INFORMATION COMPLIANCE TEAM
University Offices, Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JD
Ref. FOI/20200918/1
16 October 2020
Reply to request for information under the Freedom of Information Act
Your ref
Email of 18 September 2020
_
Under the Freedom of Information Act, I request the following information about all
instances of sexual misconduct reported by students at the University of Oxford from
2015/2016 until the end of the 2019/20 academic year inclusive.
I request information on the following:
1. Whether the university has a specific policy for handling allegations of sexual
Request
misconduct
2. Whether the university employs an Independent Sexual Violence Advisor
3. The number of reported instances of sexual assault
4. The number of reported instances of rape (Including but not limited to those that
took place within university operated premises, such as the students union, venues
and halls of residence)
5. Statistics of whether the perpetrator was a student or member of staff
6. How many of these resulted in expulsion for the perpetrator
Dear Eilidh Ross,
I write in reply to your email of Friday 18 September, requesting the above information.
Item 1
The University’s policies regarding sexual harassment can be found on our website here:
https://edu.admin.ox.ac.uk/harassment-advice
Item 2
Background
The collegiate nature of the University allows students to report cases of sexual harassment to their college
(this is likely to be appropriate where reported incidents occurred in a college context and on college premises)
or to the Proctors’ Office, which is the central University office responsible for dealing with student complaints.
The handling of such cases at a central level is coordinated by a senior caseworker who specialises in
investigating cases of sexual harassment. This is a dedicated role in the Proctors’ Office.
Training Provisions
A variety of specialist training has been provided to senior officers in the Proctors’ Office, additional to any
experience they have acquired through work in a similar area. Colleges have their own designated staff that are
appropriately trained to handle such cases.
2
The Sexual Harassment and Violence Support Service (SHVSS) has a team of Specialist Advisors who are trained
to respond to instances of sexual violence and support students. The team have undertaken the SVLO training
as offered by LimeCulture, but this only forms a small aspect of the complete training and the team provide a
wider provision of support than the SVLO model. The scope of the role is to provide a student-centric response
that is tailored for each student seeking support.
The SHVSS team comprises one full-time member with the other advisors part-time, holding the role alongside
a substantive post. The Service also seconds an Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA) from a local rape
crisis charity. Further information on the SHVSS is available here:
https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/welfare/supportservice?wssl=1
The University’s Student Support and Welfare Service have also provided sexual violence awareness training to
237 staff with a welfare remit since October 2017. The training covers responding to students appropriately and
how to refer them to the specialist support provision that the University provides to students.
Items 3-5
The figures below relate to records of sexual misconduct held by either the Proctors’ Office, as this is the relevant
University department to contact if someone wishes to make a formal complaint against a student, or by
Personnel Services, as this is the relevant University department if someone wishes to make a formal complaint
against a member of staff. The term ‘sexual misconduct’ includes sexual harassment, sexual assault or rape.
There were 22 formal complaints made by students against fellow students and 4 by students against staff
during the time period specified.
Please note, the University does not hold a record of allegations made to individual colleges, as the colleges are
separate legal entities and public authorities in their own right under the FOIA. A full list of colleges can be
found at
https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/colleges/a-z-of-colleges?wssl=1.
Item 6
There have been no expulsions during the time period specified as a result of an investigation by the Proctor’s
Office.
Yours sincerely
Information Compliance Team