Week 11 - Lent Term 2018

Should LSESU implement a zero-tolerance policy to sexual harassment and sexual assault?

Proposed by Megan Beddoe (Activities & Development Officer)

Seconded by Natasha Davies (Women's Officer)

This Union Notes

• That 1 in 4 women experience sexual assault or unwanted sexual advances at university[1]*
• Nearly 50% of UK students witnessed or experienced sexual harassment or assault during their first week of term.[2]
• That informal or anonymous reports of sexual harassment and assault have been made in LSESU spaces and activities in the past academic year.[3]
• That both the School and the Union hold processes for reporting and disciplinary procedures, as our members are also students of LSE.
  This Union Believes
• That the consent campaign this year has created an environment where more students are better informed about what does and does not constitute consent.
• That consent workshops have facilitated an understanding of what consent entails and debunked the biggest myths and misconceptions surrounding consent.
• That while education and de-stigmatising issues of consent is important, we must also support students with policies to protect their safety on campus.

• That LSESU must recognise that it is all of our responsibility to create an environment that is safe for each and every member of our community.
• That this environment must extend to all of our Union spaces and activities, including club and society activities.
• This sometimes means that action must be taken against individuals or groups when this safe environment or the safety of individuals is compromised.
• That a zero-tolerance policy to sexual harassment and sexual assault would reinforce and further support the work of the consent campaign by providing the disciplinary framework for those who compromise the safety of others.
• That more work is needed to streamline the disciplinary procedures for reported cases of sexual harassment and sexual assault across LSESU and LSE.

This Union Resolves:

• To implement a zero-tolerance policy to sexual harassment and sexual assault across all of our Union spaces and activities.
• To discipline individuals or groups who breech this policy and threaten the safety of others within the Union’s spaces and activities, inline with the Union’s policies and complaints procedure.
• To mandate the LSESU Sabbatical Officers to continue to work with the School to rationalise and share, where appropriate and necessary, disciplinary processes in cases of sexual harassment and sexual assault.
• To mandate the Community and Welfare Officer to continue to support mandatory consent workshops, and to link the zero-tolerance policy to this framework of education and prevention.
• To mandate the Activities and Development Officer and Athletics Union President and Executive to implement the Zero-Tolerance policy throughout the Athletics Union Clubs and Societies activities, and extend mandatory consent workshops within LSESU student groups and their members.
• To mandate the Activities and Development Officer to take action against groups who are seen to be encouraging negative behaviour such as ‘lad culture’ that is linked to sexual harassment and sexual assault.