What is bullying, harassment and hate crimes?
Bullying, harassment and hate crimes are never OK. We are here to help you recognise the signs and where you can get support.
This page contains content some students may find difficult to read. If you need support, please see options below.
If you are on campus and need urgent support, please find a safe space and call Security on 0207 040 3333. For emergencies call 999.
Support is here for you
- Make a report - use Report + Support to confidentially report a concern, an incident that occurred, or to make a disclosure about your own or someone else's safety and well-being so we can best support you.
- Talk to someone - Dignity and Respect Advisers are staff volunteers trained to listen and help you explore the options available to you.
- Get guidance - your Personal Tutor or School Welfare Team can help connect you with the right support.
To understand your options and what happens when you report, visit our Student Bullying and Harassment Policy page.
You can also find a list of external support services below.
Bullying, harassment and hate crimes
Bullying is harmful behaviour that intends to intimidate, hurt or insult someone. This often happens on a repeated basis. Bullying can be physical, verbal, non-verbal or take place online.
Harassment is when someone else’s unwanted behaviour makes someone feel uncomfortable, unsafe, or belittled due to protected characteristics like age, gender, race, belief or sexuality.
Hate crimes are when any criminal acts are committed against someone based on their disability, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, and sexuality or transgender identity.
Know the signs
Signs of bullying
- Spreading harmful rumours about you
- Insulting someone with words or behaviour
- Publicly ridiculing or demeaning you
- Treating you unfairly by excluding you or victimising you
- Overbearing supervision or misuse of power that makes you feel uncomfortable
Signs of harassment
- Physical contact like touching, pushing, pinching, grabbing
- Persistently asking to hang out even after you've said no
- Sharing images or materials that could be considered offensive or image-based abuse
- Making offensive comments or jokes about your disability, gender, ethnicity or religion
- Threatening to out someone as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer (LGBTQ+), or any other minority gender or sexual identity
- Deliberately ignoring or excluding someone from a conversation or group
Signs of online bullying and harassment
- Cyberstalking - repeatedly contacting or monitoring someone online to frighten or intimidate them.
- Excluding someone - from group chats or online activities to make them feel left out.
- Exposing someone - sharing someone else's private information without their permission.
- Image-based sexual abuse - posting someone's intimate photos or videos online without their permission
- Impersonation - pretending to be someone else online.
- Internet pile-on - when people are encouraged to target one person and overwhelm them with messages.
- Spreading lies - posting or sending harmful and false things about someone to other people.
- Trolling - sending nasty messages or comments to make people angry and start conflict online.
Hate crimes
If someone is attacked because of their ethnicity, that's a hate crime. If someone is verbally abused because of their sexual orientation, that is also a hate crime. With hate crimes, the offender is motivated by ‘who’ the victim is or ‘what’ the victim appears to be.
Hate crimes can manifest as physical attacks, verbal abuse, or actions that intend to incite hatred against a particular person or group based on their personal identity.
Types of hate crimes
- Physical assault - Any kind of physical assault is a crime. Physical assault due to a perceived personal characteristic is a hate crime.
- Verbal abuse - This involves using derogatory language, threats, or name-calling to demean someone based on who they are.
- Incitement to hatred – This involves someone acting in a way that is threatening and hateful towards a particular group, whether that’s in person or online.
Hate incidents
A hate incident is any hateful act motivated by prejudice. While a hate incident may not be a crime, it can still be reported to the police.
Reporting to the police
There are laws in place to support you. You can report it by calling 101 (non-emergency number), online or in person by visiting your local police station. See the steps for reporting to the police on the Metropolitan website. You can also reach out to Crimestoppers, a 24/7 independent charity service that allows you to report crimes anonymously.
No matter what's happened, if you believe you've been a victim of a hate crime or a hate incident, remember that your University is here to support you.
Understanding your reporting options
Telling someone at the University about your experience is a disclosure, you can make a disclosure and receive support without making a formal report if you're not ready to. A formal report is when you ask the University to investigate and take appropriate action.
Learn more about our Student Bullying and Harassment Policy.
Victimisation
Victimisation means treating someone poorly or unfairly because they’ve reported bullying or harassment, or someone thinks they might have. This is unacceptable behaviour and could lead to disciplinary action from the University.
Where to get support
Support at City St George's
Report + Support
If you would like to report something to City St George's, you can use our online reporting platform, Report + Support. Use this tool to report a concern, an incident that occurred, or to make a disclosure about your own or someone else's safety and well-being so that we can best support you.
Talk to someone
Dignity and Respect Advisers are staff volunteers trained to listen and help you explore your options. You can also reach out to your Personal Tutor or School Welfare Team.
A wide range of additional support services are also available to you at City St George's, visit our Student Support Services page for a full list.
External support for victims of bullying, harassment and hate crimes
- Victim Support - a 24/7 charity service dedicated to offering specialist and free support to victims of crime in England. Even if you haven’t reported the crime, you can still get support.
- Galop - an anti-violence charity offering emotional and practical support for LGBTQ+ victims of sexual violence, hate crime or domestic abuse.
- Tell MAMA – supports victims of anti-Muslim hate and monitors anti-Muslim hate incidents.
- Community Security Trust - a charity that protects British Jews from antisemitism and related threats.
- Samaritans - Whatever you’re going through you can call the Samaritans for free, any time. They offer support 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
- The Mix - A charity offering free, confidential and anonymous support for under 25s. Whatever issue a young person is facing, The Mix is always there.
- Forum+ - supports local LGBTQ+ victims of hate crime, hate incidents and discrimination.
Merging City and St George’s Resources
As we bring together resources for City (Clerkenwell) and St George’s (Tooting) students, some content may be specific to one campus and not the other. For the most relevant information, try using specific keywords or exploring content related to your department. If you need help, our support teams are available to guide you.
Clerkenwell students can contact campus.news@citystgeorges.ac.uk
Tooting students can contact studentlifecentre@sgul.ac.uk.