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END RAPE ON CAMPUS AUSTRALIA THE RED ZONE REPORT An investigation into sexual violence and hazing in Australian university residential colleges End Rape on Campus Australia 2018 Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3 1. INTRODUCTION 12 2. PREVALENCE 31 3. TIMELINE 41 4. CASE STUDIES 55 5. THEMES AND ISSUES 73 6. THE BROADER CONTEXT 107 7. RECOMMENDATIONS 137 8. Appendix 145 This report was produced by End Rape on Campus Australia, an organisation working to end sexual violence at universities and residential colleges through direct support for survivors and their advocates, promoting prevention through education, and advocating for policy reform at campus, state, and federal levels. www.endrapeoncampusau.org | EROC Australia 2018 The Red Zone Report Page 2 FOREWORD- Professor Catharine Lumby I began my university studies at the University of Sydney in 1980, where I completed an Arts(Hons)/Law degree. I arrived having no idea that residential colleges existed. That soon changed. In my first year, a number of fellow female students told me about their experiences of sexual assault and harassment in the college environment. I also witnessed, first- hand, hazing rituals which spilled onto campus, obscene misogynistic slogans chalked on pavements proudly badged by all male colleges and experienced sexual harassment by men who attended colleges. I returned to Sydney University in 1999, where I set up the first Media and Communications degree. To my horror, I discovered that nothing appeared to have changed in some of the colleges. A number of female students in the degree I presided over and taught into approached me for advice about the assault and harassment they had experienced at the hands of male college students. A gay male student also detailed an attempted rape by male college residents. Just as in the 1980s, none of the students wanted to report the incidents because they feared reprisals. Nor did they want me to approach those in authority. The best I could do was refer them to the on-campus counselling service and keep my door open to them whenever they needed pastoral care. Reading this brilliant and meticulously researched report over the past week all those stories came back to me. To be frank, I had to put the document to one side at times to process the full extent of abuse and assault that permeates our college and residential halls. As an academic, my first responsibility is always to my students and a primary part of that is ensuring they feel safe on their campus. Like the vast majority of my colleagues I care deeply about equity for all students. Yet how can there be educational equity for women, members of the LGBTI community or any male regarded as not appropriately ‘masculine’ if they have to face harassment and assault on campus and in their residences? This report details data on residential colleges and halls gathered from 12 universities, including all GO8 universities. It relies on reports which have also detailed the systemic problem in colleges and other residences, including the recent Broderick report on college culture at the University of Sydney. But it goes much further than any report to date. It gives a graphic and detailed account of bullying, harassment and assault in these residences. It makes for sickening reading. The Red Zone Report Page 3 Once again, unveiling the truth of what lies behind college and residential walls has fallen to a group of brilliant and research led young women who make up the advocacy group End Rape on Campus Australia. This is the group who last year released an equally shocking report on harassment and assault on our campuses. The lead author Nina Funnell, aided by Anna Hush and Sharna Bremner, have produced a gold standard report with no funding. They wrote it because they care about equality and because they stand up for and by all survivors of harassment and assault. In one sense I feel very proud. Fifteen years ago Nina Funnell first entered the course that I taught at the University of Sydney. Since then I have supervised Nina’s honours thesis and I’ve watched her emerge into an incredibly talented researcher and investigative journalist. As a mentor and an academic it is elating to watch my students excel and I commend the way in which she and others have used their very personal experiences to campaign for change. Yet I am also appalled that so much of the heavy lifting continues to be done by young women- who are at risk of, or who have actually experienced sexual assault – and in many cases their labour, skill and expertise continues to go unpaid. At my own university, I am pleased to say that our Vice-Chancellor, Professor Bruce Downton, has publically demonstrated, through words and actions, his deep commitment to making our campus and our residential halls free of harassment and abuse. That is why I continue to be a proud member of the academic community at Macquarie University. But too many of those in his position still appear to be paying lip service to the issue. As the #metoo movement has shown, those who fail to act immediately and transparently on the systemic problem of sexual harassment, sexual assault and bullying detailed in this report will be called out. All organisations across every sector are now on notice about these issues. Calling in a public relations firm no longer works. The only solution is to confront the truth and act on it by researching the culture and implementing evidence based education programs. I love being part of an academic community. I am proud of the colleagues I work with. But, most of all, I am proud to have the privilege to teach students who are eager to learn. No-one can learn if they live under the shadow of violence or abuse. As I write this foreword my oldest son prepares to enter university. Would I recommend he considers living in a residential college or hall? Not after reading this report. I commend this excellent and meticulous report and offer my profound thanks to the authors for their tireless work on behalf of everyone who is a survivor of, or at risk of, sexual assault, harassment or bullying. Catharine Lumby is a Professor of Media Studies at Macquarie University and a pro-bono adviser on gender equality issues to the NRL. The Red Zone Report Page 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In recent years, Australian university ‘Orientation Weeks’ have been highlighted as a time of pronounced vulnerability, particularly for new students. Sexual assault, hazing and excessive alcohol consumption have led sexual assault advocates to dub this week ‘The Red Zone’. Research has recently found that residential colleges suffer from particular problems and one in eight attempted or completed sexual assaults at the University of Sydney (USyd) colleges will occur during a single week of the year - O week. International literature also supports the finding that this is a time of increased vulnerability for students, particularly first year women. Likewise, sexual assault services around Australia have also noted an increase in demand for service during and then immediately following Orientation week events across the country. There are currently 39 universities in Australia with 216 residential colleges or halls attached to them. This report includes case studies at 12 universities, including all the Group of Eight universities. Data was gathered in an eight-week time frame through interviews, Freedom of Information requests, and a review of available social media material and mainstream media reporting. Based on newspaper reporting, it would appear evident that residential colleges suffer from particular problems during O Week and that hazing, sexual assault, ritualistic humiliation, alcohol abuse and other forms general misbehaviour have marred the residential colleges at the University of Sydney for much of their history. Recently however, the readiness of whistle blowers to step forward and tell their stories, the rise of social media and its ability to document and produce evidence of cultural problems, and an even larger gap opening between the standards of acceptable behaviour expected by Australian society and those practised in the colleges, have resulted in frequent negative media coverage of incidents and scandals. Just as at other Australian universities, the potential for the toxic culture of the residential colleges at USyd to hurt not only individual residents and students, but also the very reputation and marketability of the university itself, has prompted a growing understanding and acknowledgement by the administration that cultural reform is necessary and that such reform will not be successfully implemented by the colleges without external intervention. To this end, in May 2016, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Sydney, Dr. Michael Spence requested that the residential colleges cooperate with a review of their culture conducted by former Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick. While the Broderick & Co. review (released in late 2017) made a significant contribution in bringing to light quantitative data regarding hazing, bullying and sexual assault at the USyd residential colleges, the report had some significant limitations. In particular, the report did not include the broader historical and cultural context of the USyd residential colleges or concrete examples of the hazing and sexual assault that have taken place. The recommendations, if implemented, may fail to address some of the more serious problems with the college culture, and dangerous and harmful behaviours may continue. Disappointingly the methodology of the review did not align with best practice, and there was little detail in the report regarding the specific nature of hazing and sexual assault currently taking place at the USyd colleges. The Red Zone Report Page 5 This report, The Red Zone Report, attempts to address these issues by reviewing the full breadth of available evidence on sexual assault in universities, the problems at USyd residential colleges - both historically and presently - and analogous problems at other Australian university residential colleges.

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