Campuss Assault - Mentally Attack

University’s initial response to a recent sexual assault has angered thousands of people.

People have signed a petition – demanding the university punish the student perpetrator.

They demand the campus officials that have penalized the student victim.

In less then 24 hours the petition has garnered more then xxx signatories.

More people signing every second to reach xx signatories by mid-afternoon on Wednesday.

The petition states as one of its demands.

They demand that the university thoroughly investigate the case.

They demand the university create a safe campus environment.

The call says (pengaduan – permintaan) 

The university has not been siding with victims.

The investigative report was based on the testimony of a student under the pseudonym A.

She give us permission to publish the full detail of her account.

Her fellow student has assaulted her during a community service project (KKN).

KKN is a kind of field school program that lasts several months. 

During this program, the students live with local families in the target village.

She was visiting a villager until late evening at their home where her fellow was staying.

She decided to spend the night at his homestay.

She decided to return to her own lodging in the (next) morning.

They had to share a single room that night.

They were separated by some distance in the room.

She slept fully clothed and …

She was still in her headscarf.

Early the following morning, she felt him groping her,
Opening her top
Kissing her breasts, and
Inserting his fingers in her genitalia.

She froze in momentary shock until she felt pain that prompted her to yell at him.



 She immediately reported the incident to the supervisor and a unit which managed the program.

The univ. officials cut short his program and sent him back to Jogja.

They blamed her for the incident, with one of them telling her to repent.

After the assault, she often felt scared at night.

She ended up staying awake all night.

She also had suicidal thoughts.

In Nov 2017 she learned that she received a C for her KKN assignment, while …

Her peers on the same program received an A or a B.

She asked about the reason for her low grade.

The management responded that she had to share the blame for the incident.

The incident embarrassed university in front of the local villagers.

A university official who declined to be named said that ..

You should not be in a rush to call her.

Like a cat given salted fish, it will at least sniff it and might even eat the fish, right?

She reported the C she received for her assignment and the circumstances surrounding it.

They followed up on her case ti the top administrative level.

The team recommended that the perpetrator write an apology and attend a mandatory counseling session for sexual abusers.



F reiterated its commitment to side with victim.

With this, Fisipol UGM states that we side with the survivor to find justice and a thorough solution to the problem.

They asked the univ to manage the case thoroughly.

Rector arranged a closed meeting with relevant parties in response to its letter.

He also agreed to sanction an officials for their ignorance in his initial handling of the incident until the survivor reported the case to …

The faculty agreed to engage psychologists to provide trauma counseling for the survivor.

After an intensive investigation ….

They submitted its recommendation which included:
Punishment for the perpetrator
Protection and support for the victim, and
Improvements to managing the program.

It also agreed to engage psychologists to provide trauma counseling for the survivor.




This case ended with a call tp all parties to create a campus that was free from abuse.

The univ will continue its work to make sure that the victim received protection and justice.

Next, university will soon take the necessary real steps to take the case to the legal domain.

Other UGM cases 

Several years ago, a case rocked the uni.

The perpetrator was a respected lecturer.

He was the head of department at the time of the incident.

The victim reported that …

He groped their breasts and rubbed his crotch against their bodies ..

He did that during a one-on-one academic consultation on their theses in a closed room.

He was stripped of his position, but
He is still officially employed as a UGM lecturer.


Even after the department accepted the report, she still bumped into him in the basement parking lot.

The investigative report also cited other unresolved physical assault case at uni.


Sexual assault at universities



Many believe that the incidents that have emerged in the public eye are a mere tip of the iceberg.

UI received physical – psychological assault reports from several students on a lecturer.

As in the case of H, he also assaulted them during one-on-one thesis consultations.

He was later dismissed from uni but he was still being interviewed by the media.

She represented a victim but the case did not go anywhere.

Assault have been happening at universities for many years.

Growing awareness and knowledge about x inspire survivors to dare to speak out.

