50 signatures reached
To: UTS Respect.Now.Always, Catharine Pruscino, Andrew Parfitt, Lesley Hitchens, Iain Watt, Shirley Alexander
ACTION NOT FRUIT - Reform Respect.Now.Always
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University of Technology Sydney (UTS) claims to support students who are survivors of sexual assault. Yet, in 2021, Respect.Now.Always and university management continuously ignored student demands. When Women's Collective met with RNA they asked them why consent materials were not translated in other languages and were met with the responses that: "International students come to Australia to learn English," and "We already have green tea and black sesame ice cream." A consent campaign that concerns itself with puns and fun design over the response of the survivors it is aiming to protect is a performance not a campaign.
I support the Women's Collective’s demands, that Respect.Now.Always.:
- immediately stops their fruit-centric
messaging that trivialises sexual violence
- translates consent materials for
international students
- provides CONSISTENT and
COMPREHENSIVE consent training
- properly consults students (specifically the student survivors, the Women's Collective and the Women's Officer)
- makes support systems for survivors more well-known and accessible
- provides intersectional sex education
and that UTS:
-releases the UTS results of the NSSS
- allocates more funding to counselling and the sexual harassment hotline
Why is this important?
In 2021 only 4 people utilised the support services provided by UTS for survivors of sexual assault and harassment. Based on information gathered by the UTS Women’s Collective, the number of students who had undergone sexual violence in 2021 is much higher than this number. This means that students are, not aware of, distrustful of, or unable to access the support services provided by the university. Student survivors petitioned in 2021 for greater supports and for Respect.Now.Always to stop trivialising their experiences through insensitive fruit puns, however these concerns were not met with any response. The university is not fulfilling its duty of care to these students and it must listen to do better.