Student Raped on First Day in Halls Says Sexual Assault is ‘Rife’ at University

Student Raped on First Day in Halls Says Sexual Assault is ‘Rife’ at University

A student who was raped on her first night of starting “a whole new life” has said rape and sexual assault are “rife” at university.

But after the party she was attacked by a man who asked if she was sure she didn’t want anything to happen, the Liverpool Echo reports.

Aimee, a student at the University of Liverpool, has bravely waived her right to anonymity to describe her horrific ordeal.

She said: “I remember explicitly saying no, and then he raped me on that first night.”

He left without a word while Aimee was unsure what to say or do.

Now 20, she said: “I didn’t really say anything to anybody about it until a couple of months after because I didn’t really know what had happened.

“It was my first night and I was like, ‘Is this what everybody does?'”

Almost 300 people flooded the uniofliverpoolmemepage, popular with students on Instagram, with their own experiences after the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard in March 2021.

Many of the stories related to sexual violence and harassment at the hands of men, often while walking on the street or dancing in clubs.

A large number involved allegations of spiking.

Two in three students experience sexual violence at UK universities according to a survey by Revolt Sexual Assault, in partnership with The Student Room.

Last year, the first survey of male sexual violence among UK students revealed that 63 of the 554 male students surveyed reported they’d committed 251 sexual assaults, rapes and other coercive and unwanted incidents in the last two years.

Chloe Field, deputy president of the Liverpool Guild of Students, said: “We recognise that there is an issue of rape culture in our general society, but especially during students’ time at university as they are three times more likely to be sexually assaulted than at any other time in their lives.”

Second-year history and criminology student Aimee said: “It’s rife. It’s absolutely rife. I don’t know why, and it’s just, it’s awful.

Hundreds of students have shared stories of sexual assaults and harassment ( Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)

Student Raped on First Day in Halls Says Sexual Assault is ‘Rife’ at University

“There was a sexual assault awareness week last November at the university.

“I went around and spoke to people, and there were so many other people who shared similar experiences, not only in halls but on campus as well. It was shocking.”

The study by Revolt Sexual Assault suggests that only 10% of people report their experience to their university or to the police.

Often, it takes victims so long to come to terms with what happened to them and to open up to those around them that they feel like they lack the evidence to bring a complaint against their attacker.

For Aimee, the “awful” realisation that she was raped came after discussing it with friends and her boyfriend months after it happened.

Aimee was able to access counselling through the university to help her cope with what was done to her, but she decided against reporting it, despite being conflicted over whether she wanted to.

She said: “I just didn’t really feel like I wanted to, because there would be that extra level of, ‘Okay, I’ve got to do this, and it might have taken years to go anywhere.

“I kind of want to work on myself rather than fix the whole situation.”

In the midst of depression and anxiety, stuck in a room where she’d been violated, Aimee felt like the rape would define her and hold her back.

Opening up to her loved ones helped her move beyond it, and to move to new accommodation.

Telling her parents over the Easter break in 2021 was the hardest thing she had to do, but it brought more support than she could ever have imagined.

Aimee said: “I had to sit my mum and dad down and tell them what had happened.

“My dad just immediately stood up and he started apologising because he thought he’d let me down.