The Independent Student Newspaper
Number 779 Friday 25th April 2014 www.varsity.co.uk
What’s your Vagenda?
TONY JUNIPER
Jilly Luke meets the women behind the magazine that takes on mainstream women’s glossies
Comment P15
Published in Cambridge since 1947
Cambridge concern over Ukraine Richard Nicholl News Correspondent
made to feel uncomfortable by comments of a sexual nature. One student said that while groping was common in clubs, comments of a sexual overtone were a problem even when jogging in the daytime. Another was made uncomfortable by comments about their sexuality in the context of “banter”. One female student, Alice*, said that Cambridge can be a hostile environment in which to deal with the consequences of serious sexual assault. She was assaulted last year during the break after her first term at Cambridge, and said she is only now coming to terms with what happened to her. She described a widespread “lad culture” among students at the University, insensitive to sexual violence. When she returned to Cambridge
Academics and students at the University of Cambridge have cautioned against a simplistic interpretation of events as tensions in eastern Ukraine show no sign of letting up. Dr Rory Finnin, Chair of the Cambridge Committee for Russian and Eastern European Studies, has referred to a divided Ukraine as “Europe’s most dangerous idea”, and that labelling the east of Ukraine as pro-Russian and the west as pro-European is inaccurate and risks fomenting support for partition. The crisis has deepened since the Russian military seized control of the Crimean peninsula in February and March, with pro-Russian insurgency breaking out in the easternmost provinces of Ukraine, with alleged assistance from Russian Special Forces. “Crimea was the first in a series of provocations designed to provoke a larger conflict that would ultimately bring Kyiv [Kiev] under Moscow’s thumb,” Finnin said. Despite the opposition in the east to the Euromaidan protest movement which led to the ousting of President Viktor Yanukovych in February, separatism remains a marginal idea in the east according to Dr Finnin. Pointing to recent research by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) which showed support for a union with Russia no higher than one-third in the restive Donetsk region, Finnin has argued that we must not view the situation in Donetsk too simplistically. Even Crimea showed no higher than 45 per cent support for a union, despite almost unanimous support in the recent referendum, and federalisation failed to achieve majority support in any polling by KIIS. He added that “The Kremlin is pushing Ukraine’s federalisation hard, hoping that the ‘separatist’ noise it helps sponsor in the east and south will somehow crescendo and force the issue before the upcoming Ukrainian presidential elections.
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BIRD’S EYE VIEW: A pair of rare peregrine falcons are nesting in the University Library tower, and chicks are reportedly on the way
88% of sexual assaults unreported Over 1 in 25 women said they have experienced serious sexual assault 2,126 students responded to survey Hannah Wilkinson and Martha Elwell A joint survey conducted by Varsity and the CUSU Women’s campaign has revealed the extent of sexual assault and harassment experienced by Cambridge students. Almost half of the respondents reported that they have been “groped, pinched, or touched” while a student at Cambridge.
8.4 per cent of female respondents said they have experienced attempted serious sexual assault, which was defined as an attempt to penetrate someone orally, vaginally or anally with genitalia, fingers or an object. The survey, which received over 2,100 responses, found that 4.4 per cent of female respondents and 1.5 per cent of male respondents have experienced serious sexual assault. 88 per cent of all genders went on to say that they did not report the incident. Only two of these students reported the incident to the police, while 10 students reported the incident to staff or students with an official welfare role in their college. The majority of these incidents took place in the student’s college. Of the recorded incidents of attempted serious sexual assault, 98 per
cent went unreported. The most common reasons given for students not reporting sexual assault or attempted sexual assault included thinking that they would not be believed or feeling ashamed of what had happened. Catherine*, who was sexually assaulted by a friend at her college last year, said: “I was told I have a responsibility to report my rape for the sake of future victims but there are a number of reasons why I didn’t. I obviously want to protect others but there is no way of doing that without exposing myself to possible physical, mental and emotional danger. “I also have no reason to believe that my report will be taken seriously, be investigated or result in a conviction. On the contrary I have every reason to believe that he would be acquitted.” 55 per cent said that they had been
Interview: Laurie Penny on anger and the millennial generation (p. 12)