Arc’s mission is to create the best student experience. This ambition includes a foundational requirement that our activities and spaces are places that are safe for everyone. We believe that in order to unlock every individual’s potential, and to collaborate meaningfully everyone must be respected, supported and protected from gender-based violence.
Gender-based violence is a relatively new term that recognises both the obvious, explicit breaches of personal safety that regrettably can occur, and also the harmful societal and behaviour drivers that can lead to actions like sexual harassment.
Arc acknowledges that the effective prevention, intervention, response and restoration related to gender-based violence requires a whole-of-organisation commitment to education & prevention, leadership & subject-matter expertise, report & evaluation and co-design alongside victim-survivors. We will continue to work closely with UNSW in both prevention and response to ensure that our university can be safe and inclusive for everyone who works and studies here.
Arc’s gender-based violence position is centred around our core value of “always learning” as we seek to continuously improve our education, prevention, response and evaluation. We are committed to advancing the purpose and practice of positive duty when it comes to the drivers of gender-based violence through educational activities, campaigns & messaging and the championing of behaviours. Where we understand students in higher risk settings or demographics, we will offer additional training, support and guidance.
We support the positive duty under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) to take reasonable measures to eliminate sexual harassment. This proactive approach requires meaningful action from all aspects of our organisation from Clubs to Roundhouse events to our volunteering opportunities. It catalyses opportunities to innovate and evolve to promote gender equality and mutual respect. We will continue to embed respectful relationship practices in our program design and our wider Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Access Roadmap.
We urge all members of our community join us in this commitment, to work with us in building a safe and respectful culture for the benefit of all. As this area of practice evolves, our community can always read our latest undertakings in relation to gender-based violence here https://www.arc.unsw.edu.au/help/gv-information
