Oxford student politician accused of sexual assault as shocking OUSU pamphlet exposes graphic attacks

An unknown student politician in Oxford has allegedly assaulted at least two people, with the number of other victims currently unknown.

An Oxford student politician has been accused of sexually assaulting one girl after persuading her to come with him back to his room after a night out.

The attacker also allegedly made multiple attempts to force himself upon the girl, despite promising that they weren’t going to have sex.

The victim then said that she heard that other students had also been assaulted by the same man, but that they had been “shamed” into withdrawing any accusations.

“[Their alleged attacker] was telling everyone involved that she was a slut, that she was crazy, that she was trying to cover up that she had slept with him.”

The victim said that she didn’t go to the police, for fear that they would think that “nothing actually happened.”

No other victims have currently come forward.

Other revelations appeared in an OUSU pamphlet featuring graphic accounts of sexual violence at the university.

According to The Times the anonymous editor of the booklet calls it: “a collection of stories of sexual violence, [by people] who, in their own words, express a whole spectrum of feelings from antagonism, anger and frustration to sadness, guilt and betrayal towards the university and its services.

They add: “These stories indicate that rapists and abusers are fellow undergraduate students, post-grads, tutors, professors, friends, partners, dates and they are often polite, nice and friendly.”

Sarah Pine, VP for women told The Times: “The overriding response is that those in positions of responsibility mediated by the university have had some victim-blaming views,” she said.

“When some students have tried to pursue complaints, some colleges have responded very badly — for example, referring students to alcohol awareness courses if they were assaulted when they were drunk, although since then, the training and information provided by the university have made sure that this has not been repeated.”

A university spokesman said: “Oxford has always taken complaints of harassment very seriously. It has a policy and procedures in place to help students make complaints in all such cases, including sexual harassment and assault.

“While the OUSU publication is now out of date, the university’s culture has always been one of offering comfort and support to victims. We are committed to continually educating our staff and students on how best to offer relevant and sensitive support, working closely with OUSU on this.”

The average perpetrator of sexual assault will assault 6 people in their lifetime and it is estimated that between 64-96% of sexual assaults are not reported.