Edinburgh Uni students demand change to sexual assault policies
Students at the University of Edinburgh are set to protest today - demanding changes to how the institution handles sexual assault complaints - we've spoken exclusively to a campaigner
Students at the University of Edinburgh are set to protest today (February 9th) demanding changes to the institutions' policy and process on sexual assault complaints.
It's one year since a similar rally was held, with survivors keen to highlight that they don't feel anything has changed since.
They say the current system is confusing, lacks clarity & transparency and doesn't offer enough sympathy.
It's believed that will put off survivors from coming forward to report abuse to the Uni.
Forth News has been speaking exclusively to one of the key campaigners behind the protests.
Aarti is a social anthropology student, she doesn't feel like her own complaint was handled correctly.
Her petition, started last year, has garnered more than 60-thousand signatures.
She told Forth news: "I wasn't getting, first of all any information, but the little bit of information I was getting about what would happen to me, and my safety, wasn't really accurate at all."
Asked if she was made to feel comfortable and handled sensitively after reporting the accusations Aarti told us:
"To put it very bluntly, no.
"I think throughout the process I was made to feel like they were doing me a favour.
"A lot of people started signing, commenting, reaching out to me with similar experiences, with shock or with grief.
"We formed a kind of campaign group and we met with the University for approximately seven months.
"And we worked really, really hard on basically proposing changes to the student code of conduct - which is the fundamental problem here.
"The code of conduct is prejudice against survivors, but now looking back it just looks like they were buying time for us to graduate, because they said they would make changes and nothing has really come of that."
A University of Edinburgh spokesperson said: “We support the right of people to protest lawfully and peacefully. The strength of feeling around these issues is something the University fully understands. We do not tolerate sexual violence within our community and we investigate all reports made to us thoroughly.
“We continue to invest significantly in raising awareness, delivering training for students and staff and ensuring there is effective professional support available for any student who needs it. Our dedicated Equally Safe Team provides specialist advice, support and guidance to those affected by forms of abuse. We also have a system in place that enables students to either tell the University about any abuse they have suffered anonymously or report it with contact details and seek wider support.”