Three male students at one of Australia’s most prestigious universities have sparked outrage after tearing up a report on sexual violence and loudly declaring that “no one cares” during a student council meeting.
An annual meeting of members of the University of Sydney Student Representative Council was held on Wednesday night where the issue of sexual violence and hazing in Australian universities was raised.
SRC Women’s Officers and current Sexual Violence Officers, Ellie Robertson and Martha Barlow, handed out copies of the Red Zone Report, which focuses on systemic toxic cultures in Australian universities.
But in footage of the meeting, which was broadcast live to the USYD student newspaper Honi Soit, two male students were seen tearing up copies of the report.
One of them shouted “no one cares” while a third student threw fragments of the report at another student council member.
Other students booed and shouted “shame.”
The three men are understood to be connected to the Young Liberals-aligned political group on campus.
‘We have seen more cases of hazing, intimidation and sexual violence. This is a continuing result of the elitist culture of these institutions,” said Ms Robertson as Ms Barlow delivered the reports.
Three male University of Sydney students sparked national outrage after ripping up a report about sexual violence during a student council meeting on Wednesday.
Other students were heard chanting, “Racists, sexists, anti-queer, liberals are not welcome here,” after the report was destroyed.
Ms Barlow said the young students’ response to the report was “horrible, but perhaps not surprising.”
“It is a frankly reprehensible display of misogyny to laugh so blatantly… (at) the victim-survivors (in the report), and an incredibly revealing display,” he said. he told news.com.au.
‘Like the universities themselves, these student representatives would prefer to completely ignore the problem of sexual violence and pretend that it does not exist. To this we say that the time to sweep this under the rug has passed.’
The University of Sydney The Annual Report on Sexual Misconduct revealed that In 2023, staff and students filed 246 reports of sexual assault or harassment.
That number had more than doubled from 121 in 2022.
Sydney University students declared “no one cares” about sexual violence immediately after two women gave a presentation on the topic.
The 200-page Red Zone Report was commissioned and published by End Rape on Campus (EROC) in February 2018.
It featured graphic photographs.screenshots, police reports, and stories from rape and hazing victims within the residential colleges of the universities.
Lead author Nina Funnell and EROC founder Sharna Bremner said in a statement they had been “disgusted” by the incident at the University of Sydney.
“Hearing current students say ‘no one cares’ while laughing at rape and hazing is not a slap in the face to us as authors of The Red Zone,” they said.
“It’s a slap in the face to those who were harmed at universities and survived, and to the loved ones of those who did not.”
USYD Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Joanne Wright said an “immediate investigation” had been launched into the incident.
“Any behavior that mocks victim-survivors or ignores the impact of trauma resulting from sexual misconduct is absolutely unacceptable,” Professor Wright told the publication.
NSW Liberal Leader Mark Speakman also said the students would be investigated.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Sydney University Young Liberals-aligned political group for comment.
