Western University ups security after sex assault reports

School will introduce mandatory training on sexual violence

Western University is beefing up security and launching a sexual violence and student safety task force in the wake of assault allegations that have rocked the London, Ont., campus.

The school is hiring new special constables, enhancing security patrols, and making inperson training mandatory for all students in residence to combat sexual violence. It’s also striking a task force on sexual violence and student safety to try to eradicate sexual violence.

“This has been a tremendously difficult time for our students and the entire Western community,” said university president Alan Shepard in a news release Thursday. “We clearly have a culture problem that we need to address. We let our students and their families down.”

Shepard noted this is “the first step in a journey to deeply examine the prevailing culture on our campus and identify what more we can do to ensure the safety and security of every member of our community.”

The new measures follow a troubling start to the school year after allegations surfaced that female students had been drugged and sexually assaulted during Frosh week.

They were also announced on the same day as a post on Twitter was being widely circulated. The author described herself as a fourth-year student and an orientation week leader, also referred to as a soph. In the lengthy post, the author recalled the “completely life-altering” and “horrific” events from last weekend.

“It was before midnight on Friday when we saw people start to drop like flies,” she wrote. “We saw ambulances rush to three separate girls in less than a 100m radius. The rumours about people being drugged started circulating immediately. Sophs reported this early.”

She said sophs were not allowed in residence buildings due to COVID-19 protocol and denied access when they “begged higher ups and administration to check on people and let us help make sure everyone was safe.”

The Star reached out to the author but did not hear back by time of publication.

In response to the Twitter post, Chris Alleyne, Western’s associate vice-president of housing and ancillary services, said, “What happened to this student is completely unacceptable.

“We have reached out to the student and referred the matter to London Police. We want this student, and all of our students, to know we are here for them and have supports in place,” said Alleyne, who’s also the acting co-associate vice-president of student experience.

The University Students’ Council, which oversees some sophs and the orientation week that ran from Sept. 6 to 12, expressed solidarity.

“We are incredibly proud of our student leaders who stepped up in situations they should have never been put in,” said fourth-year student Ziyana Kotadia, also vice-president for university affairs at the student union.

“We are meeting with sophs, hearing their experiences, providing support, grieving with them, and we are bringing their stories to senior leadership at Western. Now we ask Western to act and work with the USC to change the way we engage with gender-based/sexual violence and make our campus safer.”

Prior to Thursday, the university had increased security in residences and was offering onsite confidential counselling and specialized gender-based violence and survivor support professionals were available.

The new measures announced Thursday will require students in residence to undergo sexual violence training starting Sept. 20, with the aim of making it mandatory for all. In addition, faculty sophs can now access first-year students in residences, and 100 new safety ambassadors will be hired to support those in residence.

Western says it’s boosting security by hiring four new special constables and adding patrols at night — on campus, special constables have the authority of police, which includes making arrests. It is also hiring 15 new security guards, and restarting the peer-to-peer Foot Patrol program that was paused due to COVID-19. Furthermore, it plans to upgrade building alarms, lighting, the security card access system and security cameras.

The announcement came on the same day the province said all Ontario colleges and universities have until March to improve their sexual violence policies.

What transpired last weekend at Western is still unclear, but a rash of social media postings allege female students were drugged and sexually assaulted at Medway-Sydenham Hall, a 613-bed residence. On Tuesday, London police Chief Steve Williams said the online postings “suggest 30 or more students may have been victimized,” and that officers are actively investigating. At the time, he said police had not yet received formal complaints about the incidents and urged those with information to come forward.

Police are also investigating three reports of alleged sexual assault involving four female students last week at other campus locations. A male student was arrested in connection with one case but has been released from custody. No charges have been laid.

That same weekend, first-year student Gabriel Neil, 18, was violently assaulted and suffered life-threatening injuries. He died in hospital Sunday. Aliyan Ahmed, 21, is charged with manslaughter. Police say there is no connection between Neil’s death and the alleged sexual assaults.

The woman who tweeted about her experience said there were “multiple instances” when she and other sophs “were screamed at, pushed, and touched inappropriately by men” during orientation week. She said sophs helped with crisis situations involving incapacitated first-year students, and sophs from her team came across the “horrifying scene” of Neil’s assault. As first responders were busy with Neil and the alleged assailant, sophs “dealt with the aftershock,” consoling two girls who had stopped to help and were covered in blood.

“We notified admin and begged for more resources for them. We were told that the situation was ‘off campus’,” she said, adding resource links were sent the next day.

“The trauma that so many sophs and first years are facing is unspeakable,” she noted, adding “the university failed to keep (students) safe.”

Students are planning a walkout on Friday to voice their concerns. Also, a petition launched on change.org is calling on the Ministry of Colleges and Universities to conduct a “full formal investigation into Western University.”

“We clearly have a culture problem that we need to address. We let our students and their families down.” ALAN SHEPARD WESTERN UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT