Sexual Harassment and Assault Policy

Sexual Harassment and Assault Policy

The College will support and assist the victim of any sexual harassment or sexual misconduct. In the event of harassment and assault, please refer to the official documents and policies mentioned above (available on the college website). A few key points are highlighted below.

In an emergency or immediately following an assault

• Go somewhere that you feel safe.

• If you need the Police or other services, contact them immediately by dialing 999

• The advice provided by Rape Crisis can be accessed at www.rapecrisis.org.uk

In College, the Porters’ Lodge will always be a safe place from where you can contact help and assistance. The Porter on duty will contact the Duty Tutor, provide useful telephone numbers, or summon assistance on your behalf.

After an assault who can you contact?

It can be difficult to talk about an assault to friends or family yet it is very important to have understanding and support. There are a number of different people you may choose to contact for support and advice. There is no single or correct route by which to seek support.

Within College the following people are available to support and advise you, in no particular order:

• Your Tutor

• Any other Tutor who you wish to approach

• The Senior Tutor

• The Postgraduate Tutor

• The Advisor to Women Students

• The Dean

• The College Counsellor

• The College Nurse

There are many practical things that the College can do to assist you and by contacting one of those listed above you will be able to access that help. They will also advise you on, and direct you to, any professional support and counselling services that you may need. Whoever you approach the matter will be treated sensitively and in confidence.

In addition, the Welfare Officers of ECSU and the MCR at Emmanuel College and the Welfare Officers at CUSU and the Graduate Union are people from whom you can seek help and advice.

What can the College do to support you?

No one should feel that they need to cope on their own, and talking to someone about harassment or an assault is important in and of itself. This is true whether you talk to someone soon after an incident has taken place or at some later date.

Whoever you decide to approach in College, they will direct you to, or provide, the following services, as appropriate to your needs:

• Counselling

• Health advice and treatment (eg. pregnancy and STI screening)

• Support for your general well being in college

• Adjustments to your academic work and support

• Measures to protect your personal safety

• Providing advice about the complaint procedures available to you

• Respecting your confidentiality

• Helping you to decide whether to approach the Police

• Reporting sexual assault

• Information about sexual assault referral centres

• Other sources of support and advice

As a part of Emmanuel College, the Middle Combination Room follows the college’s strict code of conduct on Harassment and Sexual Misconduct as listed below.

Resources on harassment can be found here:

College guidance on, and procedures for handling cases of, harassment or sexual misconduct (pdf.)

Further College documentation: Documents & Policies

The University’s Report+Support tool allows you to submit a complaint about harassment of any kind (anonymously or not) and request support.

MCR Information page on welfare and important contacts: Welfare in College

Emmanuel College Cambridge Code of Conduct for Students in respect of Harassment and Sexual Misconduct

Emmanuel College is committed to providing an environment that is free from discrimination and affirms the right of all members to be treated with dignity and respect. The College will not tolerate harassment of one member of its community by another nor sexual misconduct. The College will take allegations of harassment and sexual misconduct very seriously and may take action, including disciplinary action, in response to a complaint from a student. In line with the University, the College defines harassment as single or repeated incidents involving unwanted or unwarranted conduct towards another person which it is reasonable to think would have the effect of (i) violating that other’s dignity or (ii) creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment for that other.

Harassment may be verbal, psychological or physical, in person or via a virtual platform or through other methods of contact. Harassment may occur in the course of an academic, sporting, social, cultural or other activity either within the Precincts of the University or elsewhere in the context of a person’s membership of the University, or in circumstances where the victim of the harassment is a member, officer, or employee of the University or a College. Under this Code of Conduct unacceptable behaviour, whether intentional or not, can take a variety of different forms. The following descriptions are not exhaustive, but give an indication of the types of behaviour which the University and the College consider to be unacceptable:

• making sexually offensive comments about dress or appearance, the display or distribution of sexually explicit material, or demands for sexual favours;

• engaging in harassment on the grounds of a person’s sexuality (or assumptions about a person’s sexuality) including making derogatory homophobic, transphobic or biphobic remarks or jokes aimed at a particular person, offensive comments relating to a person’s sexuality, refusal to acknowledge a person’s gender or identity, or threats to disclose a person’s sexuality to others;

• making offensive references to a person’s race, ethnicity, skin colour, religion or nationality, dress, culture, background or customs;

• ignoring, disparaging or ridiculing a person because of assumptions about their capabilities, or making offensive reference to an individual’s appearance, in the context of their disability;

• controlling or coercive behaviour, such as pressure to subscribe to a particular political or religious belief.

Online harassment may take the form of intimidating, offensive or graphic posts on social media sites or chat rooms, or communications by email, text or instant messaging.

Sexual misconduct includes the following, whether or not within a sexual or romantic relationship, including where consent to some form of sexual activity has been given and then withdrawn, or if consent has been given on previous occasions:

• sexual intercourse or engaging in a sexual act without consent;

• attempting to engage in sexual intercourse or engaging in a sexual act without consent;

• sharing private sexual materials of another person without consent;

• kissing without consent;

• touching inappropriately through clothes without consent;

• inappropriately showing sexual organs to another person;

• repeatedly following another person without good reason.