S’pore Company Cuts Off Ties With NUS; Will Only Resume If Voyeur Is Expelled From School

What if you had one chance to go back in time?

Would you choose to re-live the happiest time of your life or change your destiny for the better?

What is the most traumatic experience you wish you could erase?

Thankfully, I don’t have any unpleasant memory to correct. But not all of us are this lucky.

NUS

National University of Singapore (NUS) is known to many as one of the top universities globally. Many students have their eyes set on this prestigious school, as with most employers.

Sometime last week, NUS has been the talk of the town, but for the wrong reason.

In case you haven’t been in touch with the online community, NUS made headlines when a student by the name of Monica Baey took to Instagram to share her traumatizing experience with sexual harassment and expressed her frustration with the school’s unsatisfactory method of dealing with the situation.

NUS’ unsatisfactory punishment for sexual misconduct

Here’s a breakdown of the penalties offered by NUS to Monica’s sexual offender:

• Offender to write a compulsory apology letter
• Mandatory counselling
• No entry to dormitories anymore
• A suspension which lasts for one semester

Is this really enough though? Sure, the offender will be put in a bad light but come on, he asked for it.

As Monica said herself:

Since Monica’s Instagram stories have been spreading like wildfire, NUS finally decided to convene a review committee to enforce better disciplinary actions.

Mind you, this isn’t the first case of reported sexual misconduct in the school.

A local company takes a stand against sexual harassment

According to TODAYonline,  a local company called OnHand Agrarian has made the decision to halt all partnerships with NUS until Monica’s sexual harasser is expelled for good on 21 April (Sunday).

OnHand Agrarian is an urban farm which has been providing internships for NUS students.

But not anymore.

Since the announcement of their bold decision on Facebook, OnHand Agrarian has been receiving positive feedback from the public. Many netizens praised and thanked the company for taking real action.

In case you don’t get the Great Eastern reference, the perpetrator allegedly works there.

Statement of Concern submitted to NUS

The urban farm isn’t the only one stepping up to push NUS for an answer. The 23-year-old shared on Instagram that she has done up a petition along with other like-minded students to highlight a number of concerns to relevant parties in NUS.

This petition mentioned the punishment issued by the NUS Board of Discipline and pointed out a couple of reasons why it was insufficient while pushing for NUS to “take a stronger stance against sexual harassment and set a positive example for other universities around the world.”

The following recommendations were brought up in the petition too.

• Stronger immediate redress for Ms Baey
• Establish an Office for all things related to Sexual Harassment: Prevention, Reporting, and Response
• Improve rehabilitative support for survivors of sexual harassment
• Design and implement anti-sexual harassment training programmes and/or campaigns, especially in NUS residences
• Publicly commit to a zero-tolerance policy against sexual harassment
• Establish penalties according to different types of sexual harassment offences in the University Code of Student Conduct

So, what’s next?