Officer Team Statement on the Death of Sarah Everard & Women’s Safety

Wednesday 17-03-2021 - 17:50
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Trigger warning - assault and harrassment

The news of Sarah Everard’s death has shook women across the UK to the core. We are saddened that yet again a woman's life has been lost at the hands of a man, a man who was meant to protect the public. Yet we know that this is not a singular incident.

Sarah Everard’s death is a part of a wider issue surrounding the treatment of women that has deeply impacted many of our students. We are here to listen, support you through any of the procedures you decide to go through and help you take the steps to reach out to student services to ensure you are supported. However, for every student we do this for, we know that there will be some who won’t come forward and receive the support that they need. We want all students to know who they can speak to when they need confidential advice and help, and we want to enable all students to speak up even if they aren’t prepared to reveal their identity.

With this in mind, we pledge to work on the following:

  • Introduce an anonymous reporting system - Conversations about how this will be implemented have begun and we will be pushing for full implementation in time for the 21/22 academic year.
  • Provide safety packs to students who need them - we are currently putting together safety packs for those who need them. We’ll let you know when they’re available and how to pick them up on this site and via social media.
  • Continue working with students on our #It’sNeverOk Campaign - we started this campaign during the beginning of the academic year and will expand it further to educate on the different types of support available, reporting options and further sessions on what consent and appropriate behaviours are. Please email educationpresident@stmarys.ac.uk if you would like to be involved in this.

It is important to note that whilst these points help address the impact of assault and harassment, they do not fully address the root cause of the issue at hand; assault and harassment of women being a societal norm.

If you would like to pay your respects to Sarah Everard, you can do this in Student Square where we’ve already laid flowers.

If you have been affected by this or would like to talk to someone please do not hesitate to contact studentservices@stmarys.ac.uk.

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