Campaigners have demanded the University of Sheffield publicly apologise for dismissing survivors of sexual violence.
The ‘survivor-led’ group Survivors First made the comments after a small protest outside Firth Court, Western Bank last week.
More than 10 members of the group sat next to banners that displayed the words ‘Abusers off campus!’ and ‘Survivors First!’.
The protestors were specifically campaigning against the university’s ‘report + support’ service, which is their system for receiving and dealing with reports of sexual violence from students.
Alexandra Hulme, 23, spokesperson from Survivors First, said: “They hide statistics, they push people under the rug. We want them to publicly apologise to everyone that they’ve let down through report and support and for their dismissive service.”
Firth Court is home to many of the University of Sheffield’s biology labs as well as the office of the university’s vice chancellor Professor Koen Lamberts, the latter of which was the reason the building was chosen for the sit-in.
Mx Hulme also branded the university ‘cowards’ as well as adding: “The reason why the university does not deal with sexual violence appropriately is because it obviously will get into statistical reports and affects how they look in league scores.
“I do think that there is like a lack of care for students and that’s just disgusting because they have a responsibility towards us as we’re here studying.”
This protest comes just over a week after Catcalls of Sheffield began their chalking campaigns against street harassment across the city, raising public awareness of sexual violence in Sheffield.
Following the sit-in, Survivors First were seen displaying their banners at the Palestine protest held by Sheffield Campus Coalition for Palestine outside the university’s student union on Western Bank.
Regarding potential sit-ins in the future, the group said: “We have no public concrete plans as of yet but if the university do not engage effectively with us we will continue to demand change”.
If any of the issues mentioned in this story have affected you, you can contact the Sheffield Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre at 0114 241 2766.
