Today, Provost Linda Doyle announced the launch of an anonymous sexual violence and harassment reporting tool called ‘Speak Out’, to counter incidents of sexual impropriety.
The announcement was delivered to students and staff by the Provost in an email this morning.
In the email Doyle wrote: “Trinity we will not stand for any sexual violence, harassment or other forms of aggression or bullying. This is why the anonymous reporting tool, Speak Out, is being launched in Trinity today”.
‘Speak Out’ is simultaneously being launched at a national level, in Higher Education Institutes across the country.
Doyle said in the email that ‘Speak Out’ can be used by students and staff to report any incident of “bullying, cyberbullying, harassment, discrimination, hate crime, coercive behaviour or control, stalking, assault, sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape”.
A two minute video included in the email outlined how the tool can be used. The video was accompanied by an Irish Sign Language (ISL) interpreter.
In the video, Doyle spoke about the need to achieve a “zero tolerance culture” in Trinity for students, staff, and visitors.
Trinity College Dublin Student Union (TCDSU) Ents Officer, Greg Arrowsmith described the purpose of the tool in the video and said: “We at the student union encourage you to use this platform if you wish and use the other supports available in Trinity.”
Associate Vice Provost for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Professor Lorraine Leeson encouraged students to use the tool in conjunction with the webpage, www.tcd.speakout.ie, to “help all find relevant supports and highlight formal reporting procedures”.
Leeson said: “It’s important to remember that this trauma informed tool is completely anonymous. We will have no way to identify or make contact with any member of the college community who makes a report.”
“This tool will allow people to report their experience, in a way that is safe and secure. The data that we collect through the ‘Speak Out’ tool will be used to inform policy and target additional educational initiatives, so it will benefit many”: she continued.
“We invite you to check it out and raise awareness.”
The site https://www.tcd.ie/equality/speak-out contains links to pages aimed at assisting students and staff with reporting cases of sexual harrassment and assualt anonymously.
Data collected by the tool is limited to information on the institution the student or staff belongs to, as well as optional data given such as ethnicity, gender and religion. Names, student ID and student programmes will not be asked for.
