Bullying and Harassment
Bullying, harassment, and hate crimes have no place in our community. However, we acknowledge that incidents may occur both on and off campus, impacting our students and staff.
This toolkit is designed to help staff understand what constitutes bullying and harassment, and how to support affected students. It provides essential guidance on referring students for support when needed and reporting incidents to the university, in accordance with our Bullying, Harassment, and Hate Crime Policy.
View our Bullying, Harassment and Hate Crime PolicyBullying
There is no legal definition of bullying, however bullying can be defined as unwanted offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour, an abuse or misuse of power through means intended to undermine, humiliate, denigrate and injure the recipient.
Harassment
Harassment does have a legal definition. Harassment is defined as an ‘unwelcomed behaviour that affects the dignity of those subjected to it, and is related to a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010.
Bullying is an intentional action to harm or offend another person.
There are different types of behaviours and actions that can be considered as bullying. Find out more about these in the tabs below.
You can also watch this video from AMAZE Org, which aims to give an overview of ‘What is Bullying?’.
Physical bullying involves the act of assaulting another person’s body in an aggressive manner, which may include hitting, kicking, punching, or tripping.
Verbal bullying involves spoken or written words to purposefully insult their victim. This includes things such as name calling or threats.
Verbal bullying is a type of bullying which can lead to Social Anxiety Disorder. This is because when the bully in confronted by an authoritative figure, they tend to suggest they are joking or that they didn’t mean it in a malicious way, when in fact they did. Thus, this may lead to the victim feeling anxious around people in case this behaviour occurs again by someone else.
Relational bullying occurs when the bully intends to harm their victim’s reputation or relationship. Behaviours such as embarrassing the victim in public, spreading rumours, exclusion and social manipulation are all examples of rational bullying.
With this kind of bullying, girls are more prone to be victims.
Cyberbullying is a type of bullying which occurs on electronic devices such as mobile phones or computers.
Examples of cyberbullying include posting or sending harmful or offensive content or sharing information which is aimed to cause humiliation.
The fact that this bullying occurs over a mobile device, which people always have on them, makes it harder for the victim to avoid this conflict. Cyberbullying may also lead to other types of bullying such as physical or rational, for example.
Sexual bullying can occur online or face to face and involves acts such as making sexual comments or actions, spreading sexual rumours or images or touching/grabbing someone without their permission. Sexual bullying may sometimes lead to sexual assault.
Prejudicial bullying can occur online or face to face and involves any behaviour which targets the victim’s race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation.
This bullying is based off stereotypes that usually involve the belief that the victim should be treated with less respect than others.
This kind of bullying also related to hate crime.
To reiterate, harassment is an unwelcomed action which may humiliate another individual.
There are different types of behaviours and actions that can be considered as harassment. Find out more about these in the tabs below.
You can also watch this video from eLearnPOSH, which aims to give an overview of ‘What is Harassment’.
Discrimination occurs when an individual treats one person less favourable than they would anyone else due to a characteristic they have. These characteristics may include their ethnicity, race sexual orientation etc.
Verbal harassment is using language to make another person feel uncomfortable. For example, spreading rumours or making offensive jokes.
Physical harassment can be very mild or can turn progressively worse. For example, acts such as giving another person a hug, may feel innocent to one person but the recipient may progressively get more uncomfortable with this behaviour.
Sexual harassment involves any behaviour with a sexual or romantic undertone which is unwanted from the recipient. Examples include things such as cat calling, sexual comments or inappropriate comments on someone’s body or clothing.
Stalking is described as an unwanted, obsessive behaviour (Fixated, Obsessive, Unwanted and Repeated (FOUR)). Examples include, watching or spying on someone, persistently contacting them, following them in public or going places they know they’ll be and in extreme circumstances they may interfere with another’s property.
Cyberstalking is when someone is persistent with their contact via online resources or sending spam on a regular basis. Cyberstalking could also involve an individual gaining access to their victim’s data, which is quite easy to access online. People who commit cyberstalking offences often have a particular interest with the other individual and will gain some satisfaction from their stalking habits.
Psychological harassment is similar to verbal harassment, however, verbal harassment may be a difference in opinion, whereas psychological harassment is more intended to attack the target. This is usually involving things such as isolating a person or degrading them or gaslighting an individual.
