UBC students hope to hold school to account on sex assault claims

A group of UBC students aligned with the school's chapter of Silence isViolence will speak out on Nov. 22 about howit feels the school is failing people who comeforward with reports of sexual violence.

The press conference comes as theCBC'sthe fifth estatereported Friday thatUBCtook more than a year and a half to act against a male grad student despite mounting complaints of harassment or sexual assault against him by at least six women on campus.

• UBC women reporting sexual assaults feel abandoned by school
• UBC sex assault suspect charged
• RCMP release sketch of suspect in UBC sex assaults

In a release, the group, made upof current and former UBC graduate students, says it is"holding a press conference concerning systemic failures at UBC in relation to reports of sexual assault and harassment that put students at risk."

The group says it willannounce the launch of an external process "intended to hold the university to account and pressure the university to implement needed reforms."

Some members will also be speaking publicly about "traumatizing experiences" they have had.

In 2013, UBC had a spate of sexually-motivated attacks by men on campus and earlier this year there was an assault on an 18-year-old woman on the south campus.

In February a CBC investigation found that the number of sexual assault reports received by the University of British Columbia between 2009 and 2013 was less than a quarter of the number received by the RCMP detachment on campus during the same time period.

In April, 2015, a group of women staged a sit-in at the school asking the administration to change theway it deals with sexual violence and survivors on campus.