The Student Ombudsman is coming for universities, ready or not, with legislation through the House and the Senate Education and Employment Committee set for a quick inquiry, due to report October 10.
A new paper by Allison Henry (UNSW), based on a search of university websites in February, sets out how prepared they were if the Ombudsman inquires about their management of sexual violence.*
Some weren’t:
- Internal Governance: almost two thirds of the 39 members of Universities Australia had standing bodies, “contributing to a consistent institutional focus on sexual violence.” Several are chaired by senior university leaders and some include student representatives.
- Up to Date: “Nearly all” had stand-alone policies and 15 current plans/strategies. However action plans had lapsed in 2023, with no word on replacements, at ANU, QUT, Victoria U and Murdoch University. Others had outdated plans on their websites or referred to plans that were not public, Australian Catholic U, CQU and Uni Tasmania.
- Policies and Procedures: nearly all had stand-alone policies, two-thirds supported by procedural documents.
- Reporting Mechanisms: “most” had “clear on-line reporting mechanisms” but five included sexual assault/harassment in their generic reporting/complaints processes, Uni Canberra, Uni Southern Queensland, Uni Adelaide, Federation and Swinburne U’s.
- Information on Support Services: universities “have prominently displayed guidance on accessing internal/external support services. Australian Catholic U, Uni Queensland and Uni Sydney have integrated therapeutic and academic support services.
- Transparency: 15 universities reported consolidated sexual violence data. Six went beyond stating numbers to provide analysis of incidents: ANU, La Trobe U, Monash U, Uni Melbourne, UNSW, Uni Sydney.
The take-out: while “there are pockets of good practice,” across the system, Dr Henry concludes, “researchers observed a pattern of initiatives being introduced but then neglected, including out of date policies and action plans, abandoned working groups and broken links on key websites.”
Overall, Dr Henry argues that the single streamlined complaints mechanism the Ombudsman will provide, “promises to be transformative.”
And she expects the coming national code, implemented by a dedicated unit in the Department of Education, “will significantly increase institutional accountability and transparency.”
