Harassment and sexual misconduct : University of Sussex

Find out about our guidance, procedures and support in the event of harassment or sexual misconduct.

Overview

We are committed to providing a safe, inclusive and respectful environment where every member of our community can thrive, free from harassment, sexual misconduct, abuse, coercion or any related harmful behaviour.

This page summarises our policies, procedures and guidance aimed at responding to and preventing harassment and sexual misconduct.

We recognise the profound impact these behaviours can have, and actively encourage you to come forward if you have experienced or witnessed harassment or sexual misconduct so we can offer you support and guidance from our specialist advisors.

Urgent help

If you or others are feeling threatened, in danger, at risk, or need urgent medical attention, find out how to get help or call the emergency services on 999.

Report and Support

If you or someone else have experienced behaviours such as bullying, harassment, a hate incident, sexual violence, domestic abuse or discrimination, you can let us know using our Report and Support platform. This does not trigger a ‘formal’ report to the University, but it is the best way to seek expert advice and support.

You can use Report and Support to:

find information about and access University and specialist support services
make a report to the University so that an advisor can talk you through options for support or further action
make an anonymous report to make the University aware of your experience
make an anonymous report and opt in to two-way messaging, so you can talk things through with an advisor without revealing your identity.

Report and support

Sexual misconduct

Sexual misconduct is an umbrella term that covers a broad range of behaviours.

What is sexual misconduct?

Behaviours classed as sexual misconduct include, but are not limited to:

sexual harassment – any unwanted sexual behaviour towards another that makes them feel upset, scared, offended, or humiliated
sexual assault – any sexual act that a person did not consent to, or is coerced or forced into against their will. It includes rape (an assault involving penetration of the vagina, anus or mouth with a penis), and other sexual offences such as groping, kissing or child sexual abuse
cyber harassment or sextortion (blackmail related to intimate/sexual images)
intimate image abuse, also known as revenge porn (sharing of intimate images without consent)
sexual exploitation (abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust for sexual purposes).

If you have experienced sexual violence or misconduct you may be feeling a range of emotions. Some people report feeling numb or shocked, confused or frightened, fragile or angry. There is no right or wrong way to feel and your feelings are likely to change over time.

If you have been sexually assaulted in the past seven days
If you are not at further risk:
- Find somewhere safe and warm as you may be in shock. If you can, phone a friend to come to you
- Drinking, eating, washing, smoking, brushing your teeth, urinating or changing your clothes in the immediate aftermath of a sexual assault can impact the availability of forensic evidence. You may wish to avoid doing these things until you’ve made a decision about reporting or attending the Sexual Assault Referral Centre.
- You may wish to preserve evidence by keeping any used condom or bedding in a clean plastic or cotton bag.
The choices you have in terms of expert support and advice can vary according to the time and place at which the incident occurred. There are particular considerations if you have been assaulted within the past seven days.

If you have been affected by sexual violence within the last seven days there may be forensic evidence available that the police can use. A Sexual Offences Investigative Trained officer will be able to take non-intimate forensic samples immediately so that forensic evidence can be preserved and you will be able to eat, drink and go to the toilet without fear of losing such evidence.

An initial account will be taken from you to establish what has happened and you may be taken to the nearest Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC). The closest to Sussex is the Saturn Centre at Crawley Hospital. There you will be looked after by a Crisis Support Worker and Forensic Medical Examiner (a nurse who can collect forensic evidence). They recommend that you take a supportive friend with you. Take a change of clothes as they may need to retain the clothes you are wearing. Also take any bedding or used condom if relevant: police will be able to advise you.

You can seek advice and support from a number of agencies at any time after the incident, even years later – support is not limited to those who choose to make an immediate report. Any decisions made will be yours alone and will be respected.

Read through all your options below before you make a decision.

Reporting an incident to the police
It is completely your decision whether you report what happened to the police. You can report now; weeks, months or years later; or you can choose not to report, and there is no ‘correct’ decision - just the decisions that you feel most comfortable with. An advisor can talk this through with you.

You can report an incident to the police at any time. If the incident happened recently or you need urgent help, call 999. If it is not urgent call 101 or use their online reporting form.

Survivors often choose not to report to police because they have ‘no evidence’. The main evidence in any serious sexual assault is the account of the victim/survivor. However, there are other forms of evidence you may wish to preserve if they are available, some of which are time critical.
- CCTV is often kept for 28 days, sometimes 3 months – a good reason to report to police is so they can gather CCTV recordings. If the incident took place on campus, it may be possible for Security to secure any available CCTV
- Phone data – it is worth taking screen shots of anything that may be relevant on your phone and keeping them somewhere safe, just in case you lose your phone or messages get deleted
- Clothing from the time of the incident may contain forensic evidence. Put this to one side in a clean bag in case you decide to report in the future
- Our memory is fallible, and memories change and distort over time. You may wish to write a detailed account of what happened and keep it somewhere safe so you can refer to it in the future.
Often survivors want to tell the police so the same thing doesn’t happen to someone else, but aren’t sure they want to go through an investigation. This is a good reason to tell police: you can report an incident and choose not to take part in an investigation. In some circumstances the police may inform the person you’ve reported.

