The Student Discipline Committee receives a full list of all offences and sanctions on a quarterly basis, and the data presented here is a subset of this data for the most serious offences.

Serious Offences in 2020/21

This update provides information on the number and outcomes of student disciplinary offences dealt with by the University for the academic year (?) 2020-21 in the following categories:

1. Sexual Misconduct
2. Offences motivated by or demonstrating hostility towards a protected characteristic
3. Bullying/harassment
4. Assault

It should be noted that in some cases students choose to withdraw from the University before disciplinary cases can be concluded. In such circumstances, the case is pended and if the student were to re-register the case would be resumed. In this period, five students withdrew before the disciplinary case against them could be concluded.

For the sake of clarity, suspended termination of studies means that if there is a further offence committed by the individual, they will have their studies terminated with immediate effect.

1. Sexual Misconduct

Seven offences including three of multiple instances of unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature; three of one incident of unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature; and one of persistent unwanted physical contact with other students.

In two of the multiple instances of unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature, the perpetrator’s studies were terminated with immediate effect. In the third multiple instance case, a suspended termination of studies was imposed alongside other sanctions including a temporary suspension of studies, exclusion from all university accommodation for the remainder of studies, and the attachment of other conditions to the continued pursuit of studies.

In the other cases, sanctions imposed included: exclusion from all university accommodation for the remainder of studies, attachment of conditions to the continued pursuit of studies; and requirement to complete training on consent.

2. Offences motivated by or demonstrating hostility towards a protected characteristic

One offence of making comments of an offensive nature relating to race (which formed part of one of the abovementioned multiple instances of unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature cases). In this case, the individual’s studies were terminated with immediate effect.

3. Bullying/harassment

None.

4. Assault

10 offences.

In the most serious case the sanction imposed was the immediate termination of the individual’s studies. In two other cases the individual received a suspended termination of studies alongside other sanctions including exclusion from all University accommodation for the remainder of studies; the attachment of other conditions to the continued pursuit of studies (eg avoiding contact with the complainant); and a requirement to write an apology to the complainant.

In the remaining cases; the sanctions imposed included exclusion from campus; exclusion from hall accommodation; a requirement to write an apology to the complainant; the attachment of other conditions to the continued pursuit of studies (eg avoiding contact with the complainant); and a formal written warning.

 

Reporting Incidents

We want to support students to make a complaint if they have been subject to any of the behaviour outlined above (or any other forms of unacceptable behaviour).

How to make a report

Students can report an incident of student misconduct for themselves or on behalf of someone else and can do so anonymously if they wish.  There are several ways in which such reports can be made.  These include but are not limited to the following:

• Use the online reporting tool here
• Tell a Hall or Community Warden
• Contact studentservices@lboro.ac.uk or call 01509 222765
• Call University Security on 01509 222141 (number on the reverse of your student ID card)
• Report to the LSU by emailing commentsandcomplaints@lsu.co.uk

The University and LSU will share reports where appropriate in order to ensure that complaints can be investigated robustly.

Support

Your health and wellbeing is very important to us, and our colleagues in Student Services can provide support, reassurance and advice when you need it. They can also support you with making a complaint and talking through the process described below.    

Process

When you report an incident to us, you have several options. You can report the incident to the police, and we can advise you on how to do this.  In these circumstances, the University will not investigate the matter until the police have concluded their investigation (though we may take interim action – see below).

If you do not want to report to the police, you can ask the University to investigate the incident instead. Our investigators are trained and experienced in dealing with serious investigations in a sensitive and trauma-informed manner.

If you wish, you can simply let the University know what has happened and ask for the matter not to be investigated further.

As a complainant, you can expect the following:

• You will receive support and reassurance from our Student Services team, and also the Investigation team
• A swift appointment will be made to arrange for a statement to be taken
• We may request that the person you have named is excluded immediately from the campus whilst the investigation is ongoing
• You will be kept updated all the way through
• We will deal with it as quickly as is possible
• We will meet with you to discuss the outcome.

As the respondent (the person who is the subject of the complaint), you can expect the following to happen:

• We will advise you of the nature of the complaint
• We may exclude you immediately from the campus and your accommodation if you live in Halls
• We will appoint a Student Services advisor to support you if you need one
• Once all of the enquiries are completed, you will be interviewed by the University investigation team
• A decision will be made whether to refer the incident to a Student Misconduct panel, who can authorise that your studies are terminated. 

Some respondents decide to leave the University completely whilst the process is ongoing. In these circumstances, the process is ceased at that point.

Whilst making a complaint can be upsetting, we will always do our best to support you with whatever course of action you want to take.