Gender Based Violence (GBV) in UK Universities has begun to gain the attention of scholars, government, the media and universities themselves albeit decades later than other Anglophone countries such as New Zealand and the USA. Though the policy situation in the UK has historically contrasted with that in the USA, where there are national and institutional policies on sexual harassment and violence (see for example Feltes et al 2012) in recent years, UK universities have become more attuned to issues of GBV with a number providing information about what to do in the wake of an assault. It is also increasingly common for universities to signpost information about national and regional support services, such as help lines for victims of sexual assault. Awareness-raising campaigns and active bystander and ‘consent’ programmes have also begun emerging, and many university counselling services now include specialist support for victims of (predominantly) sexual violence.
In the UK the role of both student and academic activists (see for example NUS 2010 201, 2014 2015 and Phipps 2015) in bringing attention to GBV in universities and in holding universities to account for GBV amongst their staff and students has largely been the catalyst for the current changes. In summary 2016 saw the publication of the Changing the Culture document which established the Universities UK (UUK) taskforce with the remit of addressing GBV. This paper examines how GBV in universities in England in the UK is currently framed before exploring how universities are responding to increased expectations that they improve preventative measures and responses to GBV in their policies and practice. How these prevention interventions might shift campus cultures is particularly explored, with an emphasis on the Mandala Project at De Montfort University (DMU)
