SU Commitment

Progress (15th January 2021)

Update (May 2021)

Revive the Ask for Angela initiative. Deliver training on the scheme to all staff in the SU Commercial team, and ensure all promotional materials are intact or replaced.

An audit of the promotional materials still in place will take place, and new materials will be printed and installed ahead of SU venues and outlets reopening, following the national lockdown. We will also ensure SU Commercial staff are trained on the initiative ahead of outlets and venues reopening.

New stickers have been installed in all of the toilets in the SU South building, where all of the commercial outlets are.

All commercial staff have been trained on the Ask for Angela scheme, and managers will refresh all team members as and when they return to shift.

Reinstate consent and active bystander workshops.

There are several upcoming Active Bystander courses, which include consent education. We are lobbying and working with the University to integrate these courses within students’ degree courses, so that they become mandatory for all students to take part in. This has been the case for PAIS and Law 1st year students this year, and is something the University seems keen to push forwards with.

The Active Bystander training that occurred in Term 1 was advertised to all sports club exec members, and uptake was good.

You can sign-up to Active Bystander courses here

The University has committed to expanding the Active Bystander programme over the next couple of years, and we are continuing to push for this expansion to happen as quickly as possible.
We have made attendance of these courses compulsory for two exec members per club and society with workshops set to conclude in June 2021. 
Additionally, club exec members received Report and Support training on consent and relating to sport-culture specific scenarios on 1st May 2021. 

Improving promotion of Report & Support, and other support services through the SU

Communications regarding R&S are now a regular feature of our communications plan. R&S features in the weekly all-member email newsletter at least twice per term, we have a web banner advert for the SU website linking to R&S which is displayed as regularly as possible. R&S info is shared on SU social media channels at least every month, and is also shared through individual Officer accounts and communications to sports clubs and societies. Once we return to campus, R&S adverts will be added to the SU’s digital screens and poster sites at regular intervals.

Improving University’s promotion of Report & Support

We have contacted the University’s Marketing Team to request much more active promotion of R&S, as there was previously no sign of it on University social media channels. We will be meeting with the Marketing team to discuss plans for promotion of R&S on social media channels going forward. We will push to make sure that the University continue to raise awareness of sexual misconduct-related services and support through all available channels, and will aim to receive commitment to making it a permanent feature of the University’s communications strategy.

The University has agreed to place promotional stickers for R&S on the back of all toilet and kitchen doors on campus. We are currently exploring other methods of promotion, such as issuing students with R&S keyrings. The University has many R&S information cards printed, but these currently cannot be distributed because of the  pandemic.

You can find Report & Support here

Following calls from student groups, the SU, and internal University colleagues, the University has increased its promotion of Report & Support and other support services. The University is currently developing its future Communications Strategy, and we will continue to ensure that promotion of Report & Support, along with other relevant support services, are a key part of this strategy.

This work is ongoing, and we have been involved in numerous discussions around further promotion of Report & Support both in this academic year, and in preparation for next year.

Improving training for SU staff to deal with sexual misconduct disclosures

SU staff will receive Good Night Out training throughout Term 2. The training will begin on w/c 25th January and will focus initially on the SU’s Commercial Team and other colleagues in student-facing roles, such as the Advice Centre, HR and Campaigns Teams. We will also attempt to train all SU security - this will be a longer process as the majority of these are agency staff. However, there are always some members of the SU Commercial Team as part of the security team at SU events.

90% of Commercial Managers have now received the Good Night Out training, as well as the 5 Door Supervisors employed by the SU. In addition, multiple staff from across the SU (including Governance & Influence, the Officer team, HR, the Advice Centre and Student Activities) have also received the training.

Push for the University to improve training for their staff to be equipped to deal with sexual misconduct disclosures

Campus Security, personal tutors, Wellbeing Support Services staff, HoDs and RLT are trained in R&S and handling disclosures already. We will continue to work with RLT and have met with the Director of Wellbeing to discuss how RLT can become more approachable to students.

We are still working to ensure the training for all of these groups is adequate, and will continue to push for more training. We now have student representatives on a working group looking into the role of Campus Security and the provision of out-of-hours support, and this work will be a great opportunity to push for further training.

