A Catalyst for Change: Transforming Responses to Harassment in Higher Education
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leicester
Department Name: Criminology
Abstract
Recent years have seen sustained growth in student numbers at higher education institutions (HEIs) across England. However, the increasing diversification of higher education (HE) presents urgent challenges in relation to the volume of harassment directed towards domestic and international students on the basis of their identity characteristics or perceived 'difference'. As microcosms of wider society, HEIs are by no means immune to the escalating levels of hate evident throughout the world, with hostility towards the 'other' feeding off increased economic instability, political scaremongering and media demonisation to reinforce cultures of prejudice. However, the ways in which prejudices play out within HE are typically overlooked, with existing responses hamstrung by an absence of evidence to shape a trauma-informed understanding of harassment and its impacts. As such, the contexts in which students feel unsafe and unsupported remain unknown at a time when multiple points of crises have exposed student communities to a significantly heightened risk of harassment.
This mixed method study breaks new ground by conceptualising harassment in a way that acknowledges the full range of unacceptable behaviours and hostilities that students are exposed to. It examines students' experiences of harassment across a range of English HEIs and engages with the full diversity of student bodies within institutional settings characterised by a variety of geographical and demographic profiles. The study will capture data on the nature and impacts of different forms of harassment encountered by students, including sexual, racist, disablist, homophobic, transphobic, anti-Semitic and Islamophobic prejudice, and on the ways in which experiences are shaped by intersectionality and the proximity of perpetrators within 'closed' institutional environments. It will examine the more extreme acts of interpersonal violence and online victimisation as well as the cumulative harms of 'everyday', ostensibly mundane actions such as insensitive comments and name-calling. It will identify the risk factors associated with different locations frequented by students on and off campus, and the barriers to effective support as perceived both by students and by student support leads tasked with responding to harassment.
The applicants have created a framework for understanding harassment in public spaces within previous research studies but have yet to apply or refine this framework within the context of institutional environments such as universities. The study will draw from this framework and others to develop a fresh theoretical lens through which to interrogate the problem of harassment in HE, and therein providing a template for understanding the harms of hate in other 'closed' institutional settings including schools, prisons and care settings. The research design embeds methodological rigour and co-production with students across its work packages, and will generate lasting sector-wide change. Through the support of the Office for Students, and in partnership with an Expert Advisory Board containing representation from Universities UK, the National Union of Students and other leading voices on harassment in HE, the study's evidence base will be used to shape a national regulatory framework that generates greater prioritisation and consistency across HEIs. A diverse range of academic outputs will maximise the reach of the study's conceptual contributions, while other co-created dissemination activities will help to generate a more inclusive culture within universities. These include a Student Manifesto for Change, a toolkit of resources, a short film based on victims' testimonies, and a series of 'Plays for People' performed with and by student bodies and university leadership teams and whose content will be shaped by the evidence of this study.
This mixed method study breaks new ground by conceptualising harassment in a way that acknowledges the full range of unacceptable behaviours and hostilities that students are exposed to. It examines students' experiences of harassment across a range of English HEIs and engages with the full diversity of student bodies within institutional settings characterised by a variety of geographical and demographic profiles. The study will capture data on the nature and impacts of different forms of harassment encountered by students, including sexual, racist, disablist, homophobic, transphobic, anti-Semitic and Islamophobic prejudice, and on the ways in which experiences are shaped by intersectionality and the proximity of perpetrators within 'closed' institutional environments. It will examine the more extreme acts of interpersonal violence and online victimisation as well as the cumulative harms of 'everyday', ostensibly mundane actions such as insensitive comments and name-calling. It will identify the risk factors associated with different locations frequented by students on and off campus, and the barriers to effective support as perceived both by students and by student support leads tasked with responding to harassment.
The applicants have created a framework for understanding harassment in public spaces within previous research studies but have yet to apply or refine this framework within the context of institutional environments such as universities. The study will draw from this framework and others to develop a fresh theoretical lens through which to interrogate the problem of harassment in HE, and therein providing a template for understanding the harms of hate in other 'closed' institutional settings including schools, prisons and care settings. The research design embeds methodological rigour and co-production with students across its work packages, and will generate lasting sector-wide change. Through the support of the Office for Students, and in partnership with an Expert Advisory Board containing representation from Universities UK, the National Union of Students and other leading voices on harassment in HE, the study's evidence base will be used to shape a national regulatory framework that generates greater prioritisation and consistency across HEIs. A diverse range of academic outputs will maximise the reach of the study's conceptual contributions, while other co-created dissemination activities will help to generate a more inclusive culture within universities. These include a Student Manifesto for Change, a toolkit of resources, a short film based on victims' testimonies, and a series of 'Plays for People' performed with and by student bodies and university leadership teams and whose content will be shaped by the evidence of this study.