The University of Pardubice endorses values such as mutual respect, support and solidarity, as well as openness, collegiality and tolerance. Therefore, the management of the University of Pardubice strongly opposes any forms of inappropriate behaviour or misconduct including unequal treatment, persecution, discrimination, bullying, harrasment, including sexual harrasment.
Please send any suggestions, questions or comments related to social safety to safe@upce.cz.
What can qualify as inappropriate behaviour?
Gender-based violence includes “all acts of physical, sexual, psychological, economic, or other forms of violence that target women because they happen to be women or men because they happen to be men or acts of violence that disproportionately affect women or men”[1] or other persons of other gender identities.
Sexual violence is an attempt to gain, increase, or confirm one’s superiority over another person using sexuality as a tool of power.
Gender-based or sexual violence includes, without limitation:
- unwelcome sexual attention (indecent proposals, unwanted touching, sharing intimate photos);
- sexual extortion and coercion (e.g. offering benefits for intimate contact or, on the contrary, threatening someone if they refuse);
- inappropriate comments relating to a person’s body and appearance, expressing an offensive, hostile, and degrading stance towards a certain gender, or cursing, mocking, and making gestures with sexual undertones;
- showing materials depicting persons as sexual objects, suggestive jokes;
- physical assault.
Bullying involves, in particular, repeated and prolonged harassment, insults or social exclusion. This may include taunting, insults, spreading rumours, refusing to cooperate, making work or study tasks unpleasant, physical or verbal assault.
Bossing is bullying by a supervisor, usually involving practices by managers exerting pressure on their subordinates, for example, to make them obedient or to force them to terminate their employment or leave their position. Bossing may include:
- excessive checks of performance of employee’s duties and absence;
- long-term excess of overtime work and preventing employees from taking leave;
- arrogant conduct and verbal abuse;
- failure to appreciate employee’s work and repeated and unjustified criticism;
- humiliating employees in the presence of their colleagues;
- acting as if work done by their subordinates had been their own work;
- unfounded threats e.g. threat of dismissal.
Mobbing means bullying by colleagues, usually by a whole group of people, and is typically covert, subtle, targeted and regular. It refers primarily to psychological abuse or systematic, purposeful and, above all, repeated attacks on a specific person. It relies on a degrading attitude, excessive criticism, ridicule, as well as minor or major intrigues. It is therefore not a conflict, nor a short-term and one-off strategy. It includes a series of negative communicative acts committed by an individual or several persons towards a particular person over a prolonged period of time.[2]
Staffing is defined as bullying by subordinate employees. It shares many similarities with bossing and mobbying, but superiors are targeted by their subordinates. It may aim to discredit a manager and have the manager dismissed.
Discrimination mens “an act or omission when a person is treated less favourably than another person in a comparable situation on grounds of race, ethnic origin, nationality, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, faith or worldview.” [3]
If you face any of such issues or other forms of misconduct, please contact the University Ombudswoman either through an informal meeting or by filing a complaint.
How to file complaints?
Complaints involving misconduct and inappropriate behaviour may be filed by any student or employee who are either affected by the behaviour or who witness such behaviour.
The Ombudswoman may be contacted in a number of ways:
- by e-mail sent to ombuds@upce.cz,
- in person during her office hours on Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 12. a.m. or on other days subject to appointment
- by sending a letter to: University of Pardubice, Studentská 95, 532 10 Pardubice, Czech Republic Please write “neotvírat-ombudsmanka” (Do not open – Ombudswoman) on the envelope.
- by sending a letter to the filing office: SAFE UPCE Office - Ombudswoman. Always put “neotvírat” (Do not open) on the envelope.
To be able to duly investigate a complaint, it should include:
- identification details of the complainant (e.g. Jana Nováková, student of the Faculty of XY) and contact details (see below for details about anonymous complaints);
- the issue and description of the situation that the complainant wishes to be investigated by the Ombudswoman;
- persons or units concerned;
- proposed remedy, if applicable.
If possible, please provide as many details as possible about the complaint: in particular include the description of the situation and its history, specify the persons concerned (may be specified in general terms: students of xy course, employees at xy department), your view of the situation and expected outcome.
The more details you provide in the complaint, the easier it will be to investigate the complaint faster without the need to ask further questions, which may make the complainant feel uncomfortable.
How are complaints investigated?
The Ombudswoman will first check whether she is competent to deal with the complaint. If so, she has a duty to deal with it.
If the case falls within the powers of another body or person, the Ombudswoman will refer the complainant to the competent body or person at the University (Academic Advisory Centre, Internal Audit, Control and Complaints Office, Data Protection Officer etc.) or to other entities outside the University (government authorities, police, public prosecutor offices, courts, law firms, NGOs, social service providers, healthcare providers etc.). The Ombudswoman may assist the complainant with contacting the respective entity.
If the complaint targets a specific person, or unit of the University, the Ombudswoman will always provide them with a possibility to make a statement on the case. If necessary, the Ombudswoman will also interview witnesses and collect other relevant information.
The Ombudswoman will inform the complainant of the outcome of her investigation and will draw up an investigation report. The Ombudswoman will make recommendations based on the investigation and if she founds the complaint to be founded, she will refer it for further proceedings together with her recommendation. Depending on the case, she will provide the recommendations to the head of the respective department or the Rector.
The Ombudswoman shall deal with the complaint within 30 days; if justified, the period may be extended by another 30 days provided the complainant is informed thereof.
Is it possible to make an anonymous complaint?
If the complainant does not want to use their name to report a case of misconduct, they may file an anonymous complaint.
It is, however, necessary to realize that anonymous complaints may not be investigated in the same way as non-anonymous complaints, and the Ombudswoman’s options to deal with the complaint are limited.
What other forms of assistance are available?
The University of Pardubice offers psychological counselling through the Academic Advisory Centre (APUPA), which provides support in a safe, anonymous and respectful environment.
In addition, contact persons are available to students at all faculties who are trained in dealing with crisis and stress situations; see the bottom of the link for the list of such persons. Any contact person may be approached regardless of the faculty.
What situations are excluded from the powers of the Ombudswoman?
The Ombudswoman is not competent to amend, set aside or replace decisions by other University bodies or interfere with the activities of other bodies. Nor is the Ombudswoman competent to make decisions on the rights and obligations of students or interfere with employment relations.
If the Ombudswoman receives a complaint that she is not competent to deal with, she will refer the complainant to other bodies or persons at the University (e.g. Internal Audit, Control and Complaints Office, Vice-Dean for Education etc), or competent entities outside the University (e.g. Police of the Czech Republic).
