Dozens of sexual misconduct claims by St Andrews University students not reported
42 claims have been received by the university over the last five years
There are calls for more support for students who have been victims of sexual abuse - as figures show dozens of claims have been made by St Andrews University students.
A total of 42 sexual misconduct complaints were reported in the last five years - none of them were referred to police.
Kathryn Dawson from Rape Crisis Scotland says not getting help immediately can put people off asking for it in the first place.
"Students may often face waiting lists, whether that's from universities own counselling services or if they come to a rape crisis centre," she said
"People will often, whether that's university services, parents, friends, think a crime has happened, so we need to contact police.
"That may be the right response for a survivor if that's what they want, but only if that's hat they want."
A total of 20 students have been disciplined by the university in connection with the reports, three were expelled.
A St Andrews University spokesperson said: "In each case the person who alleged they had been assaulted decided not to report the matter to police, although in every case the University offers full support, whether the individual decides to report or not.
“Universities cannot report matters such as this to the Police without the permission or instruction of the student.
"We were amongst the first in the HE sector to introduce a new policy in 2016 which encouraged survivors to come forward, and will shortly launch a new online tool which allows students and staff to report concerns anonymously.
"We introduced compulsory classes on consent for all students this year, and have adopted the Scottish Government’s Equally Safe toolkit to challenge all manifestations of gender based violence.
“In relation to these figures, in each case the person who alleged they had been assaulted decided not to report the matter to police, although in every case the University offers full support, whether the individual decides to report or not.
“It is important to stress that in general universities cannot report matters such as this to the Police without the permission or instruction of the student, and it is also important that students know they can come forward to us in confidence.”
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