It’s on us to ensure everyone is safe
Jeff Grabill, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Student Education, considers heightened concerns about drink spiking and spiking by needle, arguing that it’s on men to change the culture that tolerates implicit and explicit violence against women.
We are in the process of identifying the values that will guide our behaviours and decision-making at the University of Leeds. Those values will guide our actions in relation to community, culture, and impact. It is necessary for us to work in partnership and collaboration to create a better world.
We have a challenge to a better community right in front of us in the form of heightened concerns about drink spiking — and even spiking by needle — in Leeds. This behaviour is truly horrifying, yet it is indicative of the fact that our society tolerates a sustained pattern of violence against women. Most violence against women is perpetrated by men.
It is unacceptable for women at the University of Leeds and women in the Leeds community to feel unsafe, yet often they do. That fact must be unacceptable to men in our community. We must be conscious of how our behaviour — and at times even our presence — can make others feel unsafe because of the culture and prevalence of violence against women. Everyone should be treated with dignity and respect, wherever they are, whether it’s on our campus, in the street, or in shops, pubs, and nightclubs.
“We are either active participants or bystanders in a culture that makes drink spiking imaginable. It’s on us to stop it.”
While drink spiking, harassment and other forms of violence can happen to anyone, violence against women is particularly pervasive because it is sustained by a culture that tolerates implicit and explicit aggression. Few of us would tolerate explicit violence in our presence. But many men tolerate, encourage, and participate in behaviour that is unacceptable. We are either active participants or bystanders in a culture that makes drink spiking imaginable. It’s on us to stop it.
It’s on us to stop making comments about women’s clothing, appearance, and bodies. It’s on us to stop unwanted and inappropriate engagement with women on social media. It’s on us to recognise that getting women drunk in the hope of ending the evening with them is just as inappropriate as taking advantage of an incapacitated woman by taking them home with you.
Most importantly, it is absolutely on us to practice consent. Consent is already included as a topic in various induction activities at Leeds, and more work is being undertaken in this area, linking to our key policies on dignity and mutual respect and professional boundaries.
As a campaign from Police Scotland urges, don’t be that guy. But it is just as necessary to refuse to enable these behaviours around us, particularly by our friends. Culture lives in behaviour, and to change the culture requires us to behave differently. It is the little things that matter.
It’s on us, as men, to think, talk, and act with attentiveness and care. To create a community in which women aren’t required to check their surroundings for risks and watch their drinks for drugs. It’s on us, regardless of our role in the Leeds community, to refuse to be silent and to actively make our community safer, more equitable, and more just.
We know that safety is an issue of real concern for our community and we’ll be working closely with our students, staff and Leeds University Union (LUU) over the coming weeks to understand how we can address this together.
“It’s important that we also acknowledge how sexual violence is connected to many other forms of discrimination.”
As we begin having these conversations as a community, it’s important that we also acknowledge how sexual violence is connected to many other forms of discrimination. Sexual violence doesn’t happen in a vacuum, which is why it can be difficult to address. Intersections with identity characteristics like race, ability, gender, and sexual identity affect access to justice and risk of violence. Such violence disproportionately affects women, but the impacts are even more disproportionate for women of colour, transgender women, and women with different abilities. If we’re going to effect change, all need to be considered and brought into the conversation.
Please make sure you get involved with the conversation. And if you’ve experienced any sort of sexual violence, whether it’s a sexist joke, harassment or assault, regardless of your gender or orientation, there is support for you — please take a look at some of the information and links, below.
Professor Jeff Grabill is Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Student Education at the University of Leeds and leads the University’s overall education strategy. Professor Grabill joined from Michigan State University in September 2021.
More information
The University is working with Leeds University Union to understand what it can do to help people feel safer in Leeds and will be focusing on the positive action we can take to make this happen. To help it understand what matters to its students, it is asking them to take a few minutes to complete this survey run by the School of Law.
Advice about drink spiking and personal safety:
- Look out for each other — make sure you and your friends are safe.
- If you think you may have been spiked, immediately tell someone you trust. If you’re alone, speak to a member of staff if you’re in a venue. Find out more about drink spiking, symptoms and what to do if you or a friend has been spiked.
- You can report any form of sexual assault, hate crime or abuse to the University.
- Many of the clubs and societies are supporting a growing organisation of students who are standing up against sexual violence in Leeds. You can find out more about this on Instagram: Girls Uncut Leeds and Girls Night In.
- If you’ve been affected by this, or need to speak to someone, contact LUU Help and Support.
- Find out more about safety at Uni, including a section on safety on nights out, created in partnership with the LUU executive officers.
Students’ suggestions, ideas and thoughts of how we create a safer Leeds for everyone are essential for positive change to happen. Contact studentcommunications@leeds.ac.uk
