It has been over four years since the Office of the Ombudsman/National Human Rights Institute released its landmark report, containing the findings of a National Public Inquiry into family violence in Samoa.

The report was damning of Samoa and its record in addressing all forms of violence. Some of its major findings include: physical, harsh verbal discipline/violence and sexual violence towards children reaching epidemic levels; 9 out of 10 children in Samoa experience violence in their lifetime; physical discipline/violence is often extreme in nature, going way beyond what is ‘reasonable punishment’ under Samoan law; and sexual abuse of children and incest levels had reached ‘epidemic’ proportions in Samoa.

Fast forward to today and it all appears to be business as usual, if the number of physical and sexual violence cases ending up in the Courts for prosecution are any indication.  

Due to the epidemic levels of violence in society, using it to settle grievances has become normalised, not only in homes but even higher educational institutions including university campuses.

This probably explains why a video of two female National University of Samoa (N.U.S.) students in an altercation, which surfaced on social media on Saturday, raises a lot of questions on how young intelligent people view violence.

An article (NUS issues warning after students clash) in the Sunday 21 August 2022 edition of the Samoa Observer revealed details of the fight between the two students.

The video showed a female student in the N.U.S. School of Nursing uniform, beating up another female within the school compound at Vaivase. The uniformed student could be heard uttering offensive words in the video directed at the other female, who was wearing a grey t-shirt and a purple lava lava. The girl without the uniform struggled to get back on her feet, as her assailant kept pushing her head towards the ground, before holding her by the neck and pushing her backwards resulting in her falling over a wooden stool to land on her head under a tamaligi tree on campus. 

On Saturday the N.U.S. released a statement after the video surfaced, condemning all forms of violence and declaring that its campuses are places of study and learning for scholars.

“We will not condone any form of violence on our campuses either by students, staff or visitors,” read the Facebook post.

“The University campuses are places for scholars to study and learn and everyone must feel safe. 

“We have policies and processes to deal with any student, staff or visitor who disrespects and violates the rights of others to a safe environment of learning. 

“Anyone witnessing any form of violence are encouraged to report names to Student Support Services and or Security Staff.”

Having seen the video of the fight, which reportedly occurred last Friday and was posted to social media on Saturday, we are dumbfounded that about seven people watched the altercation without lifting a finger or saying a word. 

With millions of tala being pumped into awareness programs on the societal ills of violence by both donor partners and the Samoa Government annually, it is baffling no one felt compelled to intervene to stop the perpetrator to end the violence.

Were they amused as if it was a form of entertainment that they recorded on video using their smartphones so they could share on social media and get the most interactions or did they choose not to intervene because they did not care or it was none of their business?

And how sensitised is the N.U.S. student body to the dangers of violence and the importance of strengthening social cohesion?

We fear the video showed that the bystanders who witnessed the violence first hand have become normalised to this kind of behaviour, which raises questions about the impact of the broader policy interventions by the Samoa Government (in partnership with donor partners) to eradicate violence in all shapes and forms in the community.

It remains to be seen whether the university has made any progress on this particular matter and if the two involved in the altercation have been identified. Just as N.U.S. emphasised, violence shouldn’t be condoned on any of its campuses, and similarly should not be perpetrated by any student or staff, that’s the least we should expect at a centre of learning.