Retaliation harassment occurs as a result of another person’s action. For example, if someone files a complaint against another person and they find out, they may start to target that individual and encourage other people to do the same.
This kind of harassment tends to occur in the workplace as it involves someone outside of an organisation harassing someone within an organisation. Managers are responsible for protecting their employees against this type of harassment.
As a member of staff, you must know what kinds of signs indicate someone being bullied or harassed, so you can deal with it appropriately. These may include the following:
- unexplained injuries
- lost or destroyed clothing, books, electronics or any property
- feeling sick or faking being sick/ill
- change in eating habits e.g., eating less or more
- decline in grades
- sudden loss of friendships or avoidance of social situation
- decrease in self-esteem
- self-destructive behaviours such as harming themselves or running away.
If you have any concerns that a student is being bullied or harassed, then it is appropriate to check with them that everything is okay. The student may already be known to the Wellbeing Team, so it is recommended to check with them if you have any concerns.
Any meetings should be in private with appropriate surroundings that would not draw unusual attention from other students.
If the student is accompanied, check that this person’s presence is welcomed and if not, tactfully explain that you think it best they leave to allow the student to regain some privacy. If the student is not accompanied, ask them if there is someone they would like with them who can be contacted for support.
The meeting does not need to focus on any concerns; it can be a general ‘check-up’ on their academic journey to open the dialogue between you and the student in a confidential environment.
If you have witnessed anything specific such as negative behaviour towards the student, then it is appropriate to ask them about it, reassuring them that this is a supportive meeting.
Bullying and Harassment covers a wide range of behaviours so it is important to give the student time to talk freely, while you actively listen, and ask only key questions where necessary. There may be obvious non-verbal cues during the discussion, which should help you identify what is going on.
This may be the first time the student has spoken to anyone around the issues they are having, so make sure not to downplay their concerns. By providing a supportive, and non-judgemental environment, you are giving the student the best opportunity to feel safe and reassured.
It is helpful to establish a timeline of events, and any action that has been made. For example, a student may report ongoing bullying over the past 6 months, where they have tried to speak to the other person involved with no solution. Another student may disclose that they were left out of a conversation last week and have not told the other person how it made them feel. Getting this information will assist you when advising the student around the next steps.
It is important to ask the student what they want to do. Do not make assumptions and do not act without their consent.
In some cases, the student may be disclosing what you suspect is a criminal offence. Let the student know that they can report the incident to the police on 101, and support them in doing so if they wish. At this point you should not ask any further questions and keep brief notes of your meeting.
The University Non-Academic Misconduct Procedure covers Bullying and Harassment, so you can ask the student if they would like to consider making a formal report to the University. Advise the student that you can pass on any details to the Student Casework Team, or the student can contact the Student Casework Team by emailing [email protected]. An appropriate member of staff will contact them to answer any questions and discuss the next steps.
Often students may not want to make a formal report to the University, but would like something to be done informally. This approach can have the advantage of resolving the situation quickly and with minimal disruption to relationships.
- The University recommends that anyone who believes they are subject to bullying or harassment should speak directly to those involved if it is safe to do so. This may have already happened, but you should discuss it with the student as an initial resolution.
- If speaking to the other party has not worked, or they are not comfortable speaking to the other party themselves, then it may be appropriate for a third party to intervene. If the behaviour is taking place within your department, then it may be appropriate to meet with the other party, to outline the consequences of any continued behaviour. It is equally important when meeting the other party that you remain impartial, and make sure to give them the opportunity to provide their account. You are not investigating the disclosure through an informal process, you are just trying to resolve any concerns.
- If both students agree, it can also be helpful to arrange a meeting with both parties, to discuss a joint agreement moving forward.
You should record any meetings with students or action taken regarding bullying or harassment on appropriate University systems.
- If the student wants to report the incident to the University formally, you should contact the Student Casework Team via email.
- If the incident involves another student you are obligated to report this to the Student Casework Team or by completing a the Student Let Us Know form.
- If the incident involves a member of staff, you are obligated to report this to the HRAdvisory Team.
- If the student wants emotional and wellbeing support from the Mental Health & Wellbeing Team, contact the team via email or call 01695 650988 (during office hours).