Universities Australia defends $1m donation to ‘independent’ campus rape survey

AUSTRALIAN university students are being invited to participate in a new rape and sexual assault study, but there’s a problem.

SURVIVORS of sexual assault on Australian university campuses are insulted by a supposedly independent university rape survey they say is significantly compromised.

The Australian Human Rights Commission is asking as many as 60,000 students to take part in a poorly executed online questionnaire described as “shameful” and “confusing” and now intrinsically linked to the campuses it purports to investigate.

The concept is a good one. Australian universities, like those in the US, are known hunting grounds for rape and sexual assault, where survivors often feel unable to report the crimes committed against them.

But the project’s execution has been found wanting. The founder of End Campus Rape in Australia, Sharna Bremner, says the organisation representing Australian universities has compromised the survey with a $1 million donation.

She says there is a conflict of interest when the organisation with the biggest stake in the outcome is funding the entire process.

“Would we be concerned if the Catholic Church paid $1 million to the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse? Of course we would be. This is the same thing.”

Ms Bremner said survivors of sexual assault had contacted her directly to express their concerns about detailing their most intimate stories to Universities Australia when, on previous occasions, the organisation’s response was to sweep their stories under the rug.

“We’ve had a lot of questions from students asking how they can report it when they reported to (UA) before and they were told there was nothing that could be done.

“I had one student who told me she was informed (her sexual assault) was a cultural misunderstanding.”

The Human Rights Commission’s survey was originally proposed as compulsory. It was originally exclusive to the AHRC, too. But a few things changed.

First, US-based The Hunting Ground documentary announced a series of Australian screenings aimed at engaging “the entire university sector ... in a collaborative, comprehensive and unified campaign around the incidence of, and response to, sexual violence on Australian universities”.

After the announcement, UA jumped on board, donating the $1 million and adding their own branding — “Respect. Now. Always” — to the survey.

Details of the survey have not been made public, but news.com.au was provided with screenshots by a student. The images reveal what a number of advocates expressed concern about: that the questions were poorly-worded and could cause further trauma to those still suffering.

One question asks: “Did you seek support or assistance from the university in relation to the incident?”

One advocate, who did not wish to be named, said the question supports the idea that victims of sexual assault should always report the attack to their university, and that they have done something wrong if they do not report it.

Anna Hush, women’s officer at the University of Sydney, told ABC radio students see the Universities Australia branding and get “confused”.

“They’re told the survey’s independent, it’s confusing. And I think students are pretty sceptical of that claim.

“If the universities are paying for the survey to be conducted then it’s clearly not independent from their institutional interests.”

But Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins told Fairfax the survey still belongs to the Human Rights Commission.

“The survey is absolutely a Human Rights Commission survey. We are asking universities to be clear that the survey is being conducted by us. Universities Australia has no access to the individual submissions being made by the students,” she said.

Universities Australia and the Australian Human Rights Commission have been approached for comment