‘100 sex attacks’ at Kate and Wills’ former university
US-style fraternity group hit by rape claims
MORE than 100 current and former students at the university where Prince William met his future wife Kate have claimed they were victims of rape and other sex attacks.
They shared harrowing accounts of their ordeals at St Andrews University after whistleblowers urged victims to come forward.
At least 20 women said they were raped at Scotland’s oldest university, where Kate Middleton caught the eye of William at a charity fashion show in 2002.
Some of the most serious claims relate to an American-style ‘fraternity’ chapter which was set up on the campus in 2014. The Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) St Andrews brotherhood has suspended some of its 50 members amid claims that rapes and other assaults were linked to its events.
Police said they were working with the Fife-based university and urged victims to contact them, but they stressed that no criminal inquiries were currently underway.
The St Andrews Survivors group said dozens of victims had got in touch on its Instagram page asking for help. It received more than 100 complaints of sex attacks.
One woman claimed she was targeted in February after getting ‘very drunk’ at a fraternity party. She said: ‘One of the boys I knew said he’d walk me home. I thought Former student: Prince William he was someone I could trust. He put me to bed and the next thing I remember is waking up to him raping me.’ Another said that she had confided in a male friend outside the university’s union about a sexual assault. He then took her home and attacked her as well.
Many of the alleged victims felt that the university had failed to deal with their complaints properly. St Andrews said it was taking all the claims ‘ seriously’ and the behaviour reported was ‘unacceptable’. A statement uploaded to the AEPi Facebook page on July 3 said: ‘Earlier today, Alpha Epsilon Pi St Andrews was made aware of allegations of sexual assault, harassment and rape against multiple members of our fraternity, including incidents at chapter events.
‘We find the contents of these allegations abhorrent and are taking them extremely seriously.’ It added that it ‘immediately suspended members who acknowledged any role in the alleged incidents’ and promised to work with the police, the university and any victims.
However, a post by the administrators of the St Andrews Survivors blamed ‘endemic’ sexual abuse at universities and the ‘troubles of a widespread drinking and lad culture’. Fiona Drouet, of Emilytest, a Scottish charity tackling genderbased violence in education, called for a sea- change in attitudes so that men no longer saw having sex with women as their ‘right’.
Mrs Drouet, whose daughter Emily, an 18-year-old Aberdeen University student, took her life after being abused by her boyfriend, said: ‘Sadly, I am not surprised or shocked that this behaviour is happening. Until attitudes change, no matter how many policies are in place, then women and girls will continue to be subjected to rape and other abuse at the hands of entitled men.’
The current allegations are not the first sex scandal to engulf the university. Scottish journalist Deborah Orr, who died last year aged 57, said she was gang-raped while a student at St Andrews in the 1980s. In 2018, a St Andrews student claimed she was raped by a series of men at the annual Don’t Walk Fashion Show – the event where Kate Middleton was a model in 2002.
‘Drinking and lad culture’