How does vulnerability circulate between institutions and individuals? In the context of staff-student sexual misconduct in higher education I will discuss and compare two distinct forms of vulnerability that are often treated separately: individual and institutional vulnerability. Higher education involves professional relationships of trust and authority that are part of a student's educational development and are actively fostered within universities. By their very nature, these relationships in universities also involve an inherent power imbalance between students and staff, and between students and the institution. However, institutional responses to the vulnerability of students, even when sexual harassment policies and procedures are in place, can focus on reducing institutional vulnerability and consequently can heighten the individual's vulnerability. This lecture considers the impact of staff sexual misconduct, learnings from the UK, and the question of why higher education institutions don't do more to protect their members from violence. 

Dr Tiffany Page is currently a lecturer in sociology at the University of Cambridge. Her interdisciplinary research involves the examination of the relationships between vulnerability and how individuals experience violence. In 2016 Tiffany co-founded The 1752 Group, a research and lobby organisation addressing staff sexual misconduct in UK higher education which recently published the first UK sector guidance for universities on student complaints, investigation, and decision-making procedures. 

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Brought to you by the Gender Institute and the Humanitites Research Centre.