Sexual misconduct: Call for lax universities to lose status

Ministers in the United Kingdom have said universities failing to take tough action on sexual misconduct should risk losing their official status, writes Zoe Tidman for the Independent.

Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi and Universities Minister Michelle Donelan have told the higher education regulator it should become a sanctionable offence to not follow its recommendations on tackling sexual violence, the Independent can reveal. This could involve a range of penalties, with the worst or repeated breaches potentially resulting in a loss of university status.

Last April the regulator, the Office for Students, set out a list of recommendations aimed at helping universities to prevent and respond to sexual harassment and misconduct on campus. At the time, the regulator said it would consider giving these more weight by making them a “condition of registration”. This would give it powers to issue sanctions for breaches but a year later that has yet to be introduced.
Full report on the Independent site