Speak up

Happy or unhappy? To let us know, you can use the online form on this page. You can also tell the person involved directly, or someone you trust. For students, this could be, for example, the head of studies for your programme, the dean of the faculty, the student chaplain and student deacon service, or the Student Ombudsman.

You'll also be able to talk to your student representative or representatives from the Student Council.

You can report something anonymously to the university by phone or letter.

The Student Ombudsman or a solicitor can also pass on a report.

It's important you're aware that anonymous accusations against staff or fellow students will rarely lead to sanctions. This is because the university will usually need to know who you are in order to follow up on the matter.

A case handler will receive your case, and it'll be followed up in accordance with the case processing rules. How the case is followed up depends on what the case is about. If you provide sensitive information about yourself or others, the case will be handled confidentially. All case handlers are bound by confidentiality.

Unwelcome sexual attention can be verbal, non-verbal and/or physical.

The Gender Equality Act prohibits sexual harassment. The Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud states the following:

Sexual attention becomes harassment when it:

• is unwanted
• is troublesome
• continues after the recipient has spoken out
• has negative consequences of a physical, psychological or work-related nature

Other factors that come into play:

• how serious the act has been
• time and place of the act
• whether the act has been going on over time
• dependency and power differences between the harasser and the person being harassed

Examples of behaviour that may constitute sexual harassment:

• unnecessary touching and picking
• intrusive comments about body, clothing or private life
• sexual advances, suggestions and innuendos
• displaying pornographic images, whistling and body movements that have sexual undertones

Unwelcome sexual attention can occur between employees, between students and employees and/or between students. The problem must be taken seriously regardless of which category is affected. VID must be notified of such cases in order to deal with unwanted sexual attention that affects the working conditions/study conditions and/or is related to the working conditions/study conditions.

Bullying

Bullying is when a person is repeatedly and over time exposed to negative treatment by one or more people in such a way that he or she is unable to defend themselves against these actions. – The Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority.

Bullying can involve harassment, teasing, exclusion, hurtful taunts, making someone feel invisible, removal of work tasks and the like. It’s typical of the situation that an imbalance of power makes it difficult for the person who feels bullied to defend themselves.

It can further be defined as bullying when:

• The actions are experienced as deeply unfair and offensive by the person affected
• The negative actions are repeated over time or the consequences of these persist over time
• The actions cannot be said to be something employees and students must reasonably put up with, and thus a predictable part of the working conditions

Discrimination

Unfair or unreasonable differential treatment of individuals based on their gender, religion, affiliation with ethnic groups, nationalities or disability – Store norske leksikon, 2016.