Reporting Racial Harassment

Progressing race equality and tackling racism robustly is one of the University’s key priorities. However, talking about racism can be difficult and you might not always know how to report it. Below is some guidance that aims to make that process easier, it draws on the University’s advice on working towards ‘Race Equality at Cambridge’: https://www.race-equality.admin.cam.ac.uk/help-and-advice

If you need any help working out what to do or how to report an incident, you can talk to the Faculty’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity Officer (Rebecca Anne Barr) in confidence. Email her (rab43@cam.ac.uk) to set up a meeting. At the bottom of this page is a flowchart summarising the information detailed here, which may help you decide on the route you want to take.

What is racial harassment

Racial harassment is an incident or a series of incidents intended or likely to intimidate, offend or harm an individual or group because of their ethnic origin, colour, race, religion or nationality, and a racist incident is any incident that is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person (MacPherson Report 1999).

Such behaviour may include:

  • Derogatory name calling.
  • Verbal threats, insults and racist jokes.
  • Display of racially offensive material.
  • Exclusion from normal workplace conversation or activities.
  • Physical attack.
  • Encouraging others to commit any such acts.

There are different options available to you if you have experienced racial harassment. These are outlined under ‘Reporting Harassment & Sexual Misconduct’.