Imperial College criticised for ‘culture of misogyny and bullying’ after women’s rugby team humiliated

One member of the university’s sports staff alleged to have said: “I don’t care how those fat girls get home.”
Imperial College, one of London's top universities, was criticised in the report
PA
Ross Lydall @RossLydall13 December 2016

An investigation launched after the women’s rugby team at Imperial College was humiliated by drunken students found the university had a culture of bullying, discrimination and fear.

The probe was ordered after the team was left playing a final in front of an empty stadium when coaches left early, with one member of the university’s sports staff alleged to have said: “I don’t care how those fat girls get home.”

Bosses at Imperial - one of the UK’s highest-ranked universities for academic performance - wanted to check whether there was an ingrained culture of sexism after admitting the women students had been “made to feel like second-class citizens”.

The inquiry began after the women’s team was competing in the Varsity 2015 final, after the Imperial men’s team, at the Stoop stadium in Twickenham in March last year.

The women were subjected to drunken taunts from male students and had to make their way back to the Kensington campus by themselves after the coaches left with just the male players on board.

The year-long investigation found that Imperial staff were too scared to speak out about the lack of gender equality - with women in particular feeling “silenced”.

The report said: “There were many examples given to the researchers of bullying and discrimination behaviour... Bullying also intersected with categories such as class, gender (and gender identity), race, disability and sexual orientation.

“Examples of misogynistic and homophobic conduct were given and one interviewee expressed concern that the ‘ingrained misogyny’ at Imperial was so deep that it had become normal.”

Imperial’s provost, Professor James Stirling, said: “We must do better.”

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