PURPOSE
The purpose of this policy is to provide protection against sexual assault and sexual harassment for each member of the Global Leadership Institute (GLI) community and the processes of response if required.
GLI has zero tolerance for sexual assault or sexual harassment against any student or member of the GLI community. GLI maintains the following principles to:
- provide a safe work and study environment for all students, staff and contractors regardless of their location or study mode;
- support all students, staff and contractors who are parties to reports of sexual assault or sexual harassment including facilitating access to relevant counselling, medical, police or legal services;
- promote and encourage a culture of safety and respect;
- respects the rights of students, staff and contractors to privacy and confidentiality;
- support the right of students, staff and contractors who have experienced sexual assault or sexual harassment to choose whether they want to make a report to the Institute or make an external report;
- treat individuals fairly, impartially, and with compassion and empathy, while adhering to the principles of procedural fairness in proceedings or decisions under this policy;
- monitor and review disclosures and reports made under this policy to identify patterns of recurring incidents and takes actions to mitigate future risks.
DEFINITIONS
Alleged Offender: person about whom a complaint of sexual assault or sexual harassment is made as part of a report.
Complainant: person who makes a disclosure or a report.
Consent: freely and voluntarily agreeing to sexual activity. It also means taking responsibility for ensuring the other person is comfortable and agrees to engage in sexual activity. A person is taken not to have consented to sexual activity if:
- the person agrees because there has been force applied (this includes an express or implied threat of force to the victim or to another person) or because of a threat to denigrate, humiliate, disgrace or harass the person or another person; or
- the person was unlawfully detained at the time of the activity; or
- the activity occurred whilst the person was asleep or unconscious; or
- the activity occurred whilst the person was intoxicated to the point of being incapable of freely and voluntarily agreeing; or
- the activity occurred whilst the person was affected by a physical, mental or intellectual condition or impairment such that they were incapable of freely or voluntarily agreeing; or
- the person is unable to understand the nature of the activity; or
- the person agrees to engage in the activity with a person under a mistaken belief as to the identity of that person; or
- the person is mistaken about the nature of the activity (for example, a person is taken not to freely and voluntarily agree to sexual activity if they agree to engage in the activity in the mistaken belief that the activity is necessary for the purposes of medical diagnosis, investigation or treatment, or for the purpose of hygiene.
Consent cannot be given by a person under the age of 18 years in a case where the accused is the guardian, teacher, religious leader, or in certain other positions of authority over the alleged victim.
Disclosure: sharing of information regarding sexual assault or sexual harassment to members of the Institute staff. Disclosures will be recorded without the identity of the complainant or any details that may suggest the identity of any person involved in the incident/s for the purposes of the Institute’s risk identification, assessment and prevention strategies.
External Report: report to the police and/or external agency.
Misconduct: as defined under Code of Conduct Policy.
Procedural Fairness: procedural requirement to ensure that a standard of fairness is applied in the investigation and adjudication of a dispute. This involves:
- fully informing a person of any allegation/s made against them;
- giving them the opportunity to state their case, provide an explanation or put forward their viewpoint;
- conducting a proper investigation of the allegations, ensuring that all parties are heard and that all relevant submissions are considered, with reasons given for any decision;
- permitting complainants and alleged offenders to be accompanied to any meeting by a support person;
- acting fairly, impartially and without bias; and
- declaring any real or potential conflict of interest.
Reasonable Measures: arrangements or adjustments that may be implemented on a case-by-case basis where a disclosure or report has been made in order to minimise the potential for harm to any person.
Report: sharing information regarding an incident of sexual assault or sexual harassment to the Institute for the purpose of accessing support, taking reasonable measures and initiating further action such as an investigation.
Sexual assault: any sexual behaviour to which a person does not give consent. In Queensland, the following are criminal offences – sexual assault, rape, attempted rape, sexual abuse, domestic violence, sexual violence, stalking, assault.
Sexual harassment: any unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature, where it is reasonable to expect that the other person would be offended, afraid or humiliated. Sexual harassment can be verbal, non-verbal, written, graphic or physical. Sexual harassment includes, but is not limited to:
- any deliberate and/or unsolicited sexual communication, the use of overt sexual language, suggestive or physical contact that creates an uncomfortable learning/working environment for the recipient and is made by a person who knows, or ought reasonably to know, that such action is unwelcome;
- a sexual advance or solicitation made by one person to another, where the person making the advance or solicitation knows, or ought reasonably to know, that such action is unwelcome;
- a reprisal, or threat of reprisal, for the rejection of a sexual solicitation or advance particularly where the reprisal is made or threatened by a person in a position to confer, grant or deny a benefit or advancement to the person;
- practical jokes of a sexual nature which cause awkwardness or embarrassment;
- displaying and/or distributing pornographic pictures or other offensive material of a sexual nature, including audio or visual images of an individual through technological devices, equipment and service;
- unwanted physical contact such as kissing, touching, patting or pinching;
- unwelcome sexual remarks, sexual jokes, intrusive sexual questions, sexual innuendoes or taunting about a person’s body, attire, sex, personal or social life;
- requests for sexual favours;
- behaviour that may also be considered to be an offence under criminal law, such as physical assault, indecent exposure, stalking, technology facilitated image-based abuse or obscene communications.
Trained Responders: people who are trained to assist students and staff to access support and reasonable measures and to make disclosures or reports of sexual assault and sexual harassment.
Institute Related Conduct: any conduct that is connected to the Institute, including conduct that occurs:
- during, or in connection with, any function, activity or event related to the Institute (whether sanctioned by the Institute or otherwise);
- when a person is representing GLI in any capacity;
- during, or in connection with, the performance of duties for the Institute;
- using, or is facilitated by, the Institute IT resources or other equipment; or
- on, or in connection with, any property owned, leased or occupied by the Institute (or any entities it controls) or any lands or roads within any Institute campus.
