GPC Response to “Sexual Harassment Statement”

The Graduate Parlour Committee (GPC) welcomes the sexual harassment statement as a first step in the college’s response to the high levels of sexual harassment, assault, and rape seen throughout the UK university system, from which Pembroke is sadly not an exception. Making our universities and colleges the safe and inclusive places of learning that they should be is one of our institutions’ biggest welfare challenges.

The GPC is aware that this statement is in advance of (and may at some time be superseded by) a university wide statement and policy currently under development. Even so, it is important that any statement, even an interim one, be properly scrutinised. Therefore the committee welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on this statement, which are given in point form below.

The statement does not make it clear to survivors what forms of support college could give them

Statement: “[The college will] treat harassment seriously and respond to it effectively”

The statement is clear that college cannot and will not investigate claims of rape or harassment, but it fails to detail specific actions which college would consider making to protect survivors. Examples of policies which college could adopt to help protect survivors include:

  • Providing a safe housing environment - moving survivors away from the alleged perpetrator
  • Providing funding for “catch-up” supervisions in cases where students miss teaching due to the reporting process or counselling
  • In the case of graduate students, advocating on behalf of the student with supervisors and funding bodies in order to ensure that any time missed due to the above does not adversely affect the student
  • Running a buddy system for giving survivors the option of having someone with them to attend lectures/the buttery/counselling as requested

None of these actions require the college make any assertion as to the guilt of an alleged perpetrator - for example, the mere fact that a student feels unsafe in their current housing situation should be enough to justify taking action.

Supporting survivors of sexual harassment who wish to report to the police is a complex role

Statement: “[The college will] support victims in reporting assaults”

The GPC is aware that the ongoing university review into supporting survivors of sexual harassment plans on making Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs) available through the counselling service. ISVAs are a vital service in helping survivors and can assist with various tasks that might seem difficult and daunting, such as reporting to the police, seeing a doctor and completing a rape kit, or arranging counselling. For more details of the role, see or

Providing ISVA services at a college level, even as an interim measure, would require a vast amount of effort to be effective. To quote the Survivor’s Trust:

“Establishing an effective ISVA Service is not an easy achievement. There are many challenges to overcome and some hidden difficulties that only time and experience can reveal.”

It seems that the college community would be best served were college to commit to maintaining pressure on the counselling service to finally provide this vital welfare service.

In the meantime, college’s best option might be to offer to cover travel costs for survivors and a companion to the nearest available public ISVA service, in Peterborough.

Survivors should not be “strongly advised to involve the police”

Statement: “In the case of a serious sexual assault the College’s strong advice is to involve the Police...”

Rape Crisis England & Wales (RCEW) is an organisation which provides support for survivors of sexual assault, and as such has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the sector. Their website includes a guide for supporting survivors of sexual assualt, available here ( On this particular topic, they recommend:

“Let [the survivor] stay in control: Sexual abuse and rape can make a person feel powerless and out of control. Survivors want and deserve to feel in charge of their lives again. So it's important you resist the temptation to 'take over', for example by arranging and doing things that you think are best. Instead, support her/him to explore their feelings and options and make their own decisions. Respect those decisions, even if you don't agree with them. Doing things for a survivor (like making an appointment on their behalf without checking that it's what they want first) can end up making things worse, even when you were only trying to help.”

The GPC believes that the current draft statement is in direct contradiction of this advice.

In 2009/10, the National Union of Students (NUS) conducted a survey of survivors of sexual assault in universities across the UK, published as the “Hidden Marks” report[1]. Rates of reporting sexual assault to the police were found to be low (between 2% and 17%, depending on the type of assault[1, pg. 21]), and many survivors who did report to the police gave negative responses about police behaviour[1, pg. 24]. Common complaints were that the police had

  • been dismissive of the victim's complaint;
  • not followed up on the complaint;
  • suggested the victim was at fault;
  • acted insensitively or asked inappropriate questions.

Commonly stated reasons for not reporting to the police were [1, pg 22]

  • ‘I didn’t think it was serious enough to report’;
  • ‘I didn’t think that what happened was a crime’;
  • ‘I thought I could handle myself’;
  • ‘I felt ashamed or embarrassed’;
  • ‘I thought I would be blamed for what had happened’;
  • ‘I didn’t think I would feel comfortable talking to the police about it’;
  • ‘I didn’t want my parents/family to find out’;
  • ‘I didn’t think I would be believed’;
  • ‘I didn’t want my friends to find out’.

Instead of attempting to strongarm survivors into a course of action they do not wish to take, We believe college should use educational initiatives to challenge some of the above misconceptions and stigmas. College should also focus on guaranteeing the provision of effective ISVA services (as discussed above), as well as forging strong links with the local police to prevent the above from occurring.

An assault should only be reported to the police by the survivor of the assault

The RCEW website also has a section regarding reporting to the police. It states: (

“If you've been raped or sexually assaulted, it is entirely up to you whether or not you choose to report it to the police. No-one else can or should make that decision for you.”

Informing the police without the consent of the survivor completely undermines their agency over their situation as well as the trust they and other survivors have for the college. The GPC is concerned that this policy might serve to prevent survivors of rape and sexual assault from coming forward in the first place. This leaves them with no access to the support they deserve and leaves college with no way of knowing whether assaults are taking place, let alone protecting the wider community.

The statement in its current form justifies this potential undermining of survivor trust by referring to the college’s “wider duty of care” to the community. This is based on the assumption that once a perpetrator has committed an offence, they are a risk to everyone in the community. In reality, roughly 90% of serious sexual assaults and rapes are committed by someone closely known to the survivor[2], and perpetrators are most likely to be intimately known to the survivor in the case of physical violence[1, p19]. In other words, those most at risk are those intimately connected to the perpetrator and those who have previously been assaulted by that individual. While there is still a small risk to the wider community, this has to be balanced with the risk of harm caused by undermining confidence in the college.

A more likely scenario in which the wider community is at risk are cases of less serious sexual assault (defined in the NUS report[1] as “unwanted sexual contact such as touching or molesting, including through clothes, or unwanted kissing”), which around 16% of female undergraduate students nationwide undergo during their studies[1 p17]. These types of assaults also tend to be less targeted, with perpetrators still known to the survivor in the majority of cases, but in a less intimate way[1, p19].

In these situations, contacting the police might not be college’s best option in order to stamp out such unacceptable behaviour. An example alternative would be to require all members of the group involved (e.g. society, year group, bop attendees) to attend a further sexual consent workshop. This would hopefully help educate potential perpetrators of the harm they cause, increase group responsibility, and would send a clear message that college takes sexual harassment seriously and does not tolerate such behaviour.

In summary, if college still wishes to reserve the right to involve the police without the survivor’s consent, we ask that the following questions be addressed:

  • What types of assault, and under what specific conditions could the police be informed of an alleged crime without the consent of the survivor?
  • In these cases, what actions does college believe the police would be able to take without any evidence from a survivor and thus no direct evidence that a crime has been committed?

[1] National Union of Students study, 2010,

[2] Rape Crisis England and Wales,