Funds to stamp out student hate crimes

HATE CRIME and online harassment involving students will be tackled at a Yorkshire university using a share of £1.8m in grant funding.

Sheffield Hallam University aims to encourage greater student engagement, embed more effective reporting systems and offer more support to international students through a range of different projects.

Activities will be student-led, and emerge out of students’ academic specialities, with students being invited to bid for funding to support their projects.

University chiefs hope that it will result in enhanced relationships between different groups across the university and the Students’ Union.

Martin Conway, who is leading the initiative at Sheffield Hallam, said: “The project promotes the value of open discussion as a route to understanding and mutual respect, with a focus on the debate of ideas, by using project resources to equip staff and students with the skills to manage debate and defuse conflict.”

Sheffield Hallam is one of more than 40 universities and colleges to receive backing from the Higher Education Funding Council for England’s Catalyst Fund. It has made the funding available following a recent report by the Universities UK Harassment Task Force, which highlighted a need for institutions to respond more effectively to hate crime.

Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation Jo Johnson welcomed the funding announcement.

He said: “Hate crime of any kind has no place in our society or on our campuses, and we expect universities to take a zerotolerance approach to this kind of harassment, whether it takes place online or in person.”