One year on from report into sexual assault at universities, what’s changed?

Staff at Federation University say they have responded to all 10 recommendations outlined in the Change the Course report. ACU leadership say the university has taken steps to ensure its campuses are places of safety and respect.

But both admit there is a long way to go to change university culture and more broadly, societal attitudes toward gender and equality. 

One of the major achievements of Federation University’s new committee Respect.Now.Always was to develop face to face and online training in discrimination, harassment, bullying and sexual assault.

The training is provided to staff and student leaders, mentors, leaders of university clubs and societies, as well as all students going through the orientation process. 

Federation University manager equity and diversity Heather Marsh said staff were trying to reach every student with training to say sexual assault and harassment is not okay.

“We talk about specific things, like you can’t put your arm around someone’s waist in an intimate way without checking they’re okay with that. That is actually assault, and that is a shock I think to some students, as well that in this time it is not acceptable to pinch someone on the bottom – that’s not funny,” she said. 

“After the training sessions I had some female international students approach me and say ‘thank you, we didn’t know we had these rights. We didn’t know we had a right to refuse’.”

Watch the video on consent below that is a part of Federation University’s training. 

Exposure to training helped FedUni student Ankita Mishra realise she could report her own experience of assault. 

“There was an incident of violence which was outside the university, however we both were students at the university so I was referred to the counseling team. I went for counselling and then as the situation was high risk, the university took this matter very seriously,” she said. 

“I was given the name and the number of the security guard so whenever I come in the university I tell the security I will be in this building. The counselling team helped me get a restraining order. That was a big step for me.”

The Respect.Now.Always campaign identified international students as particularly vulnerable to sexual harassment and assault due to cultural and language barriers.

“Things like sexual assault and harassment and consent are very important from the perspective of international students, because in many cultures we don’t speak about it, we are not educated about it and we do not have conversations around sex,” Ms Mishra said. 

Ballarat universities were found to be safer than average when it comes to the risk of sexual harassment and attack in the national 2017 report, but the numbers were still alarming. 

The survey revealed 14 per cent of FedUni students and 24 per cent at ACU were sexually harassed at university in 2016 compared to 26 per cent nationally.

READ MORE Ballarat Unis safer for sex attack risk 

Students can report or disclose sexual assault and harassment on FedUni’s new web page FedUni Against Violence. A confidential university wide reporting and disclosure system is currently in development and counsellors are training all staff in mental health first aid so they can be equipped to respond to a disclosure. 

ACU has reviewed and upgraded procedures, published online resources, begun an awareness and prevention program, established an advisory committee and planned specialist staff training. 

Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Anne Cummins said it would be an ongoing commitment. 

Both ACU and FedUni have agreed to participate in the follow up national student survey in 2019/2020.