Sometimes it is difficult to understand what has happened to us or someone else on placement and if this is something that is "wrong" and sometimes you might feel that you are "overreacting". To make it easier we have explained what bullying, harassment etc is so that you feel a bit more informed and able to make a decision about what to do next.
Bullying
Bullying is offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour involving the misuse of power that can make a person feel vulnerable, upset, humiliated, undermined or threatened. Power does not always mean being in a position of authority, but can include both personal strength and the power to coerce through fear or intimidation.Bullying can take the form of physical, verbal and non-verbal conduct. Non-verbal conduct includes postings on social media outlets. Bullying may include, by way of example:
- shouting at, being sarcastic towards, ridiculing or demeaning others
- physical or psychological threats
- overbearing and intimidating levels of supervision
- inappropriate and/or derogatory remarks about someone's performance
- abuse of authority or power by those in positions of seniority
- deliberately excluding someone from meetings or communications without good reason
Harassment
Harassment is unwanted physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct which may (intentionally or unintentionally) violate a person’s dignity or create an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment, which interferes with an individual’s learning, working or social environment. It also includes treating someone less favourably because they have submitted or refused to submit to such behaviour in the past.
Protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 include: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy or maternity, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. At Queen Margaret University, we believe harassment is unacceptable even if it does not fall within any of these categories. Harassment may include, for example:
- unwanted physical conduct or ‘horseplay’, including touching, pinching, pushing, grabbing, brushing past someone, invading their personal space and more serious forms of physical or sexual assault
- offensive or intimidating comments or gestures, or insensitive jokes or pranks
- mocking, mimicking or belittling a person’s disability
- racist, sexist, homophobic or ageist jokes, or derogatory or stereotypical remarks about a particular ethnic or religious group or gender
- outing or threatening to out someone as gay, lesbian, bisexual or trans
- ignoring or shunning someone, for example, by deliberately excluding them from a conversation or a social activity.
A person may be harassed even if they were not the intended "target". For example, a person may be harassed by racist jokes about a different ethnic group if they create an offensive environment.
Equality and Human Rights Commision (EHRC) provide further information on unlawful harassment.
Queen Margaret University 'Anti-Bullying and Harassment Policy' can be accessed by clicking HERE
Discrimination
This means treating someone less favourably than someone else because of a protected characteristic. Protected characteristics include race, sex, gender reassignment, disability, sexual orientation, age, marriage and civil partnership, religion and belief, pregnancy and maternity.
It is not possible to justify direct discrimination, so it is always unlawful. There are, however, exceptions to the further and higher education provisions that allow, for example, single-sex institutions to only admit students of one gender without this being unlawful direct discrimination.
Hate incidents/ Hate Crime
Hate incidents and 'hate crimes' are terms used to describe acts of violence or hostility directed at people because of who they are or who someone thinks they are. They are motivated by hostility or prejudice based on disability, race, religion, transgender identity, or sexual orientation. This can be an incident against a person or against property and includes materials posted online.