If you do report an incident to the police, they will contact you to find out what happened. The seriousness of the offence will determine how it is investigated. If you want further information about this you can use Report and Support to be connected with an advisor in the university for support and advice.

If you choose to report an incident of sexual violence to the police, a specially trained officer is likely to be contacted. If you have been affected by sexual violence within the last seven days there may be forensic evidence available that the police can use to support an investigation. The officer will be able to take non-intimate forensic samples immediately so that forensic evidence can be preserved and you will be able to eat, drink and go to the toilet without fear of losing such evidence.

An initial account will be taken from you to establish what has happened and they may offer to take you to the Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC). The closest to Sussex is the Saturn Centre at Crawley Hospital. There you will be looked after by a Crisis Support Worker and Forensic Medical Examiner (a nurse who can collect forensic evidence). They will explain the best course of action and give you the choice to agree with whatever feels comfortable.

They recommend that you take a supportive friend with you. Take a change of clothes as they may need to retain the clothes you are wearing. Also take any bedding or used condom if relevant: police will be able to advise.

Although you have called the police, you can opt out of the reporting process at any point without losing the support of the SARC. The SARC can refer you onward to support services.
Delaying reporting to the police

You may be unsure about making a report to the police, but would like to be able to retain forensic evidence for a future decision. If you have been assaulted in the last seven days, this can be done by a self-referral to our nearest Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC), the Saturn Centre at Crawley Hospital.

If there are signs of a disturbance at the scene, taking photographs may be beneficial to any future investigation in case you decide to report it to the police at a later date. Remember to keep any relevant clothes, bedding, used condom, text messages or emails, as these may contain important evidence.

You can get help and advice about what to do by disclosing the incident to the University through Report and Support or emailing svdv@sussex.ac.uk.

If you have not reported or accessed help within seven days you can still report to the police. There is no time limit on reporting a sexual assault to the police – you can do so days, weeks, months or years after something has happened. In this case, an officer will contact you to take an initial account of what has happened. Forensic evidence is not a necessity in many cases. It is unlikely you will need to attend the SARC.
Deciding not to report to the police

If you are sure you do not want to report the incident to the police at any time, then you can still access the support of the Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) services at the Saturn Centre in Crawley Hospital. You can choose not to provide forensic evidence but can still receive specialist medical support and be referred for support.

At the weekend or evenings, you can get 24-hour access to the Accident and Emergency department at the Royal Sussex County Hospital for the treatment of any injuries.

You can access expert support from Brighton and Hove Sexual Health and Contraception Service at various locations in Central Brighton. The SOLAR clinic offers a confidential, non-judgemental service dedicated to men and women who have experienced sexual assault both recently and historically.

You can book an appointment at The Solar Clinic  for support and STI testing as necessary. Those who disclose sexual assault are fast tracked through the clinic and are treated with respect and dignity.
Reporting to the University

We encourage you to disclose sexual misconduct to the university, so that we can offer you specialist advice and guidance about the support and reporting options within and external to the university. It also helps us monitor what is going on for our students and direct resources appropriately.

Report and Support is the best way to do this. Making a named report enables us to get in touch with you to talk through your options. We aim to give you information so you can make an informed choice about what happens next and support you in whatever you choose to do. (Only in rare circumstances where there is a significant safeguarding concern might we need to take further action, and we will always attempt to speak to you about this first.) We aim to respond to reports within five working days.

If you need more urgent assistance and it is Monday – Friday between 9am-5pm, you can go to the Welcome Desk in the Student Centre or call them on 01273 075700. Outside of these hours, call Security on 01273 873333.

Whether or not you decide to report to police, if the person who committed the sexual misconduct is a student or staff member at Sussex you can report them to the University’s complaints and appeals department.

If you are not sure whether to report them to the University and would like to talk your options through with an advisor, you can disclose the incident through Report and Support as above.

It doesn’t matter when the misconduct took place: it might have been before you came to Sussex. If it is affecting you and you would like advice, please contact us.

Harassment

Harassment is unwanted behaviour from someone else. This includes repeated attempts to force unwanted communications and contact in a way which could be expected to cause distress or fear in any reasonable person.

