Report student conduct (with investigation)

Your case will be assigned to the next available Conduct Investigator who will assess the most appropriate steps forward.

Once the Conduct Investigator is available and begins the investigation most cases will be resolved within 40 working days. However, if your case involves a serious allegation then it is possible that it could take longer.

Any delays in the resolution of your case will be communicated to you via your Essex email address.

If you are the complainant, please email the Student Conduct Team (studentconduct@essex.ac.uk) if you begin a Police investigation after your investigation with the Student Conduct Team begins. The conduct investigator will need to contact the Police to confirm if the University should temporarily suspend their investigation. This is important as it can prevent the Police investigation being prejudiced and any evidence being lost.

If you are the reported student, please email the Student Conduct Team (studentconduct@essex.ac.uk) to let us know of any updates with your case. This will help us manage any pre-cautionary measures and will allow for efficiency in the investigative process.

Pre-cautionary measures are put in place when a risk assessment is conducted by a Student Conduct Manager following the receipt of a report. Pre-cautionary measures are decided on a case-by-case basis following the outcome of the risk assessment. Examples of pre-cautionary measures are outlined below:

• Non-contact order – this means an order outlining a restriction on communication between the reported, complainant and occasionally witnesses. This includes face-to-face, phone call, phone messages, via social media and through third parties. Any breaches of this order should be alerted to the Student Conduct Team (studentconduct@essex.ac.uk) who will investigate this allegation. Breaching this order falls under the regulation D12 of the Student Code of Conduct and is punishable if proven.
  D12. Any behaviour that is deemed to contravene the general principles of the Code of Student Conduct, including failure to engage in the Code of Student Conduct when requested to do so.
• Full or partial exclusion from campus – a partial exclusion from campuses will likely exclude you from areas that are seen as higher risk, for example certain accommodation areas or from any bars or clubs on campus. A full exclusion means that you are not allowed onto the campuses until further notice from the Student Conduct Team.
• Other measures may include a curfew, being required to move accommodation, or any other measure the investigator deems necessary to prevent any further cause for complaint.

You will receive information ahead of your meeting via your Essex email. This will include the time and date, the expected length of the meeting and whether you will meet the investigator via Zoom or in person on campus.

If you are a reported student, you will typically meet with the investigator after they have gathered evidence from the complainant and witnesses. This ensures that all relevant information can be presented to you, allowing you to provide your account of the events. By consolidating the evidence into a single meeting, it avoids the need for multiple sessions as new information arises and gives you the opportunity to fully respond to the allegations. While this may mean waiting until the investigation reaches this stage, please be assured that this is a normal part of the process and should not be a cause for concern.

The investigator will introduce themselves and ask you to confirm information such as your preferred name, status of any ongoing Police case and your access to support services. The investigator will also let you know that they will be taking written notes throughout the meeting to capture your version of events. The notes will be sent to you during the investigation for you to confirm the accuracy.

We appreciate that speaking about the allegation(s) can be very difficult and will check-in with you through the meeting to ensure you are okay to continue. It’s possible to take short breaks if needed, or re-schedule if appropriate.

If relevant, the investigator will go through any evidence that is pertinent to the case. They will also ask you if there are any witnesses if you have not provided them already.

At the end of the meeting, the investigator will speak with you about an expected timeline for the case, next steps and go through any questions you may have.

Occasionally some meetings may overrun the expected scheduled time. If this happens, the investigator will either confirm with everyone present if they are happy to continue or they will end the meeting as scheduled, and you will be sent further times by the Student Conduct Team to book an additional appointment.

Most cases are resolved within the proposed 40 working day deadline. However, occasionally delays naturally occur for a number of reasons. We will update you with any delays as soon as possible and give you an estimate of the resolution date.

From a staffing point of view, the team work normal office hours, 9am – 5pm (GMT, BST), Mon-Fri. The team will also be away from the office during UK bank holidays and University of Essex scheduled closure days, such as the winter break.

Additional delays may be because the complainant, reported or witnesses have not attended their scheduled meetings. Delays may occur where the investigator is waiting on evidence or correspondence from those involved in the case, teams within the university or external bodies such as the Police.

There may also be a delay if there is an ongoing Police investigation, or the investigator has a concern about a student’s mental wellbeing. Both may constitute a request to the Academic Registrar for a temporary suspension of the case.

If you do not hear from the Student Conduct Team for a while, please be assured that the conduct investigators are working to ensure a thorough and accurate investigation is ongoing and scrupulously analysing any evidence and/or gathered information received for the case in order to conclude the case based accurately on the information. If you have any questions, or would like an update on the progress of your case, contact studentconduct@essex.ac.uk.

If you have feedback during the investigation, then you can speak with the SU Advice Centre, Wellbeing Team or the Student Conduct Team for further advice.

After the investigation is complete, you will be sent an email from the Student Conduct Team that will give you the opportunity to provide feedback on your experience.

You can make an anonymous report via Report + Support.

However, it’s important to note that anonymous reports cannot be taken forward by the Student Conduct Team to investigate as we are an evidenced-based process.

Anonymous reports are still extremely helpful to receive to give our services information on types of incidents and to help us pick up on trends in order to aid the team in taking forward preventative measures in the future for the safety and security of the University population.

The Student Conduct Team will contact you through the studentconduct@essex.ac.uk email address and will send all correspondence to your Essex email address. Occasionally, it might be necessary to contact you through your personal email address which you would have provided when you applied to the University. Please ensure that this is up-to-date and confidential for your use.

If you have a meeting with an investigator, it is likely that the investigators personal Essex email address will send you a calendar invitation. If you are unsure about who is contacting you, if you click on the sender’s name in the email you should see a dialogue box which will state their job title; this will be either Student Conduct Manager, Student Conduct Officer or Student Progress Assistant.

If you are ever unsure about who is contacting you, please email studentconduct@essex.ac.uk in the first instance. Alternatively, you can seek advice from the SU Advice Team, Student Information Team (SIT) or the IT Helpdesk who will be able to assist you with this query.