Harassment and bullying

Harassment and bullying undermine the core values of City, and can have a serious and negative effect on the health, confidence, morale and performance of those affected by it, as well as on the working, learning and living environment.

City takes all reports of bullying and harassment of students extremely seriously, and will manage all reports received with appropriate confidentiality and sensitivity, as laid out in our Student Harassment and Bullying policy and Student Sexual Misconduct policy.

What can I do if I have experienced harassment and bullying?

Here at City there is lots of support available to help you resolve these matters.

There are both informal and formal resolutions options for you to consider – you can find more information about both of these below, to decide which the best route is for you.

Option1: Try to resolve the matter informally

If you feel comfortable to do so, you can try raising the issue informally with the perpetrator to give them an opportunity to understand and address your concerns, and hopefully to apologise for their behaviour. Be clear about what the behaviour that is problematic is, and why you are requesting that it stops. This is called informal resolution.

If you are unsure about how to go about informal resolution, but would like to give it a try, you can speak to a Bullying and Harassment Adviser about the best way to do this, and whether this is the right option for you.

Request a meeting with a Bullying and Harassment adviser.

Approaches to consider include:

Talking informally to the person about their behaviour

Writing to the person

Asking another student or a member of staff to go with you to speak to the person

Keep records of what has happened, in case these are needed later.

If you feel an attempt at informal resolution might be helpful, you are encouraged to take action as soon as you can after an incident has occurred. If you do not feel comfortable with this approach and feel that it may make the situation worse, you do not need to attempt informal resolution, and can proceed directly to the formal part of the process. Find support and information about how we can help

Informal support from City

If you’ve experienced harassment and bullying, you can seek informal support from one or more of the City student support services available.

Bullying and Harassment Advisers

Bullying and Harassment Advisers are a group of staff volunteers trained to provide advice and support to students who feel they are being subjected to harassment or bullying, or have themselves been accused of harassment or bullying. Their role is to listen and assist individuals to explore the available options to resolve the issues, no matter how sensitive.

Find our more about our Bullying and Harassment Advisers and how to speak with them.

Local support

Your Personal Tutor
Your Programme Director or Head of Department
Your programme's Placement Coordinator, if relevant.

Check your Programme Handbook for details of any additional personal support available to you.

City support

The Student Centre
The Student Counselling and Mental Health Service
The Students' Union Support Service
The Chaplaincy Team.

In order to ensure we can best support you, we would advise raising the matter formally with the University as soon as possible, and would also advise that you contact a Bullying and Harassment Adviser if you need any support with this.

If informal efforts to resolve the issue are not successful, or you have decided that informal resolution would not be appropriate in your circumstances, you can raise the matter formally through City’s Student Bullying and Harassment Policy and Student Disciplinary Regulations.

Option 2: Report + Support and the Formal Bullying and Harassment Process

To support you throughout your time at City, we have created Report + Support, a tool which makes it easier to confidentially report issues so we can best support you.

The tool is part of the #NeverOk campaign, which represents our commitment to creating a University community which is as diverse, vibrant and accessible as possible, where we are continually working to ensure that all students and staff feel welcome, safe and empowered to bring their entire selves to their studies and work.

For full details on the tool, visit the Report + Support page.

The tool can be used to disclose or report an instance of bullying or harassment. The information you provide can allow the responsible officer at City to take one of the following courses of action:

To support you to achieve informal resolution of the issues you have outlined.
To undertake a formal investigation under the Student Disciplinary Regulations as a result of the issues you have raised.

The tool can be used to bring an allegation of bullying or harassment by:

a student against another student or against a staff member;
a staff member against a student.

Staff members who wish to bring an allegation of bullying or harassment against another staff member should contact HR for guidance.

For further questions

If you have any other questions or concerns, you should address these by emailing your School:

* Previously School of Arts and Social Sciences

If you are unsure about which course of action to take, you can request to speak to a Bullying and Harassment Adviser.