Reporting an incident
Initial meeting
- A member of the Student and Legal Affairs Casework Team will meet with you.
- You can be accompanied by a friend, family member or Students’ Union advocate and you can request a specific gender if you want.
- If you feel it’s unsafe to meet on campus, an alternative meeting place can be arranged off-campus.
- You will be told which procedures will be followed (e.g. Student Conduct and Discipline procedure; Student Complaints and Grievance procedure; Staff Disciplinary procedure) and who will potentially need to be informed if the case is to be investigated.
- You will be assigned a key worker whilst the investigation is ongoing with whom you can contact if you have any questions, if you would like an update, or if you would like to provide further evidence.
- You can drop out/stop the procedure at any time.
Making a statement
- You will be asked to give a statement – this could be verbal or written or both. In the statement, you will be asked to describe what happened and what impact it’s had on you.
Providing evidence
- You will also be asked to provide any evidence, such as text messages, emails or photos, and if you can suggest where the team could get further evidence e.g. by speaking to a witness or accessing CCTV footage. The more information you are able to provide to support your case, the better. However, you will be treated with a great deal of sensitivity and the team will carefully manage the process so you don’t have to talk about anything which isn’t absolutely essential.
Conducting an investigation
Information gathering
- The Student and Legal Affairs Casework Team will begin their investigation without reasonable delay to establish the facts of the case. The amount of investigation required will depend on the nature of the allegations and will vary from case to case.
- The investigation will constitute gathering information and collecting evidence e.g. collecting written statements from other parties, reports from Halls of Residence or Security, other forms of evidence, such as CCTV footage, emails, text messages, messaging on social media, mobile phone screenshots etc.
Confidentiality and information sharing
- Before the investigation begins, you will be asked about anyone who you do not wish the team to talk to and where possible, you will be informed of all parties involved in the investigation.
- Documents used by the University during its own investigation e.g. case notes, could be requested by the police, as could members of staff involved in the investigation be asked to give evidence in Court. However, there will be very limited circumstances in which the University will disclose information about the incident to third parties and information will only be shared with those who absolutely need to have that information.
Fair processes
- Investigations are solely for the purpose of fact-finding and no decision on the disciplinary sanctions or penalties will be taken by a panel (for allegations against a student) or disciplinary hearing (for allegations against a staff member).
- Any accused party, student or staff member, will be able to respond to the allegations against them and the evidence that has been gathered.
- Where staff members are involved i.e. they are accused, implicated or identified as a witness, they must cooperate fully and promptly with any investigation.
Taking action
Precautionary measures
Whilst an investigation is being carried out, the University can take a number of immediate actions to ensure your safety, to help you feel comfortable on campus, and to minimise the impact on your academic studies and university life. These actions include:
- Suspending the student or member of staff - suspension is temporary removal from the University, pending an investigation.
- Imposing precautionary measures – such as forbidding the student from entering a certain building on campus or restricting their access to specified days or times.
- Supporting your application for a deferral or extenuating circumstances without you having to disclose what has happened to you.
Misconduct which may also be a criminal offence
- The University is very careful not to take action which might prejudice a criminal case. If a police investigation is underway, or about to commence, the University will wait until the criminal process is over.
- The only actions the University will take whilst a criminal investigation is underway are precautionary measures.
- The University will only report the incident to the police without your consent in exceptional circumstances (for example, where a crime is about to take place and it is believed that there is a significant risk of harm). Care and Concern can support you to contact the police, or to contact the police on your behalf, if you wish.
- Anyone can make a report of criminal activity to the police. Where the victim of a criminal offence is the reporting student, the University will usually consider the decision to report the criminal offence to the police a matter for the reporting student. Only in exceptional circumstances will the University report an alleged crime to the police contrary to the wishes of the reporting student.
Panel meetings / Disciplinary hearings
- Following the investigation, if it is felt there is sufficient evidence, a panel meeting or disciplinary hearing will meet to decide an appropriate sanction or penalty.
- You will not normally be informed of this outcome in line with data protection rules.