'Hate' posters provoke: A photo posted on Facebook shows posters having been torn down.
MONASH University says it won’t censor freedom of expression after hate posters accusing women of being responsible for half of all domestic violence cases were posted across its Clayton campus.
Monash spokeswoman Stacey Mair says that while Monash did not endorse the posters, ‘‘there is nothing unlawful about the commentary’’.
‘‘However the posters are distasteful, and the university is removing them as far as we are able and responding to concerns and or complaints raised by staff and students,’’ she said.
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The posters, some of which have since been torn down, were put up outside the Union Loop on the university’s Clayton campus yesterday.
It’s unknown who put them up.
The posters point to a website featuring a ‘‘summary of hatred’’ which claims that ‘‘men are the overwhelming majority of rape victims’’ and are often jailed on ‘‘completely false’’ accusations.
The website also lists ‘‘push[ing] for an end to rape hysteria, DV (domestic violence) hysteria and false allegations’’ as part of its mission statement.
Monash Student Association president Esther Hood slammed the posters as ‘‘disgraceful’’.
‘‘That website goes against every single one of the core values of the MSA,’’ she said.
‘‘I’ve had students contact me being incredibly upset.
‘‘We definitely don’t support it.’’
A study conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2006 found that about 40 per cent of women had experienced violence since they were 15.
About one in three had experienced physical assault and one in five had been the victims of sexual assault.
White Ribbon Foundation chief executive Libby Davies said the organisation was against all forms of violence.
‘‘However, White Ribbon works to prevent the most common and most pervasive form of male violence – that towards women.”