"Any incident is one too many": Vice-Chancellor

** Content warning: this article includes references to domestic and family violence and sexual misconduct.

In his remarks to open the Domestic and Family Violence Conference at the University of Sydney Law School this morning, University of Sydney Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Mark Scott, reaffirmed the University’s commitment to a whole-of-institution approach in supporting staff and students affected by domestic and family violence.

This includes backing the findings and recommendations of the 2018 Red Zone Report into sexual violence and hazing in Australian university residential colleges undertaken by End Rape on Campus Australia, and condemning any behaviour that ignores the impact of trauma resulting from sexual misconduct.

Professor Scott noted the University has recently lost valued members of our community to violence. He also acknowledged there is still much to do, and that by working together, institutions like the University can help lift understanding and capability to address the problem and have real impact.

Professor Scott’s full address is below.

In the University of Sydney’s 2032 strategy, we said we want our work to be focused on the great global challenges.

Tragically, the issue before us today – domestic and family violence – meets the criteria of a great global challenge: where enormous work needs to be done, where great research efforts are needed, where teams of people from different disciplinary areas need to be drawn together to engage in a deeper understanding of that challenge, translating research insights into transformational solutions that can have an impact on the lives of millions of people around the world and here in Australia.

I am here today to reaffirm the University’s commitment to a whole-of-institution approach in supporting staff and students affected by domestic and family violence.

We are a large community at the University of Sydney – among the world’s great research universities, we’re one of the largest. In any given semester, 100,000 students and staff will join the teaching and learning experience here at the University. Because of that scale, we are inevitably a microcosm of what is happening in broader society.

Some of you may be aware of several of the cases of domestic, family and sexualised violence that affected our university community in a profound way this past year.

In April, a University of Sydney international student was one of the victims who died in the tragic and horrific attack at the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre.

In accordance with their family’s wishes, I won’t say her name. But I can tell you that she loved the University, and those at the University who knew her, loved her vibrant presence.  

After the terrible news of that weekend in mid-April, our community gathered outside the sandstone of our Quadrangle, with hundreds of bouquets and cards forming a memorial to the student.

What had been a terrible shock for the nation, was a very real and very present shock for our community at our university.

In the hundreds of bouquets and cards, there was a shared grief – for the terrible loss in our midst, but particularly for the suffering of her family and her community back home. So proud of her achievements and her brilliant trajectory – so overwhelmed by the sudden loss of her life.

In August, we lost another student – her name was Xiaoting – known as Tia to her classmates and teachers.

She had also come to Australia seeking opportunities and a university degree in Arts and Social Sciences.

Instead, her life was cut short at 21 years old – her body found at the unit block she shared with her partner in Burwood.

In both instances, we lost good students, good classmates and learning companions.

Outstanding students who travelled across the world to learn, to grow, to experience new adventures and to prepare for an exciting future.

More recently, some of you will no doubt have heard about the behaviour of some of our current students at a student council meeting last week.

Like many of you, I was personally shocked and deeply disappointed with the behaviour. And as a University, we immediately said so publicly.

I read the Red Zone report as I started as Vice-Chancellor, as well as the Broderick Review.

There are some lines in a university context that have long been offered as a defence of the indefensible:

• “Things are no worse today than they ever have been”
• “Things are better than they once were”
• “Things are no worse at a university than they are outside a university”
• “The real culprits are substance abuse, the internet, the schools, the culture”

Where we stand is very clear – that each of these lines is manifestly unacceptable as a defence or an excuse.

Any incident of gendered violence is one too many.

We know that sexual assault or sexual harassment is not only harmful in the moment or the immediate aftermath, but can also have persistent consequences over a lifetime for victim survivors and their families, their friends, their workmates.

The Red Zone report documents it.

And survivors telling their stories – like Josephine Gazard and her searing, brilliant play That’s What She Said, which I saw in its Sydney production last year – also confront us with the lived experience.

I want to assure you that the University is taking last week’s incident extremely seriously.