Work with the University to address students’ concerns surrounding the Warwick Values Moodle course

We have been in conversations with the University and students about issues with the moodle course, and potential improvements that can be made. These will be discussed at the Student Advisory Group, and changes made to the course and the format will likely be dependent on the extent of the rollout of Active Bystander courses, so that the courses can effectively complement each other.

The SU Women’s Officer, alongside sexual assault campaigning groups, brought this to the attention of the Student Discipline Team. Warwick Anti-Sexism society and members of the Student Advisory Group reviewed the Moodle course and provided feedback and suggestions on areas to edit. 

We have since been involved in discussions on how the University will make the course compulsory, and exploring how this will be enforced.

Pushing for harsher sanctions

We are in regular contact with the University’s disciplinary and senior leadership teams and will work with them to push for harsher sanctions for students who have committed sexual misconduct, as sexual misconduct has absolutely no place at Warwick. This will likely require a paper to be submitted to the University’s Senate, and we will explore this throughout Term 2.

We are continuing to push for harsher sanctions at disciplinary panels, and will continue to work with the Student Discipline Team to further this commitment. The University has agreed to publish annual reports detailing the quantity of each sanction issued compared to the number of reports made.

Training for sports club and society exec members

Training in Report and Support was given to sports club and society exec members in March 2020. We will deliver similar training to a new intake of exec members in Term 3 2021. 

We have been promoting Active Bystander training to current exec members throughout Term 1, and will be making this mandatory for at least 2 members of the new execs (who will be elected at the end of Term 2) to complete the workshop in Term 3 2021. 

A Club Culture Survey has also been circulated amongst all Sports Club members to identify specific clubs which may need intervention and further specialised training.

The Societies, Sports and Welfare Officers have monthly meetings with the Report and Support team at the university to identify any trends (e.g. specific socials, specific clubs/societies) so that intervention and training can be targeted at the right people.

Sports club exec members received training from Report and Support on 1^st May 2021 with a particular focus on club culture and sport-specific scenarios.

The Club Culture Survey was completed, and training delivered 1st May 2021.

Pushing for an extension of ‘Ask for Angela’ to Wellbeing Support Services

Wellbeing are able to put a shortcut button on their sexual misconduct resources that links to another website, such as BBC news, so that the website can be quickly disguised from any onlookers. 

We will work with the Head of Wellbeing at Warwick to expand ‘Ask for Angela’ (or a similar scheme) to Security Services, and conversations have already begun to achieve this.

We plan to introduce a Safe Place Scheme (see website) across campus. Senate House will be one of these Safe Places.

Wellbeing are currently planning to review their website, including the addition of a shortcut button, and we will continue to push for this to happen as soon as possible.

We will push for Ask for Angela to be incorporated into the out-of-hours provision review.

The Safe Place scheme is not yet live due to COVID delays. There are existing help points located around campus for students in need of immediate support.

Pushing for more student representation on University committees

The University’s Report & Support team are creating a Student Advisory Group and have invited Part-Time Officers and representatives from It Happens Here and Shame On You Warwick. We will also be putting forward a request for representation from It Happens Here society on University committees directly related to sexual misconduct. 

The Sexual Violence Student Advisory Group has now been formed and has been meeting monthly since the beginning of the year. The membership of the group includes representation from:

• Protect Warwick Women 

• ShameOnYouWarwick 

• It Happens Here 

• Warwick Anti Sexism Society 

Alongside the SU President, Sports Officer, Societies Officer, Welfare & Campaigns Officer and Women’s Officer.

Improving the prominence of Report & Support on the My Warwick app

We have contacted the My Warwick App Steering Group to request a dedicated ‘tile’ for Report & Support. Once this is implemented, we will work with the University to ensure it is properly promoted to students.

The SU President presented a proposal to the My Warwick App Steering Group and received approval for the development of a dedicated Report & Support tile.

Make students aware they won’t be sanctioned for COVID rules breaches when reporting sexual misconduct

The University and police have said they will not sanction reporters for COVID breaches. We have shared and will continue to share this information with students, and have urged the University to do the same. We have also contacted the Residential Life Team’s Senior Wardens who have confirmed this is being upheld by members of RLT where they are made aware of incidents and disclosures of sexual misconduct.

Exploring ways of extending Good Night Out/sexual misconduct disclosure training to off-campus venues and bars frequented by Warwick students

We will explore the options for doing this alongside the University and the local councils throughout Term 2.

