By: Margaret Tran ( 2nd year student at Melbourne)
Edited: Katherine Chiu
I came to Melbourne to study Bachelor in Media and Communication at RMIT just last year. I was only 18 years old and come from a non drinking background in Vietnam.
Here I was exposed to drinking as the Uni had many activities which involved free drinks. I lived in Victoria University's student village and the flatmates that I lived with drank a lot. They used to have drinking parties at home and I was always pressured into drinking as it is the norm here.
Six months had passed and my results had slipped. I was constantly getting blackouts all the time not knowking why I got so many bruises and why my clothes were damaged. I didn't know I had a binge drinking problem.
During the week my life was normal. I attended classes. Being a girl I was sexually assaulted by one of my lecturers in order to pass his subject.
Back home my grades were always good. But in here I failed everything and was asked to explain to the school. I was put "at risk" and told to see counselling. Seeing counselling gave me a new light. They told me to give up drinking and move to another place. That which I did. I moved into another room, this time in Sunbury hall. This time my flatmates were all female and non drinkers. In fact they were Indian. We got along really well.
To this day I still had scarring and memories of the sexual assault by the lecturer. I tried to complain about the lecturer but RMIT did nothing to assist me. Instead he got demoted to just a casual tutor. I still see him sometimes in the hallway.
I told my parents I was not happy. I even got assistance from the Union and eventually transferred to Melbourne where they treated me much better. I didn't think that I could sue RMIT for this harrassment. Underneath the smiles and the cool artworks is sheer bullying of students especially the ones at risk. The people at Melbourne treat me much better and they have invested more money for their student services.
Never again will I study at RMIT.
Edited: Katherine Chiu
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| Image courtesy of blueleavesint.com |
I came to Melbourne to study Bachelor in Media and Communication at RMIT just last year. I was only 18 years old and come from a non drinking background in Vietnam.
Here I was exposed to drinking as the Uni had many activities which involved free drinks. I lived in Victoria University's student village and the flatmates that I lived with drank a lot. They used to have drinking parties at home and I was always pressured into drinking as it is the norm here.
Six months had passed and my results had slipped. I was constantly getting blackouts all the time not knowking why I got so many bruises and why my clothes were damaged. I didn't know I had a binge drinking problem.
During the week my life was normal. I attended classes. Being a girl I was sexually assaulted by one of my lecturers in order to pass his subject.
Back home my grades were always good. But in here I failed everything and was asked to explain to the school. I was put "at risk" and told to see counselling. Seeing counselling gave me a new light. They told me to give up drinking and move to another place. That which I did. I moved into another room, this time in Sunbury hall. This time my flatmates were all female and non drinkers. In fact they were Indian. We got along really well.
To this day I still had scarring and memories of the sexual assault by the lecturer. I tried to complain about the lecturer but RMIT did nothing to assist me. Instead he got demoted to just a casual tutor. I still see him sometimes in the hallway.
I told my parents I was not happy. I even got assistance from the Union and eventually transferred to Melbourne where they treated me much better. I didn't think that I could sue RMIT for this harrassment. Underneath the smiles and the cool artworks is sheer bullying of students especially the ones at risk. The people at Melbourne treat me much better and they have invested more money for their student services.
Never again will I study at RMIT.
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