Harassment contact persons

Harassment Contact Persons 

The Student Union has three Harassment Contact Persons, who offer support for students who have faced any type of harassment, bullying, racism, discrimination or other inappropriate behaviour. Discussions with the Harassment Contact Persons are strictly confidential, and no action is taken without the consent of the person concerned.  

The Harassment Contact Persons do not act as judges or serve punishments but instead offer advice and support for the handling of the situation. When necessary, the Harassment Contact Person will refer you to further help. JYY’s Harassment Contact Persons will not sort out the situation for you but will help you in resolving it. Resolving the situation requires the person concerned to be proactive. 

If you wish, you can also turn to a Goodie (Student Wellbeing Adviser), the Finnish Student Health Services, University Chaplains or the University’s Student Wellbeing Specialists. 

The Harassment Contact Persons also offer help for associations affiliated with JYY. If an association does not have their own harassment contact persons, it is advised to mention the Student Union’s Harassment Contact Persons in communication. It is advised to deal with difficult cases with them, too. JYY’s activities follow the Principles of a Safer Space, and we also recommend associations to create their own principles. You can familiarise yourself with JYY’s Principles of a Safer Space from this link (pdf). 

How to recognise inappropriate behaviour and harassment 

Inappropriate treatment is negative behaviour that cannot be considered to be in accordance with common good practise. Inappropriate behaviour could be offensive comments, social isolation, gossiping, slander, embarrassment, shouting, name-calling, unnecessary criticism, threatening behaviour or unnecessary reminders of mistakes. 

Harassment could be targeted towards age, skin colour, opinions, beliefs, sexuality or gender. Hurtful behaviour by words, actions or attitudes is harassment. Sly innuendo’s, inappropriate faces or gestures, inappropriate touching, unnecessary contacting and rude language are harassment. 

Inappropriate treatment and harassment should not be tolerated. If harassment does occur, it is advised to follow these guidelines: 

• If you are the target of inappropriate treatment or harassment, voice that the behaviour is bothering you. Ask for the person to stop. The person might not always be aware of their hurtful behaviour. As members of the University community, all of us have the equal right to intervene in these situations. If you were unable to act immediately in the moment, you can take up the matter with them afterwards either face-to-face or in writing. 

If you do not want or dare to mention the matter directly to the person responsible, you can contact the following people: 

If the other person is a student, contact: 

• JYY’s Harassment Contact Persons, 

• a goodie or 

• the University’s Student Wellbeing specialist. 

If the other person is a member of staff, contact: 

• The person’s supervisor, the management of their unit or the Human Resources Services by e-mail jyu-at-work-feedback@jyu.fi 

• The Specialist of the Human Resources Services handles messages sent in the above e-mail and takes them forward confidentially. The report will be on its way within two weeks. In serious situations, a contact request with contact information will be left on the e-mail, as the people dealing with the matter need to be able talk to both parties. During the process, the person who reported the matter may, if they wish, keep themselves anonymous to the person the matter concerns. 

• In other behaviour that is against the common good practise you may leave a feedback e-mail, which will be delivered to the person concerned. In these cases, it is recommended, that the feedback also includes proposals on how the person could better their behaviour. Because these cases are handled anonymously, the following actions are not reported on separately to the person who reported the matter. The contact person of the Human Resources Services will pass on the feedback to the person’s supervisor. 

Handling cases is situational, but typically JYY’s process is the following: 

• The Harassment Contact Persons are contacted by e-mail or phone. 

• The Harassment Contact Persons hear the person affected by harassment of the situation and ask for wishes for further handling of the case. There is no obligation to take further action. 

• If the person who contacted so wishes, the other person of the matter is contacted. Both parties will always have the right to be heard. 

• If both parties are willing, the Harassment Contact Persons propose a joint mediation, where the matter can be discussed and resolved. 

• The parties are offered a chance for further handling, if any questions arise after the meeting. 

Mediation 

JYY’s mediation is based on restorativeness according to the VERSO-programme. The restorative approach highlights meeting, discussing and working together. In mediation both parties are respected as the experts of their own conflict, and they actively work independently to resolve the situation. The objective of the mediation is to increase understanding between the parties and to repair the broken relationship so that the conflict does not happen again. 

Mediation is confidential and voluntary. Before the actual mediation, the mediators meet with both parties separately so that the mediators get an understanding of the situation. The participants of the mediation are the two parties of the conflict and two trained mediators from JYY. This mediation is only applicable for resolving conflicts between two people. If one of the parties of the matter is a member of the University staff, one of the mediators is a representative of the University. The parties may, if they wish, bring a support person to the mediation. The agreement reached in mediation is written down in a way formulated by the parties, and a follow-up period is set for the agreement, during which keeping to the agreement is followed. 

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