This can include:

unwanted phone calls, texts, social media activity, letters, emails, or visits
abuse (verbal or online)
physical gestures or facial expressions
sexual harassment
images and graffiti

Protected characteristics

Some forms of harassment specifically target people because of certain protected characteristics. It aims to violate a person’s dignity or create an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that individual. This is illegal under the 2010 Equality Act.

This behaviour or treatment may relate to one or more of the following protected characteristics: 

age 
disability 
gender reassignment 
race 
religion or belief 
sex  
sexual orientation 
marriage and civil partnership 
pregnancy and maternity.

At Sussex we believe any form of harassment is unacceptable. Experiencing harassment can be frightening and traumatic and can have negative effects on your mental and physical health.

Harassment is defined by using both the Equality Act 2010 (Section 26) and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (Section 7).

Bullying, hate crime or incident and discrimination are all forms of harassment. Find out more about these behaviours and what to do if you are being targeted at Report and Support.

Stalking

Stalking is a form of aggravated harassment which tends to be more extreme and personal than harassment. Stalking is a pattern of repeated, unwanted behaviour that causes someone to feel distressed or scared. Stalking isn’t always violent but it is serious and it is a crime.

If you aren’t sure if you are being stalked, the ‘FOUR’ acronym can help you decide.

Decide if the attention you are getting from someone is:

fixated
obsessive
unwanted
repetitive.

Being stalked can be extremely distressing. It may cause you to become hyper vigilant, change the way you live your life and affect how you feel about yourself.

Find out more about stalking and how to identify if it’s happening to you.

Help is available. This is what to do if you are being stalked. You can also report to the police, following their advice about reporting harassment or stalking.

Reporting and getting support from the University

We encourage you to disclose harassment, stalking, bullying, hate crime/incident and discrimination to the university, so we can offer you advice and guidance about the support available to you, your reporting options within and outside the university. It also helps us monitor what is going on for our students and direct resources appropriately.

Report and Support is the best way to do this. Making a named report enables us to get in touch with you to let you know your options. We aim to give you information so you can make an informed choice about what happens next and support you in whatever you choose to do. (Only in rare circumstances where there is a significant safeguarding concern might we need to take further action, we would always attempt to speak to you about this first.)

If you are not sure whether to report the harassment to the University or police and would like to speak with an advisor, you can disclose the incident through Report and Support. We aim to respond to reports within 5 working days.

If you need more urgent assistance from Monday-Friday between 9am-5pm, go to the Welcome Desk in the Student Centre or call them on 01273 075700. Outside these hours, call the Security Centre on 01273 873333.

If the person who committed the harassment is a student or staff member at Sussex, you can report them to our Complaints and Appeals department.

Reporting a student

If you are concerned about the behaviour of a student, you can report them.

We may take action if a student:

causes actual or potential distress or harm to others
causes actual or potential damage to the property of the University or others
disrupts the normal operation of the University
interferes with the work or study of someone at the University.
We expect all Sussex students to conduct themselves in a manner which respects the University, its staff, fellow students and the wider community, so we can teach, learn and carry out research with dignity and respect.

Find out how to report a student's behaviour.

Policies and procedures

Everyday Consent

All students must complete our online module Everyday Consent: Relationships, Boundaries and Action. This course is designed to help you explore the role of consent in everyday life. It covers how to navigate expectations and pressures in sex, dating, and relationships; how to understand and practise consent in ways that lead to safe and satisfying experiences for all; and how to recognise harassment and safely step in when someone might need support.

The Everyday Consent module can be found on Canvas: you’ll need your Sussex username and password to login.

Content warning: this course contains references to sexual violence. There are survivor-sensitive options available within the course.

Peer support at Sussex

A Peer Support Group for Sussex students is facilitated by therapists and the Sexual and Domestic Violence Response Advisor. The group is open to all individuals aged 18+ currently studying at the University of Sussex who have experienced sexual violence, abuse, or harassment, in any form and at any time in their life.

It is a safe, welcoming and trauma-sensitive space for students to come together and gain support from each other.

If you are interested in attending, please email SVDV@sussex.ac.uk to arrange an initial chat before attendance.

Local and national help and support

Survivor’s Network are a local agency supporting survivors of sexual violence and abuse in Sussex.

Rape Crisis offer a 24/7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support line.

The Samaritans are available 24-hours a day to support you through any trauma including sexual assault. Call 116123 (calls are free).

See how to report an incident of stalking and harassment to Sussex Police.

See more from Getting help

Harassment and sexual misconduct

On this page:

Overview

Urgent help

Report and Support

Sexual misconduct

What is sexual misconduct?

Harassment

Protected characteristics

Stalking

Reporting and getting support from the University

Reporting a student

Policies and procedures

Everyday Consent

Peer support at Sussex

Local and national help and support