Cambridge student Audrey Sebatindira has launched a petition on Change.org calling for universities across the UK to recognise the horror of sexual attack and its far-reaching consequences by including sexual assault as a mitigating circumstance in their policies. She uses recent statistics from The Guardian as a point of reference for her petition, citing the fact that their study found sexual harassment at UK universities to be at ‘epidemic levels’.
Their study focused on the amount of sexual harassment, misconduct and gender violence by university staff, supported by the shocking statistic that over 300 claims have been made against staff in UK unis in the last 6 years.
It’s clear, however that the numbers of sexual attack at British universities goes beyond those committed by staff members. While this statistic is as shocking as it is appalling, the number of students vulnerable to attack both from other students as well as members of the public would create an even more harrowing figure.
Sebatindira argues that as students who fall ill over exam periods can apply for re-assessment options, that victims of sexual attack should have the same support. She says “universities need to understand that surviving sexual violence can and does prevent people from working to the best of their ability”. She is Women’s Officer at her university and as such, has first-hand experience of the consequences of sexual harassment.
The impact of suffering such an attack is devastating, in every sense of the word. Obviously, the academic impact is just one aspect of this devastation, but it is a very real one. After sexual harassment, coming to terms with the physical and emotional truths of your attack is a long and sensitive process. Your educational path often, and understandably, takes a back seat, at which point your educational institution should have the systems in place to ensure your long term academic health isn’t sacrificed. The bottom line is this, why should a student have to suffer lower grades or the disproportionate burden of an exam period or deadline at a time when they’re facing what could be a life changing turmoil?
Unis differ in their approach to sexual harassment because there is no legal standard across the UK. While this means that some unis offer excellent student support and options, this also means that unis have no legislative right to offer such help, and therefore students can so easily be left behind. Having to go through the pressure of exam periods without support, while also facing this all-consuming personal torment can have on-going ramifications. PTSD rates are higher among survivors of sexual violence than among combat veterans. The way students are treated after their experience of sexual harassment often has a huge effect on their recovery, so putting these systems in place properly is crucial to protecting our young people. By ensuring that Universities UK (UUK) and the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) advise unis to include sexual assault as a mitigating circumstance, she hopes that students across the UK will have a fair and consistent educational support system in place should they ever face the horrors of this kind of attack.
In Sebatindira’s own words, students who have experienced sexual assault “should expect sufficient support, not simply hope for it”. This petition is vitally important for women and students across the UK, and you can sign it here.
Photo by Irina Bobeica
Like This? You Might Also Be Interested In:
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.