The Queen’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Working group has released its first report outlining cases of sexual violence reported on campus, which contains statistics from September of 2017 through to Aug. 31, 2018.
The report found in that time frame, 31 people came forward reporting 13 incidents of sexual assaults, and 22 incidents of sexual harassment, one instance of indecent exposure reported as well as one complaint related to voyeurism.
“This year provides us with a good baseline moving forward and we will continue to track information and data,” the report states.
This is first time the Queen’s University has released specific data related to sexual violence on campus. After damning sexual assault numbers reported in the media, in 2015, Queen’s released a report that outlined how the university could deal with the issue of sexual violence. This led to the university updating its sexual violence policy.
But when it comes to sexual assaults on campus, students Global News spoke to said more can be done.
“Coming into first year, I was never properly taught anything,” first-year student Rachel Fox said. “They never really brought it up in frosh week, which I think is important for first year students coming in to university.”
Another first-year student, Kayleigh Brillinger was alarmed by the number of complaints in just one school year.
“It’s scary knowing there are people around you who could do that,” Brillinger said. “I’m sure we’ve encountered some people who could have done that to us, but we’ve been lucky enough to get by with the right group of friends and people around us to help us.”
While McKenna Brazill believes this report is a step in the right direction.
“I think the main part that we might need to improve upon is awareness,” she said. “Maybe understanding the numbers and knowing the numbers will allow people to understand that it’s still an issue.”
According to the report, partnerships with various community groups, like the Sexual Assault Centre Kingston, have been effective, as they believe more Queen’s students are coming forward to report sexual violence.
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