Junior female Hong Kong university students allegedly made to take part in risque hall activities

Students from one university in Hong Kong are in a spot of trouble, and under media and public scrutiny, as a result of allegedly engaging in risque freshmen induction activities.

As university students in Singapore reportedly shouted "kukubird" as part of a cheer, while others at another university participated in hanger-eating activities as part of orientation recently, some senior students at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) have been accused by juniors of sexual harassment and pushing the envelop much further.

Details of what happened have been reported in local Hong Kong media.

However, it is proving unnecessary at a time like this, as it is only fuelling the narrative of the notoriety of Hong Kong youths, who have been a major player in the city's ongoing widespread 12-week-old protests.

How incidents came to light

A junior HKU student shared her experiences of allegedly being bullied by her seniors, including being forced to participate in a half-naked video shoot as part of her induction into the hall.

The new student divulged details and shared her experiences at HKU's Wei Lun Hall on the popular Hong Kong online forum LIHKG on Aug. 8.

Her post received more than 1,900 upvotes, an indication of its popularity.

In her original post, she detailed how freshmen were bullied by upper-year students in the name of “hall culture” and “seniority”.

She wrote that new students were expected to conform to the norms of student hall and follow instructions given by the seniors.

Apple Daily subsequently reported on the incident and even interviewed the student whistleblower as a follow-up.

The student shared her experience using the pseudonym, Ms X.

Told to strip

Ms X said in one of the incidents, five female hall mates, including her, were asked by seniors to take off their bras and look into the camera while covering their chest with their hands.

Ms X included the original video in her LIHKG post as evidence, but the video appears to have been removed or stopped from being downloaded.

The seniors reportedly decided to shoot this scene for a video produced by their floor committee as a way to stand out from other floors in the annual Wei Lun Festival, which celebrates the establishment of Wei Lun Hall.

Some freshmen voiced their concerns to seniors and refused to take part.

However, those who refused were allegedly publicly slammed by the seniors, who threatened to give them zero marks for hall contribution.

As a low contribution mark could mean losing accommodation in the coming year, as well as being socially ostracised, Ms X succumbed to the pressure and did the video in the end.

Female students asked to drink with male hall mates

Apart from the video, Ms X also recalled freshmen being asked to attend a joint-floor gathering with male hall mates living on other floors of the hall.

The male hall mates kept asking the female hall mates to drink, as well as harassed them while drunk.

Ms X claimed that she was touched on her thigh, shoulder and hands.

“I felt like I was being an escort”, she added.

Although a number of female freshmen, including Ms X, raised their concerns to a female senior afterwards, the senior replied: “But you didn’t get raped, right? Continue drinking then.”

A HKU spokesperson has confirmed the lodging of a complaint regarding student activities at Wei Lun Hall recently, Apple Daily reported.

The university is now investigating the matter.

Background

Male student "turkey slapped"

While this latest incident may be shocking to some, it is not the first a sexual harassment scandal has broken out at HKU student halls.

Back in 2017, a video showed a male student being pushed onto the bed and “turkey slapped” by another male student at Simon. K.Y Lee Hall at HKU.

In the above video uploaded by HK01, two male students pushed the male victim on the bed, while another male student wearing a “Chemistry HKU” hoodie slapped the student’s head using his private parts.

"So f*cking good!", one of the students in the video shouted, while others were laughing as it happened.

"Ride his face and slap his face with your d*ck!", added another student.

The student association of the hall subsequently issued a statement, saying that the incident "raised no concern about bullying".

They also emphasised that it was simply an “one-off incident” that has “no association with hall culture and hall education”, unlike what many people have pointed out.

The students involved in the incident were suspended from the student hall during the investigation.

However, it is unknown if the students received any disciplinary action in the end.

Top image via GY/ LIHKG