Promoting Good Campus Relations: new guidance on dealing with hate crimes and intolerance

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Promoting Good Campus Relations new guidance
on dealing with hate crimes and intolerance

• Professor Les Ebdon
• Vice Chancellor, University of Luton
• les.ebdon_at_luton.ac.uk

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CVCP Guidance on Extremism and Intolerance on
Campus 1998

• 5 major pieces of legislation since 1998
  including Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000
• Published November 2005

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• UUK Student Experience Strategy Group
• ECU Equality Challenge Unit
• SCOP Standing Conference of Principals
• Steering group included HEEON, AMOSSHE,
• NUS, AHUA,
• Trade Unions
• Virtual Steering Group
• Martineau Johnson legal consultants

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• Academic Freedom central to HE
• Needs a climate of tolerance and mutual respect
• Positive promotion of good relations
• Respect for diversity
• Effective action to prevent intimidation

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Guidance

• Part 1 - Social and political context
• - Ways hate crimes and intolerance appear
• Part 2 - Outline of key legislation
• - General principles of prevention and
  action
• Part 3 - Case studies within a legal
  framework
• - Appropriate guidance

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Status

• Guidance
• Not one size fits all
• Principles of good practice
• Case by case and contextural
• Points to when further legal advice needed
• Complements existing strategies
• Promotes clear standard of respect
• Legislative context

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Context

• Dearing report
• one of the aims of HE is to play a major role
  in shaping a democratic, civilised, inclusive
  society
• HE growth - 934,000 FT UG
• 521,000 PT
• BME students 16
• BME staff 9
• International students 13

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Hate crimes and intolerance

• Crimes or behaviour motivated by
• prejudice, hatred or intolerance that
  intentionally
• demean individuals and groups defined by their
• ethnicity, race, religion and belief, sexuality,
• gender, conscience, disability, age or lawful
  working practices and which give rise to an
  environment in which people will experience, or
  could reasonably, fear harassment, intimidation
  or violence.

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• Deal with underlying causes
• Many manifestations
• Pre-emption
• Promote good relations
• Positive duty of RR(A)A 2000

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Manifestations

• Organised political intolerance
• Religion e.g. Islamaphobia
• Anti-Semitism
• Homophobia
• Animal rights extremism
• Disability

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Legal Framework

• Special status of HEIs
• Rights and freedoms
• Anti-discrimination legislation
• Qualification of rights

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Legal Principles

• Promotion of good relations
• Immediate action to deal with crime and
  intolerance
• Reasonableness and proportionality
• - careful consideration
• - based on evidence
• - necessary to prevent crime or disorder
• - proportionate

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Long term preventative action

• Understanding the legal context
• Understanding the issues
• Review and strengthen existing structures
• Consultation
• Commitment and mainstreaming
• Clear responsibilities
• Awareness raising
• EO policy
• Celebrate good work

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Immediate crisis interventions

• Emergency working group
• Consider information
• Consultation
• Learning

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Case Studies

• 8 in all
• Outline the example
• Issues
• Possible action

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• Universities and Colleges not complacent
• There are issues and attitudes in our society
• We are not immune to these
• Should be leading in preservation of tolerance
  and respect