British students’ secret weapon against sexual misconduct in higher education (Office for Students Blog)
Dr Olivarius was a keynote speaker at the Office for Students’ ‘Insight event: Improving student lives’. She also sat on the panel discussion ‘Hate and harassment: how do we stop it?’
Both Ann’s keynote presentation and panel discussion can be viewed above.
Ann contributed an essay in accordance with her keynote. An excerpt of this can be read below:
British students’ secret weapon against sexual misconduct in higher education
“A messy and frustratingly slow revolution is rippling through UK universities and colleges. Students (and a few brave staff members) are beginning to push back against sexual misconduct, discrimination and harassment through legal means. Universities UK and the Office of the Independent Adjudicator have published new guidelines urging a fairer process. In my experience, many universities have had trouble adapting.
American university students can sue under the federal legislation known as Title IX, which imposes the same procedures on every university. But UK students shouldn’t feel like they do not have options – the Equality Act 2010 provides a similar, sometimes better, mechanism than Title IX for them to confront their universities through civil suits. It’s instructive to look at the differences between the US and UK systems.”