What happens if I report?

We’ll listen to you and help you understand what is involved if you decide to report what happened.

• If you are a victim of a crime, you can report this to the police.  
• If the person who harmed you is a member of the University, you can report it to us, whether you have also reported it to the police, or not. If the person is a member of the University there are measures we can consider to support you while the case is under police investigation.

If you’ve been harmed by someone who isn’t part of our community, we can give you information on what your options are to report it. These include your nearest Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC), Devon and Cornwall Police, or to other agencies such as Crimestoppers. We will also offer you support, if you would like it.

If what happened to you was because of another student or member of staff from our community, you can report this to us. We will consider what action might need to be taken, based on what has happened.  

Once we’ve received a formal report from you about harassment and/or sexual misconduct, a case management conference (CMC) will take place. This will consider your support, welfare and academic needs, along with the needs of anyone else directly involved, such as the person who’s been reported.

The CMC will also carry out a risk assessment around what has been reported and consider any measures that may be appropriate. This may include the recommendation of precautionary conditions (such as a precautionary contract, restricting access of the accused party to campus/facilities/studies/accommodation) pending the outcome of an investigation and the appointment of an investigating officer.

A University investigation is different to a police investigation even where it is investigating the same incident. A police investigation will explore whether a criminal offence has, beyond reasonable doubt, been committed. A University investigation will consider whether our sexual misconduct and/or disciplinary regulations have, more likely than not, been breached.

Criminal findings can result in more serious outcomes, whereas a University outcome can only consider whether the party in question is in breach of our regulations – the harshest outcome of a breach is removal from the University community through expulsion.

A University investigation is an evidence-based process; a dedicated investigating officer will hear from you what has taken place and receive any evidence in support of your experience. They will also need to hear from the person who’s been reported, and receive any evidence from them too. If there are witnesses to what occurred, we will need to ask you who they are and we will look to hear from them, though we can’t compel witnesses to participate.

Once all parties have been contacted and evidence has been received, the investigating officer will review everything, to decide if an offence more likely than not took place.

• If the evidence is not sufficient to reach a finding, the case will be closed and any restrictions that were in place will be removed
• If evidence of a minor offence is found, an outcome for minor offences – such as a behavioural contract – will be imposed and the restrictions in place removed
• If the evidence supports a finding that a major disciplinary offence has taken place the case will be referred to a disciplinary Board.

If your case is referred to a disciplinary Board, you may be asked to answer questions the Board has or that the person accused of harming you has raised. These questions might be answered at a disciplinary Board meeting or they could be asked remotely. If you come to a Board meeting we wouldn’t ask you to be in the same room as the person who was reported, but would ask you to attend from a separate location and with support if you wanted it. The reason we might ask you to be there is so that any unresolved questions around what happened could be explored, which is important where a decision around a disciplinary offence of this severity is concerned.