Responding to sexual harassment at university

If your university wants to improve its response to sexual harassment where should you start and what are the pitfalls to avoid? This important but complex terrain requires careful navigation. It can feel risky to talk about these issues with staff and students. It can be hard to know where to start if this is an issue you haven't had the opportunity to give a lot of thought to in the past and thanks to the complexity of the terrain, too often well-intentioned interventions don't have the impact you were hoping for. The good news is that there are people who have been charting this terrain for years.

The Consent Collective brings a unique expert lens to this area. This is the land we know. We've worked with justice, health and education systems throughout the UK and beyond. Our work has taken us everywhere from parliaments to music festivals and we'd be happy to share the lessons and insights we've picked up along the way so that you can develop a response to sexual harassment that feels both safe and sophisticated. 

During the seminar we'll help you 

• Place this topic area within its wider social context
• Understand how sexual harassment is linked with other issues related to power, consent, and diversity
• Place policies and reporting systems in context with the wider work
• Think about the wellbeing aspect of any response
• Think about your role as educators and how this can be a significant part of your response by embedding consent within the curriculum and teaching in ways that are trauma-informed
• Consider the pasts that your students and staff arrive at university with and how you can play a positive role in building their future when it comes to sexual violence and relationship abuse
• Consider your greatest asset - your staff, and how they can be supported to be a positive part of the culture at your college
• Think about the realities of embedding this work at your institution
• Centre your own wellbeing in any work that you do

This seminar is for university staff and will be of benefit for people who are

• Senior leadership within the university
• Provide wellbeing for staff or students
• HR roles
• Involved in the reporting or investigation aspects of sexual harassment
• Part of Diversity and Inclusion
• Passionate about creating change through your academic disciplin or tutoring work with students
• Part of Residential teams on campus
• Part of security teams on campus
• Passionate about ensuring students who are living with trauma are supported to do well emotionally and academically at your campus

The seminar will be hosted by Dr Nina Burrowes and Cynthia Ellis from The Consent Collective (click here for bios). As well as hearing from both of them there will also be plenty of opportunity for you to ask questions and share any lessons that you've already picked up from your journey in this terrain so far.

Comfort is important - we will have a 20 minute comfort break at 11.30.

At the end of the seminar there will be an optional 30 minute session where we will take you on a guided tour of our resources including Consent Collective TV. This part of the seminar will run from 13.00 to 13.30 so please put some extra time in your diary if you think you would like to attend this.