Online harassment tackled by Universities UK in new guidance

Universities UK (UUK) has published “Changing the Culture: Tackling online harassment and promoting online welfare”, in collaboration with the University of Bedfordshire, providing guidance for universities on how to address related issues.

This news comes as The Independent reveals that the number of students investigated for offensive behaviour online at top universities increased by nearly threefold in two years.

According to the UUK, cyberstalking, flaming and trolling, exclusion, identity fraud and theft, blackmail, hacking and phishing, image-based sexual abuse and extortion constitute online harassment.

To tackle this issue, the report proposed various measures, such as holding senior leadership to account for tackling online harassment, updating student contracts or codes of conduct “to include expected behaviours in the online sphere,” and “implementing accessible reporting mechanisms for students”.

Universities need to consider the specific threats online harassment and cyberbullying pose as part of their duty of care to all students

– UUK spokesperson

Students, students’ unions (SUs), academics and staff are recommended to be “meaningfully and consistently” involved in implementing initiatives against online harassment, while terms such as “online harassment” and “cyberbullying” are to be adopted and clearly defined.

According to the report, data on online harassment should be collected and reported to governing bodies, anti-harassment procedures regularly reviewed, and students given “early information” on “consequences of inappropriate behaviour online”.

Professor Debra Humphris, who chairs UUK’s Student Policy Network and is vice-chancellor of the University of Brighton, said that the report is “part of strategic work to tackle violence, harassment and hate crime”.

She stressed that “a sustained commitment to cultural change by university leaders is vital” as online abuse affects students’ “mental health and wellbeing, disrupting their education and potentially impacting on their future employability and career prospects”.

Universities should not assume that students always recognise abusive online behaviour or feel equipped to respond to it

– Dr Emma Short

“Universities should not assume that students always recognise abusive online behaviour or feel equipped to respond to it,” commented Dr Emma Short, who directs the University of Bedfordshire’s National Centre for Cyberstalking Research.

The report has also been endorsed by the National Union of Students (NUS), who said that harassment over social media is underreported because students fear “they will not be taken seriously”.

This follows from Freedom of Information NUS (FoI) requests sent by The Independent, which found that incidents of inappropriate language used over social media group chats have been investigated at most Russell Group universities.

Across 11 of these institutions, the number of cases where students sent messages including “harassment, bullying, racism, sexism, homophobia and sexual misconduct” have increased from 11 in the 2016/17 academic year, to 22 in the following year and 32 last year.

Incidents of this nature have occurred at the universities of Warwick, Sheffield, Exeter and others. In May last year, 11 Warwick students were temporarily suspended for their involvement in a group chat where messages of sexual violence, racism and other topics were shared.

NUS Women’s Officer Rachel Watters suggested for universities to offer consent workshops during freshers’ week and lessons addressing misogyny, racism and homophobia in the curriculum.

She added that “the poor handling of these types of issues makes it harder for students to come forward in the future,” while sexual harassment over social media is “normalised”.

The poor handling of these types of issues makes it harder for students to come forward in the future

– Rachel Watters

According to The Independent, many incidents see perpetrators “only…issued with warnings”. After the group chat was revealed at the University of Warwick last year, four students had their suspensions lifted in the same month.

At the start of 2019, two students had their 10-year suspensions reduced to one after an appeal.

It was further revealed that neither of them will be returning to Warwick.

“Addressing online harassment is inherently complex since much of the harassment occurring in online spaces comes from anonymous sources,” a UUK spokesperson said to The Independent.

“Universities need to consider the specific threats online harassment and cyberbullying pose as part of their duty of care to all students.”

A spokesperson for the Russell Group said: “We firmly believe that UK campuses should be places of safety and respect and this extends to interaction online and via social media.”