Content Warning: mentions of institutional betrayal, sexual assault and sexual harassment.

My name is Nuria Olive and I am an activist for the prevention of sexual violence, particularly on university campuses. I am a proud member of The STOP Campaign, a volunteer-led grassroots movement founded in 2018 by a former ANU student. The STOP Campaign’s mission is to end sexual violence in tertiary learning communities through education, empowerment, activism and awareness. We work tirelessly to spark important conversations and break down the stigmas that surround sex and sexual violence. 

In 2021, it was reported that at the ANU, 1 in 8 students have experienced sexual assault and 1 in 3 have experienced sexual harassment (National Student Safety Survey, 2021). This survey displayed that ANU has the highest rate of sexual harassment and the second highest rate of sexual assault of all Australian universities. Sexual violence is never okay. Consequently, many students and alumni of the ANU have joined The STOP Campaign, to find empowerment and solidarity in activism and advocating for change within institutions where violence occurs.

Both within and outside of the ANU, people are calling for change. Every year on the 1st of August, the ANU Student Union (ANUSA) leads a protest against the ANU’s failure to adequately address sexual violence on campus. Student activists and grassroots organisations, including The STOP Campaign and End Rape On Campus, have called for universities to listen to victim-survivors who have experienced violence. Reports have provided the ANU with recommendations on how to change its failures. Despite this continuous push, there is little indication that the rate of sexual violence on campus is decreasing.

The STOP Campaign recently released a submission published to the Australian Universities Accord panel, which included 52 first-hand experiences of harm occurring in residential halls across Australian universities—experiences which were collected through a survey. Many respondents noted their experiences of harm at the ANU were exacerbated by the university’s failures to appropriately respond to them. People who had experienced harm at the ANU described the university’s formal sexual violence disclosure process as “re-traumatising”, alongside disclosure policies within residential halls being inaccessible or non-existent altogether. Victim-survivors said their perpetrators were moved between residential halls on the ANU campus following the reporting of them, and described failures of the ANU to respond and take action, following formal disclosure.

As part of The STOP Campaign’s commitment to starting conversations about sex and sexual violence, we created an initiative called ‘The College Program’. The College Program is a series of peer-led educational and advocacy workshops tailored specifically towards students living in residential spaces on university campuses. The workshops aim to equip university students with skills and strategies to respond to sexual violence in their communities, promote ethical sexual relationships and engage in activism and advocacy after program completion. The College Program workshops are facilitated by students or recent graduates from universities in the ACT, and people who have lived at or been in leadership roles in residential halls. As a result of the peer-facilitation dynamic, participants can connect more closely with facilitators and feel a sense of mutual understanding and trust, by engaging with the nuances of on-campus living that can be missed by staff. 

The College Program has six different modules. Two of these are specifically tailored to student leaders, particularly Senior Residents, Residential Advisers and Community Coordinators who, as part of their roles, handle disclosures of sexual violence. These modules allow student leaders to practise how to safely respond to disclosures from people who have experienced sexual violence and those who may have perpetrated sexual violence. The process of adequately responding to disclosures is rarely discussed or taught in the existing consent education on campus. The STOP Campaign wants to support student leaders to provide trauma-informed responses, be effective bystanders, and to be able to identify their own vicarious trauma and potential burnout. 

The third module is called ‘Ethical Sex and Consent’ and covers key legislative frameworks, affirmative consent principles and the gendered context of sexual violence and consent. So many of us come into university with a vast range of perspectives, lived experiences and levels of education in this area. I for one can say that I never received any form of consent education whilst I was at school and I moved into a residential hall with very limited knowledge. This is why it is crucial for workshops on sexual relationships and experiences at university to engage with ethical sex and how to affirmatively seek and provide consent. With the only form of sexual ‘education’ for many young people today being pornography, ensuring university students are equipped with the tools to talk about and engage in sex in a safe, positive and healthy way is vital.

Further, breaking down stigmas surrounding sexual wellbeing and positivity is critical to the prevention of sexual violence. The fourth module ‘Sex Positivity and Wellbeing’ advocates for this need of creating safer communities and eliminating shame.

Part of ending sexual violence involves being an ‘upstander’ and calling out inappropriate behaviour, including instances of ‘casual’ misogyny and stigmatisation in residential halls. The fifth module, ‘Being an ‘Upstander’, encourages participants to be a safe and effective upstander against sexual violence and harmful behaviours (rather than a passive bystander), and to discuss strategies for intervention and support. Participants learn how to recognise harmful language and actions, how to safely intervene and diffuse a situation where this occurs, and how to provide appropriate support to someone who has experienced such behaviour.

The final College Program module is ‘Being the Change: The Power of Collective Activism’ which supports students to develop their own ways to become engaged with activism and advocacy in their communities. Sexual violence prevention is everyone's responsibility and it is important to consider how collective action is essential to long-lasting change. 

ANU students continue to be failed by the institution that is supposed to keep them safe. Reiterating what students have been calling on for years, we demand that the ANU do better. The STOP Campaign acknowledges the lived experiences of victim-survivors and expresses gratitude to the activists and advocates, within and outside of the ANU, whose shoulders we stand on. To all victim-survivors: we believe you and we support you, always in solidarity.

If you are interested in joining The STOP Campaign, or learning more about the College Program, contact us!

Website: https://www.thestopcampaign.org.au/ 

Instagram: @thestopcampaignaus

Email: chair@thestopcampaign.org.au

By Nuria Olive

First published in Bossy Mag