By Lily Shield Polyzoides
Student activism has secured a long-awaited win for victims of sexual violence. Last week, LSE became the 77th university in the United Kingdom to sign the government-backed “Can’t Buy My Silence” pledge, that renounces the use of Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) against victims of sexual assault and bullying.
NDAs are legal documents that restrict signatories from sharing classified information. While they were created for the purposes of protecting information and ideas from third parties within business and trade, powerful institutions have used NDAs to protect their reputation from damage in the case of sexual assault and bullying cases. The use of these agreements in universities drew national attention in 2020, when a BBC News report uncovered that nearly one third of universities had employed them in student complaint cases.
LSE’s move comes after sustained pressure from student activists on campus. In March 2022, The Beaver reported that an LSE student, ‘Charlotte’, twice attempted suicide after the university repeatedly failed to support her as a victim of sexual violence.
Charlotte told The Beaver that a member of LSE staff warned her that the university may subject her to legal action if she proceeded with her complaint regarding the gross mishandling of her case. She believes this was a warning that she could be presented with an NDA.
Charlotte’s story sparked an on-campus protest, led by Hands Off LSE, the student campaign aiming to improve sexual assault policy. Outside the Centre Building, students held banners that called for action from the university’s higher-ups: ‘Time to Change LSE’, ‘Shame on You LSE’.
Also in March, Hands Off presented a motion to the Student Union’s Union General Meeting (UGM). The motion requested the implementation of four commitments to improve LSE’s sexual violence provisions. The final commitment requested that the LSESU lobby the university to sign the pledge. The motion was later passed into policy with double the number of student votes required.
In a final show of student pressure, the former lead campaigner of Hands Off and vocal critic of NDAs, Anaëlle Thoreau, was elected as Community & Welfare Officer in the 2022/3 LSESU elections. Thoreau campaigned on the policy to eliminate NDAs and used her acceptance speech to highlight the issue as her most important priority pledge.
The Community & Welfare Officer commented on LSE’s signature: “I am beyond happy that LSE has finally signed the #CantBuyMySilence pledge, this is a real relief.” She added, “It’s crucial here to emphasise that this is not LSE’s idea but once again a successful campaign initiated by students…[who] should take credit for this win.”
Thoreau’s campaign to restructure LSE’s services is far from over, however. She intends to continue lobbying for the remaining measures from Hands Off’s motion. These include the creation of an anti-sexual violence IT platform, implementation of a permanent Anti-Sexual Violence Team, and the publication of annual reviews on LSE’s sexual violence support system.
Charlotte agreed, telling The Beaver that: ‘‘It’s a big step in the right direction, and I hope that LSE could use this momentum to usher further changes outlined in the Hands-Off motion and beyond.’’
LSE responded in light of this news: “We are committed to a working and learning environment where people can achieve their full potential free of all types of harassment and violence. We take any reports of bullying, harassment, sexual misconduct, or violence extremely seriously and any member of the LSE community who has experienced or witnessed incidents of this kind is strongly encouraged to get in touch with a trained Safe Contact for information and support or use our dedicated online portal Report it Stop it. We have a dedicated anti-harassment support advisor with expertise in this area who can provide a consistent point of contact for victims/survivors from disclosure through to any criminal or university processes.
“Anyone affected by sexual violence can also access free, confidential, independent support and counselling.”
