Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Response Policy

PURPOSE

This policy details the steps taken by Leaders Institute (LI) to prevent or respond to occurrences of sexual misconduct within the LI community.

SCOPE

Whole Institute

PRINCIPLES

LI ensures that:

• a culture of safety and respect is fostered within the LI community;

• the health, safety and wellbeing of all staff and students is of paramount importance regardless of location or study mode;

• there is no tolerance for sexual misconduct;

• expectations, as outlined in this policy, are explained clearly at staff induction and student orientation;

• all staff complete training regarding sexual misconduct prevention strategies and incident response;

• all staff and students who are parties to reports of sexual misconduct have access to relevant counselling, medical, police, or legal services;

• privacy and confidentiality are maintained;

• staff or students who have experienced sexual misconduct may choose whether they want to make a report to LI or make an external report;

• there are safe spaces for LI students to raise concerns, seek help and support, and report incidents of sexual misconduct;

• all individuals involved are treated fairly, impartially, and with compassion and empathy, while adhering to the principles of procedural fairness in proceedings or decisions;

• disclosures and reports are reviewed and monitored to ensure completion of actions and future risk mitigation;

• regular training is provided for responders;

• immediate action is taken after receiving a sexual misconduct report to prevent its recurrence and address its effect;

• accessible and non-discriminatory support services are available for staff and students;

• ensuring that complainants have the right to contact police directly. A criminal investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct does not relieve LI of its duty to resolve complaints promptly and equitably;

• ensuring the complainant has the right to anonymous or external reporting (for example the police);

• there is no retaliation against a member of the LI community who opposes the practices prohibited by this policy against sexual misconduct, who brings forth a complaint, against whom a complaint is brought, or who otherwise is a participant in a complaint resolution process. Such prohibited retaliatory conduct includes but is not limited to: reducing a student's grade; decreasing an employee's pay; or downgrading a person's performance evaluation.

DEFINITIONS

Alleged offender: a person about whom a complaint of sexual misconduct is made as part of a report.

Complainant: a person who makes a disclosure or a report. A person who has experienced sexual misconduct may refer to themselves as a complainant, discloser, victim, or survivor.

Consent: the voluntary agreement through words or conduct to engage in a sexual act/s, and the continued agreement to engage in the act/s. Consent can be withdrawn at any point. Consent cannot be given if the person is under 16 years of age; is threatened with harm, extortion, or humiliation; is under the effect of drugs or alcohol; is asleep or unconscious; is incapacitated mentally or physically; or is unlawfully detained. Consent needs to be clearly given when someone is in a position of power over someone else.

Disclosure: sharing information regarding sexual misconduct to members of LI 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: a report to the police and/or external agency.

Institute Related Conduct: any conduct connected to LI, including conduct that occurs:

• During, or in connection with, any function, activity or event related to LI (whether sanctioned by LI or otherwise);

• When a person is representing LI in any capacity;

• During, or in connection with, the performance of duties for LI;

• Using, or is facilitated by, LI’s Information Technology (IT) resources or other equipment; or

• On, or in connection with, any property owned, leased, or occupied by LI (or any entities it controls) or any lands or roads within any LI campus.

LI community: this includes all staff, students, prospective students, contractors, volunteers, and visitors.

Procedural fairness: the requirement to ensure fairness 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: are arrangements or adjustments that may be implemented on a case-by-case basis where a disclosure or report has been made to minimise the potential for harm to any person.

Report: sharing of 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 misconduct: any unwelcome behaviour of a sexual nature including sexual assault, sexual harassment, an act of indecency, making or distributing sexually explicit photos or videos without consent, and any other non-consensual sexual conduct if a reasonable person would consider that conduct to be an invasion of their privacy, indecent or otherwise unacceptable conduct.

Sexual assault: any offence of a sexual nature committed on another person where a person is forced, coerced, or tricked into sexual acts against their will or without their consent, including when they have withdrawn their consent, or they are unable to give consent.

