2,000 people sign petition to increase the punishment of the 11 Warwick rape joke group chat boys

Over 2,000 people have signed a petition campaigning for the 11 boys involved in the Warwick group chat to receive harsher punishment.

First year Amy Porton-Bowden, who created the petition, described the current university decision to only suspend the students as simply a "slap on the wrist".

She said: "I am sure many of you have seen the messages from the University of Warwick Facebook group chat and will agree that suspension is simply only a slap on the wrist for these eleven students, who have arguably committed a crime. I personally do not want to be walking around campus with such individuals. I think we can all agree that more severe action should be taken."

11 male Warwick students have currently been suspended from university, after The Tab and The Boar revealed screenshots from a group chat where rape jokes were made against other Warwick female students.

Amy also said that does not wish to be "walking around campus with such individuals"

Amy told The Tab Warwick she felt the university weren't doing enough to protect its students, so she took matters into her own hands. Amy said: "Yesterday, I was discussing it with my flatmates and we all agreed that it was ridiculous that something that is technically illegal only resulted in these boys being suspended.

"As a girl particularly, it worries me a lot that the uni aren’t taking a stand against this and are deeming it to be only a minor offence. Then this morning I woke up to messages from my friends from other universities across the country asking if I knew anything about it, telling me how outraged they were by it.

"At that point, I decided that it was something that I felt strongly about, and if the university weren’t going to even attempt to make others and myself feel safe and respected then I might as well."

Some of the comments made in the petition

Some people who have signed the petition left comments as to why they chose to sign it. One said "these mans are dickheads", whilst another claimed that "protecting such sustained, hateful behaviour is unacceptable".

In just 24 hours, over 2,000 people have signed the petition, with the aim of hitting 2,500.

Other stories this writer would recommend:

1. 11 Warwick students suspended for threatening to rape female Warwick students in group chat

2. ‘She looks like a rape victim’: Here are even more rape threat messages from the Warwick boys group chat