Drama students 'encouraged to kiss without consent' in acting classes at prestigious college

Students at one of Britain’s top drama schools were encouraged to kiss and grope classmates without prior consent or warning, it has been alleged, as two young actresses launch a legal action saying they were sexually assaulted.

Alyse McCamish and Sydney Feder, both 23, are suing the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama for negligence, after they say their complaints of sexual assault were not handled properly.

The Royal Welsh College, of which the Prince of Wales is president, has a number of famous alumni, such as Sir Anthony Hopkins, Ruth Jones and Rob Brydon.

But the school has become embroiled in allegations it failed to properly investigate misconduct claims after seven different women reported the same male student.

Ms Feder, from Connecticut, in the United States, described a culture that rewarded sexual misconduct and said that she felt unsafe right from the start.

"From day one I had a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that this was not a safe space," she told the BBC.

"In acting classes, people would kiss you without consent or grope you without consent and they would be encouraged by staff and congratulated for making that bold decision."

But it was in her third year that she says she was assaulted while alone in the female changing room during a rehearsal of a final-year show.

"I made a report to the college and it felt like screaming into the abyss. They interviewed me about it once. That was it. I was never spoken to again after I had made the report," she said.

Ms McCamish, from Tennessee in the United States ended up quitting the course early because of her experience of being sexually assaulted during freshers week, she says.

"It felt like they had such a lack of empathy for an arts school," she said.

"It made me lose a lot of faith in humanity. I lost a lot of faith in people who have power."

According to the BBC, the male student denied the allegations of sexual assault.

An internal investigation by the college found on the balance of probabilities the allegations of inappropriate touching were proven, but there was insufficient evidence to prove Ms McCamish's allegation of sexual assault.

He was suspended for two weeks and, in a letter to students, apologised to anyone who "felt unsafe and uncomfortable around me".

John Watkins, a lawyer from Bater Law, who represents the women, told the Telegraph these complaints were deemed to have been of "inappropriate touching" and not sexual misconduct, despite the university's student conduct regulations stipulating that "touching inappropriately without consent" is considered sexual misconduct.

"Time after time the college fell short of their own safeguarding policy,” he said.

“What we say is that had the college's own procedures been followed properly and not negligently then there would have been multiple examples of misconduct proved against him.

“The likely penalty would have been to expel him, but he was allowed to remain on campus which had a pretty disastrous effect on my clients.

“In acting, you can’t get away from people, you are physically forced together on these courses.”

The Telegraph contacted the Royal College for comment on the allegations, and they said: “The safety and wellbeing of our students and staff is our first priority and we have formal mechanisms in place to safeguard and support all members of the College community.

“We treat every report of any incident as serious, using best practice in applying our policies and procedures. We also keep our policies under constant review, seeking expert external advice and input.

“We are, and always will be, committed to listening openly to any member of our community who wants to report an incident to us – whether recent or historic – and encourage people to talk to us about any concerns.

“This allegation is the subject of a sensitive and ongoing legal process. Because we respect that legal process it would not be right to comment further on specific details. However we can confirm that there have been factual inaccuracies carried in reports to date. The Board of Directors is fully informed of the current situation and is keeping across any developments.”