ALMOST 400 accusations of sexual impropriety have been made to Scottish universities in the past five years, new figures have shown.
A series of freedom of information requests by the PA news agency have shown 394 reports were made to Scotland’s 18 higher education institutions since the 2016-17 academic year, not including the Open University.
However, the figure is likely higher, with the Royal Conservatoire and Heriot Watt University refusing to divulge the number of accusations they have received for fear of identifying those involved – saying only that there were less than five accusations in each year.
The highest number of accusations were made at Edinburgh University, where 76 reports were filed, followed by 68 at St Andrews University and 60 at Glasgow University.
The Glasgow University figures include 13 reports made by staff members against colleagues.
About 308 of the reports were made against students, while about 68 were made against members of staff. Edinburgh Napier University provided a percentage of total accusations which were made against students (84%) and staff (16%), meaning the figure cannot be extrapolated with complete certainty. Confirmed investigations were launched into at least 257 of the accusations, resulting in at least 130 sanctions being handed down.
The number of investigations and punishments are also incomplete, due to the responses from universities.
For example, the Royal Conservatoire said it could not specify the number of investigations undertaken or sanctions handed down for fear of identifying those involved.
Punishments included included 22 exclusions, five suspensions, two dismissals of staff and 46 warnings or cautions.
Sandy Brindley, chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland, said: “All students should be able to study free from the fear and reality of sexual violence and yet these figures show that this is not the case for too many.”
She added that students who suffer sexual violence often have to continue their studies alongside their attacker.
“At best, this can leave survivors feeling unsafe and unsupported but, too often, it also leads to them feeling unable to continue with their studies and dropping out.
“This is, frankly, unjust and not something that we should simply accept.”
Brindley went on to call for universities to make supporting the victims of sexual violence “a priority”.
A spokesman for Universities Scotland asked victims to come forward to give institutions “an accurate picture” of the problem.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here