We hope to implement this as part of a Safer Nights Out campaign (this campaign was delayed due to venues not being open during the pandemic) which implements the recommendations from the Going Out, Staying Safe report. Our aims include: 

• Implement a safe place scheme which employs local services & businesses as safe points to seek shelter and report unsafe situations. This scheme has been designed. We are currently ordering the resources and rolling out the scheme. It is expected to be complete within the 2020/2021 academic year, although there have been delays due to lack of open outlets and furloughed staff.

• Work with students to identify areas of Leamington in which part-night lighting provides a risk to residents' & visitors' welfare, and institute all-night lighting in these areas. We are currently lobbying the council to increase lighting in these areas.

• Venues should implement an 'Ask for Angela' scheme, as used within Warwick SU venues, to allow customers to report an unsafe situation safely and discreetly. Discussions are currently on hold due to venues being closed but will resume as soon as possible.

• Implement a 'safe taxi scheme' which enables students to take a licensed taxi home despite not having sufficient funds available on the night. Also, extend the student bus timetables so that the services continue further into the night, potentially subsidised by venues, allowing students to return home by bus after a night out. We are currently working on this as part of a Transport Campaign. 

We are in the process of working with the University to approach off-campus venues, and are actively working with the Leamington Street Marshalls to support with this work.

Urging the University to demonstrate that they do deal with students who have committed sexual misconduct to encourage others to report

The University have committed to publishing a report at the end of the academic year containing non-identifiable case/sanction numbers to demonstrate action being taken - a decision which we welcome. We will work with the University to ensure similar reports are released on a regular basis.

Improving the relationship between students and RLT

We are currently involved in a review of the role of RLT. We are keen to work with Senior Wardens to ensure RLT are trained to be more approachable, so that students feel able to disclose incidents of sexual misconduct to them if they wish.

The SU Women’s Officer (Amara) and sexual assault campaigning groups further raised this as a concern to the Director of Student Discipline and Resolution, and have since suggested changes to the training provided to RLT.

Officers will continue to be involved in the ongoing review of RLT.

WeGetConsent

We continue to run the WeGetConsent campaign. There is now increased marketing of WeGetConsent on SU comms - it is featured in the weekly all-member email at least twice per term and is promoted on SU social media channels at least monthly. We have also introduced a dedicated newsletter for WeGetConsent which is sent termly to all students, keeping students up to date on the work being done by the SU and societies to tackle sexual misconduct at Warwick, and providing info on how to get involved.

We have also asked the University to advertise WeGetConsent page on their Warwick Presents pages.

We will be providing rape whistles/alarms to Nightline, It Happens Here and other places to give out.

The webpage for WeGetConsent can be found here

Warwick Presents have displayed the WeGetConsent page over the holiday period along with other support and activities available to students during this time. We hope to make it a permanent fixture on their page during term time.

The SU Women’s Officer has delivered these rape alarms to Senate House for distribution. After further work with the University, they will follow the SU’s lead and will be providing over 7000 alarms to students in the new academic year.

Introduce sexual misconduct training for sports club and society exec members

Sports club and society Welfare Officers were trained in Report and Support in early summer 2020. The R&S team is also in the process of creating a presentation to be given to exec members early this year (2021) about what R&S does, and how to access it. Active Bystander Training has been, and will continue to be, advertised to both sports club and society exec members. We will be making Active Bystander training mandatory for new exec members elected for the year 2021-2022. The SU will also be collaborating with the R&S team to organise regular consent training workshops for all exec members. Further training will focus on issues such as recognising signs of harassment and drink spiking, recognising when someone is too drunk to consent, how to intervene in unsafe situations, unpacking socio-sexual norms, and disclosure referral. 

Two exec members per club and society have signed up to receive Active Bystander training in a series of sessions throughout Term 3, which acts to educate about calling out all forms of harassment and discrimination. These workshops will be completed by the end of June 2021.

Report and Support training was delivered to all club execs on 1^st May 2021, focusing on sports club specific scenarios. Additional training sessions have been signposted to clubs for their members to attend. 

Listen to and act on students’ concerns surrounding sexual misconduct at Warwick

Last term (T2), we held a town hall meeting to better understand students’ concerns surrounding sexual misconduct. We will continue to engage with students throughout the academic year, including engagement with liberation societies and Part-Time Officers. The Student Advisory Group will be meeting monthly, and this will act as another mechanism for us and the University.