Bullying and Harassment
The university does not tolerate bullying or harassment. It is never okay.
Bullying and harassment can sometimes be difficult to understand unless you’ve experienced or witnessed it. Here are some helpful definitions taken from our Dignity and Respect Policy Dignity and Respect Policy.
Bullying
Whilst there is no legal definition of bullying, ACAS defines bullying as ‘offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour, an abuse or misuse of power through means that undermine, humiliate, denigrate or injure the recipient’. Bullying can take many forms including physical, verbal and non-verbal conduct leading to creating a threatening or intimidating environment.
Bullying may include, by way of example:
- Shouting at, being sarcastic towards, ridiculing or demeaning others.
- Physical or psychological threats.
- Overbearing and intimidating levels of supervision.
- Inappropriate and/or derogatory remarks about someone's performance.
- Abuse of authority or power by those in positions of seniority.
- Deliberately excluding someone from meetings or communications without good reason.
Harassment
Harassment is unwanted conduct related to a protected characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating an individual's dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. Harassment may occur physically, verbally or non-verbally and it can be intentional or unintentional. It also includes treating someone less favourably because they have submitted or refused to submit to such behaviour in the past.
Protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 are: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy or maternity, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. We believe harassment is unacceptable even if it does not fall within any of these categories.
Harassment may include, for example:
- Unwanted physical conduct or ‘horseplay’, including touching, pinching, pushing, grabbing, brushing past someone, 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 a person’s disability.
- Racist, sexist, homophobic or ageist jokes, or derogatory or stereotypical remarks about a particular ethnic or religious group or gender.
- Outing or threatening to out someone as gay, lesbian, bisexual or trans.
- Ignoring or shunning someone, for example, by deliberately excluding them from a conversation or a social activity.
- A person may be harassed even if they were not the intended "target". For example, a person may be harassed by racist jokes about a different ethnic group if they create an offensive environment.