It does not mean that the case are on the rise, but
The number of survivors who dare to speak out is on the rise.

Uni sometimes do not appreciate the courage it took survivors to speak about their experiences, and ..

Even blamed them for the assault.

This is double victimization …

And as a result, the survivor feels guilty for reporting the incident and for the incident itself.

Victim blaming can disrupt a survivor’s day-to-day life.

==

Several organisations have encouraged uni to help one of its students to take legal action following ….
She regretted its slow handling of the case.

The case became public after an investigative report published by …


The case occurred during a university community service assignment.

The case became public after an investigative report was published.

Referring to he victim by the pseudonym (disamarkan) A,

However, the campus officials instead (justru – malahan) blamed her for the incident.

We encourage uni to bring this case to law enforcement to create a deterrent effect.

They found out about the case after it went viral, while it happened last year.

It shows that univ doesn’t know what to do in such cases.

Uni has also failed to show seriousness in handling past case.

JP made an investigative report about alleged abuse by a lecturer against several female students.

The lecturer was dismissed from his teaching job, but is still officially a lecturer there.

 
They demand that uni deliver justice to the victim.

The campus should give the perpetrator a tough punishment such as expulsion.

Uni is working to deliver justice to the victim.

He has been dismissed from his program and suspended for a semester.

The are looking into necessary steps to pursue a legal avenue for this case.

Uni’s initial response (to a recent sexual assault case) has angered thousands of people.

They signed a petition.

A petition demand the uni punish the alleged student perpetrator.

A petition demand the uni punish the campus officials that have penalized the victim.


Letter:

As an alumna of XXX, in particular the school (faculty) of y,

I am proud of my juniors, abuse survivors.

They spoke up about their case.

They began something that would be a good change in one of oldest univ.

Next year, univ will be 70 years old.

The old central building (Gedung pusat) still stands gracefully (dengan anggun), but ..

The campus has also seen rapid changes.

Last year, I went there and did not recognize my own school.

Besides having Joko among the alumni, ..

It has produced many other people who champion human rights and gender equality.

I am proud to call many of them my friends.




Now, it is time for univ to lead the change in …
The change in how campuses in Indonesia deal with abuses within their jurisdiction.

Do not hush (mendiamkan menutupi) victims, encourage them.

Do not blame the victims and sweep the reports under its ancient rug.

Listen to the demand of students –

Bright young people who would preserve the grace of Gedung Pusat while making the world better.

UGM has a chance to make history and the time is now.

She was attacked while sleeping fully clothed and wearing her headscarf.

She was attacked by a fellow student during a community service assignment.

In less than 24 hours, a petition garnered about 60 thousands signatures.



The case was under investigation by an independent team from UGM since last year.

The team recommended punishment for the perpetrator and help for the victim.

He had to write a letter of apology signed by the parents and get mandatory counseling designed for abusers.

However, the victim and many who support her find the punishment to be too lenient.

They demand that H be expelled.

The team lacked legal ground to recommend the univ expel HS.
.
Many were also angry that the victim had to strive at length to secure recognition that …

She was indeed raped (benar-benar).

He put his fingers into her genital, which according the definition of sexual violence, was rape.

Her friends encouraged her to report her case to the community service supervisor.

The supervisor decided to send HS back to Jogja, but also blamed the victim for what happened.


An official even told her to repent.

Months later, the victim learned (mengetahui) she got a c for the assigment, ..while others got As or Bs.

The supervisor and others in charge of the program agreed to give her a C because …

Both H and the victim had contributed to that incident.

The incident embarrassed univ in front of the locals.

Two years ago, I met an abuse survivor from Univ.

She was a brave woman.

She wanted me to write her story that ..

She was abused by a lecturer whom she respected and admired.

Her lecture is my senior and I know him. He then headed the department.





She decided to report him to the school after …

She heard other victims had spoken out.

He was no longer the department head

And investigation team was formed.











