Behaviour

Harassment is defined as unwanted comments or conduct viewed as demeaning and unacceptable by the recipient or by any reasonable person. It applies to age, disability, gender assignment, race, religion or belief, sex (gender), sexual orientation, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, or any personal characteristic of the individual student. It may be intentional or otherwise; persistent or an isolated incident. 

Sexual harassment refers to unwanted sexual comments, sexual invitations, innuendos and offensive gestures including catcalling, groping, pinching or smacking an individual’s body. It also includes removing clothing without agreement or an individual(s) exposing themselves without consent; inappropriate physical contact, displaying sexually explicit material (on paper or electronically), inappropriate jokes of a sexual nature, indecent requests or suggestions. 

Harassment on grounds of sexual orientation includes homophobic remarks or jokes, threats to disclose sexuality, spreading malicious rumours or inappropriate questions regarding sexual activity. 

Harassment on grounds of gender identity includes inappropriate displays of material that degrades a particular gender, such as a comic or other type of visual; comments or remarks that gender-degrade, such as inappropriate jokes or stories (especially if they are directed at a particular person or group of persons); insults or derogatory actions directed towards a person based on their gender; remarks that continue after the person has requested them to stop, or has indicated that they are offensive; actual physical contact, assault, or interference with the person due to gender issues. 

Racial harassment is behaviour which is offensive to the recipient and includes derogatory name calling, inappropriate jokes, comments or conduct based on the perception of race, colour, nationality or ethnicity. 

Harassment of disabled people relates to unnecessary or uninvited physical conduct or staring, inappropriate questions or assumptions about the impact of someone’s disability. 

Bullying is offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour; an abuse or misuse of power through means intended to undermine, humiliate, denigrate or injure the recipient. There is no requirement to demonstrate the intention to bully only that the bullying occurred. 

Domestic violence refers to abuse within all kinds of intimate or family-type relationships. Such abuse can be physical, sexual, psychological or emotional and can be actual, attempted or threatened. The abuse can begin at any time, in new relationships, or after many years together. 

Stalking is persistent unwelcome contact such as following a person, watching or spying on them leaving repeated or alarming messages on voice mail or email or by text or forcing contact through any means, including social media. The conduct might appear innocent in isolation but when carried out repeatedly such behaviour might curtail a victim's freedom and cause significant alarm, harassment or distress. 

Cyber-bullying includes abusive social networking, sending emails with threatening or inappropriate content, or copying emails to a third party not relevant to the discussion. 

Hate incident is defined as any incident which the victim, or anyone else, thinks is based on someone’s prejudice towards them because of (but not limited to) their race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or because they are transgender. 

Hate Crime is a hate incident which reaches the threshold of a criminal offence. 

Sexual abuse is any non-consensual sexual contact. Sexual abuse can happen to men or women and can include derogatory name calling, refusal to use contraception, deliberately causing unwanted physical pain during sex, deliberately passing on sexual diseases or infections and using objects, toys, or other items without consent to cause pain or humiliation, removing contraception. 

This list is not exhaustive and other forms of behaviour contrary to dignity and respect will be viewed equally seriously.