Content Warning: Sexual assault and sexual harassment (SASH), gendered violence, and institutional betrayal.
On this page you will find:
- Resources for accessing support – through external organisations and through the ANU Harmful Behaviours disclosure tool
- An overview of our 2025 campaign
- To come soon, our 2025 report: Wrapped in Red Tape: How ANU Buries Reform in Process
August 1st marks the anniversary of the 2017 Change the Course report that first exposed the crisis of sexual violence at Australian universities. Every year since, the ANU Women’s Department has held a protest on August 1st to hold the University accountable for improving student safety.
Our 2025 campaign, “Without Pressure, Nothing Moves,” speaks to a hard truth: meaningful change at ANU only happens when students force it to act.
This year’s campaign was not sparked by any one incident, but by something just as urgent: complacency.
Despite some improvements on paper, ANU’s overall response to sexual assault and harassment has been defined by red tape and delay. Administrators often answer our demands with lengthy reviews, new committees, or strategic plans – bureaucratic processes that create an appearance of action without tangible results.
The harm, however, remains. After the 2017 AHRC report revealed ANU had among the highest rates of sexual misconduct in the nation, the University made numerous commitments to reform. So far they have broken almost all those promises or failed to implement these recommendations. Students see a clear pattern of institutional betrayal: time after time, PR exercises and endless reviews are prioritised over concrete safety measures. This complacency is exactly what prompted our campaign.
As the national conversation sharpens and structural change becomes inevitable, ANU can no longer claim that reform is optional. Here’s the broader national landscape our university is failing to meet.
The Federal Government is enacting:
- A new National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence that will become enforceable in 2026.
- The National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children (2022–2032) is underway, with significant government and sector investment.
- The National Student Ombudsman was announced by the Federal Government in 2024 and provides an independent mechanism for students to lodge complaints about universities,
significantly increasing external oversight and accountability for institutions like ANU.
Expert reviews agree:
- The Universities Accord Panel in the final Universities Accord Report, and leading sector bodies have declared the issue systemic, not individual – it’s about institutional failure, not just misconduct.
Universities are now under national pressure to:
- Align with new federal legislation and frameworks.
- Embed structural prevention and response tools.
- Shift away from fragmented, reactive policy approaches.
Having already conducted major reviews > Academic culture, in particular, remains a site of institutional betrayal. Following the university’s own Nixon Review – which found students who disclose violence to staff often face disbelief or dismissal. There is still no mandated training for academic staff on how to respond to disclosures. Different colleges apply different rules.
At the same time, key student concerns have been repeatedly sidelined:
- Inconsistent sexual violence policies across colleges.
- Staff untrained in handling disclosures.
- Residence reform still stalled.
- Inaccessible reporting systems.
- Lack of intersectional, trauma-informed support.
So what can you do?
Whether you’re a first-year student or have been fighting for this cause for a decade, your voice and presence matter.
📍 Protest and march on Friday August 1st, from 12pm on Kambri Lawns.
📍Read our Feminist Zine on Gendered Violence, giving student voices a space to be angry, to vocalise our grief and manifest our hope for change – Zine launch to come soon!
📍Attend our Expert Panel on Wednesday August 6th, from 6.15pm, for a discussion connecting campus policy failures with the national crisis of gendered violence – featuring advocates, policymakers, and survivors.
📍Read our 2025 report, Wrapped in Red Tape: How ANU Buries Reform in Process. A research-informed, policy-focused report mapping ANU’s implementation failures, benchmarking them against national frameworks, and presenting concrete demands supported by current legislative and regulatory developments – Report launch to come soon!
Contact & Support
The ANU Women’s Department will always Stand with Survivors.
If you have been distressed by any of the discussions surrounding August 1st, please do not hesitate to access support via sa.womens@anu.edu.au (ANU Women’s Officer), or one of the following support services:
Canberra Rape Crisis Centre: (02) 6247 2525
13YARN: 13 92 76
1800 Respect: 1800 737 732
QLife: 1800 184 527
Domestic Violence Crisis Service: (02) 6280 0900
Lifeline: 13 11 14
ANU Student Safety and Wellbeing Team
Email: student.wellbeing@anu.edu.au
Phone: 6125 2211, or visit the Health and Wellbeing Centre, Level 3 Building 156 Joplin Lane, Kambri (9-4pm Mon-Fri).
ANU Women's Department 