Approaching one year since multiple allegations of sexual assault were reported during Western University’s 2021 orientation week in London, Ontario, student leaders across Canada have released an action plan for “institutions and governments to address and prevent sexual campus violence’.
The 10-step plan, titled Our Campus, Our Safety, highlights various recommendations, including requiring sexual assault prevention training and education to be mandatory for all students; ensuring that academic accommodation and appeals procedures are easily accessible to survivors; and that more institutions are following the provincially regulated “campus climate” survey.
Read more: Western University students walk out after sexual assault allegations: ‘Protect our campus’
The recommendations were drawn up by students from 20 higher education institutions and national organisations.
“Decades of tireless activism by student survivors, leaders, advocates, and their allies have brought the issue of sexual assault in postsecondary institutions to the fore,” the action plan’s introduction begins. “This year alone, we have seen a large student walkout at postsecondary institutions and high schools across the country demanding safer campuses, personalized action plans, comprehensive stand-alone sexual assault policies, and institutional accountability, to name a few concerns. “
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It was so inspiring to witness the brilliant leaders of student unions representing over 1.2 million students today launch ‘Our Campus, Our Safety: A Student Leaders’ Action Plan for Institutions and Governments to Address and Prevent Sexual Violence on Campus’ . 1/ pic.twitter.com/5ePRf4z6P4
— Possibility Seeds (@possibilityseed) August 29, 2022
Western University created the Action Committee Against Gender-Based and Sexual Violence (ACGBSV) in October 2021, about a month after approximately 9,000 Western students walked out of class to protest what they called a “culture of misogyny.” on campus.
The mass walkout came in the wake of a series of allegations made during Western’s orientation week, where widely circulated social media posts alleged that 30 students were drugged and sexually assaulted at the Medway-Sydenham Hall residence hall on September 10, 2021 .
That same night, a first-year student was attacked near Western Road and Sarnia Road and later died of his injuries in hospital.
Read more: West mourns loss of freshman as man charged in his death appears in court
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“As a student at Western, I had never seen anything like this before,” said Ziyana Kotadia, vice president of university affairs for Western University’s 2021-2022 Student Council and a participant in the national action plan. “We know incidents of gender-based violence happen every year, but this was the first time there was such a focus on it.”
Investigating the allegations, London police said no formal complaints had been made and the investigation remained open.
According to a recent report filed by Statistics Canada, 71 percent of students reported witnessing or experiencing unwanted sexual behavior in post-secondary settings in 2019. Additionally, one in 10 women reported being sexually assaulted in a post-secondary institution in the same year.
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Students are at the highest risk of sexual assault during the first eight weeks of the school year, according to the BC Association to End Violence, and 50 percent of campus sexual assaults occur during the “Red Zone,” or the first six weeks of school.
2:03 Western University students drop sexual assault allegations Western University students drop sexual assault allegations – September 17, 2021
Kotadia said sexual and gender-based violence is a “generational problem” and the data backs it up.
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“That means not only is it vital to pay attention to it, but it’s been vital to pay attention for a very long time,” she said. “We have not seen the changes necessary to ensure that campuses are safe places for students.”
According to the Our Campus, Our Safety action plan, “sexual violence does not happen in a vacuum,” as Kotadia emphasized the importance of “considering the intersections of other forms of systemic oppression.”
“I think what’s important here is to make sure that we take a lens that includes the structures and social norms that produce gender-based violence (like) ableism, sexism, racism that create and sustain that culture, where inequality and violence are normalized,” she said.
“What happened at Western last year illuminates the urgency with which we need our higher education institutions, provincial and territorial governments and the federal government to strengthen and implement student recommendations, including the Student Leader Action Plan,” Cottadia continued . “But at the end of the day, the problem of sexual and gender-based violence in post-secondary colleges is much bigger than in the West.
“This is a national epidemic.”
Read more: Western University unveils plan to address gender-based and sexual violence on campus
Outlined in the action plan, four recommendations target post-secondary institutions, four target provincial and territorial governments, and two target the federal government.
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“This violence affects people deeply (and) profoundly, and for them not to responsibly use their (government) power and privilege to make the changes that are necessary to keep students safe is unacceptable,” Kotadia said.
“We need our decision makers to step up and listen to what students have to say.”
Last April, Western’s ACGBSV released two reports after examining the allegations, which called on the university to “thoroughly reevaluate OWeek’s activities, appoint a special advisor to address campus culture and safety, and require all incoming students to graduate based on gender and sexuality education, violence prevention and awareness training before arriving on campus.”
Read more: Western University OWeek will have better training for sofas, without ‘sexually charged’ nicknames
The university’s orientation week is set to begin Sept. 5 and will accommodate approximately 8,000 incoming freshmen and about 900 executives.
The Safe Campus Coalition, which Kotadia says is a grassroots student organization doing “anti-sexual assault work,” is also running an education campaign as well as a community solidarity event to mark the anniversary of last year’s walkout and ensure students are aware of the available support.
“This violence is a truly devastating symptom of a patriarchy that lines the bricks of campus buildings and paves the roads all the way to Parliament,” Kotadia said. “There’s a lot of work to be done in our institutions, in our systems, and we’re really pleased to see this momentum for change on campus. But now is the time to see national action from our federal government as well as our local governments.”
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— with files from Shallima Maharaj, Sawyer Bogdan and Andrew Graham of Global News
5:12 Back to School: Transitioning to Postsecondary Education Back to School: Transitioning to Postsecondary Education
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