Today, the National Student Safety Survey (NSSS) results on sexual assault and sexual harassment were released by Universities Australia.
• 26 per cent of the 1,647 ANU students who participated in the survey reported having been sexually harassed during their time at university. This is twice the national average.
• 12.3 per cent of participants reported that they had been sexually assaulted during their time at university. This is three times the national average.
This follows the 2017 NSSS, which showed ANU ranking worst in sexual harassment and second worst in sexual assault out of Australia’s 40 universities.
“The 2022 results paint a damning and painful picture of the ANU’s failure to protect students and survivors,” said ANU Students’ Association (ANUSA) president Christian Flynn.
ANU issued a pre-emptive response to the NSSS results on Monday (21 March) in the manner of a $3.3-million-dollar ‘Student Safety & Wellbeing Plan’.
Mr Flynn described the plan as “rushed out” without appropriate consultation for the promised actions.
“None of these changes should have taken over half a decade to implement… We knew there was a problem, they knew there was a problem.”
On top of the lack of specificity, the student associations were disappointed to note a lack of a timeline.
Starting 28 March, ANUSA, the ANU Women’s Department, Postgraduate and Research Students’ Association, and Interhall Council are kicking off the ‘Too little, too late’ campaign in response.
Several demonstrative events will be organised to express the student disappointment and anger towards ANU’s mishandling of sexual assault on campus.
The student associations’ full letter of demands to ANU can be read here.
Notable points include an immediate commitment to a promotional effort of the case workers hired by the university, so survivors know where to get help.
The NSSS results showed that 48.5 per cent of participants know nothing or very little about where to go to make a complaint about sexual assault.
The student associations also demanded a minimum of three pastoral care staff in every communal residential hall, as part of a wider commitment to safer staff-to-student ratios.
The letter detailed that affiliate halls maintain a 1 to 100 staff-to-student ratio, while ANU halls’ ratio is roughly 1 to 250. At the UniLodge, the ratio is 1 to 500.
The list of demands highlighted that the ANU must immediately commit to removing students from residential halls for violent behaviour.
“A student who assaults another student should never be able to gain accommodation on campus again.”
Universities Australia refused to comment on whether ANU has improved in overall ranking since 2017.
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