If your behaviour has been formally reported to the Student Resolution Service and is going to be the subject of an investigation under the Student Disciplinary Regulations, you will be contacted directly on your university email address.
If your behaviour is under investigation you will have a named Student Liaison Officer (SLO), who is a member of the SRS and will be your point of contact for the duration of the investigation. You will be able to meet with your SLO to make sure that you fully understand the process and are able to ask any questions you might have.
You will receive full details of the allegations, along with the evidence being considered. You will have an opportunity to respond to the allegations and provide supporting evidence. You can talk to your SLO about what forms of evidence may be relevant to the investigation.
In brief, the normal formal disciplinary process is:
- You are notified of the investigation and sent all relevant documentation to your university email address.
- You are asked to submit a ‘Response to Allegations’ form, where you provide a written response to the allegations
- An investigation meeting is held between yourself and the Investigating Officer, where they will seek to gather the facts and ask clarifying questions about your response to allegations. Your SLO will be there to take notes, and you can bring someone for support.
- The notes of this meeting will be shared with you to check they are an accurate record of the meeting.
- Once the Investigating Officer has gathered all the evidence they will draft an investigation report. This is reviewed by a Disciplinary Decision-Maker or Disciplinary Committee who will determine the outcome. If a Disciplinary Committee is convened, you will be invited to a part of the meeting.
- The outcome will be sent to you by your SLO.
Please note: in cases of allegations of sexual assault, the process works slightly differently, as we partner with a specialist external agency for investigative purposes. In these cases, you will not provide a written response to allegations, but instead have an in-depth investigation meeting to respond verbally to the allegations. Your SLO will be able to further explain the process in these cases.
You will put yourself in the best possible position if you engage fully with the disciplinary process and use this as an opportunity to reflect on your behaviour and the allegations. We know that undergoing a disciplinary investigation can be very stressful, and we encourage you to get in touch with the Student Wellbeing Service for further support. Your SLO can also make a direct referral to the Wellbeing Service if this would be helpful. The Student Wellbeing Service are aware of the Student Disciplinary Process, and will support you in a non-judgmental manner.