Washing Their Hands of Student Survivors

Words by Rhea Dias (she/her) and Maia Ingoe (she/her) 

TW: This article discusses sexual harrassment and assault. 

In Rhea Dias’s year as a Residential Advisor in a hall of residence, she saw the Victoria University of Wellington’s Sexual Harrasment Response Policy in practice. It fell short of its aim to protect survivors. She shares her experience in this article. 

First-year halls teem with excitement and energy. New friends, new experiences, a new place to call home. It’s a place where you’re supposed to feel safe. But the first time I accompanied a sexual assault survivor to their meeting with managerial staff, I watched as staff encouraged the victim not to escalate their disclosure with police. They were told that it would be a tiresome and difficult process, and that the situation would be adequately handled by halls, but it was not.

I watched everything we learnt in RA training go down the drain. It was supposed to be my job to make sure that my residents felt safe and supported, yet the support the University prided itself on was missing. I was shocked. Who was really being protected, the survivor or the University? 

It's rare for Residential Advisors (RAs) to speak to the media, as university employees are typically silenced when it comes to speaking out about university policy. It's a weight I’ve carried with me for two years, as the inability to speak out rendered me powerless to help. More than that, it’s difficult for the public to get an accurate portrayal of what happens behind closed doors when RAs are silenced. The University applauds itself on its sexual harrassment policy, but during my year as an RA in 2020, I saw sexual harrassment cases swept under the rug to protect the reputation of the university. There were survivors walking through the halls filled with fear, while their perpetrators ambled freely around campus.

VUW introduced its Sexual Harrasment Response Policy (SHRP) in December 2019, the first stand-alone sexual harrasment policy at any Aotearoa university. The aim of the policy was to create an environment where sexual harrassment would be unacceptable, where students could make complaints knowing they would be handled effectively. The policy outlines a student’s right to make a disclosure, which identifies that harm has occurred, or a complaint, where specific action is intended. 

In the first year of the policy, the university received 79 complaints and disclosures; 18 of these were formal complaints. This was more than double the year before: 29 had been made in 2019, and ten in 2018. Since the policy was released, the rate of people coming forward has increased, but these numbers alone don’t tell us how many were addressed in a way that met the needs of survivors.

The application of the SHRP within halls comes up faulty in two ways. Firstly, it lacks proper support for survivors. Secondly, it often lets perpetrators walk free. When the policy is applied in real cases of sexual harm, what’s written on paper does not hold up. 

Two particular experiences stand out to me:

The first incident involved one survivor enduring multiple assaults and experiencing consistent, jarring harassment. There were no repercussions for the perpetrator. The university didn’t conduct any formal investigations, nor did they take steps to change the living situation of the survivor. 

In the second incident, multiple rape allegations were laid against a single perpetrator. The only action made by the university was to transfer the perpetrator to a different hall, with little restorative action. The lack of action taken by the University reinforces the behaviours of these perpetrators, as they know the system favours them, enabling it to continue in new settings. 

Article 7(3a) of the SHRP states the university will not consider taking formal action on a disclosure unless there is a serious or imminent threat to the complainant's life. The policy doesn’t measure how survivor’s lives are ruptured after experiences of sexual assault, or the psychological harm it causes. The way the SHRP treats perpetrators gives them power, directly draining it away from survivors in the process. 

Another former RA, shared similar concerns,: “It’s an intimate situation when they’re living with the person it happened with, it makes the process so much harder for everyone involved. As an RA it can be tricky to watch because you want to be able to help, but once it's in the hands of management staff, there’s not a lot you can do.” 

As an RA, you’re trained to handle harassment disclosures and to support survivors. But RAs are students too, who have to watch the system that is supposed to support these survivors collapse in front of them.

VUW admits that there are occasions where survivors and perpetrators remain living in the same hall or floor. “These situations are stressful for all involved and it is challenging to reach an outcome that both parties find acceptable,” VUW told Salient. Just because a situation is challenging doesn’t mean effective action should be dodged—there are real people involved who have to live with the consequences of decisions made by the university. 

Article 10(1) states that the uUniversity supports the right of a survivor to decide whether to report to the police. In practice, university managerial staff emphasise the potential gravity of the situation if the claim is to be escalated within the university or to the police, which discouragesing survivors from doing so and createsing a space in which they’re scared to speak up. 

This is where it becomes clear that the SHRP serves to protect the reputation of the university rather than students. There’s no threshold which constitutes whether a claim should be escalated or not. Dealing with disclosures in a way that allows perpetrators to walk free leaves room for larger-scale incidents to happen. How many survivors have had to sit silent and watch their perpetrator walk scot-free? How many more students are currently in harm’s way as a result of the uUniversity’s inaction?

Last year, a joint investigation between the university, police, and the Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association (VUWSA) was launched after students called for greater transparency into allegations of sexual assault in halls of residence. A letter addressed to the Uuniversity said hall management had failed to create a safe environment for students, breaching their residential agreement. 

VUW claims to create “support and inclusive” environments for all students living in halls of residence, through connection circles and online modules. “Posters highlighting the reporting pathways are displayed in each hall of residence, and each hall now has an allocated Student Interest and Conflict Resolution Adviser that supports any residents involved in disclosures or complaints,” said the uUniversity. 

They affirmed that, throughout the year, all staff receive refresher training from Student Conflict and Interest. The uUniversity’s guidlines require RAs to contact a Head of Hall immediately after a disclosure of sexual harm. From there, the Student Conflict and Interest team steps in to handle allegations. However, this doesn’t capture the weight of the emotional support which RAs inevitably end up providing. 

The issue of sexual assalt within halls isn’t new. By failing to address these issues, institutions allow perpetrators to keep doing what they are doing, whilest preventing cases from formal investigation as to not create a university scandal. This lack of accountability is a scandal in itself. 

My experiences with the university’s SHRP in practice were in the first year of its implementation. In the two years since, we can only hope that the system now operates to better protect its survivors. 

It takes an immense amount of courage to reach out for help as a survivor of sexual assault. Treating every case seriouslywith a high level of seriousness is what stops the cycle of sexual harrassment. We need to be centreing survivors, their access to effective and understanding support, and their ability to live in halls in safety. 

If you need support regarding sexual violence: 

Safe to Talk is a free sexual harm helpline. You can contact them via free text: 4334, free call: 0800 044 334, live chat: www.safetotalk.nz, or email support@safetotalk.nz.

If you need to report a case of sexual violence within the University, you can contact the Student Interest and Conflict Resolution team at studentinterest@vuw.ac.nz.

Alternatively, you can contact the independent VUWSA advocacy team at advocate@vuwsa.org.nz.