Monday 23-06-2025 - 16:06

 

 

The NUS reported a worrying 75% of respondents had an unwanted sexual experience at least once. Here at Lancaster, the Stop Sexual Harassment Campaign has been trying to combat this. 

 

Since the launch of this campaign in January, we have been analysing and scrutinising our university’s sexual misconduct policy. Policy plays a key role in preventing sub-cultures that normalise sexual misconduct. It’s important that as a community we discuss our perspectives of current policy because policy shapes our cultural environment at Lancaster. 

Our priority is creating a safe environment for students. One critical step to achieve this is to continue campaigning for improvements to policy. The NUS found 90% of students who experienced sexual violence in 2023-2024 did not approach the police. They say the reason why institutional policy is so important is to not only protect students when it happens, but also to ensure students can trust their cases will be handled without police intervention. Students not feeling protected by policy allows for the normalisation of sexual misconduct. This grants more power to the perpetrators, and we can’t allow it to happen. We need to be able to trust the University to have robust systems for reporting.

For this reason, the Office for Students (OfS) E6 condition, coming into effect in August, requires a consultation of student views on sexual misconduct policy. The only way to do that is by listening and recognizing what students are advocating for. In February we were assured by the University that they would work harder to include the student voice within policy conversations, four months on there have been no efforts to evidence this. A consultation of student views on sexual misconduct policy includes students as an influential stakeholder in the process to create better policies. The university’s lack of action following the campaign, despite the continued narrative of zero tolerance enforcement highlights a substantial gap between student views and the university’s approach. Students need to be in the meeting spaces with the University, and not just by inviting a singular FTO. This issue needs attention to detail. We need to be heard. The University must listen to those who are willing to speak up about their experiences of sexual misconduct at university to improve what they are currently failing at: protecting and supporting their students. 

Student leaders need to be consulted when the policy is reviewed. Yet it hasn’t been reviewed in five years. Our community has faced significant cultural shifts in a post-pandemic and increasingly volatile world. The stagnation of the process means policy has quickly become outdated.  

Yet it isn’t only the University that needs to hear these conversations. We need to make sure our message that sexual misconduct is not welcome to be loud and clear to everyone within our community, locally and nationally. Posters used earlier in the year to spread awareness about our campaign were a great starting point, they were made by students, for students. We need to look further afield and try to influence it for the better. Since the National Union of Students (NUS) Conference held in April, we’ve been campaigning, alongside other student officers from across the UK, lobbying the OfS for clearer guidance; and lobbying the government to class misogyny as a hate crime. 

Not only did this conference form a team of national campaigners with a shared goal to stop sexual misconduct, but it also provided insight on how other institutions are implementing the new OfS requirements. Many universities across the country are embedding the training within their student registration as the OfS expects this training to be mandatory rather than optional for students. Our demands from the University still stand:

1.    Actively apply a zero tolerance policy to sexual misconduct & harassment.
2.    Implement a clear student engagement plan in the review of the policy.
3.    Ensure every student gets high-quality consent & active bystander training.
4.    Improve ease of access to reporting and support processes.

Since the last campaign update, we are thrilled to announce the University has committed to implementing high quality consent training! I (Ella) am fortunate to have been part of the conversation in choosing a new training provider. The University has agreed to work with the provider recommended by your SU! After much time evaluating courses of varying standards from different providers, to determine which best suits the needs of students, this is a huge win for this campaign. For the upcoming academic year, this online course will be the only consent training available to students, though we have articulated the importance of in-person training and hope to see this implemented by the following academic year. Whilst there’s still other demands to be met, it’s exciting to see we have made a difference. We have made noise, and this time we have been heard.

Going forward, we as a community have come together to acknowledge the university’s culture needs to change. We should not have to rely on ourselves to create pockets of safe spaces, we need the university to be a safe space. We need protecting from sexual harassment and we know we need to work together to do it. Coming into the next academic year, we need to continue this path. We need the university to engage with us to hear our concerns. We cannot be complicit in creating a culture of silence. We need to speak out, even if we don’t feel heard.

To be involved in the Stop Sexual Misconduct Campaign going forward, follow @lusuwomenplusofficer and @lusuwellbeing to stay up to date. Get involved in events coming up, to help us to continue the fight against sexual misconduct in years to come.