education

St Andrews Survivors: 'The mood isn’t just senseless outrage'

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She had been thinking about it for months, says Ms A of the launch of an anonymous Instagram account that has exposed a horrifying catalogue of rape and sexual assault at St Andrews.

On a Thursday afternoon at the beginning of July, inspired by stories from friends in the US about similar college callout accounts, and by the sweeping momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement, the 20-year-old set up St Andrews Survivors to give students an opportunity to share their experiences anonymously. Her page offered a simple reassurance: “We hear you. You are not alone. Together we can end sexual assault at our university.”

Within 24 hours, she says, the page had “exploded”, hundreds of followers and more than 100 submissions.

Much of the intense media interest that followed has focused on the St Andrews branch of a US-based student fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi, to which Ms A believes 12 of the initial allegations are connected. The fraternity has said several of its members have been suspended and it will conduct a thorough investigation.

Speaking exclusively to the Guardian, young women involved with the St Andrews Survivors account challenge that narrow focus, describing what they believe is an endemic rape culture deeply embedded across the UK’s university and college sector, and the need to concentrate on survivors as well as the support and reporting systems that too often fail them.

“That fraternity is really a symptom of a greater illness,” says Ms A. “Why did it take an anonymous Instagram account for survivors to feel they could have their voices heard? Why weren’t they able to go to the university or the police in the first place?”

As with Black Lives Matter, the aim is to make the problem “unavoidable”, says Ms B, a 21-year-old British student who is part of a team of nine – some survivors themselves – who now administer the account. “Until we make it impossible not to hear about these things, they will still happen.”

Ms C, also 21, discovered the page the morning after it was created when a friend shared it. “Even though I’m one of the people who has experienced sexual violence at St Andrews, I was shocked by how widespread a problem it is,” she says.

Within hours she had contributed her own story. “When I saw the account I thought: oh my god, a voice for a group of people who are often not comfortable with having their name attached to their experience, and who are usually silenced or have their words disappear into the noise.”

The St Andrews proctor has met Ms A in person, and the university has encouraged survivors to “make reports through the appropriate channels”, in a statement that adds: “The University’s primary concern is to ensure survivors know that we are ready and willing to support their decisions and take action, facilitate police reporting, and provide ongoing support accordingly”.

But Ms C says she is disappointed there has been no direct approach to students from university authorities. “It has seemed like they are burying their heads in the sand.”

This is a response familiar to Fiona Drouet, whose daughter Emily killed herself in 2016 following an abusive relationship with a fellow student at Aberdeen University. Since then, determined to reach other young women in her daughter’s position, she has guided collaboration between institutions, NUS Scotland and the Scottish government that has put the country ahead in terms of tackling gender-based violence on campus across the UK.

“For many years institutions were in denial and trying to cover up because they were so worried about reputational damage,” says Drouet. “Now they see that high levels of reporting are not good but realistic, and show that students are finding the support they need.”

Last week a report by Oxford University’s dedicated support service, launched in 2018, revealed a fifteenfold rise in sexual harassment and violence allegations in the space of a year.

Drouet identifies a new generation of vice-chancellors across the UK who are willing to take on sexual violence, but acknowledges the difficulties of effecting culture change within a youthful, alcohol-fuelled and transient student population. She says there is a lack of consistency across the sector, with institutions often not sharing good practice.

Miss M, a St Andrews graduate who won a landmark civil action in 2018 against a man who raped her on a student night out, is likewise eager to highlight positive outcomes. While many of the Instagram testimonies describe unsatisfactory interactions with the university’s student services, “the support and advice I received was world-class,” she says.

Current St Andrews students praise the “Got Consent” workshop, a product of a partnership between student services and the students’ association, which started in 2017 and will form part of online matriculation for all students from the autumn. Student society office bearers are regularly encouraged to take bystander intervention training.

Urging care when discussing sexual assault on social media, Miss M adds: “It’s important for survivors to have their voices heard but just as important that this is done in a way that isn’t triggering to other survivors, and on a platform that also provides supportive and informative advice.”

The women behind the account take onboard these criticisms, have amended displays to include trigger warnings, and will limit identifying details of alleged attackers when the account reopens for submissions at the end of this week. But they also emphasise there is power in anonymity.

“Anonymity allows you to talk and be supported – even by random people on the internet – without any judgment,” says Ms B. “If you’re not willing to go through making a police or university report, some feel they can’t make change. Anonymity allows them to take control of their stories and become part of a movement for change.”

Following a turbulent fortnight, the St Andrews Survivors team identify a sense of possibility among fellow students. “What is really positive about the mood is it isn’t just senseless anger or outrage,” says Ms B. “Students are communicating with each other and the university, and the university is communicating back. It’s really empowering to be part of a student body that is willing to change these things and makes you proud to be from St Andrews.”



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