Minister of State for Higher Education Mitchell O’Connor has convened a major higher education workshop on consent and tackling sexual violence in third-level education in Dublin Castle today.
Mitchell O’Connor’s event brought together university leaders, students’ unions and other stakeholders for a workshop on consent and tackling sexual violence in third level education.
“Sexual harassment and assault are experiences too common for many of our third level students. I was appalled by the findings of a recent NUIG study which showed that some seventy percent of the women, and some forty percent of men, reported experiencing some level of sexual hostility by the end of their third level studies”, Mitchell O’Connor said in a press statement released before the event.
Mitchell O’Connor r has been vocal about the need for better safeguards in universities against sexual harassment and recently launched a report on sexual consent among third-level students
The report found that 54 per cent of women in first year, 64 per cent of second-year females and 70 per cent of women in third year or above had experienced some form of sexual harassment. Only 40 per cent of male students in third year or above reported having experienced sexual hostility.
At the workshop she was joined by Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan, Garda Detective Chief Superintendent Declan Daly and senior officials from the Department of Justice and Equality.
Mitchell O’Connor emphasised the importance of dealing with these issues: “This problem will only be effectively tackled by everyone working together. The third level institutions have a responsibility in this area, and many have run sexual consent workshops for their students. These programmes and workshops can have a significant positive impact on the students they engage with.”
“I want the outcome of today to be a sharing of best practice and strategic collaboration on consent among our institutions and agencies”, she said.
Last week it campus sexual assault returned to the headlines after Cork’s Sexual Violence Centre reported that three students in University College Cork approach the service after being raped during the first teaching week of term.
Following this, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin called on the government to convene an urgent forum to address the number of sexual assaults of college students.
In the past number of years, Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) has introduced mandatory consent classes in Trinity Hall. The workshops were deemed a success, with 95 per cent of students attending the classes. This year, Trinity approved a €15,000 expansion of the consent classes, which will see them extended to sports clubs and societies in Trinity, as well as off-campus student accommodation complexes Kavanagh Court and Binary Hub.
