Cliff College is committed to ensuring that all students, staff, visitors, and others who connect with the College are treated with dignity and respect, as an expression of our ethos as a Christian and Methodist College. In particular, we are committed to taking steps that will make a significant and credible difference to protecting students from harassment and sexual misconduct. This comprehensive, single-source contains all the information and links you need in order to know how we do this.
Understanding harassment and sexual misconduct
Harassment
Harassment (as defined by Section 26 of the Equality Act 2010 and section 1 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, as interpreted by section 7 of the Act) includes unwanted physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct which may (intentionally or unintentionally) violate a person’s dignity or create an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment which interferes with an individual’s learning, working or social environment.
Sexual misconduct
Sexual misconduct means any unwanted conduct of a sexual nature and includes, but is not limited to, sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape. It has the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of a person, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them.
Such unacceptable behaviour can be either in person or online (e.g. through social media).
Further definitions are contained in the Dignity at Study and Work Policy linked below.
How to disclose a concern
We encourage students to use the downloadable form linked below to disclose any incidents of bullying, harassment, discrimination, domestic abuse, hate crime and sexual misconduct that you experience or witness.
Disclosing an incident doesn’t mean that you have to decide to take forward a formal allegation – your decision to report or not will be respected. If you choose not to report, you can change your mind and bring forward a report at a later date.
If you choose to disclose an incident of harassment or sexual misconduct, you'll be listened to, supported and made aware of the options available to you.
We’ll contact you to ensure you’re able to access information about options and support, and can make an informed decision on what you’d like to do next.
Further information about the reporting procedure can be found in the Dignity at Study and Work Procedures linked below.
Support
Support is available for students both through the College and external community services. Our welfare team can share their knowledge of these services, help you to access them, and make referrals where appropriate. Support is available for those who have experienced or witnessed harassment or misconduct, as well as for those who have been accused of harassment or sexual misconduct.
At any time you can contact the College welfare team via welfare@cliffcollege.ac.uk. If you are a student, you also have access to TogetherAll (www.togetherall.com) using your Cliff College email address.
The following external organisation can also provide appropriate support:
- Samaritans: Phone 116 123 (free) or https://www.samaritans.org
- Millfield House (Derbyshire Sexual Assault Referral Centre) https://www.sv2.org.uk/
- Rape Crisis https://rapecrisis.org.uk/
- Galop http://www.galop.org.uk/sexualviolence/
How we handle your information
Confidentiality is key to creating an environment where students and staff feel safe to disclose any incidents of harassment and sexual misconduct they witness or experience.
Disclosures you make relating to an incident of harassment or sexual misconduct will remain confidential within the College, except in specific circumstances. We’ll only share this information within the College on a need-to-know basis and will ensure that information is shared sensitively and appropriately. We will always aim to seek and gain your consent before sharing information; however, there may be some circumstances where we have to share information without your consent, these are outlined below.
Sharing information with third parties
We do not share any students’ personal information with third parties including parents, partners or guardians unless we have your permission to do so, or where there are specific circumstances that require us to do so.
Specific circumstances where we may be required to disclose personal information of students or staff, without your consent include:
- If there is good reason to believe that you or someone else may be at significant risk of harm.
- Where we are required to disclose personal information to meet our statutory safeguarding duties or duty of care to students.
- Where we are legally required to do so as part of a criminal investigation under the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act (1966).
How we keep you informed
If you make a disclosure and it proceeds into a formal allegation, you will have a named member of staff who will keep you informed throughout the investigation process. Where it is reasonable and practicable to do so in accordance with our duties and obligations under data protection legislation, the College will:
- inform students who raise an allegation of harassment or sexual misconduct about the outcome of the investigation and any hearing
- provide the reporting student with an explanation of any actions taken by the University.
This commitment also applies if the outcome changes for any reason, for example as the outcome of an appeal. The information we can provide may be limited depending on the circumstances.
Training for students
We’re committed to ensuring that students understand
- what constitutes harassment and sexual misconduct
- how to report these behaviours should you experience or witness them
- the support available to you
- how to be an active bystander and effectively challenge behaviour
All students will be required to complete training each year as part of induction and orientation. In addition to training during induction activities, this will be available via CliffX, our online learning platform.
Training for staff
All staff are required to complete annual training on:
- policies and procedures in place to protect students in relation to unacceptable behaviours such as harassment and sexual misconduct
- appropriate ways to support students who disclose an allegation
- the College’s approach to intimate personal relationships between staff and students
Members of staff who undertake or support formal investigations will receive additional training for carrying out these roles. We are committed to maintaining a pool of specialist-trained staff and we continually evaluate our training provision.
Personal relationships between staff and students
We’re committed to protecting students from any actual or potential conflict of interest and/or abuse of power that may arise from intimate personal relationships with staff.
The College does not permit relevant staff to engage in intimate personal relationships with students. Any breach of this prohibition by a relevant staff member will result in the College taking appropriate steps in line with the staff Disciplinary procedure, up to and including the dismissal of the relevant staff member.
‘Relevant staff member’ means a member of staff who has direct academic
responsibilities, or other direct professional responsibilities, in relation to the student. ‘Intimate personal relationship’ means a relationship that involves one or more of the
following elements:
- physical intimacy including isolated or repeated sexual activity; or
- romantic or emotional intimacy
Non-disclosure agreements
We do not use non-disclosure agreements in relation to complaints of bullying, harassment, discrimination or sexual misconduct.
Freedom of speech
Cliff College is committed to protecting and promoting freedom of speech and academic freedom within the law.
Nothing in our commitment to freedom of speech is an excuse for abuse, bullying, discrimination, harassment, hatred, intimidation, violence or any act prohibited by law. When we consider concerns raised by students, we do so on the basis that the following is unlikely to amount to harassment:
- the content of higher education course materials, including but not limited to books, videos, sound recordings, and pictures.
- statements made and views expressed by a person as part of teaching, research or discussions about any subject matter which is connected with the content of a higher education course.
Protecting students on placement
We recognise that our students also engage in placement activities beyond the College as part of their studies, and we are committed to taking steps to protect them in these contexts. The College’s placement agreement with each placement context includes confirmation that the placement organisation has appropriate policies in place for preventing harassment and sexual misconduct and processes to follow when anything is reported. All students on placement have a named contact at Cliff for the duration of their placement, in addition to regular welfare and tutorial support.
How we’re taking steps to protect students
We’re committed to taking steps that will make a significant and credible difference to protecting students from harassment and sexual misconduct. These steps include:
- mandatory training for all staff and students, ensuring understanding of the policies and procedures in place at Cliff College
- a ban on intimate personal relationships between relevant staff and students
- confirmations that placement contexts have adequate measures in place
We run a Student Experience at Cliff Survey every year, and we will include questions in this to help us understand the prevalence of harassment and sexual misconduct within the student community. This helps us to better address these concerns and ensure appropriate support provision is in place for students.
Students are represented on the committees where these policies, procedures and guidelines are approved through the Student President.