If you’ve experienced or witnessed behaviour which you consider to be harassment or sexual misconduct, you can report this to us whether you’re a student, staff member or visitor.
ARU has a reporting platform which is available here: Report + Support.
This is a secure and confidential online platform where anyone can tell us what happened either anonymously or by providing their contact details.
Your report will go to an advisor at ARU. If you’ve made a named report, they’ll discuss the options which are available to you for support and how you can take forward a formal report.
Making a formal report to the university is your choice, but you can access support from our team whether you’re making a formal report or just looking for support.
We’ll usually only be able to take forward a formal report where the individual you’re reporting is a current student or staff member. But even if they aren’t, please get in touch as we can still discuss how we can keep you safe and supported.
You can find more information about report and support here: Report + Support, including how we’ll consider your report, University processes and how to access specialist support.
If you don’t feel comfortable using Report + Support, don’t worry there are other ways you can make a report. You can email [email protected] to arrange a meeting, or you can access information on our student intranet about submitting a report to us directly.
You can also speak to the Student Union Advice Service, and they can help you with making a report. This is a free, confidential and impartial service and we strongly recommend you use them when you’re going through any of the university procedures. You can find more information about them and how to book an appointment on their website: Student Union Advice Service
There is loads of support available to you which you can find out about in the Support section of Report + Support. We recommend you take a look so you’re aware of your options.
All cases will be managed by an investigator who is specially trained to look at cases of harassment and sexual misconduct. They’ll answer any questions you have about the investigation process, either before or during the investigation and will approach each investigation in a trauma-informed way.
You’re welcome to bring a supporter with you to any meetings under the investigation process. Take a look at the information we provided under ‘support’ for your support options.
You can find more information about reporting Harassment and Sexual Misconduct here: Behaviour and conduct concerns
You can choose to make an informal report for incidents of harassment and sexual misconduct. If you want to make an informal report, you can tell us something has happened via Report + Support, or you can complete a form here: Informal reporting form
An informal report is a way for you to limit contact with another student without a formal investigation. This means you don’t have to tell us what happened if you don’t want to, but you do need to let us know that it relates to harassment and sexual misconduct.
Once you’ve made your informal report, we’ll meet with you and discuss the measures that you want in place to feel safe. We’ll then meet the other student to agree those measures and let you know what has been agreed.
You can find more information about that here: Informal Procedure for cases involving sexual misconduct
Please note, there might be some cases where the informal reporting process is not suitable, for example, where the reported individual is a staff member or on a professional registration course and if you’re under the age of 18.
If you’ve experienced harassment or sexual misconduct from another student or staff member at ARU, you can make a formal report to the university. We’ll usually investigate this under one of the relevant procedures below to determine, on the balance of probabilities, what has taken place and whether the conduct is a breach of our university rules.
You can tell us what happened via Report + Support and we’ll get in touch with you to discuss your reporting options. You can also report formally to ARU here: Behaviour and conduct concerns
We might put safeguarding measures (precautionary action) in place if you report something formally to us. These actions might be taken to protect other students, staff or visitors or to allow a full investigation by ARU or the police.
This will be used to investigate allegations of harassment and sexual misconduct which are made about students. You can find the Student Disciplinary Procedure within our Rules, Regulations and Procedures for students here: Rules, Regulations and Procedures for Students
This will be used to investigate allegations of harassment and sexual misconduct made by students against staff. As a student, you’ll receive a Complaint Outcome from the university under our Student Complaints Procedure.
The Student Disciplinary Procedure sets out how we approach a formal investigation fairly, including the timeframes for us to investigate a disciplinary matter, the procedure for how it will be investigated and the possible outcomes.
As part of the investigation, you’ll be invited to a meeting to discuss what happened and we’ll give you the opportunity to provide evidence and witnesses that you would like us to talk to.
A formal investigation of the behaviour will be conducted to determine whether or not, on the balance of probabilities, it has taken place and breaches the Rules of Behaviour. For a behaviour to meet the balance of probabilities standard of proof, it must be considered as more likely to be true than not true.
Where ARU’s Rules of Behaviour have been breached, sanctions can be put in place which include warnings, no contact with specified people, restrictions on the use of buildings, facilities or services, or for very serious matters, suspension or exclusion from ARU.
You have the option to tell us what happened anonymously, where you don’t share any personal details about yourself or others. You can also make a report on behalf of someone else.
We’ll consider what action, if any, we can take on each anonymous report we receive, but please note, this is unlikely to result in a formal investigation and we might not be able to take any direct action. Because the report is anonymous, we won’t be able to update you on any action we’ve taken. It will, however, help us see trends for statistical purposes.
To anonymously report, please use Report + Support.
If you believe a crime has been committed, this can be reported to the police. The police have a legal duty to investigate crime and have investigative powers beyond ours at ARU.
We will support anyone wishing to make a complaint to the police. Any internal procedure will be paused while a police investigation is ongoing. We won’t usually report matters to the police without the consent of the person reporting.
We might take precautionary action against the student reported to the police while a police investigation is ongoing. These actions might be put in place to protect other students, staff or visitors, or to allow a full investigation by ARU or the police.
Precautionary Action can result in temporary suspension from study or exclusion from ARU, or can impose conditions on how a student can interact with their studies and other ARU members.
Confidentiality is key in creating a culture where anyone affected by harassment and sexual misconduct feels safe to make a disclosure. We’ll respect and protect the confidentiality of our students both through the support services they access and their use of the reporting and Student Disciplinary Procedures.
If a staff member becomes aware of an incident of harassment and sexual misconduct either following a disclosure or report from a student or third party or as part of a response to an incident, they might need to share information internally to make sure you and other students and staff members are safe and protected.
We’ll only share information when it’s appropriate and necessary to help keep you and others safe, secure, and supported in your studies. We’ll make sure that only relevant details are shared, and only with staff who need to know in order to assess and manage any potential risks.
You can find our privacy information here: Privacy information for current and prospective students
Please note, there might be circumstances (e.g. in order to protect an individual at risk) where we need to share information with other agencies.
Further details about confidentiality and information sharing are provided in the Student Disciplinary procedure here