Hate incident reporting

A disability hate incident is any behaviour which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a person's disability or perceived disability. For example, a disabled student being called derogatory names in The Students’ Union at UWE bar.

A homophobic/biphobic hate incident is any behaviour which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person's sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation. For example, a couple in a same-sex relationship being made to justify their relationship.

A race hate incident is any behaviour which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a person's race or perceived race. For example, a black and minority ethnic staff member is racially abused by a student’s parent.

A religious hate incident is any behaviour which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person's religion or perceived religion. For example, a student’s Christian belief system being ridiculed in one of the University’s Learning Zone areas.

A transphobic hate incident is any behaviour which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice against a person who is transgender or perceived to be transgender. For example, comments made about a trans person’s clothing or appearance. 

Bristol is a great place to live, work and study but, like any large city, it contains a few individuals with negative and prejudiced views about others. The University, local police and local council all have policies in place to tackle prejudice and antisocial behaviour and they provide services for people to report incidents.

The University and police take these reports very seriously. UWE Bristol believes that any type of hate incident or harassment is unacceptable. Reporting incidents will help us to make communities safer for those living, working and studying here.

It is important that the University, the Police and Bristol’s Hate Crime Services know about hate incidents so that they can work out where there are issues and what extra support might be needed. If the University and our partners don't know about it then we can't stop it.

Hate incidents can be particularly hurtful to victims as they are being targeted solely because of their age, disability, gender reassignment status, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity status, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. The nature of these incidents can have far-reaching consequences for diverse communities.

The impact on victims or witnesses is different for each individual, but many experience similar problems. The confusion, fear and lack of safety felt by victims and witnesses of these incidents can have a ripple effect on their particular groups (racial or religious, lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender and vulnerable people) in the wider community.

If you report an incident without disclosing your details the report will be used for monitoring purposes to build a picture of what is happening across the UWE Bristol community. If you report an incident with your details the incident can be investigated fully and you can get the support you need.

All incidents reported to the University via the hate incident monitoring form (DOC) will be monitored by the Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity Team. They will produce quarterly collated responses from all reporting processes and share relevant and appropriate data and trend findings.

Annual monitoring data will be included in the University’s annual published equality data report and used to inform future activities to reduce the levels of incidents involving students, staff and visitors. University responses to cases of hate incidents will be managed by the three university procedures relating to the:

• complaints procedure
• student conduct procedure
• staff Dignity at Work procedures (staff login required).

UWE Bristol works closely with Avon and Somerset Police and will take positive action to eliminate hate incidents. For certain incidents that constitute a crime, a perpetrator could be liable for prosecution. The victim will be fully involved in resolving the incident and the University will support the victim to make the right decision.

We stand against and oppose all racism and illegal discrimination. It has no place in our society and our universities. We recognise that antisemitism is a specific form of racism that has a long history and presents itself in specific ways.

The University has adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition on antisemitism in full, with the clarifications recommended by the Home Affairs Select Committee in 2016 to protect freedom of speech. The adoption of the definition was agreed at a meeting of the Board of Governors on 8 July 2021 (see the full statement for details and clarifications (DOC)).

UWE Bristol’s strategic ‘Speak Up’ programme, rolling out to all staff and students, reinforces the importance of becoming active bystanders, allies and anti-racists in all that we do, challenging inappropriate behaviour in a safe way.

The main difference between bullying and harassment is that, conduct will only amount to harassment if it is carried out for a prohibited reason (eg on the grounds of race, gender, religion etc), while bullying is indiscriminate and can manifest in many different ways.

The Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) define bullying as: "Offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour, an abuse or misuse of power through means intended to undermine, humiliate, denigrate or injure the recipient”.

Conduct that may amount to bullying could be:

• spreading malicious rumours, or insulting someone by word or behaviour
• ridiculing or demeaning someone — picking on them or setting them up to fail
• exclusion or victimisation.

Under the Equality Act 2010, harassment is any unwelcome comments (written or spoken) or conduct which violates an individual's dignity; and/or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. Harassment is related to one of the following:

• age
• disability
• gender reassignment
• race
• religion or belief
• sex
• sexual orientation.

Harassment can involve verbal abuse and name calling, offensive graffiti, emails, letters, text messages, or social media platforms. Harassment is a criminal offence.

UWE Bristol’s hate incident reporting enables any student, staff member, contractor or visitor to report unwanted harassment or bullying that is also motivated by misogyny, sexism or contempt for women. This will also include everyday physical, verbal, emotional psychological, financial or cyber abuse.