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The University of Sydney has released its inaugural Annual Report on Sexual Misconduct as part of its commitment to reduce the incidences of sexual assault and harrassment on campus.
In 2022, there were 121 reported incidences of sexual misconduct — 74 were categorised as sexual assault, and 47 were characterised as sexual harrassment. 81% of reports involved non-university conduct and were subsequently handled as disclosures, while 19% were pursued as formal complaints. Of 23 complaints, 14 received support from the Safer Communities Office while 13 cases did not proceed to assessment.
Three complaints involved interim measures imposed by the Registrar. Four complaints were resolved by Assisted Resolution, in which allegations are put to a respondent along with a list of actions required to resolve the complaint. Eight complaints were withdrawn or could not proceed, and seven remain ongoing as outcomes are delayed by leave periods. All people making complaints or disclosures were offered support by the Safer Communities Office.
The SRC’s Women’s collective provided the following comment: “This isn’t a report on sexual violence so much as it is a summary of the very few complaints & disclosures USyd Management received from students. No diligence has been done in reckoning with the real and horrible scope of sexual violence on campus beyond this, and we can clearly see through this report the continued inadequacy and inaccessibility of USyd’s sexual violence and sexual harassment reporting system. The Women’s Collective will continue to fight for real action to end rape on campus, which begins with University-wide peer-to-peer consent education and reforming the University’s reporting systems for survivors.”
Earlier this year, End Rape on Campus (EROC) published an open letter imploring the Albanese government to create an independent body led by experts on sexual violence to advise universities about how to respond to sexual violence on campus. The National Union of Students, USyd SRC and Women’s Officers signed on to the letter calling for independent oversight and reporting, particularly as EROC found that less than a third of Australian universities were adequately reporting on sexual violence.
“Since 2017 we’ve undertaken a huge body of work to improve our prevention efforts, reporting options and support for our community and last year – in direct response to the 2021 National Student Safety Survey results—launched a roadmap which outlines a number of initiatives targeted at preventing and responding to sexual misconduct. We’d welcome and participate in any potential government or sector opportunities to collaborate and ensure consistency and ongoing best practice,” USyd told Honi.
The Australian Human Rights Commission released the Change the Course report in 2017, detailing the institutional failures of Australian universities in supporting victim-survivors of sexual assault. The report found that one in five students were sexually harassed in a university setting, and that 94% of students who were sexually harassed and 87% of students who were sexually assaulted did not make a formal report to their university.
