Honi Soit
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Trending
    • CAPA Board Passes Motion Removing SUPRA Voting Rights 
    • The momentary victory of mass politics: reflections on Kissinger and Australia
    • “We are freedom fighters”: pro-Palestinian protestors march amidst end to seven-day ceasefire
    • An invitation in: SCA’s ‘New Contemporaries’
    • NTEU to delay new fixed-term contract limits that fail to cover higher-education workers
    • Mohammed Shami: The Muslim cricketer who carried an Islamophobic nation to the Men’s Cricket World Cup Final
    • Moving beyond the theoretical: Privacy law reform in Australia
    • Digital privacy, missing voices, and cookies: IAPP Summit 2023
    • About
    • Print Edition
    • Advertise
    • Locations
    • Contact
    Facebook Instagram X (Twitter) TikTok
    Honi SoitHoni Soit
    Thursday, December 7
    • News
    • Analysis
    • Culture
    • Opinion
    • University
    • Features
    • Perspective
    • Investigation
    • Reviews
    Honi Soit
    Home»News

    ‘We’re not just here to get raped’: students protest Wesley College sexist student journal

    By Nina Dillon BrittonMay 16, 2016 News 3 Mins Read
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    Protestors stood in silence at Wesley College, lit by candles and with mouths sealed by tape, to protest sexual harassment and assault on campus and in colleges this evening.

    Police officers and college security attempted to block protestors passage past the gates on the college grounds, but protestors peacefully pushed past to stand outside the college’s main doors, which were locked.

    “The police were pretty tolerant,” said Anna Hush, SRC Wom*n’s Officer, who led the action. Though police stood by after protestors gained entry, Hush also said they “were emphasising to me the importance of reporting sexual assault to the police”.

    “You do have the right to report [assault] as a crime, but the University also needs to deal with the issue as they have the authority to discipline students.”

    The student protest demands included for Wesley College to release the names of the editors of the 2014 Wesley Journal, which college master Lisa Sutherland has refused to do in response to investigation by Sydney University.

    Protestors also called for mandatory sexual harassment education for all college students at the University.

    Disgruntled and curious college students were asked to move on from the gates by administration staff. At one point male college students called to the silent protestors: “Speak up!”.

    Hush gave a short speech announcing the goals of the protestors, calling attention to the University’s responsibility to protect women and to the specific Wesley College incidents of sexual harassment as other protestors held a silent vigil before chanting “No more slut shaming, no more victim blaming!” as they left the college grounds.

    The protests have occurred a week after a Pulp investigation revealed the 2014 Wesley Journal published a “Rackweb” of all intercollegiate “hookups”, and referred to specific female students “Biggest Pornstar” or “Best Ass”.

    It also follows new revelations that Wesley students entered the King’s Court massage parlour and took photographs of sex workers there without consent. The college students have since apologised for the incident.

    The protest however, also focused more broadly on the failures of the University and particularly of the colleges to adequately respond to endemic sexual harassment and assault on campus.

    “You so often hear about these things as scandals, but they’re not really scandals, they’re just things that go on that are slowly being revealed,” said Olivia Borgese, an SRC Sexual Harassment Officer.

    Former SRC Education Officer Blythe Worthy added: “There are women including myself who have been sexually harassed on campus and since the college has chosen inaction, we’ve chosen direct action.”

    The protest occurred on the same day the results of a university sexual harassment survey, conducted last September, was released by email from Vice-Chancellor Michael Spence to all students.

    In the release, amongst other findings, it was detailed that nearly one in four of respondents had experienced an incident of sexual assault and harassment during their time as a student at the University, and of those only 18.9 per cent reported it to anyone.

    Photo by Eunice Huang

    harassment safer communities survey sexual assault wesley college

    Keep Reading

    CAPA Board Passes Motion Removing SUPRA Voting Rights 

    “We are freedom fighters”: pro-Palestinian protestors march amidst end to seven-day ceasefire

    NTEU to delay new fixed-term contract limits that fail to cover higher-education workers

    Tensions rise between Arc and Tharunka over editorial processes

    Seventh consecutive pro-Palestine rally held at Hyde Park

    ‘Stand up, fight back’: Trans Day of Resistance Rally and March

    Just In

    CAPA Board Passes Motion Removing SUPRA Voting Rights 

    December 7, 2023

    The momentary victory of mass politics: reflections on Kissinger and Australia

    December 6, 2023

    “We are freedom fighters”: pro-Palestinian protestors march amidst end to seven-day ceasefire

    December 4, 2023

    An invitation in: SCA’s ‘New Contemporaries’

    December 4, 2023
    Editor's Picks

    Puff, puff, pass: What does cannabis legalisation mean for student communities?

    November 1, 2023

    Privacy is not dead, yet

    October 26, 2023

    ‘A patchwork quilt of repression’: The disappearing right to protest in NSW

    October 17, 2023

    The lights are on, but no one’s home: inside USyd’s International House

    October 10, 2023
    Facebook Instagram X (Twitter) TikTok

    From the mines

    • News
    • Analysis
    • Higher Education
    • Culture
    • Features
    • Investigation
    • Comedy
    • Editorials
    • Letters
    • Misc

     

    • Opinion
    • Perspective
    • Profiles
    • Reviews
    • Science
    • Social
    • Sport
    • SRC Reports
    • Tech

    Admin

    • About
    • Editors
    • Send an Anonymous Tip
    • Write/Produce/Create For Us
    • Print Edition
    • Locations
    • Archive
    • Advertise in Honi Soit
    • Contact Us

    We acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. The University of Sydney – where we write, publish and distribute Honi Soit – is on the sovereign land of these people. As students and journalists, we recognise our complicity in the ongoing colonisation of Indigenous land. In recognition of our privilege, we vow to not only include, but to prioritise and centre the experiences of Indigenous people, and to be reflective when we fail to be a counterpoint to the racism that plagues the mainstream media.

    © 2023 Honi Soit
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms
    • Accessibility

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.