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They Can’t Say They Didn’t Know – Universities Who Claim to Have “ #ZeroTolerance” for Sexual assault & Harassment: A Thread
May 2020: The @UniofAdelaide announces that its Vice-Chancellor, Peter Rathjen, is taking an indefinite leave of absence, with no explanation given as to why. Several days later, the SA Independent Commissioner Against Corruption confirms that it’s investigating Rathjen.
July 2020: @UniOfAdelaide announces that Rathjen is resigning & claims it’s due to “ill health” (we later find out that that's a big stinking lie).
7 Aug, 2020: media outlets, including @australian, report that the @uniofadelaide is considering embattled @UQ_News VC, Peter Hoj, as a replacement for Rathjen.
26 Aug 2020: ICAC releases its findings that @UniOfAdelaide Vice-Chancellor, Peter Rathjen, was guilty of serious misconduct, including the indecent sexual assault of two colleagues. ICAC also find serious deficits in how the university responded when notified.
26 Aug 2020, 7pm: @uniofadelaide Chancellor emails alumni stating “the conduct of the former Vice-Chancellor as outlined by the Commissioner is unacceptable does not represent our values or expectations of behaviour at the University from any staff member"
She promises: “As Chancellor, I’m confident we will become a better institution from this experience. I firmly believe that our values and culture must be led from the very top. I am committed to ensuring this happens.”
26 Aug 2020, 7:42pm: I, a @uniofadelaide alum, who also happens to be the founder & director of @EROCAustralia, a charity that supports people who have been sexually assaulted &/or harassed in university communities, emails the Chancellor to express my disappointment in the uni.
I note the rumours about the UQ VC being considered. I note that I’ve had enough engagement with him regarding instances of sexual violence, sexual harassment, relationship violence & stalking within the UQ community to have grave concerns about him being appointed.
I note that I'm especially concerned about him being appointed if @uniofadelaide actually wants to address sexual assault & harassment. I note that federal complaints have resulted because of his lack of leadership on the issue.
26 August 2020, 9:55pm: my email to the @uniofadelaide Chancellor is read for the first time. It will be read a further 23 times between August 26th and September 28th.
Nobody bothers to respond to me.
Nobody bothers to respond to me.
9 Sept 2020: the @uniofadelaide Chancellor tells a staff forum that reports of sexual harassment are “astonishingly low” & claims there have been “five in total over the last number of years”, but that the university needs to “establish a cultural change”
8 Oct 2020: an FOI by @abcnews shows that there have actually been more than 50 reports of sexual assault or harassment made to @uniofadelaide since 2018 - far more than the five the Chancellor claimed there had been.
A @UniofAdelaide spokesperson tells @benjnielsen that the uni has " #zerotolerance for sexual harassment & assault" & that it is "determined to reduce its incidence and support those affected"
2 Feb 2020: after its claims of #zerotolerance & promises to ensure cultural change that comes from “the very top”, @uniofadelaide announces its new VC.
They can’t say they didn’t know. And they can’t claim to take sexual assault or harassment #veryseriously or say that they have #zerotolerance. Because nobody bothered to follow up with me about how reports were handled at UQ under Hoj.
Because nobody from @UniofAdelaide bothered to respond to my email they didn’t get to hear the sort of experiences student survivors and I had when we tried to get him to take action against perpetrators of sexual harassment and assault.
They didn’t get to hear about how, in my opinion, under his leadership UQ was the worst university in Australia for responding to sexual assault and harassment. They didn’t get to hear about how, under his leadership, a repeat offender was hired by his uni instead of disciplined.
They didn’t get to hear the details of the multiple complaints we’d had to file against UQ with the federal regulator because, under his leadership (or total lack thereof), students were not safe on campus and complaints were grossly mishandled.
They didn't get to hear about the hundreds & hundreds of unpaid work I'd done trying to help the students that he was supposed to have a duty of care for. They didn't get to hear about the deliberate indifference, the compounded & vicarious trauma, the harm caused.
They can’t say they didn’t know. They knew. They just chose not to listen.
And this is all on top of how Hoj & UQ treated @DrewPavlou. Laughably, one of the things that UQ claimed Drew was guilty of was "prejudicing their reputation" because he posted on social media that the uni took his criticism of Hoj more seriously than it took sexual assault.
They can't say they didn't know.
I'm so fucking tired. I've been fighting this fight for almost seven years. Thousands of thousands of unpaid hours of work & for what? For other people to claim credit for it, to get pats on the back, to boast about creating the change that hasn't even fucking happened.
There is no such thing as #zerotolerance or #veryseriously. It's just complete indifference or total coverups. There is no #RespectNowAlways. There's been no change, no accountability. Nobody is even fucking listening, they're just pretending they are for the photo ops.
