NEWS
campusreview.com.au
Shame
success
University backflips on ‘rape chat’
decision after public opprobrium.
T
he University of Warwick has
reversed a decision to allow
students back on campus after
they issued rape threats.
Following a public backlash, the university
in Coventry, England, imposed a lifetime
ban on two students.
The original incident, which occurred last
year, involved 11 students who had posted
various slurs in a Facebook group chat.
The slurs included “Sometimes it’s fun to
just go wild and rape 100 girls”, as well as
racist and anti-Semitic comments.
The students also named specific
women, with one poster writing: “Rape the
whole flat to teach them all [a] lesson.”
Following an investigation, two of the
students were suspended for one year, two
for 10, and one incurred a lifetime ban from
the university. After an appeal, however,
the university reduced the 10-year bans to
one year only.
Known as #ShameOnYouWarwick on
Twitter, the public campaign against the
university’s about-face grew rapidly,
resulting in the university imposing lifetime
bans on the students who previously had
their 10-year bans reduced to one year.
The university has also committed
to reviewing its disciplinary processes
in the wake of the campaign, which
included hundreds of students protesting
on campus.
Victims spoke out, including one who
said she had relapsed into depression and
an eating disorder and developed anxiety
as a result of the incident and the 10-month
inquiry process.
She noted that she was “terrified” of
attending classes in the event she would
encounter one of the men who threatened
to rape her.
In a statement, the university apologised
for its actions.
The saga comes as the world, including
Australian universities, reckons with the
fallout of the #MeToo movement. ■
Detractors on Twitter criticised and mocked the decision for its
treatment of women:
Vale Valentine
University’s ban on holiday spurs dangerous ridicule.
R
omantic love wasn’t celebrated this year at the University of
Agriculture in Faisalabad, Pakistan, the country’s third largest
city. To much chagrin, the university – one of the nation’s
best – issued a ‘ban’ on Valentine’s Day.
In its place, vice-chancellor Dr Zafar Iqbal Randhawa suggested
people observe a newfangled holiday: Sister’s Day.
“In our culture, women are more empowered and earn their due
respect as sisters, mothers, daughters and wives,” he reportedly
said. “We are forgetting our culture, and Western culture is gaining
ground in our society. Those nations which forget their cultural
values are diminished from the map of the world.”
The university suggested that male students gift scarfs, shawls
and gowns with the university’s insignia to female students in lieu
of red roses.
“If they are so concerned about their sisters’ wellbeing, why
don’t they pledge to allow them to inherit equally? I bet that
would mean more to them than this monkey’s tail of a day.
Happy #ValentinesDay in advance.”
— Usama Sarfraz (@UsamaSarfraz19) 14 Jan 2019
“Mr VC please must see Game of Thrones before celebrating
#SistersDay on 14th February.”
— Riz (@husnain_rizwan) 15 Jan 2019
“To the sisters of Faisalabad: May your virtue be best
preserved by the gift of restraint that all civilisations and
religions insist upon for men, especially Islam. Women are
not objects to be policed by university administrations. Vice
is in the mind of the beholder. Or principle.”
— SenatorSherryRehman (@sherryrehman) 14 Jan 2019
The Pakistani legal system contains both civic and sharia law,
meaning offences against Islam, the state religion, can be tried, and
convicts sentenced. Corporal punishments, including flogging and
death by hanging, can be imposed.
According to Human Rights Watch, it is becoming increasingly
dangerous to be an activist in Pakistan. “Enforced disappearances,
extrajudicial killings and torture take place with impunity,” the
organisation’s website says. ■
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