Bullying & Harassment

Bullying is offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour, or an abuse or misuse of power through means that undermine, humiliate, denigrate or injure another person. Bullying may happen in public or in private. Bullying may occur through many different forms, including written communications, visual images, email, phone, social networking websites, etc.

Examples of bullying behaviours include:  

  • threatening
  • intimidating
  • insulting
  • destructively criticising
  • ostracising or ignoring
  • humiliating and undermining a person so that their confidence and self-esteem is destroyed
  • withholding relevant information
  • treating a person differently from others.  

In the University context, there could be occasions where someone perceives that they are in a position of power and could then use that power to threaten or bully others.

Legitimate, reasonable and constructive criticism of performance or behaviour, or reasonable instructions given to staff in the course of their employment or to students as part of their studies, will not amount to bullying on their own.

What support do we offer?

Student Services is here to support you and discuss options such as reporting and further support. Our team are trained to listen and help you identify the best way forward for you. Whether that be reporting the incident to the university or police, arranging support, or liaising with your halls of residence and school.  You can email support.advice@st-andrews.ac.uk to talk about further support.

Alternative Internal Support 

You can access self-help through various University channels such as:

  • Report+Support, a resource to report any incidences of bullying and harassment alongside information regarding support and reporting options

External Support

If you would like to access some self-help materials here are a list of alternative support resources.