Harassment is never acceptable. The University has a zero-tolerance approach to harassment in any form as outlined in our Discrimination, Harassment and Bullying Policy.
What is harassment?
Harassment is unwanted behaviour that has the purpose or effect of violating a person's dignity, or of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them, and that is related to a protected characteristic.
Harassment can be physical, verbal or non-verbal. It can take place in person or online, including by email, text, social media and messaging apps. It can be intentional or unintentional: what matters is the effect on the person, not only what the person responsible meant to do.
Harassment also includes treating someone less favourably because they have submitted to, or rejected, this kind of behaviour.
Protected characteristics
The Equality Act 2010 protects people from harassment related to the following protected characteristics:
- age
- disability
- gender reassignment
- race (including colour, nationality, and ethnic or national origin)
- religion or belief (including lack of belief)
- sex
- sexual orientation
Harassment may also be related to marriage and civil partnership or to pregnancy and maternity, although the Equality Act does not apply the harassment provisions to these characteristics in the same way. The University's approach is broader than the law: we treat harassment as unacceptable even where it does not relate to a protected characteristic.
Examples of harassment
Harassment can include, but is not limited to:
- unwanted physical contact or "horseplay", such as touching, pushing, grabbing, deliberately brushing past someone or invading their personal space, and more serious forms of physical or sexual assault
- offensive or intimidating comments or gestures, or insensitive jokes or pranks
- mocking, mimicking or belittling someone's disability
- racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic or ageist jokes, or derogatory or stereotypical remarks about a particular ethnic or religious group, or about a gender
- outing, or threatening to out, someone as lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans
- deliberately ignoring, shunning or excluding someone, for example from a conversation or social activity
- sharing or displaying offensive material, including images, messages and posts
You do not have to be the target
You can experience harassment even if the behaviour was not aimed at you. For example, racist jokes about one ethnic group may create an offensive environment for a person from another group who overhears them. Harassment can also affect people who witness it or who try to support someone else.
If this has happened to you
Experiencing harassment can be upsetting and confusing, and it may be hard to know what to do. Everyone reacts differently, and there is no right or wrong way to feel. What happened is not your fault. Support is available whether or not you decide to make a formal report.