Defining sexual misconduct

Understand what constitutes sexual assault and sexual harassment and know the meaning of consent so that we can keep our campuses safe.

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Access help and support

It takes courage to reach out if you've experienced sexual harassment or sexual assault. And we're here to support you when you do.

ACU offers a range of free and confidential support services, including a dedicated Safeguarding and Student Safety Team, counselling, medical assistance, and local Safety Support Officers trained to find the best support for you.

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Responding to a disclosure

Learn how to support someone who has experienced sexual harassment or sexual assault. When someone discloses their experiences to you, your response is crucial to their recovery.

Respond effectively

What we're doing to address sexual misconduct

At ACU, we're taking steps to continually improve our prevention and response to sexual harassment and sexual assault. These include:

• establishing the Safety Support Network, with specially trained Safety Support Officers on each campus to support students who have experienced or witnessed sexual harassment, sexual assault or family and domestic violence
• requiring all commencing students to complete a Respectful Relationships Module, which discusses elements of a respectful relationship, consent, understanding sexual harassment, sexual assault and family and domestic violence, how to be an active bystander, and how to access support and reporting options at ACU
• facilitating a Bystander Awareness Training Program (MATE) for students and staff
• continuing our commitment to an action plan in response to the 2021 National Student Safety Survey, aimed at increasing education, awareness, prevention and response to sexual harassment and sexual assault on all ACU campuses
• conducting an ACU Student Accommodation External Review (PDF, 1.33MB) in response to the Change the Course report
• continuing our commitment to a safeguarding and child safety action plan.

Keeping safe on campus

All ACU campuses have 24-hour security services. If you are studying or working after hours, you can contact an ACU Security Officer to escort you around campus. Call 8888 or 1300 729 452.

SafeZone app

ACU staff and students are pre-registered to the free SafeZone mobile app. Download the app and use it on campus to call ACU Security, request first aid, or raise the alarm for emergency help.

If the app is used off-campus such as student accommodation, it will direct you to dial Emergency Services (000). SafeZone is monitored 24/7.

Download the SafeZone app

ACU Student Sexual Harm Reporting

This section provides de-identified information about numbers of disclosures and reports of student sexual harm, as received by ACU's Safeguarding and Student Safety team. These disclosures and reports relate to incidents of sexual misconduct as defined in the ACU Student Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Response policy and include incidents of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and family and domestic violence.

ACU's Safeguarding and Student Safety team supports students who have experienced sexual harm or family and domestic violence regardless of when and where it happened, or if the incident is related to ACU or not.

ACU’s 2023 report on sexual misconduct sheds light on the reported sexual misconduct incidents reported to the Safeguarding and Student Safety team in 2023. The report also highlights the measures taken to address these incidents, and the progress the university has made towards fostering a safe environment for all students and staff on campus and online.

In the tables below, ACU-related incidents are incidents where:

• the alleged perpetrator is an ACU student, staff member, contractor or otherwise related to ACU;
• the incident occurred at an ACU location, during an ACU-related placement, practicum, field trip etc, or at an ACU event; and/or
• the incident is otherwise connected with the university.

Key information

• In response to the 2021 National Student Safety Survey ACU has increased its education and prevention workshops for students, and increased promotion of how students can report sexual harm and seek support.
• In 2022 ACU launched its Safety Support Network, which comprises 51 specially trained ACU academic and professional staff across all 7 Australian campuses who provide advice, support and information to students who have experienced sexual harm.
• In 2022, ACU began to record student family and domestic violence incidents as their own category, alongside sexual assault and sexual harassment. This was in response to observations that more students were coming forward to disclose family and domestic violence incidents. None of these disclosures of family and domestic violence were related to ACU.