Harassment and sexual misconduct on campus didn’t begin in 2009, and neither did activism around it – although the publication of NUS’ “Hidden Marks” report did feel like a “moment”.
But even if you then forget the more than a decade’s worth of student campaigning that ensued up to the publication of an informal set of expectations on harassment and sexual misconduct in 2020, you might wonder why it’s taken the Office for Students (OfS) more than three years to grow the teeth it needs to start regulating in this area.
Officially the position was that the regulator wanted to give the sector a chance to get its house in order before acting – although a re-read of the 2020 documentation suggests that OfS hadn’t really thought through how it might regulate (as opposed to encourage) on this area if it tried.
Nonetheless, over three years on, a proposal is now on the table, out for formal consultation – and you know how those tend to go. OfS is proposing to impose a substantial new condition of registration on providers in relation to harassment and sexual misconduct that would do six key things.
