Last weekend we witnessed unacceptable behaviour on campus and online; three individuals have been identified as being at the centre of actions linked to the display or incitement of racial hatred. The behaviour was reported to the Police, and arrests have been made. We are also applying our own College sanctions.
At Royal Holloway, we have a zero tolerance approach to bullying, harassment and abuse of any kind. However, from my conversations with many of you, I appreciate that you are sceptical that we take every complaint and concern seriously, and you wonder what, if any, action we take.
I want to assure you that we do not and will not hesitate to apply the full range of sanctions available to us where our rules on Student Conduct are breached. We have been able to take swift action following events last weekend because, with your help, we were able to identify the individuals involved.
In cases where concerns are reported but it’s not immediately possible to identify the person or people involved, we use resources available to us to help identify them. This, unfortunately can take time, and then it takes more time to work through our procedures to get to an outcome.
Our response to complaints, concerns and conduct must be fair and transparent. However, it’s clear to me that we need to make it easier for you to contact us, and we need to be able to bring issues raised to a conclusion much faster. We also need to be much better at keeping you informed about the action we’ve taken.
We’ve been working on all of this and, in the next academic year, you will see a difference. I hope that difference will give you confidence to come forward and confidence to believe that, when we say actions have consequences that we really do mean it.
If you have any concerns or have been affected by the events these past few days, help is available – please contact
supportingyou@royalholloway.ac.uk.
Dr Jon Howden-Evans
Director, Student and Academic Services