What to do

What can you do if you have seen or experienced disrespectful behaviour, including sexual harassment or sexual assault?

It is important to protect your own safety. If you do not feel safe, contact Campus Security (scroll down for numbers), the Village Duty Manager or the Police on 000 in Australia

Second, we encourage you speak to the Village Team.

If you have experienced or witnessed sexual harassment or assault, we encourage you to speak with a member of our village team as soon as possible so we can support you and investigate any form of disrespectful behaviour in the village.

Support available to you at the Village

You are in control of what support you want or need. Our village teams are experienced and trained to assist you with finding the right support at the village, from the university, community and law enforcement services. You are welcome to speak with the village team with a friend, family member or other support person.

What will happen when you speak to the Village Team?

Our first priority is your safety and wellbeing. The village team will assist you with the immediate support you want or need to feel safe. At all times it is your right to determine what support you want or need, including none at all.

The village team will help walk you through all your options. Your privacy will be respected, and we will act sensitively to help you.

Our villages are managed in partnership with the University (and are often on campus), which means that sometimes incidents occurring in the village may be required to be reported to the University. Where this is the case it will be clearly outlined to you.

All incidents of sexual harassment or sexual assault at CLV must be reported through the Incident Management Framework. This is a confidential process and your privacy will be respected.

Remember, you can speak to the village team at any time and you can also report or disclose something that happened in the past.

Why speak to the Village Team?

Reporting helps to make the Village a safer place for everyone, and will enable us to help you get the support you need – from referring you to medical, counselling or academic support. Reporting an incident will ensure the Village and CLV Management team, the University or the Police can fully investigate the incident and if it allows CLV to take appropriate action.

Speaking to an RA

Resident Assistants are here to help ensure you have a positive experience at CLV and to organise social events. If you do speak with a Resident Assistant about an incident, CLV policy requires them to refer you to a village team member to support you and to report any incidents they become aware of through the Incident Management Framework.

If you aren’t sure if you are ready to speak to the village team, you can in the first instance speak to a confidential counselling service such as 1800RESPECT - the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service:

Call: 1800RESPECT 24/7

Chat online: https://www.1800respect.org.au/

Find additional local services: https://www.1800respect.org.au/services

What are possible outcomes of reporting an incident to the Village, University or Police?

The outcome of reporting an incident to the Village, University or Police is dependent on the nature and circumstances of the incident, whether the person said to be responsible is identified, if they are a village or university student or staff member, and what action or support you are seeking.

Some possible outcomes might be:

• Further investigation by the village, university and/or police
• The university taking disciplinary action
• The village taking disciplinary action, which could include exclusion of a student from the village
• Enhancing safety and security procedures
• Providing additional training to students or staff members
• Providing support to the student as outlined above

It is important to understand that if a village, university or police investigation is occurring, the person said to be responsible for the incident would usually be informed of the investigation. You will be advised at all times of the process that CLV will follow, however, the Police and University will follow their own processes and communications.