Tackling hate crime and harassment
The University and LUU are joining forces on a HEFCE-funded project to improve hate crime awareness and reporting amongst students by creating a ‘challenge’, ‘report’ and ‘support’ culture on campus.
The LUU Student Advice Centre will lead an awareness-raising campaign to enable students to identify and report concerns, both on and off campus. Student ambassadors, trained by Stop Hate UK, will work with LUU’s faith societies, culture groups, LGBT+ and Disability Action groups, as well as faculties which have a high percentage of international students, to help develop an understanding of what hate crime is, how to report it and how to access support.
They’ll make sure that the training is passed on from the society committees to incoming committee members next year so that the messages don’t get lost.
The University will be working with the student ambassadors to develop a new online reporting system to complement our existing reporting centres and the role of the West Yorkshire Police Campus Liaison Officer, PC Rebecca Hurrell.
Leeds is one of more than 40 universities and colleges to receive funding from HEFCE's Catalyst Fund to help tackle hate crime and harassment in higher education.
Announcing the funding, HEFCE Chief Executive, Professor Madeleine Atkins, said: "All students should feel safe and supported during their time in higher education. Universities and colleges are making progress in tackling the issues of hate crime and online harassment on campus, but there is more to be done.
"We are delighted to be supporting a range of innovative projects, and we will be looking to share good practice and evidence of successful outcomes over the coming months."
Posted in: University news