Loughborough Women’s Officer informs students the SU will tackle sexual harassment

Brave Women’s Officer Ella Gibbons has condemned abusive behaviour on campus and revealed she has been threatened with rape at uni.

In an article for The Times on the rise of the ‘uni lad’, Gibbons revealed at she had experienced threats of sexual violence when turning a guy down who had been coming onto her.

High jumper Ella said: “I’ve had it myself I turned a guy down and I remember he said: ‘If you don’t say yes, I’ll just take you home and rape you.

“There’s a lot of abusive language. Being called ‘whore’ or ‘c***’ when you try to walk away.”

Scarily, she also told The Times: “I don’t know a single female student who hasn’t experienced it and experienced it regularly.

“The most common thing is the grabbing of a girl’s crotch. Not just a pat, but full-on forcing their hands underneath skirts.

“I’ve had girls come to me and say they’ve had male students push them against the wall and grind against them.”

She added: “This is not just a Loughborough issue, and that experiences such as this are happening to students all across the UK.”

The Lboro SU launched an anti-sexual harassment programme aimed at students called Know the Line which so far Ella says has been extremely successful.

Gibbons also informed us that all our bouncers have been trained to deal with sexual harassment appropriately and that we have a zero tolerance policy at the SU.

Sexual harassment can be regarded as anything from an unwanted grope and abusive language to rape, which Gibbons said the union staff would handle appropriately.

The NUS released figures showing 37 per cent of women were subjected to unwelcome sexual advances at uni, but it is believed to be much higher.