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National Hate Crime Awareness Week: MDX teams up with Barnet Council to become third party hate crime reporting centre

12/10/2021
Anyone in the local community will be able to report hate crimes to MDX via their online reporting function Report.It.To.Stop.It.

Middlesex University is teaming up with Barnet Council to become a third party centre for reporting hate crime in the community.

The University will join the Barnet Network of Reporting Centres to coincide with National Hate Crime Awareness Week which began on Saturday (October 9).

This means anyone in the local community will be able to report hate crimes to MDX via their online reporting function Report.It.To.Stop.It.

“We are wholeheartedly committed to calling out and tackling all forms of discrimination and hate, in order to create a safe and welcoming environment for all to thrive," Anna Kyprianou, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Equality, Diversity & Inclusion.

MDX was invited to join the network following the work of its Changing the Culture Initiative (CCI) which was set up in response to Universities UK’s 2016 taskforce report into tackling violence against women, harassment and hate crime.

The initiative has worked with local community partners such as Barnet Council, Barnet Mencap and the Metropolitan Police Service to raise awareness about hate crime and encourage reporting on and off campus.

In 2019, as part of this long-running initiative, MDX and its Students Union (MDXSU) launched the online platform Report.It.To.Stop.It to enable students to report any incident of discrimination, bullying, harassment, intimidation, violence or any other form of hate.

It provides students with the option of reporting anonymously or to be contacted and supported by the University’s care and concern team along with detailed advice and guidance on options, procedures and the reporting process.

This online function will now be linked to Barnet Council's network so current and former students along with local residents can report hate crimes in the community to the university.

Anna Kyprianou, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, said: “We are wholeheartedly committed to calling out and tackling all forms of discrimination and hate, in order to create a safe and welcoming environment for all to thrive.

“Creating meaningful dialogue and building trust across our wider community fosters further understanding of one another, learning from and celebrating all people, communities, cultures and beliefs.

“In order to do this, we recognise that it is first imperative that everyone feels safe to be who they are, and able to articulate and express their views and identity.

“Working closely with our students and our local community to co-create initiatives is a key component of our strategy and approach to equality, diversity and inclusion.

“Becoming a hate crime reporting centre is a further step on our journey and cements our role, responsibilities and commitment to our wider community to tackling all forms of discrimination and hate.”

Twinkle Gupta, MDXSU President, said: “Our students need to have the confidence that any racist incidents they experience at university will be investigated thoroughly, with support available to them.”

Reshma Hirani, Barnet’s Hate Crime Reporting and Welfare Officer, said: “Over the past couple of years, we have worked with CCI on a range of successful projects, including community events focused on raising awareness of reporting hate crime and increasing community cohesion.

“We are absolutely delighted to welcome Middlesex University on this initiative and look forward to partnering with them during the launch at this year’s Hate Crime Awareness Week.”

As well as launching the University as a third party reporting centre, five student-made films will be shown to students via online and social media platforms to raise awareness about hate crime.

Reshma, who is also the Barnet Hate Crime co-ordinator, will host a stall in the Quad at MDX’s Hendon campus from 10am to 2pm on Wednesday (October 13) as part of various other events delivered in Golders Green, Finchley and Edgware in North London.

For further information please contact Reshma at reshma.hirani@barnetmencap.org.uk.

People in the community can report hate crime to Middlesex University via this online form.

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