Content warning: sexual assault, sexual harrassment

The University of Melbourne has released their 2022 Sexual Misconduct Report, revealing that four staff members have been removed from the University after being found to have committed serious misconduct, but the report remains absent of any actions to combat sexual assault in clubs and residential colleges.

The report follows the release of the 2021 National Student Safety Survey (NSSS), which found Clubs and Societies events and residential colleges to be significant areas where sexual misconduct occurs, by almost a year.

The NSSS delivered a quantitative and qualitative report on the experience and prevalence of sexual assault and sexual harassment on campuses across the country. A random sample of 9,992 University of Melbourne students were asked to complete the survey, with 1,481 students responding.

University of Melbourne Provost Nicola Phillips said the 2022 Sexual Misconduct Report, now in its second year, aims to “help build trust in our systems and processes to eradicate this issue from our University community.”

In a 20 March press release, the University outlined actions taken against perpetrators of sexual misconduct in 2022.  Seven students were suspended and four staff members left the University after being found to have committed sexual misconduct.

Disclosing the outcome of these complaints has been described by the University as part of their “ongoing commitment to transparency.” 

The Sexual Misconduct Report noted that 90 per cent of complaints made were by a female complainant against a male respondent, with the majority of claims being substantiated. 70 per cent of complainants were students, and 20 per cent were members of staff.

11 sexual misconduct complaints were made against a respondent who was a staff member; in these instances, one of the possible listed “corrective actions” was for the staff member to make an apology to the complainant.

The report does not specify what factors cause findings of misconduct to result in an apology rather than termination of employment or other more severe penalties.

Speaking to Farrago, The University of Melbourne Student Union (UMSU) Women’s Officers found the report's framing “disappointing”.

“It's great to see the University putting more effort into this... but it would have been nice to see the things UMSU and [its] working groups have put together in this report as well,” said Alessandra Soliven.

This includes submissions into the University’s review of the Student Complaints and Grievances process, and issues raised by UMSU's Sexual Assault and Harassment Working Group.

The Women's Officers noted that the exclusion of these submissions was particularly disappointing, as many discussions the working group raised were about the effects sexual assault and harassment has on specific university communities, like the Clubs and Societies program.

These concerns reflect the findings of the 2021 NSSS, which found that 39.7 per cent of harassment occurred in “general campus areas”, 16.2 per cent of harassment occurred at Clubs and Societies events, and 10.9 per cent in campus libraries. 56.1 per cent of victim-survivors knew the perpetrators beforehand.

The NSSS did not specify how many of the “general campus areas” were residential colleges; however in a Farrago article last year, an anonymous contributor highlighted the specific prevalence of sexual assault in a college environment, sharing their personal account.

The Sexual Misconduct Report instead focuses on the broader “university community”, a concept also referenced in the Respect Action Plan and other preventative measures the University is implementing to varying degrees of success.

One of these measures, held as part of the Respect at Uni Week event, included providing students with a free sausage in return for signing their full name on a large prop sign that read “‘I pledge to obtain consent.”