A woman’s officer elected earlier this year at Aberystwyth University Students’ Union has stepped down after claiming she was the target of online harassment and abuse.
Charlotte Davies was elected to the role in March but soon after, messages of abuse and threats of harm, including an individual threatening to stab her, began circulating on an online chatroom for students with 500 members.
Afterwards, a social media account was set up to imitate and target Ms Davies.
Ms Davies says the threats came due to her views on the union’s controversial SHAG week and her opinions on transgender issues.
She says she didn’t believe a ‘kink workshop’ during SHAG week had been fully thought through and disagreed with it for “personal reasons”.
On International Women’s Day she made comments amounting to ‘if you aren’t a woman, Women’s Day isn’t about you’ – after which people called her anti-trans, she says.
At first, Ms Davies was puzzled by the situation and wondered whether her opinions had caused the issue.
“I had some opinions about several issues that many didn’t agree with me expressing previously,” she said.
“But the extent of the harassment and abuse I received was disproportionate to this. I knew the social media account imitating me was personal.”
Ms Davies sought action against the abuse through the students’ union, but she says its handling of the situation ultimately led her to withdraw from the organisation entirely.
According to Ms Davies, the union did not address the situation quickly and failed to take ‘robust action’ against those spreading the abuse.
One student was given a three-month suspension from student society committees.
The union met with her and informed her that making a complaint was possible, but it wasn’t until a meeting a month afterwards that they explained the complaints process to her, she said.
“The students’ union failed to meaningfully deal with the situation,” she said. “They should have taken robust action against a death threat [to me] and they did not. Not having a committee role in a society is not a meaningful punishment.
“They had the opportunity to do far more.
“I did try to appeal the action taken against the individual who made the stab threats, but as they had dropped out, the union couldn’t amend the action, which I do understand.
“My concerns about the wider culture in clubs should definitely have been addressed earlier. And the robust action should have been taken in the first place, I shouldn’t have had to appeal.
“Mediation between myself and the complainants could have been explored.
“All of this led me to the clear decision to withdraw from the students’ union entirely.”
In an open letter posted online, Ms Davies added: “The overall experience at Aberystwyth University is excellent. The teaching and learning are brilliant, and the location is superb, but the students’ union is neither of those.”
A spokesperson for the students’ union said: “We can confirm that we are in ongoing contact with one student about a number of complaints and looking to resolve these through our processes.
“The students’ union has an obligation to ensure that students are able to express no confidence in democratically elected role holders.
“There are robust and clear processes in place to handle disagreements and complaints among students, taking all circumstances into account.”
“We understand the impact that bullying, threats, harassment and discrimination can have on people’s lives and we strive to ensure that all complaints are investigated thoroughly and impartially,” they added.