Students asked “Are You OK?”
The Tertiary Womens Focus Group are today celebrating Suffrage Day by launching their „Are You OK? report based on a campus safety audit carried out earlier in the year.
“This report shows that students do not feel their institutions do enough to mitigate the risk of harassment in the campus environment”, said Caitlin Dunham, National Womens Rights Officer for the New Zealand Union of Students Associations, “
The report analyses the sexual harassment policies of every tertiary provider in the country and makes recommendations about how they could be strengthened. “While no institution had a bad policy, everyone can improve to ensure the safety of the students.” said Dunham Tertiary students were also surveyed on their experiences with relationship violence.
“26.6% of respondents said unhealthy relationships were common in the social circle, while 87.2% believe they would be comfortable enough to help someone in an unhealthy or unsafe relationship.” stated Dunham. “This is the first report of its kind in New Zealand, and we hope institutions take heed.” concluded Dunham.
NZUSA is the national representative body for tertiary students and has been advocating on student issues since 1929. The TWFG is the autonomous womens caucus within NZUSA.
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