This week, Trinity launched an anonymous reporting platform for incidents of bullying, discrimination, harassment and assault. While it’s a step in the right direction, the platform itself has significant shortfalls, and its intended purpose is somewhat opaque.
The tool asks a series of multiple-choice questions about the nature and the time frame of the incident, as well as who else was involved (student, staff member, etc). At no point are respondents asked to name people or write about the situation in their own words. At the end, respondents are recommended supports and avenues to make a complaint, if they wish to.
Trinity has said it will collect the data from the website and use it to inform future policy. Clearly, College knows that these issues are prevalent, but having statistics to back it up will be valuable in that it enables decision makers to identify the most common forms of harassment and bullying and create policy accordingly. The platform also gives victims the chance to acknowledge an incident some time after it occurred, without necessarily having to go through the formal complaints procedure.
The initiative is part of Provost Linda Doyle’s aim to create a “zero-tolerance culture” in College. However, recording a problem is not fixing it. While Speak Out allows students to do just that, it does not guarantee accountability for perpetrators.
College must be clear about the purpose of this tool and transparent about the decisions its data informs. This is a step in the right direction, but it can not be Trinity’s only answer to endemic issues such as sexual assault.
Consultation briefings about proposed changes to Trinity’s dignity and respect policy were to take place in November, however exact dates and times of these meetings were not circulated to students as they were supposed to be. Moreover, the current policy already condemns such behaviour and outlines the complaints procedure for victims. It is also already common knowledge among staff and students that these issues are widespread, but there is little confidence in Trinity’s ability to deal with them.
Steps like this tool are welcome, but belated. Gathering data and implementing policy is important, but there seems to be a lack of urgency among Trinity’s upper echelons to proactively resolve the problems in question.
