Edinburgh University students made their voices heard on Thursday, with a protest in Bristo Square over ‘inadequate’ support for victims of sexual assault.
A year ago, the Me Too Edinburgh group gathered in the same place with the same message - which they say was ‘ignored’. While the University of Edinburgh has made changes to their code of conduct, student groups argue these are ‘insignificant’.
Aarti Mukhedkar, a student at the university, organised both demonstrations. After reporting a sexual assault to staff, she was invited to a disciplinary panel and informed the purpose was to decide on the punishment for her perpetrator.
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Aarti claims the process included ‘humiliating, intrusive and inappropriate questions’ from ‘untrained’ staff. Along with the rest of the student groups who gathered in Bristo Square, she’s pushing for ‘effective, professional support’ for victims.
The University of Edinburgh have said they 'investigate all reports made to us thoroughly', adding: "We continue to invest significantly in raising awareness, delivering training for students and staff and ensuring there is effective professional support available for any student who needs it."
In an online petition, Aarti said: "I am not only a survivor of sexual violence but also a victim of neglect at the hands of the university.
“The university has traumatised me, and continues to traumatise all survivors that reach out."
Grace Clark, 20, spoke at the rally on Thursday as a representative for the university’s Amnesty International Society. She told us: “I’m part of a lot of societies that have been working together against sexual violence on campus.
“The issue is twofold. Its the rampant sexual violence, as well as the inadequate systems in place to help victims.
“I’ve been in touch with a lot of survivors, and we’ve been planning events to support them but more needs to be done by the university. Although maybe nothing has changed at the top of the university, there has been change within the student body.”
Izzie Atkinson, 20, was also at the protest to show support. She branded the university's support system outdated, and said it doesn’t achieve its aims.
Izzie added: “The culture in general at the university, and at a lot of universities is just very toxic.
“It's surrounded by this idea of keeping quiet. There’s lots of people that say they didn’t get the help they needed and so when it happens to you, you wonder what the point in coming forward is.
Another speaker at the demonstration was Hope Conway-Gebbie. As the Women’s Liberation Officer for the University of Edinburgh Student Association, Hope told crowds the story of her assault.
In March 2020, she was violated by her ex-boyfriend. She didn’t go to the university, as she had no faith in the system.
In November that same year, she discovered he had raped someone else. She told the crowd: “I deserved better, we all deserve better.”
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She told Edinburgh Live : “A year ago today, we gathered in this exact spot to bring more awareness to the university’s sexual violence redressal system which is simply not fit for purpose.
“Since then, not much has changed. I’ve seen the updated Code of Conduct which the university set out to do after our protest last year, and the changes are insignificant.
“Ultimately, we feel not enough has been done to rectify the issues that exist within the system. Not only does it not produce the outcomes that it should, but the process of it is victim blaming and re-traumatising survivors.
“I myself, as a survivor of sexual assault, didn’t go through the system because of the reputation it has. I think there’s a lot more like me that haven’t come forward because we have no faith in the system.
“They know that the system doesn’t work for them.”
Another of the seven speakers at the rally, each of whom spoke of their sexual assault to the crowd, was Imogen. She told of her experience at university, stating: “I was made to feel like an inconvenience.
“I can barely remember my time at university. I’ve blacked most of it out.
“I couldn’t go outside because of constant panic attacks. The uni made me feel the same way my mother did - it’s your fault you were raped.
“I kept wondering, how much more about it do you need to know? How many details do you need?
“In my experience, only rape sympathisers ask questions such as ‘what were you wearing?’ or ‘how much did you have to drink?’
“I will never forget that the university saw me as a problem not worth having, instead of giving me the smallest bit of advice that might have helped me finish my degree.”
A spokesperson for the University of Edinburgh said: “We support the right of people to protest lawfully and peacefully. The strength of feeling around these issues is something the University fully understands. We do not tolerate sexual violence within our community and we investigate all reports made to us thoroughly.
“Our dedicated Equally Safe Team provides specialist advice, support and guidance to those affected by forms of abuse. We also have a system in place that enables students to either tell the University about any abuse they have suffered anonymously or report it with contact details and seek wider support.”
A petition demanding change to the university’s system of support for sexual assault victims, which currently has over 60,000 signatures, can be found here.
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