May 27, 2021

UOW reaffirms commitment to a safe and respectful community on its campuses

Students and staff encouraged to report incidents and access available support services

The University of Wollongong (UOW) welcomes measures to strengthen laws and increase education around issues of sexual consent.

The University of Wollongong believes everyone has the right to feel safe and supported on campus, free from discrimination, harassment, and assault. UOW is committed to creating a safe and respectful environment for all community members.

We are deeply saddened to hear of instances impacting on the welfare of our community and are committed to strategically addressing this important and distressing societal issue.

The University encourages all its community members to report and seek support if they see behaviour that is threatening offensive or could be seen to be harassing or discriminatory in any way. Sexual assault and sexual harassment are never okay, and even one incident is too many.

UOW urges any students who have experienced sexual assault or sexual harassment on campus to contact formal channels in the University and access the support services available.

The University has adopted a ‘Support First’ model that works with the student to ensure they are supported on their terms to address their immediate needs. With any allegation of a criminal offence, individuals are encouraged, and supported, in reporting these incidents to police. UOW will and has accompanied students to provide direct assistance in this process.

Vice-Chancellor committed to seeing sexual assault and sexual harassment at UOW addressed

Vice-Chancellor Professor Patricia Davidson has stated that addressing issues of discrimination, harassment, and assault is a key focus of her leadership.

“I am personally committed to addressing the issue of sexual assault and sexual harassment on campus, to doing what we can to prevent incidents from occurring, and to ensuring that students and staff can access the support and help they need. We need to work to ensure this dark shadow over university life is removed,” Professor Davidson said.

Commitment to continual improvement

The University is continuously working to make its campuses safe and respectful, and improve its responses and support when incidents occur. It welcomes feedback from the UOW community to help achieve this.

Significant improvements have already been made under our Safe and Respectful Communities (SARC) initiative in response to the Australian Human Rights Commission Report, 2017 Change the Course, and we will continue to build on this work.

The ‘Consent Matters’ training program, available to all students via UOW’s online learning platform, Moodle, is mandatory for students in UOW residences and is encouraged for all other students.

As outlined in the UOW SARC Action Plan, mandatory training for all students is in the process of being implemented, ensuring that training is up to date with the latest legislative changes relating to consent.

National student safety survey slated to run in September 2021

The University supports the right of students and staff to speak out about their experience, and is always willing to work with them to improve safety on campus, support for students and staff, and improve the University’s responses to incidents of sexual assault or sexual harassment.

Well-conducted surveys of students’ experiences of sexual assault and sexual harassment can help this process, provided they are conducted in accordance with any required ethics approvals and designed to ensure participants’ privacy is protected and participants are supported. 

Australian universities, including UOW, have commissioned and funded the next National Student Safety Survey to run in September 2021. The national survey will collect data on the scale and nature of university student experiences of sexual assault and sexual harassment, and provide the opportunity for students to post anonymous content to a secure site with appropriate supports available to them. This will provide important baseline data to allow us to monitor the impact of our strategic initiatives.

The Respect. Now. Always. campaign and national surveys are part of an ongoing commitment from Australia’s universities to prevent gender-based violence and support those who experience it. 

All students, whether or not they have been selected to participate in the survey, will have the opportunity to share their story anonymously online.

Further information about UOW’s efforts to address this matter over recent years can be found at our Safe and Respectful Communities website.