Trigger warnings: violence against women, death, police violence, and sexual assault

We know that the past few weeks have been extremely upsetting and devastating for many of our students. We are deeply saddened by the tragic murder of Sarah Everard and the shocking incidents of police brutality at her vigil in Clapham Common.

As your Students’ Union, we understand that many of our students will have been personally impacted by these events or related events. We extend our full solidarity and support to all our students, especially women. We emphasise that any form of harassment and violence against women is never okay, whether on or off campus.

We also recognise that this time is particularly difficult for Black women, Women of Colour and our students from marginalised communities. These communities regularly experience police violence, and have been victims of similar, gendered violence for hundreds of years.

As an Officer team, we want to make it very clear that in incidents like these, it is never the victim’s fault. We condemn the rhetoric of victim-blaming of Sarah Everard and many, many others.

The ‘Stay At Home’ order as part of the coronavirus restrictions will have been difficult for many, but particularly difficult when ‘home’ is not a safe place, such as for victims of domestic violence.

We want to let you know that you are not alone and that we stand in solidarity with you all against gendered violence, domestic violence, misogyny and police brutality. We want to stand with you in saying #EnoughIsEnough.

As a Students’ Union, we commit to the following:

1. To believe women, listen to them and learn from their experiences;
2. Working with the University to extend the Active Bystander training to at least our student leaders;
3. Working with our male leaders and students to do work on Lad Culture and how it perpetuates violence against women;
4. Work with the University and the Security team to identify potential ‘safe spaces’ on campus for women;
5. Ensure that students are aware of what to do if they are harassed or assaulted on campus.

Support to share your expeirences

Further, we recognise that recent events have encouraged women to tell their stories of experiencing sexual harassment, assault, and violence. If you would like to speak to somebody about any of your experiences, past or present then there is support available to you, both at City and externally:

• If you have experienced bullying or harassment, you can speak to one of City’s Harassment Advisers and report it through the University’s You Report We Support tool, or our SU Advice Team.
• If you would like to speak to somebody at City, you can contact the Student Counselling team or our Chaplaincy team.
• For further support, you can contact Victim Support, the Rape Crisis Helpline or the Samaritans.