Oxford and Exeter top of 'rape culture' university list
Oxford and Exeter are top of ‘rape culture’ university list: League table compiled from 1,000 student testimonies shows extent of sexual abuse in further education
- Oxford and Exeter universities are at the top of a ‘rape culture’ league table
- It was compiled from more than 1,000 testimonies from students
- The Everyone’s Invited website, which publishes accounts of sexual abuse and harassment, released the data yesterday to highlight the problem on campuses
Oxford and Exeter universities are at the top of a ‘rape culture’ league table compiled from more than 1,000 testimonies from students.
The Everyone’s Invited website, which publishes accounts of sexual abuse and harassment, released the data yesterday to highlight the problem on campuses.
It said rape culture is ‘endemic’ at universities and praised the ‘courage’ of young women who had come forward to share their stories.
The website released a list of 17 universities mentioned in more than five testimonies, almost all of which were in the elite Russell Group.
The Everyone’s Invited website, which publishes accounts of sexual abuse and harassment, released the data yesterday to highlight the problem on campuses (stock image)
Exeter was at the top, having been mentioned by 65 students.
Grammar school apologises over sex claims
Pictured: Scarlett Mansfield
By Andrew Levy for the Daily Mail
A leading grammar school has apologised after being accused of breeding a ‘toxic and ubiquitous rape culture’ by a former pupil.
Scarlett Mansfield, 26, pictured, said she and other female former pupils had been left ‘traumatised’ by their time at Colchester Royal Grammar School in Essex.
Allegations include a ‘rape society’ set up by boys to discuss unsavoury topics and a pupil twice locking himself in cars with girls and refusing to get out until they performed a sex act on him. One ex-pupil claimed to have been raped at a party when she was 15.
Miss Mansfield joined the school, which regularly tops A-level league tables, in 2011. The freelance writer, who has a master’s degree from Oxford, said: ‘I moved to CRGS for the sixth form under the promise that it offered the best education money can’t buy.’ But, she found that ‘an undeniable toxic and ubiquitous rape culture was prevalent’.
John Russell, who became head in 2015, said he was ‘shocked and saddened’ by the ‘wholly unacceptable behaviours’ experienced by some female pupils and urged any victims of crime to contact police.
Oxford, in second place, was mentioned 57 times and Edinburgh and Leeds 53 times each.
Others in the list were Manchester, York, Durham, Imperial College, King’s College, the London School of Economics, University College London, Queen’s Belfast, Bristol, Cambridge, Portsmouth, Nottingham and Nottingham Trent.
A website spokesman said: ‘We are encouraged that university students have found the confidence to come forward and share their testimonies. Many people find that the act of sharing their story helps them in many ways. From the testimonies it is clear that rape culture is endemic on university campuses across the UK.’
A list of all 108 universities mentioned at least once has also been released and it includes most UK institutions as well as some abroad.
The 1,035 new testimonies from students were received in one week.
It comes after elite private schools including Westminster, St Paul’s, Eton, Dulwich College, Latymer Upper, Highgate and King’s College, Wimbledon, and state schools such as The London Oratory were named in 12,000 anonymous testimonies on the website.
Some have called in police to investigate the claims of rape and sexual abuse and harassment.
The Government has instructed Ofsted to conduct an emergency review of schools’ safeguarding procedures.
The website spokesman added: ‘We want to continue to expose the prevalence of rape culture across all of society.’
One testimony from an Oxford student described how, after a party in 2020, a housemate took advantage of her. ‘I went to my room, and he came in and started kissing me,’ she said.
‘He started to have sex with me and I quickly sobered up. I asked him to stop and he ignored me. I spent the entire time crying and he only left when another housemate came to check on me.’
A Russell Group spokesman said: ‘No student should feel unsafe or have to tolerate harassment or sexual misconduct. Our universities take this issue incredibly seriously and provide a range of support to help students feel safe. Where a crime has been committed it should be reported to the police.’
A University of Exeter spokesman said: ‘We have made it clear to all members of our community that we have zero tolerance for sexual harassment, abuse or assault, and that criminal or disciplinary proceedings will be brought against those who commit these offences.’
More than 1,000 testimonies were sent in to Everyone’s Invited in one week. As many as 86 British universities were named, ITV reports. Those without a number had five submissions or less:
University of Exeter: 65
University of Oxford: 57
University of Edinburgh: 53
University of Leeds: 53
UCL: 48
Durham University: 41
University of York: 40
University of Manchester: 38
Bristol University: 37
University of Cambridge: 36
Nottingham Trent: 32
Nottingham University: 30
Portsmouth University: 30
Kings College London: 28
London School of Economics: 26
Imperial: 25
Queens University Belfast: 15
Aberdeen University
Arts University Bournemouth
Aston University
Bangor University
Birkbeck, University of London
Birmingham City University
Brighton University
Chester University
Chichester University
City University London
Coventry University
De Montfort University
Falmouth University
Glasgow Caldeonian University
Glasgow University
Goldsmith’s College London
Greenwich University
Harper Adams University
Heriot-Watt University
Holloway University (RHUL)
Huddersfield University
Keele University
Kingston University
Lancaster University
Leeds Beckett University
Liverpool John Moores University
Liverpool University
Loughborough University
London South Bank University
Manchester Metropolitan University
Middlesex University
Newcastle University
Northumbria University
Norwich University of Arts
Oxford Brookes
Plymouth University
Queen Mary University
Ravensbourne University
Reading University
Sheffield Hallam
Sheffield University
SOAS University London
Solent Southampton University
St. George’s, University of London
Staffordshire University
Stirling University
Surrey University
Sussex University
Swansea University
Teesside University
University of Bath
University of Bournemouth
University of Derby
University of East Anglia
University of Gloucestershire
University of Hull
University of Kent
University of Newcastle
University of Southampton
University of St Andrews
University of Strathclyde
University of Suffolk
University of Sunderland
University of the West of England
University of Wales
University of Wolverhampton
University of Lincoln
University of the Arts London
Warwick University
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