Two students banned from university after being part of 'rape group chat' on Facebook, are allowed to return later this year.
One post stated: "Sometimes it's fun to go wild and rape 100 girls"
Two male students banned from the University of Warwick for 10 years, after being part of a group chat that threatened rape, will be allowed to return later this year.
The university launched an inquiry last year after suspending 11 students over a series of online messages , including a post which stated:
"Sometimes it's fun to just go wild and rape 100 girls."
Racist and anti-Semitic posts were also cited in formal complaints made to the university, which is reported to have handed one student a life-time ban.
Four others excluded by the university - including the two undergraduates whose bans have been reduced - are reported to have been told they can return to campus in September 2019.
Credit: ITV Central In an open letter to the university's student newspaper The Boar, an unnamed woman targeted by the chat group described the one-year bans as a "source of shame":
"Words cannot describe the heartbreak that overcame myself and other victims.
"We were discussed so violently. We were humiliated, as if for sport.
"Racism, sexism, sexually explicit descriptions, ableism, threats of sexual assault, and homophobia. Are these issues on which Warwick has nothing to say?
"Does the university want its students to feel that such threats, comments and 'jokes' are acceptable and normal? This is the message sent out by the recent decision to allow the perpetrators back onto campus next year."
"Most importantly though, you have forgotten about and humiliated the victims.
"In fact, I feel terrified at the prospect of having these boys in my seminars and lectures, as they sit there feeling guilt-free. Knowing that I may have to come face to face with them again just to continue my education is unacceptable.
"You expect prospective students to continue applying to a university that prioritises them over those of us who do not feel safe?
"It is a source of shame for past, present and future Warwick alumni that you lack the courage to stand by us."
Open letter from unnamed woman to university's student newspaper, The Boar
Credit: ITV Central The University of Warwick Provost, Professor Christine Ennew, has issued this statement:
“The university remains clear that the behaviour of the individuals who have been found culpable as a result of the investigation, and in the subsequent disciplinary processes, is both abhorrent and unacceptable in any circumstance.
“The behaviour shown by the individuals concerned goes against all of our values as a community.
“We are sorry that the decision as a result of our processes has upset so many members of our own community and beyond.
“The university started an investigation as soon as we were made aware of the content of the first group chat.
“It was that investigation that uncovered a second group chat, and both were then investigated at the same time.
“The second chat is not a more recent event as some comments on social media may suggest.
“The police were consulted at the very start of the process and they reviewed the material.
“They decided that there were no matters in which they could bring any charges and that they were content for the university investigation to proceed.
“At the conclusion of the investigation, disciplinary hearings were held for a number of the students involved in the two chat groups.
“These resulted in a range of sanctions being imposed.
“Like all other universities and public bodies, we allow appeals to be made against the outcomes of disciplinary process.
“These have to be heard by a different panel with no overlap with those involved in the first hearing.
“The appeals panel gave each case thorough and detailed consideration.
“In neither case was the appeal about the issue of culpability (this was not challenged and the students concerned accepted that aspect of the original decision).
“Rather, the appeals panel focused instead on the scale of the penalties. As a result of those hearings two adjustments were made.
“Privacy considerations mean that we are not able to disclose the specific details on which the decisions were made; however the panel reached the view that there were clear reasons to require that the punishments imposed should be comparable across all of those individuals sanctioned by the major disciplinary process.
“As a consequence, all those students for whom the major disciplinary cases were proven have broadly comparable penalties, and those penalties were set to allow the complainants to complete their studies before the disciplined students were given the opportunity to return (and there are a range of conditions imposed on that return).
“The penalties imposed combine direct punishment for the deeply offensive and threatening comments made during the chats, future behavioural restrictions and a requirement to engage in processes to enable them to learn from their past unacceptable behaviours.
“We would like to reiterate that this behaviour goes completely against our values as a community."
Professor Christine Ennew, University of Warwick Provost