Preamble

When students come together around a shared interest, activity, or culture, such as in a club or society or other Union activities, it’s completely natural that personalities may sometimes clash. Just because you all share a passion for the same sport, hobby or cultural background doesn’t mean you’ll always get along.

Disagreements and personality conflicts are a normal part of life. These are not typically considered disciplinary matters and are usually best addressed informally within the group where it occurred. Learning how to manage and resolve conflict constructively is an important life skill and one that will serve you well in any future workplace or community.

The Union disciplinary process is here for more serious issues involving misconduct or breaches of Union rules. If you’re unsure whether a situation should be escalated, we encourage you to seek advice from your Club or Society Committee or from the Union staff team responsible for the activity where this behaviour was witnessed, before deciding to escalate to a formal report.

Policy Summary

The Union may take disciplinary action where the student’s behaviour has affected:

Another student or union employee
Members of the public
Others visiting, working or studying at the University
The reputation of the Students' Union

In addition to misconduct which happens within the Students Union or during Student Union activities, the Union may take disciplinary action in response to misconduct which takes place on social media or the digital environment.

Misconduct is likely to fall into one of the categories below. The examples listed are illustrative and are not exhaustive. Some instances of misconduct may feature in more than one category depending on the circumstances.

Actions which cause actual or potential distress or harm (physical or psychological and in person or through any other medium) to other people irrespective of whether or not distress or harm was intended.
Actions which cause actual or potential damage to property of others
Actions which cause actual or potential reputational damage to the Union which include any conduct that brings, or could reasonably be anticipated to bring the Union into disrepute or otherwise could reasonably be anticipated to lower the Union in the estimation of a reasonable person
Actions which disrupt the normal operations, and/or safe use of, the Union
Action which breaches the Union’s Byelaws

Please note that any behaviour that could be categorised as the following will be dealt with under the University’s Regulations for student disciplinaries:

Sexual misconduct as described in the University’s Sexual Misconduct Policy
Targeting an individual due to their possession, or perceived possession, of a protected characteristic: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation
Possession of an offensive weapon/firearm including imitation or replica products
Dealing of drugs on Union Premises

Misconduct will be progressed as either minor or major depending on the severity of the misconduct and with due regard as to whether a minor or major penalty would be proportionate and reasonable for a proven offence.

Examples of Minor and minor offences can be found in the Union Disciplinary Procedure. However, the Union reserves the right to consider any allegation of misconduct to be major, even if it appears in the minors example.

The Union reserves the right to escalate an investigation to the University if the potential misconduct is considered to be of a serious enough nature.

The Process

If misconduct is suspected the Union will handle this through three stages:

Initial Investigation
Disciplinary Panel
Disciplinary Appeal Panel

Disciplinary Policy

⚠️ Not sure if this is the right route?

Report Misconduct