As an alumna of Gadjah Mada University (UGM), in particular the School of Social and Political Sciences, I am proud of my juniors, sexual abuse survivors, who spoke up about their cases and began something that would be a good change in one of Indonesia’s oldest universities.
Next year, UGM will be 70 years old. The old central building, the Gedung Pusat, still stands gracefully, but the campus has also seen rapid changes. Last year, I went there and did not recognize my own school.
Besides having President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo among the alumni, the university has produced many other people who champion human rights and gender equality. I’m proud to call many of them my friends.
Now, it’s time for UGM to lead the change in how campuses in Indonesia deal with sexual abuses within their jurisdiction. Don’t hush victims; encourage them. Don’t blame the victims and sweep the reports under UGM’s ancient rug. Listen to the demands of students, UGM’s bright young people who would preserve the grace of Gedung Pusat while making the world better.
UGM has a chance to make history and the time is now.
The university student press, Balairung, reported on Monday about a social and political sciences student who said she was sexually attacked while sleeping fully clothed and wearing her headscarf by a fellow student during a community service assignment (KKN) in Maluku in June last year.
In less than 24 hours, a petition on change.org, which demanded UGM punish the alleged perpetrator, garnered about 60,000 signatures.
The case was under investigation by an independent team from UGM since late last year and the team recommended punishment for the perpetrator, identified only as HS, and help for the victim. HS had to write a letter of apology signed by the parents and to get mandatory counseling designed for sexual abusers.
However, the victim and many who support her find the punishment to be too lenient; they demand that HS be expelled. Tri Hayuning Tyas, the investigation team’s coordinator, told Balairung the team lacked legal ground to recommend the university expel HS.
Many were also angry that the victim had to strive at length to secure recognition that she was indeed raped. She said the perpetrator put his fingers into her genitals, which according to the National Commission on Violence Against Women’s definition of sexual violence, was rape.
Her friends had encouraged her to report her case to the community service supervisor. The supervisor decided to send HS back to Yogyakarta, but also blamed the victim for what happened. One university official even told her to “repent”, she said.
Months later, the victim learned she got a C for the assignment, while others got As or Bs. The KKN supervisor and others in charge of the program agreed to give her a C because both HS and the victim had “contributed to that incident”, which embarrassed UGM in front of the locals.
Two years ago, I met a sexual abuse survivor from UGM. She was a brave woman who wanted me to write her story that she was abused by a social and political sciences lecturer whom she respected and admired. Her lecturer is my senior and I know him. He then headed the school’s International Relations Department.
She decided to report him to the school after she heard other victims had spoken out; he was no longer the department head and an investigation team was formed.
Debates among campus officials ensued about what the school and the university should do about the lecturer. He was not fired; the survivor said she once ran into him in the basement parking lot. “I don’t think he should still have been on campus. How would his other victims react when they see him?” she told me. As of Nov. 7, I haven’t heard if he was dismissed from his position as a lecturer.
At the same time, however, I saw some positive progress in my alma mater. Sexual abuse at UGM surely already occurred years ago, but none of the cases were ever made public, let alone investigated.
During my years at UGM in the 1990s, I could not imagine that a student reporting such a powerful lecturer would get support from other lecturers. The patriarchy was even stronger then and, honestly, I could not imagine fellow student journalists writing pieces with a strong victim perspective like the one Balairung did. Feminism had begun at UGM, but most students were not as well versed about gender equality as they are now.
One disclaimer though: I feel optimistic that changes are coming to UGM and my alma mater could be the institution at the forefront of these changes because I know some of the lecturers at the school.
These women and men are perceptive enough to know that times have changed, so UGM must change too. They are people who want to make UGM a safe educational institution. They are people who want UGM to be a true educational institution, meaning it has the responsibility to teach the students (and the lecturers, too), that touching other people’s bodies without their permission is sexual abuse and a well-respected institution like UGM should not tolerate abusers.
I am certain UGM can rise to the occasion and be a shining example for other universities to make campuses safe spaces free of sexual abuse.