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; and/or

• Behaviour that is 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 staff and students to access support and reasonable measures and to make disclosures or reports of sexual misconduct.

PROCEDURES

Allegations of sexual misconduct involving staff or contractors (excluding students) will be referred to the Registrar to be investigated and/or managed. If the allegation is involving the Registrar then the matter will be referred to the President. Past students who report an incident of sexual misconduct which occurred when they were a student will be provided with information and referred to support services by LI. Past students should be aware that LI may be limited in any investigative actions it can take.

LI does not investigate allegations of sexual misconduct made against people who are not part of the LI community, or incidents not connected to the Institute. However, LI provides support and information for students who disclose or report sexual misconduct and will support them if they wish to report their experience to the appropriate authority.

Support for Staff and Students

Support available for staff and students includes:

• counselling through LI’s support services or referral to counselling services;

• assistance in making a report;

• assistance through the process of an investigation or misconduct process;

• assistance in making a report to the police or other external agency; and

• reasonable measures 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 and;

  • Workplace arrangements.

LI’s trained responders provide immediate support for staff and students, including confidential advice on options available and support to action these.

Disclosures

A disclosure can be made by any staff member or student who experiences sexual misconduct. If the person making the disclosure wishes further action to be taken, they may elect to make a report. Staff who receive a disclosure from students will refer the complainant to an LI trained responder. The LI trained responder will outline options available to the complainant, such as completing an Incident Report Form, or reporting to the police or other external agency, and referring international students to support agencies.

If the complainant gives permission for the trained responder to release their name and contact details, the complainant and trained responder will make a report together using an Incident Report Form as soon as practicable. If the complainant does not give permission for the trained responder 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 of Administration, Marketing, and Recruitment as soon as practicable.

Staff members are required to make a mandatory report to the Queensland Police Services (QPS) 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, LI may still use the de-identified recorded disclosure form for the purposes of the Institute’s risk identification, assessment, and prevention strategies.

Reports

 A report can be made by any staff member or student who experiences sexual misconduct to access support services and to initiate further action by LI.

Internal Report

Members of the LI community can make a report of sexual misconduct by using the Incident Report Form or by contacting the trained responder. Students making a report will be contacted within two business days and, in urgent circumstances, will be contacted immediately.

External Report

Members of the LI community may make an external report to the police or other external agency at any time and will be supported by LI if they wish to do so. No-one may prevent any person from reporting or referring a matter to the police or other external agency and no-one should seek to exert any pressure on any person to dissuade them from making an external report.

Further Action

A report of sexual misconduct will be provided to the Registrar. Support and reasonable measures will be made available to all parties to the report, as required for the duration of the process. LI’s internal processes are for the purpose of determining sexual misconduct and separate from any criminal proceedings or investigations conducted by the police or other external agency because of an external report. An internal process may cease whilst a police or external investigation is being undertaken.

Where the alleged offender is a student, the report may be progressed to Executive Management Team for action. If Executive Management Team determines on the balance of probabilities that misconduct has occurred, it may apply one or more penalties in accordance with the Code of Conduct Policy.

Reports against staff or contractors will be investigated and/or managed under contractual agreement.

Implementation of Reasonable Measures

The application of reasonable measures is determined on a case-by-case basis. Application of reasonable measures because 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, LI 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.

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 under legislation or, 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.

Recordkeeping

All reports of sexual misconduct, records, and correspondence taken, including those made to and/or in connection with LI owned or affiliated student accommodation are securely retained in accordance with the Record Management Policy. For the purposes of reporting on sexual misconduct, information received as part of a report is recorded by, monitored, and reported upon by LI.

Access to Information

Subject to confidentiality requirements, staff and students are allowed reasonable access to recorded information about themselves. Access to information relating to a report of sexual misconduct are restricted to LI staff who have a need to access and use the information to carry out their responsibilities under this procedure and the student and staff sexual assault and sexual harassment policy.