Vice-Chancellor joins other universities in commitment to end NDAs in harassment cases
Buckinghamshire New University is one of the first universities to pledge its commitment to ending the use of non-disclosure agreements in cases of sexual misconduct, bullying or other forms of harassment.
Launched by the Department for Education, the pledge follows a widely backed national campaign urging universities not to pressure victims into signing legally-binding non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) that both stop them speaking out and protect the accused.
Today’s action by BNU reaffirms the University’s long-held stance on not using non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in cases of sexual misconduct, bullying or other forms of harassment. This is part of the University’s commitment to creating an inclusive culture based on openness and transparency where all forms of harassment and bullying are not tolerated.
Professor Nick Braisby, Vice-Chancellor of Buckinghamshire New University, commented: “I am proud to be one of the first vice-chancellors signing this hugely important pledge that will hopefully signal the end of non-disclosure agreements being used in higher education and other sectors for sexual misconduct, bullying and other types of harassment cases.
“Today’s pledge reaffirms BNU’s long-held position on NDAs as we believe in creating an open and transparent culture where staff and students can come forward and raise their concerns without being silenced, and knowing that we will support them wholeheartedly.”
BNU and Bucks Students’ Union have various procedures and training programmes in place to reduce the risk of harassment incidents occurring, to promote how to raise concerns, and to signpost victims to the support in place.
In addition to respective codes of conduct for staff and students, BNU has a separate bullying and harassment policy for students, and both the Students’ Union Advice Centre and BNU’s Student Centre work collaboratively to support students holistically when they raise concerns. As part of its support, BNU may still consider requests by a victim for an NDA on a case-by-case basis where this does not prevent them from reporting harassment.
More information on how our students can report sexual harassment, online harassment, and hate incidents is available on our website. Various internal and external support networks are also available to both our staff and students.