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Wellbeing support

• What are you doing to provide support for staff and students around this issue?
• How are you supporting female students involved in this case?
• What are you doing to provide more robust wellbeing support in the long-term?
• What are you doing to ensure respect amongst your community on campus?
• Am I safe from harassment and bullying on campus?

About the review

• What was the independent review?
• Who led the independent review?
• What did the review involve?
• How were University staff and students involved?

Wellbeing support

What are you doing to provide support for staff and students around this issue?

The University has welfare and support services in place for all students and staff to foster a safe and respectful University community. This includes our Wellbeing Support Services and other advice and support from people such as our Independent Sexual Violence Advisor.

This support is open to all members of the Warwick student and staff community. It is free of charge.

See the support available for people affected by these issues.

How are you supporting female students involved in this case?

Support has been offered to the victims and others affected by the events surrounding the group chat, and that continues to be available.

The University has welfare and support services in place for all students and staff to foster a safe and respectful University community. This includes our Wellbeing Support Services and other advice and support from people such as our Independent Sexual Violence Advisor.

This support is open to all members of the Warwick student and staff community. It is free of charge.

See the support available for people affected by these issues.

What are you doing to provide more robust wellbeing support in the long-term?

We are always looking to improve in this area. As part of our action plan in response to Dr Persaud’s recent independent review, we will be looking at how our processes can adapt to better support our community. This includes but is not limited to the support provided to victims and the wider community.

What are you doing to ensure respect amongst your community on campus?

Everyone deserves to be treated with respect. We welcome everyone who aspires to our values to come here and thrive.

We are developing and implementing an ongoing programme to ensure that everyone in the Warwick community, past, present and future, knows and supports what we stand for. Today we are publishing our guiding principles which affirm the values that we seek to uphold and will embed further across our community. We will work together to cultivate an environment where prejudice and socially unacceptable behaviour of any kind are never tolerated, and where students and staff feel safe.

Am I safe from harassment and bullying on campus?

Everyone has the right to feel safe on campus. Sexual misconduct or harassment of any kind is completely unacceptable. We are clear that our community is an environment where prejudice and socially unacceptable behaviour of any kind are never tolerated.

We would always encourage members of our community to report concerns to the University through the appropriate channels.

About the review process

What was the independent review?

The University’s governing body, the Council, commissioned an independent external review of our student disciplinary and appeal processes in response to events surrounding group chat earlier this year, so that we can learn from this and improve in the future.

Who led the independent review?

Dr Sharon Persaud, a solicitor with over 25 years of experience, led the independent review. She was a partner at Bindman & Partners, practising in criminal defence, with a particular focus on cases which engaged wider issues of civil liberties and the rights of those disadvantaged in the criminal justice system. She previously worked as a specialist appeals lawyer in the Criminal Appeal Office at the Court of Appeal and, between 2013-2018, as a publicly-appointed Commissioner at the Criminal Cases Review Commission. She also served as an independent peer reviewer for the Legal Services Commission and has lectured on criminal law, evidence and procedure.

What did the review involve?

As an independent reviewer Dr Persaud was free to decide how best to conduct the review. The outcomes include a ‘lessons learnt’ and recommendations for our future student disciplinary processes and procedures. Those recommendations have been approved by the University’s Council, on which the Students' Union is represented. The independent review and its recommendations have been published. We are committed to reporting publicly every quarter on our progress against our action plan.

You can read the review in its entirety here.

How were University staff and students involved?

The independent review interviewed a wide range of people who had been centrally involved in the events surrounding group chat. There was also an online consultation and ‘drop in’ sessions with staff, students and residents on campus.

In parallel with the independent review led by Dr Persaud, the university’s Joint Council and Senate Advisory Group was convened to affirm our values of openness, diversity, respect and trust; review what is and is not acceptable behaviour in the university’s community, and consider how the university can encourage positive behaviours. This work was overseen by a joint group of Senate and Council, chaired by Viki Cooke, Vice Chair of Council, on which the Students' Union is represented. Alongside consideration of comments already submitted to the University regarding the group chat, we provided a secure online space for staff, students, alumni and friends to share further feedback to support the reviews.

Following this consultation, we have published a statement of principles, which represents our expectations of how we behave as a University Community, both as individuals and as an institution. They also inform our approach to taking appropriate action when these expectations are not met.