Annie Whyman, VP Inclusion
Being an active bystander is helping out when you see something wrong; it is taking action against bullying, harassment and unfair treatment. Bystander intervention is about making a point to prevent harmful behaviour, supporting people who are affected and reinforcing our community values. Being an active bystander works as it sends a signal to the perpetrator that their actions are unacceptable and prevents further harm from happening. It helps shift behaviour, as non-action implies an implicit agreement to a toxic culture of harassment, while speaking out reinforces that this behaviour is not acceptable.
People often don’t intervene because they assume someone else will, they are concerned for their own safety, they don’t want to stand out, or they are concerned about negative feedback. It’s not always easy, especially in situations where there are other people or a hierarchy, but it’s important to break the silence. Assess a situation first. If it is too dangerous to intervene and you are putting your own safety at high risk, find an alternative way to intervene, whether that is stepping away and calling the police, security or a member of staff or documenting the situation and reporting it afterwards.
Yellow Door, a specialist charity for preventing and responding to domestic and sexual abuse, lists five D’s for safe and effective bystander intervention:
- Direct
- Distract
- Delegate
- Delay
- Document
Direct
Call out the negative behaviour by telling the perpetrator to stop; be polite yet direct. Address the harmful behaviour and state why it is offensive. This action clearly makes it clear that offensive behaviour is not tolerated
Distract
Interrupt a conversation or intervene in a situation. Strike up a conversation with the victim to get them out of the situation. Tell them they need to take a call, or you need to speak to them privately; pretend to be their friend if they don’t know you and help remove them from the situation
Delegate
If you feel unsafe to do the above two, you can always get someone else to step in; staff or security will help, especially if they have a zero-tolerance policy. In a workplace a supervisor may be able to step in with a position of authority to shut the harassment or bullying down
Delay
Check in with the person affected afterwards. Especially if you assessed the situation and decided it was too dangerous, call the right people and provide them with the correct and accurate information. Support the person after making sure they are ok.
Document
Record what happened; this will help if it needs further reporting. Stick to the facts and state what the offensive behaviour was
Remember that in an emergency you should call 999 and ask for the police, ambulance or fire brigade.
Learning to intervene in situations safely is an essential skill that can signal to others in our community that harassment, bullying or harmful behaviour is unacceptable. You also have mandatory training on Blackboard, which includes consent matters, bystander intervention and freedom of speech. This training reinforces the University’s zero-tolerance policies.
To learn more:
Yellow door being an active bystander: Active Bystander Factsheet
University of Cambridge breaking the silence: Be an active bystander | Breaking the Silence
Southampton student training: https://blackboard.soton.ac.uk/ultra/organizations/_240350_1/outline
