top of page

University of Western Ontario Under Fire After Sexual Misconducts on Week 1 of Classes

  • Manisha Singh
  • Oct 30, 2021
  • 5 min read

Via: Global News

Amidst the excitement of returning to in-person learning, community members, staff, and students are disturbed to learn of the multiple sexual assault incidents which took place this week at the University of Western Ontario.

What was supposed to be a time full of excitement, learning and growth turned futile as survivors came forward to share their harrowing experiences of sexual assault, which no student should ever have to go through.

As a result of what happened, a protest took place on Friday September 17, in which more than 12,000 people took part. It was a student-led walk out in support of survivors of sexual violence.

Thankfully, their voices have been heard and the University has taken some actionable steps to dismantle rape culture on campus. But is it enough?

So what exactly happened?

The University welcomed students back to campus for Orientation Week, also known as OWeek, which ended in “violence and trauma,” according to the school’s newspaper, the Western Gazette.

Accounts of survivor’s experiences have circulated online, raising serious questions about the safety of students on campus, and the University’s responsibility in enabling these situations to occur which further perpetuates rape culture.

Multiple women have come forward to share their experiences, including one who said she noticed multiple women getting drugged, as well as a survivor who shared her story with the Western Gazette in an effort to encourage others to come forward. She recalls leaving an OWeek event with her roommate to go to the dorm room of two male students. She said she sat on one of the dorm beds when the assailant suddenly forced himself on top of her, and pushed his hands into her face.

“I couldn’t move, his hand was covering my face really hard,” said the survivor. “It felt like I was punched in the nose.”

Her roommate was in the dorm room as well, but could not see what was going on because the other male was blocking her view.

The survivor said her attacker “pushed harder on her mouth every time she moved, then began to push her down onto the bed. She said she told him ‘no’ repeatedly, but was scared of making him mad. His hand over her mouth muffled her pleas.”

Once the survivor was pinned down, she said her attacker began restraining her legs, and he also pressed his arm into her chest, preventing her from breathing, and began touching her.

At that point, the survivor began to yell, “I don't want to.”

When the survivor’s roommate heard her friend from the other side of the room, and saw that she was restrained, she intervened, and freed the survivor.

“As the survivor tried to leave, the assailant blocked the door, scolded her, then pushed her out of the room.”

The experience that this young woman endured is traumatizing, and nothing close to what her Orientation week experience should have been like.

How did the University respond?

According to the Gazette, many blame the university for failing in protecting female students from rape culture, and for creating a system in which student volunteers are “suddenly thrown into a crisis without proper training and support.”

Schools are a place for learning, growth, and understanding, and it is so important that these institutions take steps in educating their students and faculties about sexual assault.

The University of Western Ontario has a long way to go, especially since it has the highest rate of sexual assault across all university’s in the province. In 2017 and 2018, that number was over 71%.

The Arts & Humanities Students’ Council wrote an open letter to the University, calling for a change to the university’s “undeniable” rape culture.

“Our students deserve to feel safer on campus, and we’re calling on Western University to do better in initiating preventative measures, supporting survivors, and deconstructing the rape culture that exists on campus,” they wrote.

However, the University’s president Alan Shepard had an entirely different approach in dealing with the situation.

Shepard said that “the university has increased security on campus with a special constable service, increased patrols and security officers around campus and a more involved presence from Western’s foot patrol.”

The London Police Service has also launched a private investigation into the attacks, and are encouraging anyone with information to come forward.

Many are left questioning if this was the right approach.

Why might police involvement be unhelpful in this situation?

Many sexual assault cases go unreported from the police, and there is a pretty good reason for that.

At its core, the police system does not provide justice for survivors, especially as the majority of perpetrators walk free after committing their heinous crimes.

According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, a few of the main reasons why survivors do not report their assaults to the police is because they fear not being believed, as well as having to deal with police hostility. The whole experience can be further traumatizing.

According to rainn.org, 975 out of 1,000 perpetrators get away with their crimes. So if you were to put yourself in a survivor’s shoes, do you think police involvement would be meaningful? Probably not.



What are some better ways to help survivors instead of police involvement?

As outlined by the Arts and Humanities Council, preventive measures and supporting survivors are a good start. With 1 in 10 women students in post-secondary schools experiencing sexual assault, its imperative that these institutions take initiative to help and dismantle rape culture.

Aside from just a few sparse workshops on sexual violence throughout one’s schooling, information about sex, consent, and assault should be embedded into school curriculum, especially since school’s are an environment where learning, growth, and maturity take place.

The University of Western Ontario has announced that they’ll also be mandating in-person training on sexual violence, consent and personal safety for all students in residence starting Sept. 20.

“Western University plans to extend this mandatory program to students across campus, receiving training in consent, personal safety, bystander training, gender-based violence and sexual assault,” reported the Western Gazette. The program was developed in partnership with Western’s Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women and Children.

It is hopeful to see the University attempting to make meaningful change, especially since it is simply not enough to increase security on campus and involve the police.

“The recent events do not reflect Western’s values,” said Shepard. “They are not the Western experience that we would want for our students, and frankly, they’re not the kind of experience that anyone would want for young people as they embark on this wonderful new chapter in their lives.”

With that being said, do you think that Western University is doing enough to make meaningful change? Is there anything else they could do? How about in support of the survivors themselves? I encourage you to ask yourself these questions and debate the answers with friends and family members.

These are important conversations that we need to have in order to truly dismantle rape culture within our society.


 
 
 

Comments


Post: Blog2_Post

Subscribe Form

Thanks for submitting!

©2021 by Sexual Violence Prevention. Proudly created with Wix.com

bottom of page