Here you will find a summary of the discussions at previous Preventing Sexual Misconduct Strategy Group meetings.
October 2017
- SetÌýthe scene on pressing issues ×î×¼µÄÁùºÏ²ÊÂÛ̳ faces for both staff and students
- Reviewed current and upcoming actions including Student Support and Wellbeing Rape Crisis training, Zero Tolerance workshops led by ×î×¼µÄÁùºÏ²ÊÂÛ̳ Student Union and ‘Where do you draw the line?’ workshops led by the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Team
- Reviewed draft Terms of Reference
- Two meetings to be held in November: 1. To progress work and 2. To have an inquiry where external groups would be invited to speak e.g. Rape Crisis.
- Agreed to develop principles to underpin the work of strategy group.
November 6th 2017
- Presentation by Fiona Ryland, Executive Director of HR on ‘The nature and scope of complaints dealt with by HR’.
- Presentation by Rebecca Hitchens, Operations Coordinator, Rape Crisis South London on ‘A critique of ×î×¼µÄÁùºÏ²ÊÂÛ̳’s policies and approaches from an advocacy perspective’.
- Presentation from Vicki Baars, Strategy and Review Manager – Sexual Harassment Goldsmiths University on ‘Key Lessons learnt from Goldsmith’s Journey’.
- Presentation from Fiona McClement, Acting Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion on ‘Report from best practice from US Universities’
November 27th 2017
- Reviewed redrafted Terms of Reference
- Case study on how a student complaint is dealt with by Lina Kamenova and Nick McGhee
- Reviewed summary of recommendations that had emerged from previous meetings and develop a clear plan for 2018 to be presented by SMT.
March 2018
- Terms of Reference were agreed (see published)
- Full time post to lead this work had been agreed to by SMT and would be advertised around Easter.
- Student services mapping exercise conducted to assess support offered and understand benefits and disadvantages of students accessing respective services.
- Updated on HR including launching a new reporting tool, piloting a pool of external investigators and having a dedicated case management team.
- Agreed for the need for a robust student policy.
July 2018
- Preventing Sexual Misconduct Manager in post and provided an introduction and draft plan for the first year of work.
- Advertised for Dignity at Work Advisors and PSM Manager would recruit, train and co-ordinate.
- Agreed for the need of strategic approach to staff and student policy changes, including thorough consultation and working with the Unions .
- Reviewed the principles that underpin the work of the Strategy Group.
- Lessons from a recent Statute 18 case were shared noting the need for improved support and fair treatment within policy review.
- Explored power dynamics within staff-student relationships and agreed to review the personal relationships code to address possible abuse of power.
- Communications plan would be embedded into the institution-wide campaign ‘Full Stop’.
September 2018
- Student policy sub-group met to review Harvard Policy and discuss current challenges in procedure.
- Agreed that the launch date of ‘Report + Support’ would be delayed to incorporate students.
- Working with Communications and Marketing to develop campaign videos for the ‘Full Stop’ campaign.
- Eight ‘Taking the Lead’ have been scheduled to be delivered to Heads of Departments, HR Business Partners and Deans.
- Specialist Rape Crisis full day training delivered to key staff and student facing roles.
- 37 Dignity at Work Advisors through to training and to be supported by the PSM Manager.
- Group reviewed Monash Universities Staff Student Relationships policy and discussed purpose of review and existing challenges.
- Group to seek guidance from 1752 Group to see if there are model policies to review.
October 2018
- Group discussed recent media coverage and reiterated the purpose of the group as a key strategic group to combat widespread and problematic cultures at ×î×¼µÄÁùºÏ²ÊÂÛ̳.
- Agreed to provide updates to ×î×¼µÄÁùºÏ²ÊÂÛ̳ community on a regular basis now that many projects were underway and had support.
- Sub-group to meet to discuss an overarching policy for staff and students on behaviour.
- Pilot of ‘Report + Support’ in Faculty of MAPs to close by the end of January ready for institutional launch.
- Launch for ‘Report + Support’ and ‘Full Stop’ campaign planned for late February 2019.
- ‘Full Stop’ consultation to be conducted with staff and students to seek input on key priorities and challenges.
- Evaluation framework to measure ‘Where do you draw the line?’ developed through Wellcome Trust grant.
- Group provided comment on staff-student relationships policy draft and agreed to review Roehampton Policy.
December 2018
- Group conducted a workshop on the definitions of bullying, harassment, sexual misconduct and consent.Ìý
​​​​​​​January 2019
- Group reviewed a draft action plan for 2019, including the key objectives for the next year.Ìý
- Agreed to develop a sub-group focusing on data collection to inform reporting and preventative work.Ìý
- Group agreed to publish key objectives on website once agreed.Ìý