Dear staff member or student

While the University has embarked on a significant 'journey for change' in the last few years, it is clear that much more needs to be done and will have to be done for a considerable time, given the University's complex and laden history, to build a more inclusive, transformed and reflexive institution.

It is also clear that much as a new future needs to be built, significant aspects of the past still need to be processed. Building an inclusive and transformed future must acknowledge that harms and hurt on the basis of race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, among others, have happened, and continue to happen, and that they happen to people who embody a number of overlapping and intersectional identities.

Mindful of this past and present, the Anti-Discrimination Policy Working Group was set up, under the auspices of Professor Norman Duncan, DVC Academic, to develop a new policy. The policy must address all forms of discrimination at UP and their intersections, and allow for redress that is just, fair and transparent. It also needs to shape the future in a way that will avoid many of these forms of discrimination from taking place in the first place, and establish a community with a culture that is inclusive and affirming to all its members. In addition, the policy must engage with national laws and rights instruments, and existing policies and procedures at UP on forms of discrimination, to offer an integrated approach.

After a preliminary online consultation in 2016, which was extremely useful in setting out the thoughts of a selection of the UP community, the following steps are envisaged:

• This second, more extensive, online consultation (see links below).
• An 'Anti-Discrimination Week', from 28 August – 1 September 2017, of seminars, public lectures, exhibitions, performing arts events etc., focusing on the need for establishing a university environment that is free of, and does not tolerate any form of, discrimination.
• During the Anti-Discrimination Week, on 31 August, there will be a consultation with all stakeholders, where face to face discussions in working groups will address questions of discrimination and redress.
•  A drafting committee will then develop a policy for discussion and amendment, after which it will be adopted as the University's Anti-Discrimination Policy.

You are hereby invited to be part of the second online consultation, which will run until the end of July.

If you have experienced, or know of, any incidents of discrimination, please click here.

If you have not experienced, or know of, any incidents of discrimination, but would still like to comment on policies, procedures and possibilities, please click here.

Please note that beyond the demographic information you volunteer, this is an anonymous survey. For this reason, please use existing mechanisms to report any current discrimination-related concerns as this survey is for background purposes and does not constitute a reporting process.

The data will be storage for 15 years as per UP policy and can be used for further research.

Many thanks in anticipation for your responses.