This Week in Human Rights News

Warwick University students organise sit-in to demand action over sexual abuse on campus

Sources: Protect Warwick Women (1), The Guardian (1, 2, 3), BBC (1), ITV (1), The Boar
Visual by @kai.yf

Note: This story contains mention of sexual abuse and violence.

A group of students at Warwick University (UK) called Protect Warwick Women (PWW) have been organising a sit-in since 18 March to protest the university’s failure to address sexual abuse and violence on campus and adequately support victims.

Today will mark the 39th day of the sit-in.

We spoke with Protect Warwick Women who explained that the protest “began around the time of the Sarah Everard case and the release of the statistic that  97% of women over [the age of] 18 have been harassed at some point”.

PWW collected numerous student testimonials on their experiences with campus security, and the difficulties reporting sexual assault and receiving adequate support.

They continue to explain that “a lot of people came forward on social media, specifically Snapchat, at our university to share their assault stories. Our uni has a long history of inaction when it comes to this kind of thing and people were turning to social media rather than formally reporting cases because they didn’t have faith in the reporting system”.

PWW’s demands include sexual violence and consent training for staff and security, as well as students; signposted safe space staffed 24/7; availability of immediate pastoral care rather than security in the event of sexual assault; intersectionality and inclusivity of support; improvement of wellbeing services; a zero-tolerance policy to sexual violence on campus; and a removal of conflicts of interests during investigations or cases. 

PWW have vowed to continue the sit-in located in the university campus’ piazza until the University meets all of their demands. PWW say that “the university has met probably about 60% of our demands, but some of the more meaningful ones such as the alternative to campus security, […] improving […] wellbeing services, [and] improving the zero tolerance policy are ones which still haven’t been met.”

They add that “the university have begun to respond, but we haven’t had all the commitment that we want before we give up the advantageous position we’re in right now”.

PWW is currently working on a new document that will soon be released that they hope will “get some more things down on paper” that the university will commit to.

Context: Warwick’s history

In 2018, Warwick made headlines after it was discovered that male university students had been sending hundreds of sexually violent and graphic messages in a private Facebook group chat. This story gained nationwide attention after being reported by the student paper The Boar. 

Some of the female students mentioned in the group chat messages formally complained to the university, resulting in an internal investigation.

After the investigation, one student was expelled and given a lifetime campus ban, and two others were given 10-year bans and expelled. The 10-year bans were later changed to 1 year on an appeal, meaning the students could return to university before the female students had finished their studies. 

This appeal - compounded with the fact that Peter Dunn, the man leading the interviews and investigation, was also the university’s head of press - raised questions about the university’s handling of the investigation. 

Following public outrage, it was later announced that the two men would not return to the university - although it is not clear whether it was the university or the men who had made this decision.