Introduction
1. Brasenose College does not tolerate any form of harassment or victimisation and expects all members of the College community (including visitors and contractors) to treat each other with respect, courtesy and consideration.
2. The College is committed to fostering an inclusive culture which promotes equality, values diversity and maintains a working, learning and social environment in which the rights and dignity of all members of the College community are respected.
3. The College aims to:
- Promote a positive environment in which people are treated fairly and with respect
- Make it clear that harassment is unacceptable and that all members and visitors of the College have a role to play in creating an environment free from harassment
- Provide a framework of support for staff and students who feel they have been subject to harassment
- Provide a mechanism by which COMPLAINTS can wherever possible be addressed in a timely way. Complaints to be directed to Development Director, Brasenose College, Oxford, OX1 4AJ or email [email protected]
4. All senior members of the College have a duty to implement this Code of Conduct (as reflected in the College’s Harassment Policy (2016)) and to make every effort to ensure that harassment and victimisation do not occur in the areas for which they are responsible and that, if they do occur, any concerns are investigated promptly and effectively.
5. All members of the College community and visitors have the right to expect courteous behaviour from others, and a have corresponding responsibility to behave courteously towards others. All members of the College community and visitors are expected to:
- Treat others with dignity and respect
- Discourage any form of harassment
- Support any member of the College or visitors who feel they have been subject to harassment, including supporting them to make a formal complaint if appropriate.
Definitions
6. A person subjects another to harassment where they engage in unwanted and unwarranted conduct which has the purpose or effect of:
- Violating another person’s dignity, or
- Creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for another person.[1]
The recipient does not need to have explicitly stated that the behaviour was unwanted.
7. Bullying is a form of harassment and may be characterised as offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour, or misuse of power through means intended to undermine, humiliate, denigrate or injure the recipient.
Behaviours
8. Harassment may involve repeated forms of unwanted and unwarranted behaviour, but a one-off incident can also amount to harassment.
9. The intentions of the alleged harasser are not always determinative of whether harassment has taken place. The perception of the complainant and the extent to which that perception is in all the circumstances reasonable will also be relevant.
10. Being under the influence of alcohol, drugs or otherwise intoxicated is not an excuse for lack of courtesy or rudeness.
11. Harassment can take a variety of forms:
- Through individual behaviour face to face, either verbally or physically or electronically
- directly to the person concerned, or to a third party
- Through a prevailing culture which tolerates harassment or bullying, for example the telling of homophobic or racist jokes
12. Examples of behaviour which may amount to harassment include:
- Insulting, abusive, embarrassing or patronising behaviour or comments
- Unwanted physical contact, ranging from an invasion of space to an assault, including all forms of sexual harassment, including:
- inappropriate body language
- sexually explicit remarks or innuendo
- unwanted sexual advances and touching
- Offensive comments or body language, including insults, jokes or gestures and malicious rumours, open hostility, verbal or physical threats: these include all forms of harassment and abuse on the grounds of disability, race or sexual orientation
Alcohol
13. Alcohol is often served in College. All visitors to College are advised to drink responsibly and, further, are responsible for their own health and behaviour whilst on College premises at all times. At the discretion of College staff, if you are clearly under the influence of alcohol, drugs or otherwise intoxicated, then you may be refused entry.
BNC thanks you for your understanding and support in ensuring that this Code of Conduct is adopted for all College functions and events.
March 2019
[1] Statute XI: University Discipline (https://governance.admin.ox.ac.uk/legislation/statute-xi-university-discipline-0#collapse1556196)