Complaint process
If you report via the Awareness Portal or directly to the contact persons or the complaints office, you will be actively listened to. Your boundaries will be respected and your concern/ report/ complaint will be taken seriously and treated confidentially.
What happens after contact is made?
After you have made contact or a third party has described your concerns to the contact persons/the complaints office, you may receive a proposal for an appointment. This can take place in person or on the phone. The contact persons (§ 3 paragraph 3 of the Guidelines against Discrimination and Sexualised Violence) will provide you with an initial informative discussion to clarify your concerns as well as counselling on how to refer you to counselling centres or to the complaints office with further information on the possibility of a formal complaint.
In the initial interview, your concern/ your report/ your complaint and your wishes are recorded in writing. Initially, only the counselling confidential counsellor has access to the recorded data. For documentation purposes and to classify the cases for future measures, the data is forwarded to the complaints office, anonymised if necessary. The complaints office works in strict confidence, all persons involved are bound to secrecy and do not pass on any information to others without your explicit consent.
In order to be able to take active action, it is necessary to name the persons/groups/areas about which a complaint/report is formulated and to provide their own contact details. This will enable appropriate steps to be taken to investigate the incident.
A formal complaint is recorded in writing by the complaints office. The complaints office supports the person making/reporting the complaint in the complaints process and is involved in all procedural steps, from the recording of the complaint to the documentation in accordance with data protection. The complaints office informs all persons involved about measures and the outcome of the procedure. The right to initiate own legal action remains unaffected.
What can you expect in the complaints procedure?
The contact persons and the complaints office are trained in dealing with complaints within the framework of the guideline against discrimination and sexualised violence and are sensitised to dealing respectfully with those affected. Confidentiality and the obligation to maintain secrecy are guaranteed.
The complaints office is authorised and obliged to investigate a complaint and, if necessary, to initiate appropriate measures or propose them to the commissions. Since the contact persons and the complaints office are not trained psychologists or therapists, referrals are made to specialised offices, including the OVGU (Psychosocial Student Counselling), for comprehensive counselling.
