Conservative studentsin Australia were filmed ripping up a university report exposing a rape and sexual violence epidemic. During the University of Sydney (USYD) Students Representative Council’s Representatives-Elect meeting, two members of the campus’sconservativeclub tore up copies of theRed Zone Report—an investigation intosexual violenceand hazing in Australian university residential colleges.
HighlightsConservatives at USYD rip Red Zone Report on sexual violence at colleges.USYD students laugh at and dismiss serious allegations of sexual violence.Staff and student reports of sexual misconduct increased at USYD in 2023.
Trigger warning: sexual violence– William Khoury and Noah Howlett, who are elected Liberal councilors for the University of Sydney’s Students Representatives Council (SRC) for 2025, were seen ripping up the Red Zone Report, USYD’s student newspaper,Honi Soitreported on Thursday (October 31).
Khoury and Howlett were subsequently filmed throwing pieces of the torn-up report on the floor during the speeches of incoming SRC Women’s Officers, and currentsexual violenceofficers, Martha Barlow and Ellie Robertson.
As the Red Zone Report was being presented, one of theconservativestudents at USYD’s St John’s College was heard yelling: “How old is this?”
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Conservative students in Australia were filmed ripping up a university report exposing a rape and sexual violence epidemic
Image credits:University of Sydney
Another conservative councilor, Connor O’Neill, went on to throw the torn-up report at other councilors, laughing at members of the faction, as perHoni Soit.
During Barlow and Robertson’s speech, astudentfrom the same conservative group was also heard yelling: “No one cares.”
Om Karki, an additional conservative student, reportedly dismissed the report as being outdated, and claimed that “statistically women are less likely to be raped at a collegecampusthan in the real world.”
Image credits:honi_soit
“Even after the Red Zone Report – which we are handing out to all you college apologists – and the Broderick Report, we have seen more instances of hazing, bullying, and sexual violence.”
Two members of the campus’ conservative club tore up copies of the Red Zone Report
Image credits:Honi Soit
Barlow, who passed out copies of the report, has since toldNews.com.authat it was “horrific, but perhaps not unsurprising” that the response from the Liberals and college representatives was to “laugh in my face, tear it up, and throw the pieces at us.”
She added: “It is a quite frankly reprehensible display of misogyny to so blatantly laugh…(at the) victim-survivors (in the report), and an incredibly telling one.
“Just like the colleges themselves, these student representatives would prefer to ignore the problem of sexual violence altogether and pretend it doesn’t exist.
“To this, we say that the time is long past to sweep this under the rug.”
Just three months ago, the USYD’sAnnual Report on Sexual Misconductrevealed that staff and student reports of sexual assault or harassment had more than doubled since 2022, up from 121 to a total of 246 in 2023.
Robertson toldNews.com.authat to “laugh, undermine and ridicule” incidents of sexual violence at colleges, particularly when there were victim-survivors in the room, “is extremely vile and harmful.”
President of the USYD SRC for 2024, Harrison Brennan, said the actions of theconservativestudents “are nothing short of deplorable.”
The Red Zone Report is an investigation into sexual violence and hazing in Australian university residential colleges
“Their behavior shows nothing has changed.”
Image credits:EROC Australia
They continued: “To hear current students remark ‘no one cares’ as they laughed about rape and hazing is not a slap in the face to us as The Red Zone authors.
“It is a slap in the face to those who were harmed in the colleges and survived, and to the loved ones of those who didn’t.”
William Khoury and Noah Howlett were seen ripping up the Red Zone Report
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USYD Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education), Professor Joanne Wright, said the university has initiated an “immediate inquiry” into the incident.
She toldNews.com.au: “Any behavior that mocks victim-survivors or ignores the impact of trauma resulting from sexual misconduct is absolutely unacceptable.
“We’re dedicated to creating a safe environment for our students and staff and we are formally reminding the SRC of their obligation to manage their meetings with sensitivity and respect.”
“Everyone in our community has a responsibility to foster a respectful and inclusive culture.”
Khoury and Howlett were subsequently filmed throwing pieces of the torn-up report on the floor
In a group statement, members of USYD’s Women’s Collective said it was “beyond evident” that “nothing has changed” regarding the residential colleges, which “remain unsafe.”
The Women’s Collective is set to bring apetitionto the New South Wales, Australia, government “to force politicians to debate amendments to the college legislation and confront this disgusting culture.”
Barlow revealed: “The time is long past to keep listening to (the colleges’) platitudes about consent training and reforming senior leadership – especially when it is all too frequently college leaders using their leadership positions to perpetrate violence and bullying.
“Students deserve to live in dignity and feel safe at their own university, and this will never happen while the colleges still stand.”
According to the Red Zone Report, there is an annual event at St John’s College called “the purge,” where students are encouraged to post embarrassing and graphic details online about other students’ sexual activity.
Moreover, the report unveiled a slew of questionable practices among students, such as the “fresher grooming,” where predatory senior male students solicit and sexually rank junior female students, as demonstrated in organized events such as the “bait cruise,” “fresher five,” and “the bone room.”
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