you should also implement an evidence-based bystander intervention approach. Unlike one-off interventions, which have limited impact when it comes to implementing sustainable change, an evidence-based bystander intervention approach attempts to change societal attitudes, encouraging students to become active, rather than passive bystanders when they witness incidents.

For further guidance on how to implement a successful evidence-based bystander intervention approach, see the University of the West of England’s Intervention Initiative, a free educational resource designed to support a preventative approach to sexual violence in university settings.

Finally, other approaches to instilling a preventative approach can be implemented on a policy level. Consider reviewing your EDI strategies of respect and discrimination with the involvement of students at different stages in the lifecycle to create positive culture change. You might also look at how the concept and practice of intersectionality can help you to deliver more nuanced and targeted policies.

Remove Barriers to Reporting

When attempting to change the culture around sexual misconduct, it’s important to understand that underreporting is a key element of the problem. Students who have experienced harassment or non-consensual sexual interactions may be reluctant to report due to a variety of reasons, such as:

Lack of faith that an attacker will be charged
Fear of being judged
Worry that parents would be informed
Fear of having to talk about the incident publicly

Barriers to effective reporting can weaken a preventative approach in several ways. For one, students who break codes of conduct may feel like they will not be held accountable for their actions, potentially leading to a greater number of incidents. On the other hand, if students know there is a robust reporting mechanism in which they feel confident and supported to report instances, they may also feel more confident identifying and calling out unacceptable behaviours.

By being aware of these barriers, you can develop strategies to mitigate their effects and institute that preventative approach. For example, strategies might include:

Reassurance that reports can be anonymous. You might consider using a software that allows people to submit reports in this manner, such as Report + Support, which was developed by the University of Manchester. Be sure to inform the student of what action the university is able to take (or not) with anonymous reporting, as UCL does.
Providing clarity on the standardised process for reporting. This should be available in an easy-to-understand, accessible format, for example, as a flow chart, and include clear, accurate information about which parties will be informed of the incident.
Addressing sexual misconduct and harassment head on to destigmatise it. The University of York runs a Sexual Violence Awareness week every year in February, which includes events such as an open discussion with the Commissioner, an opportunity to meet with designated Sexual Violence Liaison Officers (SLVOs) and an organised march.
When you evaluate your reporting mechanisms, share the findings with your students and explain to them improvements you plan to make in the future. You might also invite students to collaborate with you on this by setting up a Steering Committee or taskforce. For examples of such initiatives, see the guidebook produced by Durham University’s Sexual Violence Taskforce.
Make clear what support will be available to reporting and responding parties. This should be as integrated with the reporting process as possible.

Steps such as these serve to discourage underreporting. For example, you can destigmatise reporting on sexual violence by opening up an honest conversation about its prevalence and demonstrating the university’s zero tolerance policy towards it. Likewise, by offering clear information and guidance and indicating that you have a robust system for processing complaints, you can grow students’ trust that their report will be taken seriously and that they will be supported throughout the process.

By creating an environment in which students feel safe to report incidents of harassment in the knowledge that it will be dealt with effectively and with empathy, you can implement that preventative approach, indicating to students that there is a zero-tolerance policy to sexual misconduct.

Responding to Regulatory Expectations

As HE providers search for ways to implement sustainable change when it comes to tackling sexual violence, a preventative approach will become ever more imperative. This means setting behavioural standards for both students and staff, indicating that the issue is of the utmost priority to the institution and building students’ faith that incidents will be dealt with in a fair, timely and empathetic manner.

The examples and recommendations in this article can all help to usher in that culture change as we await the findings and recommendations that will ultimately come from the OfS’s consultation. For now, make sure to carefully review the regulator’s statement of expectations and ensure you are delivering change and impact in each of these areas. You may even follow the lead of Bath Spa University, who have published the steps they have taken to address each of these recommendations.