Harassment contact persons
Harassment is always a serious matter
Have you experienced or witnessed harassment or other inappropriate behaviour in a student union or higher education institution activities? Harassment is always a serious matter and a subjective experience of the individual.
Laureamko’s harassment contact persons offer help, support and advice to students who have experienced harassment or wish to talk about inappropriate behaviour towards themselves or others. Please feel free to contact us, we will treat your contact with confidence.
Laureamko operates in accordance with the principles of Safer Space and the Laureamko Equality Plan (only in Finnish).
Laureamko has harassment contact persons at all Laureamko’s events. During events, you can contact the event’s own harassment contact persons. Outside of events, you can contact Laureamko’s own harassment contact persons, Linda and Rami. A trained board member, campus officer or tutor can act as a harassment contact persons at events.
Please note that the contact details of the event harassment coordinators will always be provided in the event communication.
How to contact us
Email
[email protected]
Using the form
Form in Finnish
Form in English
Phone during the office hours
Linda – 044 287 7152
Rami – 044 287 7161
During the events
Please see the guidelines accompanying the description of the event
What constitutes harassment
Harassment is defined as any inappropriate treatment, from name-calling and exclusion, to discrimination and sexual harassment. Harassment is always an individual experience. Harassment is unwanted behaviour: for example, touching, commenting, insinuating, joking or otherwise inappropriate behaviour towards the person being harassed. If you are unsure whether the situation you experienced or observed was harassment, please contact us so that we can discuss the situation together.
Harassment is never the fault of the person experiencing the harassment. Prolonged harassment can lead to depression, social isolation and difficulties in studying. Harassment is a form of discrimination and a violation of equality and non-discrimination laws. If harassment occurs in a university environment, the university has a duty to intervene.
It is often difficult to examine one’s own behaviour through the eyes of others, and people may not even be aware that they are being harassed. In many cases, a warning about inappropriate behaviour is enough to remedy the situation, but sometimes a simple speech is not enough.
What does a harassment contact person do?
A harassment contact person is a trained person who can be contacted by someone who has experienced harassment. The role of a harassment liaison officer is to provide advice, support and assistance. The harassment liaison officer is not a judge, but can help situations along and will never take action without the permission of the person concerned. The liaison officer is impartial and will discuss with the person who has been contacted what has happened and how to deal with the situation. The liaison officer knows where to find the best help, even in urgent cases, and can refer the student to help if necessary.
It is worth contacting them even if you do not feel the need to do more than discuss the matter. The harassment liaison officer will support the contact person for as long as the situation requires and, if necessary, will help with access to Laurea’s student welfare services or other welfare services.
All discussions with the Harassment contact person are always completely confidential.