[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/sexual-misconduct-in-universities-can-we-do-better\/#NewsArticle","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/sexual-misconduct-in-universities-can-we-do-better\/","headline":"Sexual Misconduct in Universities: Can We Do Better?","name":"Sexual Misconduct in Universities: Can We Do Better?","description":"Sexual misconduct; it\u2019s a hotly debated topic, no doubt. On 3 November, Minister for State for Education Sun Xueling disclosed that in the past five years, our local institutes (which include the six autonomous universities, five polytechnics, and the Institute of Technical Education or ITE) have handled a total of 172 cases of sexual misconduct […]","datePublished":"2020-11-21","dateModified":"2021-03-14","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/author\/Claudia%20Tan\/#Person","name":"Claudia Tan","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/author\/Claudia%20Tan\/","identifier":73,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6f2004e13e937d58b50adb5fc43b2f9a318d48ec017194d5e4f2b87e462a5219?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6f2004e13e937d58b50adb5fc43b2f9a318d48ec017194d5e4f2b87e462a5219?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TheHomeGround Asia","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2021-07-22-222533.jpeg","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2021-07-22-222533.jpeg","width":640,"height":640}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/1605972175647_photo-1508225957744-04aa7ca4cfac.jpeg","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/1605972175647_photo-1508225957744-04aa7ca4cfac.jpeg","height":1067,"width":1600},"url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/sexual-misconduct-in-universities-can-we-do-better\/","commentCount":"3","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/sexual-misconduct-in-universities-can-we-do-better\/#Comment1","dateCreated":"2026-05-02 21:39:44","description":"This answered all my questions.","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"world tv live stream","url":"https:\/\/freewebsitetemplates.com\/proxy.php?link=https:\/\/www.oneotv.com\/&locale=en"}},{"@type":"Comment","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/sexual-misconduct-in-universities-can-we-do-better\/#Comment2","dateCreated":"2026-04-27 19:54:42","description":"Your writing style is engaging.","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"clouds women","url":"https:\/\/globalshoepalace.com\/product-category\/women\/on-cloud-women-shoes"}},{"@type":"Comment","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/sexual-misconduct-in-universities-can-we-do-better\/#Comment3","dateCreated":"2026-04-23 22:11:44","description":"Just what I was looking for.","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"salomon womens size 7","url":"https:\/\/globalshoepalace.com\/product-category\/women\/Salomon-Women-Shoes"}}],"about":["Asia","Community","Local","Sex & Gender","Singapore"],"wordCount":856,"articleBody":"Sexual misconduct; it\u2019s a hotly debated topic, no doubt. On 3 November, Minister for State for Education Sun Xueling disclosed that in the past five years, our local institutes (which include the six autonomous universities, five polytechnics, and the Institute of Technical Education or ITE) have handled a total of 172 cases of sexual misconduct committed by students and staff. This translates into an incidence rate of 0.12 for every 1,000 staff and students.The statistic was brought up by Ms Sun as she stressed her ministry\u2019s \u201czero tolerance\u201d towards such acts. \u201cWhen there is a breach of those codes of conduct, the punishments are swift,\u201d she said. She also added that both students and staff can be suspended or dismissed from the school for their actions.Furthermore, since the dismissal of Jeremy Fernando, the National University of Singapore (NUS) has set up a victim care unit to handle cases of sexual assault. This measure has also been replicated at the other autonomous universities.Tackling sexual misconduct in a holistic mannerIn a similar vein, Minister for Education Lawrence Wong has stated that the Ministry of Education (MOE) has been \u201cworking closely\u201d with institutes of higher learning to review and step up their efforts to tackle sexual misconduct in a holistic manner.These efforts include educating students and staff on respect and appropriate behaviour, with face-to-face workshops, online modules, and student briefings during orientation. Surveillance on campus has also been beefed up, with expanded closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera coverage and increasing the frequency of security patrols.What does \u201ceducating students\u201d really mean?Having a wide range of resources and initiatives dedicated to the education of students and staff sounds great, but what exactly are they teaching students?I asked some students and staff from local universities to share what these modules and workshops were like. Here\u2019s what I found.The modules were structured in such a way that it required students to first watch a few videos about the topic (usually related to bullying, harassment, or sexual misconduct, etc.), and subsequently answer a few multiple choice questions: For NTU\u2019s module, students are made to sign a \u201cpledge\u201d after completing the quiz, where they henceforth commit themselves to be \u201can active role model of the anti-harassment policy and to make NTU a safer environment\u201d.What students have to sayAs one might expect, the people that I spoke to had little good things to say about the modules.\u201cI would say while I appreciate the effort to educate students on harassment, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s very effective because it\u2019s quite surface level and corporate because it\u2019s a compulsory module, and they won\u2019t release our grades if we don\u2019t do it; also whoever was going to be a harasser is going to do it anyway.\u201d \u2014 Michelle*, a student from NTU\u201cBut I think the measures put in place by the school seem more like they [are a formality]. I’m not sure how they actually manage to educate [or] protect students. For example, the Respect and Consent module didn\u2019t cover any new content that university-level students and staff were not already aware of.\u201d \u2014 Dawn*, a staff at NUSDuring my interview with Dawn (who is also a former student of NUS), I asked her to elaborate on what she feels needs to be done to truly alleviate and eradicate sexual misconduct in schools, and she responded, \u201cperpetrators should be expelled rather than suspended\u2026 it seems that they don\u2019t get punished harshly by the law either, and they are still able to get jobs without much issue.\u201dShe also stressed the importance of having \u201cpeople who would actually care about the problem and the victims of sexual harassment\u201d because the issue seems to still be largely ignored by the staff and there is a tendency to \u201cdownplay the victims\u2019 experiences\u201d.Can we do better?Yes, steps have been taken to try and curb the issue and reduce the number of incidents, but it seems like the current attitude of school staff still fails to help foster a safe environment for students.Instead of these seemingly tokenistic acts of educating students through the use of online modules (which students are forced to complete), is there space for healthy and constructive discussion about such a pertinent issue?Apart from the obvious move of making punishment more severe for perpetrators, how can we look into inculcating the importance of consent and respect for one another?Perhaps one way is to first be aware of the content that makes up our daily conversations, which usually reveals our perspectives. For instance, when we look at things like \u2018locker room talk\u2019, these may seem harmless at the surface level, but what it reveals is an extremely toxic view of gender. We might think that we know where to draw the line, but why risk it? Why not just abstain from it, just so that we can make university campuses a place where students do not have to fear being compromised? Join the conversations on THG’s\u00a0Facebook\u00a0and\u00a0Instagram, and get the latest updates via\u00a0Telegram.\u00a0"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Destinations","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Singapore","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/\/singapore\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Sexual Misconduct in Universities: Can We Do Better?","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/sexual-misconduct-in-universities-can-we-do-better\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]