Melbourne University students encouraged to embrace ’group nudity’ on a camp

A flyer targeted at Melbourne University arts students said clothes and “dignity” were optional at the camp.

Melbourne University arts students have been encouraged to embrace “group nudity” on a camp due to be held in March, amid reports of a campus culture encouraging nudity, drinking and sex.

The camp flyer — which was only amended on Monday after inquiries by the Herald Sun — said getting naked was optional, adding “only do what you’re happy to do”.

However “we encourage you to push boundaries (you might be surprised at how fun, and non-sexual, group nudity is),” it read.

Clothes — along with “dignity” — were listed as optional on the equipment list.

The section removed from the flyer read: “Do I have to get naked? Is that a thing?”

A student whistleblower said they knew of one commerce student “who drank a litre of urine” as part of a hazing ritual on a 2018 camp.

“It was filmed and dispersed across Melbourne and everyone knew about it. Leaders get kids horribly drunk and take advantage of their position of power. The public nudity is something they are very proud of,” the source said.

A Melbourne Arts Students Society spokesman said the arts camp was “an all-inclusive event”.

First year students faced a lot of pressure to “drink to excess and perform sexual acts in public”, the whistleblower said, adding: “There is a culture of drinking, nudity and sex.”

Other regular booze-filled events on the University of Melbourne student calendar include the annual Prosh Nudie Run or Nude Olympics.

Prosh, a week-long student-led celebration, lets participants be “creative, athletic, adventurous, tipsy, hilarious, nude, silly, slippery, delirious, inventive and so much more”, its official website says.

Such events are held alongside regular rallies against sexual violence.

A Melbourne Arts Students Society spokesman said the arts camp was “an all-inclusive event that offers many activities that are respectful, safe, and entirely optional”.

The reference to group nudity was removed to ensure nobody was misled about the nature of the camp, he said.

“Campers only ever participate in activities they choose to, which are all designed to facilitate new friendships, such as dance parties, team building challenges, and obstacle courses,” he said.

Reports from past years have revealed pressure on students at camps to drink until they passed out, engage in sexualised drinking games and simulate sex and fellatio.

More than 250 reports of assault and sexual harassment were made across Victoria’s six universities in the three years to 2020.