Any behaviour that mocks victim survivors or ignores the impact of trauma resulting from sexual misconduct is not only misguided but is out of touch with community expectations and unacceptable.

We are doing all we can to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our community:

• We have initiated an inquiry into that specific incident
• More generally, we are working with students – with particular focus on our colleges and accommodation providers
• we have Community of Practice meetings between the University and the residential colleges that are facilitating productive dialogue to encourage collaboration on student support and enhance responses to sexual misconduct through a cooperative and trauma-informed approach
• we are strengthening partnerships and deepening agreements between the University and the residential colleges to promote information sharing to improve student safety and minimise re-traumatisation of victim survivors.

We are also working on:

• Being a safe space to report – irrespective of where an incident may have happened – and making sure people can get the support they need
• Training for students and staff, particularly around consent
• Transparency in reporting of incidents at and to the University
• We will be meeting with external community organisations like End Rape on Campus Australia, whose ideas and feedback we value.

We reject any efforts to minimise, discredit or deflect the importance and integrity of the work of calling out cultures of gendered trivialisation and harm – it is central to creating a safe community for all.

What I have shared today doesn’t describe the suffering that sits behind the headlines.

I know that there are many and varied forms of domestic, family, and intimate partner violence affecting some in our university community.

That’s why we are determined to create a university environment that is safe, respectful and inclusive for all who work and study here.

This is personally important to me. And it is consistent with the values of our institution.

We have a suite of initiatives in place to support those impacted by domestic and family violence, including:

• Family and domestic leave
• Flexible work arrangements
• Free counselling and support services.

And we have made important strides to provide managers and teachers with training to look out for signs of gendered violence or coercion, responding with compassion, and taking action where required.

We’re very lucky to have in our Safer Communities Office a dedicated team of immediate-response specialists providing around-the-clock case management and support to our students and staff.

But there is still more to do. We must not become complacent.

As an institution of learning, research and knowledge, we have a responsibility to lift understanding and capability in our community to address this problem.

Today’s conference is one example of this – and I want to finish by thanking those here today. 

Special thanks to Professor Helen Paterson for her great leadership and convening power for this third annual conference.

Thank you to the colleagues from across the University who have put together this event and are convening here today – from the Law School, School of Psychology, School of Social Work, Sydney Institute of Criminology, Diversity and Inclusion team, Safer Communities, and the Women at Sydney Network.

At a broad, comprehensive university like Sydney, when we convene, and share our knowledge, insights, learnings and understandings – more than ever the answers will be in the room.

And as we model listening, learning and understanding each other, we are that much more likely to come to shared insights and understandings that can help us address this scourge in our society.

Thank you to the guest speakers – due to a University Senate commitment I won’t be able to be there, but I look forward to hearing about the lunchtime panel featuring Anna Coutts-Trotter (CEO, Survivor Hub), Jade Parker (ACON) and Annette Braybrook (CEO, Djirra).

And thank you to the many guests joining us today for this important conference – from the academic community to the community professionals in the room.

We know solutions to these issues won’t be found by one organisation – only by working together can we have a real impact.

I want to conclude by reflecting on the nature of universities, and the role of universities in this work. It is clear to see that, in our current political arrangements, there are continuing questions about the value, role, and importance of universities.

Two things stand out to me from the conference and the conversations you will have today.

Firstly, just here in our community we have, in effect, 75,000 students. Students who will invariably go out to be leaders in their community. We talk about this constantly here – ‘leadership for good’ – about how we are creating the next generation of leaders for Australia and, increasingly, the world.

It is so important that these students come to an understanding of these issues of consent and respect and understand the drivers of domestic, family and gender-driven violence, so that they – wherever they may be – can provide leadership through their own lives.

Also, under the guise of research into the matters that are most important for our society, and our search for answers to make us a better society, there is no more important issue that our researchers can focus on.

Thank you, Helen and everyone taking part, and I look forward to hearing more about your conversations today.