In February, we received an open letter from a number of societies (which you can read more about here) that felt let down by our handling of the Freedom Society investigation. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been meeting with society leaders and students, where we listened and understood their perspectives and experiences. We also provided reassurance that we are taking this seriously and answered any questions that they may have had. We want to thank everyone who met with us, as we received really valuable feedback.
Based on the feedback from those meetings and the outcomes of our investigation, we’re sharing a list of actions we’re taking to ensure transparency on what we are working on over the coming months. Creating cultural and University-wide change isn’t easy and is not always straightforward. For this to happen, we, your Students’ Guild, student group leaders, and the University, must work together with determination and persistence.
Below are five work strands that encompass the actions we’re taking:
1: Community Safety and Belonging
You told us that this incident, as well as others more widely, have contributed to feeling unsafe at Exeter. Here are some steps we're taking to ensure students from all cultures and backgrounds feel safe and at home while in Exeter.
- Definition of Islamophobia: We must have a consistent campus definition to protect our communities. In partnership with the University, we’re implementing the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) definition of Islamophobia following a consultation with faith leaders, similarly to how we adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism. The definition is “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness”. This definition will help shape our policies, such as the ‘Member Code of Conduct,’ and outline the steps the Guild will take to embed it, working closely with members from the Muslim community to ensure its implementation is effective and meaningful.
- Support for community groups: Leaders in our most marginalised and impacted societies gave us clear feedback that they want more support from the Guild. We will continue to build on the existing work of our Communities team, giving our student communities everything they need to celebrate, educate and create safe spaces for their cultures.
- Community education: We will work in partnership with you, our members, and the University to identify and implement training, guidance and resources that support community cohesion and allyship.
2: Misconduct and Reporting
Our investigation and your feedback revealed some students feel unable to report unacceptable behaviour in societies. We are committed to improving our processes so we can address any breaches of our ‘Member Code of Conduct’ or behaviour which makes our members feel unsafe.
- Reporting processes: We will make our complaints and reporting process more visible and accessible, as well as clarify how it applies to student-led groups.
- Policies: We are reviewing our ‘Member Code of Conduct’ and ‘Complaints Policy’ to ensure these policies provide clear guidance on behavioural expectations, reporting procedures and actions.
3: Freedom of Speech
We consider the speech which prompted the investigation to be unlawful and we took the necessary steps to report it. We also had lots of conversations with our student groups about free speech duties, and how it feels to be confronted with difficult topics and sometimes offensive discourse on campus.
We heard that you want to feel more confident using your voice, understanding what’s acceptable and what’s not, and how to report incidents.
- Policies and processes: We’re currently reviewing and updating our policies to clarify how freedom of speech links with our ‘Member Code of Conduct’ and other key policies. We want to be clear, consistent and supportive so that everything works together to protect both free expression and your safety.
- Training and guidance for students: We will provide more empowering training and guidance for our student leaders on understanding freedom of speech at university and its potential impact on our communities. This is to support you in leading your societies and events so that students feel safe to fully participate at University.
- Guild staff training: We’re also building our staff team’s understanding of freedom of speech so we can better support you – whether that’s helping you lead your society, manage risks, or run events with confidence.
4: Society Risk Management
We recognise the need to reassure you, our members, that events you participate in through the Guild and student-led societies are delivered safely and have appropriate risk management in place.
- Policies and processes: We’re working to make freedom of speech and the risks that come with it more visible and better understood in our risk management processes. That includes making sure what works for external speakers is also clear and useful for other student-led events too and that impacts on our student community are carefully considered in the planning processes.
- Training requirements: Your feedback has made clear you feel committee training is essential and we agree. We will be reviewing how we support societies with risk management, and we will be bringing in mandatory training for those running higher risk events and activities and working with our community to make this as effective as possible.
- Transparency: We want to make it easier for you to see what risk management looks like in practice, including exploring ways to publish society risk assessments more openly, so everyone knows what’s in place to keep things safe and inclusive. For example, this could look like being able to see what safety equipment is required for a sport activity or if a speaker event requires staff presence, so everyone knows what’s in place to keep things safe and whether to report if risk assessments are not being followed.
5: Clarity of Society Processes
We’re reviewing how we communicate society processes, so it’s easier for student leaders to know exactly what’s expected and where to go for support.
- Processes: We’re taking a fresh look at the Activities Regulations and how they connect with things like the external speaker, freedom of speech and complaints procedures – making sure everything links up and makes sense.
- Clarity: We’re also updating key guidance, like who can be on a committee and what counts as a society event, so student leaders have a clear path to follow, whatever they’re planning.
What happens next
We know this isn’t just about policies and processes – it’s about trust, action and making real change. These five themes are just the starting point. We’re committing to doing the work, being transparent and showing you the steps we’re taking.
Your voices are essential in creating a community where everyone feels like they belong. Keep speaking up, keep holding us to account, and know that we’re here to work with you, side by side. That can only happen if we listen, learn and act – together.
Alex, Kira, Seb, Thomas and India [Guild Officers 2024/25]
Ali Chambers [Chief Executive]