USyd WoCo rallies against campus rape culture

Lauren Lancaster reports on the Women’s Collective’s impassioned demonstration amidst a national sexual assault crisis.

The USyd Women’s Collective demanded an end to rape on campus yesterday with an impassioned rally that began in the Quadrangle, before moving along Eastern Avenue to F22. The Welcome Week action, called by 2021 Women’s Officers Kimmy Dibben and Amelia Mertha, was an expression of solidarity with all sexual assault victims and highlighted that 1 in 8 incidents of sexual violence at Australian universities occur in the first week back on campus. The demonstration took place against the backdrop of a series of sexual assault allegations against prominent members of the Liberal Government, and the proliferation of an Instagram petition calling for effective consent education in private boys schools by former Kambala student Chanel Contos.

 2021 Women’s Officer and rally chair Kimmy Dibben opened with an acknowledgement of country, reflecting upon the extreme vulnerability of Indigenous women to sexual violence. She advocated for prison abolition, arguing that carceral logic perpetuates the systems that enable colonial and sexual violence.

 “First Nations women are Australia’s fastest growing prison population and are more likely to face extreme violence in prisons [than non-Indigenous women]”, she said.

 Mertha followed, speaking of the “rape culture that permeates USyd’s residential colleges” and their inability to reform as ‘report after report [illuminates the] misogyny built into their sandstone walls’.

 NSW Greens Senator Dr Mehreen Fahruqi emphasised that today’s event was pursuant of “justice for Brittany Higgins… and for countless survivors of bullying, harassment and sexual assault” across Australian political institutions.  

Higgins is the former political staffer who alleged she was raped by a male colleague in a federal minister’s office in March 2019.

“Parliament has become a house of power, privilege and patriarchy, it is time for women to take over... to show them how it’s done!”, said Fahruqi, to cheers from the crowd.

Jenny Leong MP, Member for Newtown, shared personal stories of gendered discrimination dating back to her childhood. She announced that she was writing a bill to clarify the need for enthusiastic consent regarding sexual activity in NSW.

Jayfel Tulabing, WoCo member and 2018 Meriden School graduate, spoke on the intersection of her personal trauma regarding the aforementioned consent education petition, reflecting that in response to an incident, the school “simply sent me to bible study, told me to pray and gave me a journal [in which] to write my feelings”.

Ellie Wilson, 2020 Women’s Officer, demanded the “dismantling of colleges and instatement of affordable housing”.

 “200 instances of sexual assault occur each week across Australian universities… and each year we could fill 10 buses with victims of sexual violence at USyd”, she said.

 According to Wilson, there are serious gaps in knowledge of crisis protocol amongst students, with “62.5% of students knowing little or nothing about the University’s sexual assault protocol or reporting mechanisms”.

 She emphasised that the Student Representative Council offered some respite, with free lawyers and caseworker advice available to students.

After attendees marched with pink smoke flares, chants and signs down Eastern Avenue to F22, Mertha read a statement from Tom Williams, 2021 USyd Education Officer and St Paul’s College resident. Williams highlighted the structural flaws of colleges that hinder sexual assault reporting and action, meaning institutional reform is difficult, if not impossible.

 “The protective network dismissed very real instances of assault and lied about progress”, he said

 Reflecting on the toxic masculinity that runs rife in college hazing rituals, Williams said that “Objectification of women was commonplace, sex was seen as a game, and the college’s past was jokingly covered up”.

 The protest concluded near 2pm, recapping demands and reiterating support for survivors.

 Kimmy Dibben concluded with a recognition of the sensitivity of the rally, stating that “On behalf of WoCo I want to say that to every survivor here today, and to every survivor on campus, at school, or in the workplace - you are believed, it wasn’t your fault, and we support you and will fight tooth and fucking nail for your justice”.

 The protest is the latest in a long history of Women’s Collective protests demanding transformative justice for victims of sexual violence, on and off campus.