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Universities step up fight against sexual violence
When a case of sexual abuse involving two Gadjah Mada University (UGM) students, publicly known as the Agni case, made headlines at the end of 2018, members of the public learned that for decades the nation and its universities have had no policies for handling such a situation
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span>When a case of sexual abuse involving two Gadjah Mada University (UGM) students, publicly known as the Agni case, made headlines at the end of 2018, members of the public learned that for decades the nation and its universities have had no policies for handling such a situation.
Agni’s long battle to find justice and UGM’s initial response to her accusations revealed the serious impact of the absence of policies for this issue.
Since the case came to light, several universities, including UGM, have been trying to create a set of regulations to cover the issue.
Finally, in September, a group of students and lecturers at the University of Indonesia (UI) completed a guide book outlining the standard operating procedures (SOP) for handling cases of sexual violence on campus or during university activities. This was among the first of its kind — an SOP that discusses, regulates and widely defines the sexual harassment that happens during college life.
The students and lecturers have worked intensively on the SOP since April and are now waiting for the rector’s approval so that every department at UI can use it.
The guidelines include creating a task force in the university that would support victims of sexual harassment, giving them counseling and legal assistance.
“This will help the victims when they want to report the harassment to the university. Victims do not have to share their stories multiple times to many people at the university,” Lidwina Inge Nurtjahyo, a lecturer at UI’s law school and the head of the women and children's law clinic at the university who was involved in creating the SOP, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
The SOP also requires the university to create a task force consisting of lecturers and students who understand the gender perspectives and the victims.
“This SOP is important because we have all the components we need [to assist victims] but we have been working sporadically,” she said.
Inge said they involved lecturers and students from the School of Humanities and the School of Law in creating the SOP. They are also supported by deputy deans from both schools and members of NGOs who participated with them in focus group discussions.
“We’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” Wildan Teddy, a law student and a coordinator at Hope Helps, a service provider for the response and prevention of sexual violence at UI, told the Post. "Sometimes when we received a report of sexual harassment we were confused about where and how to handle it. For example, to whom do we refer the victims for psychological counseling?"
From February to November this year, Wildan said Hope Helps has received 10 reports of sexual harassment on campus; nine of the reported victims were female.
In November 2018, UI conducted an online survey with 177 UI students about sexual harassment on campus. Twenty-two of the respondents said they had experienced sexual harassment. Forty-five of them said they knew people who had experienced it. Only 11 of those who experienced it reported it and of the 11 only three said they were satisfied with how the campus authorities handled their reports.
Difa Shafira, a political coordinator of the Law School’s student executive body, said most of the victims did not know where they should go and report the harassment. Therefore, they lost their right to recover from the ordeal and the perpetrators just walked free as if nothing had happened.
"Because of a lack of information around sexual harassment on campus some of them don’t know that what happened to them was not their fault," she said.
Difa said the fight against sexual violence in UI had started years ago. In 2014, renowned poet Sitok Srengenge was named a suspect in a sexual assault case involving a UI student, but his case went nowhere after a few years.
An initiative to create a regulation to deal with sexual harassment on campus also came from the School of Film and Television of the Jakarta Institute of Arts (IKJ).
On Nov. 6, the school issued a circular that said it would “create a safe and comfortable environment to study — free from fear”. The letter was signed by the dean, Armantono, and it addressed cases of sexual harassment, bullying and intimidation on campus.
Although it did not describe the forms of sexual harassment, it explains the sanctions for lecturers and students who commit it, which includes written reprimands, suspension and expulsion.
Armantono said any victims of sexual harassment, bullying and intimidation could report directly to him or to his deputy and they would ensure the victim was protected and his or her academic process was not obstructed.
Ismunandar, the director general of learning and student affairs at the Education and Culture Ministry, said he applauded universities that seriously make efforts to create regulations.
“We hope more universities are encouraged to do this,” he said.
Muhadjir Darwin, chairman of a team that drafted the UGM Rector’s regulation on the prevention and response to sexual violence, said the draft had not been passed yet because currently it was still at the student senate.
He said the rector had had it since April. After the rector read it, he then gave it to the student senate for final evaluation. After that it will return to the rector.
UGM rector Panut Mulyono has confirmed this information. Panut said it took time to synchronize every regulation in the draft with the SOP on how to handle any violation by the State Civil Apparatus.
