An Australian university student has demanded a ‘public apology’ over a violent, sexually explicit law assignment question she believes directly mocked her.
Freya Leach, 19, a second year University of Sydney student, claimed a character also named Freya in her law assignment is meant to ‘depict’ her.
The character kills a man, then has sex without disclosing her HIV-positive status and is ultimately murdered herself.
Students were asked to determine the criminal liability of three case studies in the question, including Freya, who runs down a ‘Chardonnay socialist’ in a hit-and-run incident then has unprotected sex with her friend while HIV-positive.
Freya Leach, 19, a second year Sydney university student, claimed a character also named Freya in her law assignment is meant to ‘depict’ her
The criminal law assignment asks students to read three linked scenarios and determine criminal liability for each. In one, ‘right-wing’ Freya kills ‘Adam’ in a hit-and-run
Students were given the 2,000 word take-home assignment last Friday and must complete it by this coming Sunday.
Ms Leach accused the university of mocking her political views, as she is well-known at Sydney University for her conservative.
‘The problem question uses my name and characterises me as a right-wing person who kills a left wing person. It then recounts a sex scene in graphic detail and says I am HIV positive,’ Ms Leach said in her complaint to the university.
‘Everyone knows I’m involved in the Conservative club and the Young Liberals, it’s obvious (it’s about me) given the fact that my political views are well known among my cohort and tutors,’ she told The Daily Telegraph.
Ms Leach felt targeted when a character in the assignment question with the same name as her kills a man, then has sex without disclosing her HIV-positive status and is ultimately murdered herself
She complained to the Dean of the Sydney Law School, Professor Simon Bronitt, alleging ‘reputational damage’ and asking for a ‘public apology’
In the first criminal law assignment ‘right-wing’ Freya pressing the accelerator of her Mercedes-Benz to the floor and says to herself ‘I’ll give that chardonnay socialist a fright’ before killing ‘Adam’.
Freya’s friend Daniel had fought with Adam in another scenario, describing him as a ‘woke prick’ because he’d asked Daniel to recycle a document.
In another scenario, Freya and Daniel have ‘penile-vaginal sex’ and although she knows ‘she is HIV-positive … does not disclose this to Daniel, who fails to wear a condom’.
Freya is then pushed to her death from a window by Daniel’s drunken fiancé.
Ms Leach claimed 20 fellow law students had texted her saying they believed Freya in the assignment was based on her.
She complained to the Dean of the Sydney Law School, Professor Simon Bronitt, alleging ‘reputational damage’ and asking for a ‘public apology’.
She wants the apology to be emailed to ‘my entire law cohort’ and requested ‘a five day extension’ as compensation.
Ms Leach claimed she was being targeted after confrontations with ‘socialist’ students who had called her ‘a parasite’ in a ‘zoom bombing’.
She argued in her complaint that it was unusual for an assignment question to use ‘uncommon’ names such as hers.
She also claimed memes were circulating among students depicting her as having HIV as a result of the assessment.
In response a Sydney university spokesperson said the use of the name ‘Freya’ was ‘entirely’ a coincidence. It claimed the same name had been used in exams and class questions in previous years
Since the question was issued four days ago Ms Leach had felt ‘unsafe’.
In response a University of Sydney spokesperson said the use of the name ‘Freya’ was ‘entirely’ a coincidence.
It claimed the same name had been used in exams and class questions in previous years.
But the university also apologised for ‘for any offence or distress caused’.
It also pledged to avoid using the first names of any current students in future criminal law assessments.
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