Advocates Urge for Anti-Rape Education During O-Week

With most universities beginning orientation this week, campus sexual assault awareness advocates Fair Agenda and End Rape on Campus Australia have urged parents and residential college staff to provide new students with meaningful education on consent and sexual violence.

In a statement released this morning, the two groups pointed to last year’s concerning Australian Human Rights Commission report showing that 51 percent of university students reported being sexually harassed in 2016. Most victims were women, most perpetrators were men, and residents of colleges were disproportionately affected by sexual assault and harassment.

“The data shows that sexual violence is a huge issue on campus. Residences should be getting professionally trained experts in to train their students and their staff, and doing everything possible to promote their student’s safety and wellbeing,” said Renee Carr, Executive Director of Fair Agenda.

Fair Agenda has surveyed residential colleges across Australia about their sexual assault training programmes, and found that 126 out of 146 of the residences who responded had implemented initiatives aimed at curbing sexual violence. However, Carr expressed concern that some of these initiatives did not go far enough as only 91 residences said they were employing professionally-trained experts to teach their students.

“We urge all students heading off to live on campus, and their parents, to find out what training their residence is providing to prevent sexual violence, and whether or not experts from a sexual assault service will be involved,” she said.

“Most new residents will spend hours in trainings and inductions in O-Week. That schedule should include training to prevent sexual violence. Things like: what it means to get informed and active consent; how to safely intervene if you think a friend might be unsafe; and also how to respond if a friend discloses they’ve been sexually assaulted.”