Eradicating sexual violence in tertiary education : a report from UCU’s sexual violence task group

Abstract

This report represents the work of 13 UCU members who were convened in September 2020 to examine sexual violence in tertiary education across the UK and inform the union’s campaigning and representation of members affected by the issue. The report reinforces previous research about the worryingly high levels of prevalence of sexual violence in the sector, with a focus on the past five years. As well as highlighting the severity of the problem in general terms, some of the report’s most important findings are about the disproportionate prevalence of sexual violence against groups that are marginalised by employment status or protected characteristics. Precariously employed staff and postgraduate researchers, disabled staff, trans and non-binary staff, and staff whose sexual orientation is not heterosexual are all significantly more likely to have directly experienced sexual violence in the past five years.