The Governance of Complaints in UK Higher Education: Critically Examining ‘Remedies’ for Staff Sexual Misconduct

Abstract

Complaints processes and their governance in UK higher education (HE) have received little critical scrutiny, despite their expanded role under the increasing marketisation of HE. This article draws on interviews with students who attempted to make complaints of staff sexual misconduct to their HE institution. It outlines four groups among the interviewees according to the ‘remedy’ that they obtained, describing how most interviewees could not access the services of the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education in England as they could not complete internal institutional complaints processes. The failure of most complainants to obtain remedy, and the difficult experiences of those who did, reveals the inadequacies of using an individualist, consumer-oriented model for addressing discrimination complaints in HE. The article also contributes to discussions of justice for sexual violence survivors, suggesting that community-oriented remedies are needed alongside formal administrative justice processes to address power-based sexual misconduct in institutions.

Joining up well-being and sexual misconduct data and policy in HE: ‘To stand in the gap’ as a feminist approach

“…This Janus-faced response confuses students, who may feel initially comforted to have been listened to, only to be confounded and distressed by subsequent institutional silencing, 'brick walls' (Ahmed, 2018), or even institutional harassment (Bull & Page, 2021b;Bull & Rye, 2018). These patterns can be theorised through the care-policy framing that Freeman describes: individual staff members within an institution are attempting to provide care but this care is not connected to the wider policy framework.…”

Learning from survivors: Reporting parties' perspectives on how higher education institutions should address gender‐based violence and harassment

“…Such structures could include more robust legal rights for students; integration of GBVH into Athena Swan, the kitemark for gender equality in higher education; and stronger regulation from external bodies such as the Office for the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA), which adjudicates handling of student complaints in England and Wales. One interviewee who had tried to obtain redress via the OIA described them as 'toothless', and indeed there is evidence that their approach is not effective in sexual misconduct complaints handling (Bull & Page, 2022).…”

Researching Students’ Experiences of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence and Harassment: Reflections and Recommendations from Surveys of Three UK HEIs

“…At University B, with the focus on improving institutional responses, each victimisation section asked whether the respondent had told someone at the University, and if so, what category of staff (but not staff demographics) and to rate the response received on a five-point Likert scale. This was useful for analysing both responses to particular types of reporting and responses by particular groups of staff and also highlighted the issue that respondents had often had to report to multiple (types of) staff sequentially, either because the University demanded multiple disclosures or because of failures of earlier staff to recognise and respond to what was being disclosed (see also Bull and Page 2022). The results challenged assumptions that professional staff in student help centres were always best placed and best trained to understand and help disclosing or reporting respondents.…”

“…Journalists' investigations have found that between 2017 and 2020, across 125 HEIs who responded to a Freedom of Information request, there were 1655 recorded complaints of sexual misconduct (1403 misconduct by students and 252 by staff) (Howlett and Davies 2021). Of these, 522 (487 complaints about students and 35 about staff) were actively investigated and only 213 of the complaints about student misconduct resulted in disciplinary proceedings against the respondent (Howlett and Davies 2021; see also Bull and Page 2022). This example illustrates that for HEIs to plan effective prevention and response work that meets staff and student needs, it is crucial they collect sexual misconduct data and compare it with complaint monitoring data.…”