Birmingham University faces a growing outcry over its response to student victims of sexual violence after more women said it had refused to investigate their rape complaints.
One recent graduate, who was allegedly raped in university-owned accommodation, said the institution refused to investigate, even though it has previously stated that disciplinary action would be taken over misconduct on its premises.
Nicole (not her real name) twice asked the university to launch a formal investigation but she said on both occasions staff told her that her there were no specific procedures to deal with rape complaints, so no action could be taken.
“They said they couldn’t do anything about it because he hasn’t broken any university rules,” she told the Guardian. “I asked what about harassment? And they said, ‘It’s very hard to prove. Nothing will come of it.’”
She and other women have come forward after another graduate, Alice (not her real name), told the Guardian the university had refused to investigate her rape complaint against a male student because the alleged incident took place in her private student accommodation.
Nicole said that as a result of the university’s inaction she felt unsafe on campus because she regularly saw her alleged rapist.
“Every time I saw him it was like I was going through [the rape] all over again,” she said. “I spent the next two years looking behind my back everywhere I went. There would be weeks where I would be so scared to leave the house I wouldn’t go to lectures.”
Nicole said her father wrote to the university’s vice-chancellor, Sir David Eastwood, to express his concerns over its response to her complaint but he never received a reply.
The graduate, who has post-traumatic stress and depression, also said she did not receive counselling from the university because its counsellors lacked specialist training to deal with the trauma of sexual violence.
Another recent graduate, who said she was raped while walking back to her hall of residence from campus, said her tutor told her no action could be taken unless she could prove the alleged assault took place on university property.
Jane (not her real name) said: “I went to my tutor in floods of tears. He asked where this had happened and he clapped his hands together and said ‘ah well, we can’t do anything’. That was the end of the conversation – no recommendation of who I could talk to or even an ‘are you OK’. Their attitude is awful.”
Holly Battrick, who was a women’s officer at Birmingham Guild of Students in 2018-19, said that over the course of the last academic year she became convinced that the university’s disciplinary procedures were not fit for addressing sexual violence.
Battrick, who supported Alice during her rape complaint, said: “We had a number of students come to us with issues similar to a Alice – some not as bad, some worse. Horrific stories of what they’d been through firstly in terms of [sexual assaults by] other students but also in terms of how the university dealt with it.”
One recent graduate said staff who dealt with her complaint had been homophobic and breached her confidentiality.
Elizabeth (not her real name) said: “The way that security dealt with it was appalling. I got the impression to be frank that they wanted to know the gory details. They dealt with it in a gratuitous and inappropriate way. They made some implication that the only time men rape other people is because they’re gay and they rape other men.”
She was subsequently emailed by another member of staff who appeared to have been given details of her alleged rape from security without her consent.
Elizabeth said the university police officer also dealt with her complaint in a “disgusting” way. “He asked me had I been drinking? Was I on drugs? And when I said no to both of these questions he said ‘well, why on earth did you sleep with him then if you’re gay’? And I said, well, the point is that I didn’t.”
Georgina Calvert-Lee, senior counsel at McAllister Olivarius, a law firm that has represented many victims of sexual misconduct at UK universities, said the alleged failure to investigate rape complaints raised safety risks for all women at the university.
She said: “Once a university has been put on notice that they have a potential rapist on campus then they ought to take some measures to protect the alleged victim and other students. [The] minimum would be to investigate whether that allegation has credibility. Because how can you do a risk assessment without first of all investigating the allegations?”
Katie Russell, a national spokeswoman for Rape Crisis England & Wales, said: “The experiences of students who’ve been let down following rape or sexual assault indicate not only a major gap in appropriate policies and procedures around this serious issue, but also some alarming training needs, judging by the lack of empathy and breaches of confidentiality that are being reported.”
A spokeswoman for Birmingham University said: “We are sorry if any student feels that the support offered by the university fell short of their expectations. The safety and wellbeing of our students is of paramount importance and we have invested significantly in taking a proactive approach to supporting students who have suffered sexual abuse whenever and wherever it may have occurred. This includes help with accessing specialist support and counselling services, working with the police, and pursuing any formal action.”
