Taskforce

Education Minister: Act to address rape at universities

Everyone deserves to learn in a safe environment. But right now, hundreds of university students are being sexually assaulted every week, and too many universities and residences are failing to adequately prevent or appropriately respond.

Advocates have spoken up time and time again about the need for better responses - so that university processes aren’t re-traumatising survivors, and the impacts of sexual violence don’t force students out of their education. Institutions need to be held accountable when they fail students on these issues.

Now there's a critical opportunity to secure change -- with a national review of the entire higher education system about to get underway.

A Panel of Experts has been tasked with recommending the changes needed to ensure Australia's higher education system meets the needs of the nation - and and into the future. It has 7 focus areas for review - ranging from innovation, to investment. And with such a broad remit - there's a real risk that sexual violence gets sidelined as an area for priority action. 

Can you add your name to the call for sexual violence to be treated as a priority in this review process?

 

More information (click to view) 

Since February 2018 Fair Agenda, End Rape on Campus Australia, National Union of Students and The Hunting Ground Australia Project have been jointly campaigning for an independent, expert-led taskforce with powers to investigate and hold universities and residences to account on sexual violence.

The latest National Student Safety Survey shows 4.5% of students sexually assaulted since they started uni; 53% knowing nothing or very little about how to report; and 43% knowing nothing or very little about where to seek support or assistance. That’s thousands of predominantly young women having their educations and the opportunities associated with that potentially derailed by the violence perpetrated against them, and further by the inadequate response by the institution that should be supporting them.

This national review has been given an incredibly broad remit, with 7 key areas - including: access to education; accountability on obligations to students; and the quality of our education sector – all areas that inadequate action on sexual violence impact on.

Those of us who care about student’s right to learn in a safe environment, and not to have their education derailed by students and staff using sexual violence, are going to have to work hard and smart to re-focus the spotlight on these issues. The first step is going to be building our people power, and the volume of the public’s call for action on this issue.

 

-Sources-

Australian Human Rights Commission, Change the Course: National Report on Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment at Australian Universities, 2017, p 49. The survey found 2.3% of women, 1.7% of trans and gender diverse students, and 0.7% of male students were sexually assaulted in a university setting in 2015 and/or 2016.

D for Disgrace, 60 Minutes, 4 March 2018. New students at St Mark's College subject to degrading, sexually abusive hazing, student tells 60 Minutes, The Advertiser, 5 March 2018.

SIGN THE PETITION

3,926 SIGNATURES

To the Federal Education Minister, 

All students deserve a safe environment in which to learn.

We urge you to address the scourge of sexual violence on university campuses by establishing an independent expert-led taskforce to track, assess and publicly report on university and residences’ measures to prevent, and improve responses to sexual violence.

Signed,

Fair Agenda will email petition signers from time to time with important updates

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Latest activity

Danyelle , 3198  /  signed 2018-03-03 18:07:58 +1100
Elsa , 3113  /  signed 2018-03-03 17:09:35 +1100
Gaynor , 4870  /  signed 2018-03-03 16:59:21 +1100
"If, by inaction, we endorse these behaviours as acceptable, what kind of future professionals and leaders are we going to produce? Victims who may never reach their potential, or perpetrators with a totally warped sense of behaviour."
Piarina , 6065  /  signed 2018-03-03 16:15:13 +1100
Denise , 07095  /  signed 2018-03-03 12:24:56 +1100
Elizabeth , 5000  /  signed 2018-03-03 11:47:42 +1100
Felicity , 2084  /  signed 2018-03-03 09:25:29 +1100
Ms E , 2777  /  signed 2018-03-02 23:12:22 +1100
"In the early 1970s when I was an undergraduate student at Sydney University, I experienced frequent gender-based and sexual harassment. I was pack raped three times, always with the participation of university staff in the act and/or subsequent cover up. Staff from the University’s Callan Park research centre, which appears to have supplied date-rape drugs, were particularly implicated. I was a good student, not negligent, rebellious or a frequent party goer. I was not a drinker. The first attack occurred on campus during university hours as I waited in a corridor outside a preparation room at the request of a staff member. The second attack was on campus at night. The third attack occurred in a residence provided by the university.
I am still the target of a persistent smear campaign by my former attackers.
The culture of sexual violence against female (and some male) students at the University of Sydney and other universities must be stopped.
It ruins the lives and careers of our most potentially valuable community leaders.
The terms of the taskforce should be widened to include the whole university campus, not just colleges."
Pam , 3673  /  signed 2018-03-02 18:18:59 +1100
Steve , 7250  /  signed 2018-03-02 17:37:58 +1100
"This needs to be stopped now, it is not fair to the stu8dents who are forced to leave uni and who can also be scarred for life."
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