You have a right to feel safe in your residence.
Sexual harm may be a breach of your residential college rules, as well as possibly being a breach of the University’s Sexual Misconduct Policy and a breach of criminal law.
For that reason, you can expect assistance and support from your residential college staff, as well as from the University and the New Zealand Police. You can choose to get help from all of these organisations, from just one or two of them, or from none of them. That is completely up to you.
Support and assistance available in your residential college
Your residential college staff are an important source of support and assistance. It is highly recommended that you let them know what you are going through.
What the residential college staff will do and who they will tell
The warden will not take any steps, start any processes or tell anyone about your situation (including your parents) unless either:
- You agree to them doing so, or
- It is necessary to do so to protect your health and wellbeing
You can tell your warden about the harm and get assistance from them, without the respondent (the person alleged to have committed the sexual harm) ever knowing you have spoken to them about the situation.
Or, if you want the warden to take action to have the matter investigated or to put in place no-fault protective measures within the college, they will do so.
Below are the steps that residential college wardens can take to help you.
No-fault protective measures within the residential colleges
Because no-fault protective measures can be imposed before an allegation of sexual harm has been investigated or admitted, they must be imposed fairly and equitably. Therefore, to the extent possible, they will be imposed on both parties equally so that neither party is unfairly prejudiced by them.
No-fault protective measures can be put in place in your residential college. These measures can be additional to any no-fault protective measures the Proctor might put in place around campus.
To have no-fault protective measures imposed or an investigation started, you will have to tell the Warden who the respondent (the person alleged to have committed the sexual harm) is, and you will have to agree to the Warden telling the respondent that you have made the allegation of sexual harm.
The kinds of measures that can be put in place within a Residential College, to reduce the chance of you seeing the respondent, include (but are not limited to):
- Neither party is to the other party (including over social media)
- Neither part is to encourage anyone else to make contact with the other party
- Different times for each party to have dinner
- Not being allowed to go to the other party’s floor or house
- Restricting which entrances/exits/stairwells and lifts each party uses
- Restricting access to formal events
- Restricting use of common areas such as laundry or gym facilities
- Making a rule that both parties must maintain a safe and respectful distance from the other party when in unrestricted common areas.
- If no other option exists for keeping parties apart, one party may have to temporarily or permanently move out of the college
An important point about no-fault protective measures
No-fault protective measures put in place within residential colleges can be reviewed by the Residential College Appeals body.
Any proven breach of protective measures would be dealt with under the Student Conduct Statute and could result in separate disciplinary proceedings being taken against the party who breached them.
Investigations into sexual harm within a residential college
Your residential college warden is not able to undertake an investigation into sexual harm within the College. This is so they can continue to care for both parties, without having to take sides.
Investigations into sexual harm will be completed by the police (if you chose that path), or by the University Proctor (if the allegation is not of ‘grievous sexual misconduct”).
Once the Proctor or the police have completed their investigation, your warden can rely on the outcome of that investigation to impose sanctions within the college, up to and including removal of the respondent (the person alleged to have committed the sexual harm) from the college.