Conduct of university sports teams
In recent years there have been numerous negative media articles focusing on ‘lad culture’
and sexual harassment linked to university sports clubs. To investigate this further, UUK met
with British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS), which has been carrying out a
substantial amount of work to tackle ‘lad culture’ in university sports clubs. BUCS reported
that there is no centralised data available to show the scale of the problem nationally, but
that they were aware of significant anecdotal evidence.
In response to these problems, the BUCS ‘Take A Stand’ campaign has been developed to
support institutions with the tackling and prevention of anti-social behaviour where it arises
in a university sports context, and does not focus on sexual harassment alone.92 It includes a
guidance document covering racism, sexism, LGBTphobia, alcohol and drug abuse, crowd
behaviour, initiations, and faith and culture. Tips for prevention, training and case study
examples are provided. A charter has also been developed which individual sports clubs can
sign to demonstrate their commitment to the principles of the campaign.
BUCS have also run successful training sessions aimed at sports club executive committee
members to help raise awareness of the nature of ‘banter’ and what constitutes harassment.
The training also intends to equip clubs to respond to, and diffuse, the type of behaviour that
can lead to sexual harassment, or indeed other forms of harassment or hate crime. BUCS
reported that a peer-led, train the trainer approach has been effective and could be replicated
more broadly across an institution.
It can appear – particularly from media reports – that ‘lad culture’, misogynistic behaviour
and sexual harassment are rife among university sports teams. Both the teams and the
individuals who make up these clubs can be highly influential among their peers. This can
encourage the type of pack mentality and tacit condoning of unacceptable behaviour which
results in harassment. However, BUCS have also used the influential position of these
students to help stamp out this kind of behaviour. By educating and training active members
of the student body, the ‘trickle down’ effect can be far reaching. This type of approach could
be explored further in trying to address issues associated with pack mentality, particularly
where unacceptable behaviour has become normalised.
International experiences
UUK has reviewed some of the evidence available relating to international initiatives to
address sexual violence and harassment.
In the United States of America, there has been a considerable volume of work focusing
primarily on university responses to sexual assault. The legal context is very different in the
US where universities possess greater investigatory powers under Title IX of the Education
Amendments of 1972. Nonetheless, there appears to be scope for the UK to draw upon US
experiences to enhance university responses. UUK is aware of several UK universities that
are already doing this, for example drawing on the sexual misconduct processes adopted by
institutions such as Yale University.93
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http://www.bucs.org.uk/page.asp?section=18789§ionTitle=What+is+ per cent23TakeAStand per cent3F
http://smr.yale.edu/sexual-misconduct-policies-and-definitions
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