Harassment and sexual misconduct
At St Mary's, we take our responsibility to create and maintain a safe environment seriously.
In line with the Office for Student's (OfS) E6 regulation, this page is your single comprehensive source of information regarding our approach to sexual misconduct and harassment – including the steps we're taking to keep you safe, how you can report an incident, what support is available, and more.
What this page covers
Introduction
We’re committed to fostering a safe and respectful environment for our whole community, in-person and online.
However, if you are involved in, have witnessed, or been told about an incident of harassment and/or sexual misconduct, it is important to be informed of what resources and support are available to you, which are detailed on this page.
Harassment means any unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating your dignity; or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment.
Although harassment often relates to a protected characteristic, it is apparent that a more general form of harassment may take place that is not based on any one clearly identifiable aspect of the person concerned. This form of harassment may be described as bullying or aggressive/intimidating behaviour by one person towards another.
Sexual misconduct relates to a range of inappropriate, unwelcome, unwanted or attempted unwanted behaviours of a sexual nature. These behaviours are committed without consent, by force, intimidation or coercion. This covers all types of sexual violence, including but not limited to: sexual assault, penetration without consent, sexual abuse (including online and image-based abuse), non-consensual sexual touching, sexual harassment, stalking, and degrading or abusive comments of a sexual nature.
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How to report an incident
If you need to tell us something that has happened to you or to somebody else that you have witnessed or been told about, you can:
- Report the incident openly to the University by providing details, where you can indicate what you would like to happen once you have made the report. You can request a formal investigation, or meet with one of our supportive staff members for advice, or something else.
- Report the incident anonymously if you don't want to provide details.
- Speak to someone in the Student Life Service, if you aren't ready to make a formal report or simply want some more advice.
However you choose to tell us, we promise to listen and act on your report with discretion and sensitivity.
If it’s an emergency, please call 999 (or 112 from a mobile).
If you're deaf or hard of hearing, you can text 999 if you've registered with the emergency SMS service.
If you need to register for this service, you can find information on how to do so.
If you are on campus, you can also contact our 24/7 Security on 020 8240 4335 (4060 in emergencies).
What happens once I make a report?
Whether making a report using the report with contact details form, or anonymously, the information you provide to us is handled sensitively and used fairly. An anonymous report will be used to provide statistical data to the University.
By filling out a report with contact details form, students are able to indicate if they would like this formally investigated by the Conduct Team, would like to receive some support and guidance on their options, or both.
If you indicate you would like your report formally investigated, during the course of our investigation, we will keep you updated and informed via email communications and on occasions, face-to-face meetings. Any official outcomes will be made via a letter.
We will support you by ensuring that the Conduct Team works closely with the Student Life Team at every stage of the process.
All staff involved in the processing of your report and investigation have been fully and appropriately trained by external experts.
Our investigations and decisions will be made with fairness, justice, and credibility in line with the published Student Disciplinary Procedure.
Once a decision has been made, all parties will be informed of the outcome and reasons via an official letter. All students agree that information in conduct cases may be shared with other affected parties when they enrol.
How to access support
If an incident has just happened, try to find somewhere safe. If you are at the university and in need of help, go into the closest building and ask someone to call Security for you on 0208 240 4060.
If it’s an emergency, please call 999 (or 112 from a mobile).
If you're deaf or hard of hearing, you can text 999 if you've registered with the emergency SMS service. If you need to register for this service, you can find information on how to do so here.
Support is available to you if you are a victim, a witness, someone who has been told about an incident, or if you are the accused.
You can find out more on our dedicated support pages.
How we’re keeping you safe
We are continuously committed in taking proactive steps to ensure the safety of our community, including:
- Comprehensive student & staff training procedures
- Regular campaigns to promote safety & awareness
- Opportunities for students to provide feedback that we read and act upon
- Important information related to campus safety is shared with all students throughout induction week and activities with accessible links to information throughout the year.
- ID cards & 24/7 on-site security
- UNISafe weekly drop-in Police café’s – a service which offers free, friendly support, advice, and information on matters related to crime and community safety.
- Strong ties with the local Metropolitan Police, and we have named St Mary’s Police Liaison Officers from the Twickenham Safer Neighbourhood Teams.
- External meetings and partnerships
- Regular review of data from reporting and support
- Positive collaboration between support & conduct teams
- Inclusion of student voice when creating & updating policies
- Removal and banning of NDAs
- Full freedom of speech.
Academic misconduct process
Student misconduct can take many forms, including issues addressed through the student complaints procedure, the student disciplinary procedure, and the academic conduct process.
All aspects of student misconduct are managed by expertly trained staff in our Registry department, who work collaboratively with colleagues across Student Services, the Students' Union, and academic schools where appropriate. These processes are designed to be handled with sensitivity, fairness, and care to ensure the wellbeing of all parties involved.
The Student Disciplinary Procedure guides students through the process of raising non-academic conduct.
Our Academic Regulations cover cases where academic misconduct is being investigated.
Staff misconduct
The University places great importance on staff professionalism and conduct, and takes active steps to ensure all staff are aware of the expected standards. Where concerns arise, there are clear processes in place for raising a complaint against a staff member. When a complaint or report is made, this is taken seriously, and our Human Resources department provides guidance and support throughout this process.
There are two formal ways to inform the University about the conduct of a staff member:
- Stage one of the Student Complaints Procedure details how someone can make a complaint to the University.
- You can also make a report with contact details via our reporting page.
Policies and procedures
Find out more about our approach to specific scenarios:
- Conduct
- Complaints
- Dignity at Work
- Student Charter
- Student Privacy
- Bullying and Harassment
- Prevention and Safeguarding
On each individual policy, you will be able to view historic versions and see a summary of what has changed between versions.
Next steps
