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Sheffield Hallam Support for Students 

Report and Support Team

If a student is harassing another student or a member of staff, or posting offensive material online you can tell us anonymously via Report and Support or you can tell us with your details if you wish to be contacted to discuss options and support. We can provide targeted support and referral to conduct procedures where appropriate. Allegations of misconduct relating to the behaviour by a group of students can be reported as a single allegation.

Information about the University's student conduct procedures, including how allegations are considered and investigated, can be found in the Student Conduct Regulations and Procedures.

If you choose to name a member of staff in your report, the University will consider the information you provide and determine the most appropriate next steps. Depending on the circumstances, this may include a formal investigation under the relevant University procedures.

Students’ Union Advice Team

The Students' Union provides a confidential, non-judgemental and free service available to all Sheffield Hallam Students. It is independent from the University, so issues with the advice service will not appear on your file without your consent. The advice team provides specialist advice and support on academic issues such as concerns about your University experience, formal complaints and appeals, disciplinary hearings and academic misconduct investigations.

Sheffield Hallam Support for Staff 

Line Manager / Head of Department

If a member of staff is harassing another member of staff online or offline, you should report this to your Line Manager in the first instance. If your Line Manager is unavailable, you should report it to the department's manager or head. 

HROD

If you don't feel that you can speak to any of these people about the situation, you should report the issue to HROD. Harassment is a disciplinary matter and will be treated in line with HROD policy 

You can find information about support options on the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion page.

Report and Support

You can also use Report and Support to tell us anonymously or tell us with your details if you wish to be contacted to discuss options and support. 

Good Practice

There are steps that you can take which will help to protect your online accounts from being targeted:

External Support

Police

In an emergency situation when you or someone else is at immediate risk dial 999. In a non-emergency situation you can call 101 or report online.

National Bullying Helpline - Website

Acas (for bullying and harassment at work) - Website

Victim Support - Website

National Stalking Helpline - Website

Revenge Porn Helpline - Website  

Get Safe Online - Website 

Citizens Advice - Check What You Can Do About Harassment page

Dealing with Online Harassment  

If you're being harassed online or you know someone who is, you should follow the Reporting Bullying and Harassment to the University guidance above in tackling the situation. Avoid responding online: 'Don't feed the trolls.' 

It may be difficult, but it is always best to avoid getting into discussions online with the person who is posting abuse. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that you will be able to resolve things by responding - the person (or their persona) attacking you is often posting the messages just to get a reaction. 

Supporting Others

While it's tempting to offer visible support online - for example, replying to messages on behalf of others, this is not advisable as you could end up becoming a victim of the harassment too. 

Reporting messages to social media platforms, on behalf of others, is encouraged and can often strengthen the case for platforms to delete the offending accounts or content. 

Some social media platforms offer the ability to delete (or hide) comments posted on your content. All platforms give you the option to report and block other users. 

Facebook

To remove comments on a personal profile, hover over the right of the comment, and click on the cross which appears. If you want to remove comments from a Page, follow Facebook's instructions: 

How do I hide or delete a comment from a post on my Page?

If you hide a post, the original poster and their friends can still see and respond to it; they won't be notified that it has been hidden. Deleting posts removes them completely from Facebook - you can also ban users on pages from posting again.

Facebook offers extensive advice including:

Instagram

X (Formerly Twitter)

On X you can't remove other people's comments but you can report tweets.

You can decide levels of access to your account - it can be Open (anyone can view and follow your account) or Protected (people have to be approved by you to follow your account, and your tweets can't be retweeted). You can also Mute or Block other people's accounts.  If you Mute an account, you won't see their comments, but they can still see your posts. If you Block an account, you can't see their posts and they can't see yours (but note that if your account is open, they will be able to see your posts if they're not logged in).

Other Social Media

Fake Profiles

You may encounter fake profiles, which are set up using someone else's personal information and photos, to pretend to be that person online. These fake accounts may be used to 'friend' or communicate with your colleagues and friends, in order to get personal information, to ridicule you or to damage your personal reputation. 

You can report fake profiles to the relevant social media provider:

Back

There are two ways you can tell us what happened

Tell Us Anonymously or Tell Us with Your Details