A leading Scottish university received 48 complaints of student sexual misconduct in just three years

A top university has received almost 50 complaints of sexual misconduct – some involving serious violence – in three years, The Scottish Mail on Sunday can reveal.

48 women and men said they had been sexually abused by students and staff since 2021 at St. Andrews University, which Prince William and Kate Middleton once attended.

Some of the perpetrators received written warnings or were asked to complete “reflection projects” and attend consent workshops.

The revelations come after a social media campaign in 2020 highlighting sexual assault on the Fife campus prompted nearly 250 former or current students to share their harrowing ordeals.

A whistleblower told the St Andrews Survivors Instagram page how she woke up after a night out to find a male student raping her.

Another said she confided in a male friend about a previous sexual assault, but he took her home and attacked her too.

The article also highlighted the plight of a young woman who was sexually abused and expressed concern that there was a culture of rape at the prestigious facility.

Last night St Andrews – where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge met and fell in love – said it had created a “compassionate” environment in which students felt they could “come forward to disclose sexual misconduct, and trust that they will be listened to and supported.”, and cared for”.

It also said it was up to the individuals, not the university, to contact police with any allegations.

Fiona Drouet is the founder and chief executive of Emilytest, a Scottish charity working to combat gender-based violence in education.

Her daughter Emily, an 18-year-old student at Aberdeen University, took her own life in 2016 after being abused by a boyfriend.

She said: “The Office for National Statistics recently reported that students are the professional group most at risk of sexual violence.”

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge met in St. Andrews

“There is still a lot of work to be done, particularly in terms of normalizing such abuses and the drivers behind them.”

However, she said St Andrews was the first university in Scotland to introduce a compulsory consent module for all students, which could be the reason for further progress.

St Andrews was asked how many reports of gender-based violence have been submitted to the university or student services team each year since 2021 – a year after the whistleblower page was set up.

It acknowledged that it had received 47 complaints against students and one against a member of staff.

The university said the complaints “cover a wide range of inappropriate, unwanted behavior, from the most serious forms of sexual violence to unwanted touching, stalking, offensive or demeaning comments.”

When asked what it had done in terms of sanctions, the institution said that sexual misconduct investigations were a “private matter… for both the complainant and the person being reported.”

Instead, a vague range of measures was listed for each case, including that the perpetrators were threatened with no action, a warning, a written warning, some advice or precautionary measures.

The university also said that in response to some complaints, perpetrators were asked to complete a “reflection project” on their actions and attend workshops on consent or diversity.

Student Emily Drouet took her own life at university

Further sanctions could include forcing students to enter the country late, take a leave of absence, suspend or discontinue their studies.

In 2020, a US-style fraternity on the Fife campus was at the center of allegations of rape and sexual assault.

Alpha Epsilon Pi, a global university and college society with chapters in the United States, Canada, Austria, Australia and Israel, had a chapter in St. Andrews with about 55 members.

Allegations of serious abuse shared on the St Andrews Survivors social media page led to allegations unrelated to the fraternity but related to the university coming to light.

One student who spoke to The Scottish Mail at the time on Sunday said: “Sexual abuse is culturally accepted at university.”

“When you take people who have never been told ‘no’ in their entire lives, their entitlement only extends to women and their victims.”

Last night St Andrews said it “proactively encourages and supports the reporting of all forms of sexual misconduct”.

It added: “The University’s definition of sexual misconduct covers a wide range of inappropriate unwanted behavior, from offensive or demeaning comments to the most serious – but fortunately still rare – forms of sexual violence, and across the wide range of behavior between these both extremes.” .

“We continue to work with our students to create a compassionate environment where they feel safe to disclose sexual misconduct and trust that they will be listened to, supported and cared for.”