Scope
Whole Institute
Key Stakeholder
All staff and students
Proceedure
1. SUPPORT
GLI is committed to providing accessible and non-discriminatory support services for staff, students and contractors who are affected by sexual assault and/or sexual harassment. Support available includes:
- counselling through the Institute’s counselling services or referral to other support services;
- assistance in making a report;
- assistance through the process of an investigation or misconduct process;
- assistance in making an external report to the police or other external agency; and
- reasonable measures in order to minimise the potential for harm to any person including, but not limited to:
- class timetable changes;
- academic adjustments;
- placement reassignment;
- temporary remote learning or working arrangements;
- workplace arrangements.
GLI’s Director, Human Resources and Student Support Officer are trained responders who can assist staff, students and contractors with immediate support needs and provide confidential advice on the options available to them and support to action these.
2. DISCLOSURES
A disclosure can be made by any staff, student or contractor who experiences sexual assault or sexual harassment to access support services. If the person making the disclosure wishes further action to be taken, they may elect to make a report. Staff members who receive a disclosure from students will:
- refer the complainant to trained responders at counselling support;
- inform the Complainant that staff are required to report disclosures of sexual assault and sexual harassment to administrative staff and ask permission from the complainant to release their name and contact details;
- outline the options available to the complainant to help them determine any next steps they may wish to take, including:
- Report to the Institute using a Report Form.
- External Report to the police or other external agency
- No immediate action
- ask again for permission from the complainant to release their name and contact details to administrative staff; and
- offer assistance in any other way as deemed appropriate in the circumstances, including referral to international student support agencies.
If the complainant gives permission for the staff member to release their name and contact details, the complainant and staff member will make a report together using a Report Form as soon as practicable.
If the complainant does not give permission for the staff member to release their name and contact details the staff member will complete a de-identified recorded disclosure form and send the completed form to the Director, Human Resources as soon as practicable.
Staff members are required to make a mandatory report to the Queensland Police Services or relative agency in relation to disclosures and reports of sexual assault or sexual harassment which have occurred within Queensland where the complainant is aged under 18.
The opportunities for the Institute to provide support may be limited if a disclosure is made anonymously or without sufficient information. Where this applies, the Institute may still use the de-identified recorded disclosure form for the purposes of the Institute’s risk identification, assessment and prevention strategies.
3. REPORTS
A report can be made by any student or staff who experiences sexual assault or sexual harassment to access support services and to initiate further action by the Institute.
Reports to the Institute
Staff, students or contractors may make a report of sexual assault or sexual harassment by using the report form or by contacting administrative staff or the Director, Human Resources for staff. Students making a report using the report form will be contacted within two business days and, in urgent circumstances, will be contacted immediately.
External Reports
Members of GLI community may make an external report to the police or other external agency at any time and will be supported by the Institute if they wish to do so. No person may prevent any person from reporting or referring a matter to the police or other external agency and no person should seek to exert any pressure on any person to dissuade them from making an external report.
4. FURTHER ACTION – INSTITUTE MISCONDUCT PROCESSES
The report is provided to the Director, Human Resources. Support and reasonable measures will be made available to all parties to the report, as required for the duration of the process. GLI’s internal processes determine misconduct and separate from any criminal proceedings or investigations conducted by the police or other external agency as a result of an external report. Any internal process may cease whilst a police or external investigation is being undertaken.
Reports against Students
Where the alleged offender is a student, the report will be considered and may be progressed by the Director, Human Resources pursuant to the Student Behaviour and Misconduct Procedure. The Director, Human Resources may recommend referral of the matter to the Executive Management Team (EMT) for further action. If the EMT determines on the balance of probabilities that misconduct has occurred it may apply one or more penalties in accordance with the Student Misconduct Policy.
Reports against Staff and Contractors
Reports referred to the Director, Human Resources will be investigated and/or managed under the Institute Enterprise Agreement (staff) or contractual agreement.
5. IMPLEMENTATION OF REASONABLE MEASURES
The application of reasonable measures will be determined on a case-by-case basis. Application of reasonable measures as a result of a report; during an investigation; misconduct process; or investigation by the police or other external agency, is not determinate of the occurrence of sexual assault or sexual harassment.
In implementing reasonable measures, the Institute will:
- consider the risk to the complainant;
- apply the principles of procedural fairness;
- seek to balance any conflicting rights and interests and ensure victimisation does not occur;
- take into account any relevant external requirements as a result of assault or sexual harassment potentially amounting to a criminal offence; and
- discuss the proposed reasonable measures with the affected parties.
6. CONFIDENTIALITY
The confidentiality of a complainant will be respected, and reports and disclosures will not be referred to Police or other external agency without the consent of the complainant, except to the extent that the staff member may be compelled to disclose details, to protect any person from risk to life, health or safety, or where a student is under 18 years of age. Information received as part of a report or disclosure will be accessible by the person who provided the information and kept separate from the enrolment, employment and other educational records of the complainant, or any witness.
7. RECORDKEEPING
All reports of sexual assault and sexual harassment, records and correspondence taken, including those made to and/or in connection with Institute owned or affiliated student accommodation will be securely retained in accordance with the Information and Record Management Policy. For the purposes of reporting on sexual assault and sexual harassment, information received as part of a report will be recorded by the Institute, monitored, and reported upon.
8. ACCESS TO INFORMATION
Subject to confidentiality requirements, students and staff will be allowed reasonable access to recorded information about themselves. Access to information relating to a report of sexual assault or sexual harassment will be restricted to Institute staff who have a need to access and use the information to carry out their responsibilities.