Rising Cases of Sexual Violence on Campuses Require Government Policy Intervention

Sexual violence cases on university campuses or higher education institutions have occurred in recent times. The first case involved sexual violence at Universitas Budi Luhur (UBL), where a lecturer targeted a student. Another sexual violence case occurred at Universitas Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa (Untirta), affecting a student once again. Member of Commission X of the DPR, Habib Syarief Muhammad, emphasised that sexual violence in the education sector constitutes a serious violation of human values. According to him, the government, through the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology (Kemendiktisaintek), needs to intervene in the issue from a policy perspective. “Handling these cases must not be done partially and left entirely to individual campuses. This has become a national issue that requires comprehensive intervention and policies from the government,” said Syarief on Wednesday (15/4/2026). He also advocated for safe reporting mechanisms for victims of sexual violence and the strengthening of regulations. The government, Syarief stressed, needs to make a bold move from a policy standpoint to prevent sexual violence cases in the education sector from recurring. “Campuses must be safe spaces for the entire academic community. The state must not neglect in guaranteeing such protection,” said Syarief. This emphasis was made in response to allegations of a sexual violence case involving 16 students from the Faculty of Law at Universitas Indonesia (FH UI). “We emphasise that there must be no tolerance for any form of violence on campus, in whatever form,” stated the Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology (Mendiktisaintek), Brian Yuliarto, in an official statement on Wednesday (15/4/2026).