Ngee Ann Poly suspends student union activities as allegations of toxic behaviour mount on social media

Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) has come under intense public scrutiny after a video clip of a group of male students urinating on the backs of two naked schoolmates went viral this week.

The incident is believed to have taken place during a camp held by the student union.

While NP said it has identified the students involved in the clip and is in the midst of conducting an internal disciplinary inquiry, other students have come out of the woodwork to level allegations against the student union on social media.

One of the top posts on Reddit Singapore on March 24, titled "Exposing NPSU Prep Camp", includes descriptions of an alumna's alleged experience at the student union's preparatory camp in December 2017. The Redditor claimed she and another student signed up for the camp, wanting to find out if the rumours they had heard about the student union were true.

In her post, which has garnered over 2,100 upvotes and nearly 300 comments at the time of writing, she alleged witnessing numerous instances of bullying over three days with "this toxic community". 

They included pulling down the pants of a male freshman when he tried to sleep, shouting "all sorts of insulting, degrading and dehumanising things" at the freshmen, and putting them through a six-hour "endurance games" session where freshmen underwent physical training and got scoldings until they cried.

"It's very apparent [the student leaders] don't have the freshies' best interests in mind," she wrote, claiming the seniors had "sadistic tendencies."

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Speaking with AsiaOne, the Redditor and her friend said that prior to attending the camp, they had heard the students in the union were notorious for sexual harassment and smoking on the campus. One of them also heard from another student that he saw the seniors urinating on the boys during freshmen orientation camp in 2016.

What the pair said they experienced during the camp, however, was still way beyond their expectations.

The circumstances left them too scared to take any videos or photos of what was going on, they said, as they were surrounded by members of the student union. They were afraid of being targeted, even outside of the camp, if the members had noticed anything amiss. 

This fear also prevented them from exposing the actions of the student union while they were still schooling, as the members knew their names, personal contact details and course. 

A TikToker, who said he was a former member of the student union, claimed that there was psychological torment. It could be the reason why one of the victims in the viral video had said that the act was consensual, he explained.

@ronanvreed

DISBAND NPSU. #npsu #harassment

♬ original sound - ronan

It was one of the three reasons that drove him to leave the student union last year, he shared in a video that trended on TikTok this week.

Student leaders were also said to have stolen money from the student union under the guise of "external camp costs" which he later found to be not true as the camps were fully funded by the school.

He added there was a lack of enforcement against a student leader who had allegedly committed sexual assault. While the student was immediately kicked out of the union following the allegations, he was allowed back under a different subcommittee at a later time.

AsiaOne contacted the TikToker for more information but did not receive a response.

Following the circulation of the viral video, other NP students also chimed in, adding that they, too, have gone through unpleasant experiences during camps.

A petition to disband the polytechnic's student union was started on March 23 and has gotten over 700 signatures. They called for the school to take action against the harassment and to do more for the students.

"We do not need a SU that can't protect the safety of our students."

In response to AsiaOne's queries, Ngee Ann Polytechnic said it is aware of these allegations and has suspended all activities by the student union while investigations are being carried out.

"We take this matter seriously and have a zero-tolerance approach to any form of misconduct by the members of the community," the spokesperson said.

rainercheung@asiaone.com