Indigenous student alleges misconduct, loses scholarship

Southern River College student Destiny Riley. Picture: Danielle Arnold.

GEOFF VIVIAN

A charity that supports Aboriginal students with scholarships was quick to hose down allegations of misconduct this week.

An Aboriginal high school student has lost her scholarship after her mother complained about the organization on social media.

Destiny Riley attended “cultural camps” as part of her scholarship with a charity called the Aurora Foundation.

Destiny said young adults at the camps known as “mentors” got drunk at one of the camps, and at another turned a blind eye to students having sex.

She said two mentors also started a sexual liaison at one of the camps, sparking an argument with another mentor who was a partner of the pair.

“I did bring it up to one of the mentors, some of the stuff that happened,” she said.

“And she said that she’d already known and kind of swept it under the rug. And she kind of made a joke out of it and said she hoped there was no Aurora camp babies.”

Destiny also said a mentor failed to intervene as students teased a disabled student.

Since Destiny and her mother complained about this and other matters Aurora has stopped her scholarship, which included support with sports equipment and a laptop.

Aurora CEO Leila Smith said they worked with external experts, the school, and their own HR team over many weeks, but found no evidence to support the allegations.

“We learned that details had been changed to create a negative story,” she said.

“Assumptions about some student interactions were found to be based on nothing more than gossip.”

Ms Smith said Aurora had tried many times to contact Destiny’s mother to organize a meeting but received no reply before last week.

“Our high school program creates a safe space for students to learn, and to feel culturally and academically strong,” she said.

“For this to work, there needs to be a trusting community surrounding the students, including our team of mentors and support staff, as well as parents and families.

“Members of our team and Program partners were publicly and personally targeted, despite no evidence to support these comments and no reciprocated efforts to find a resolution.”

Ms Smith said if her team no longer felt safe or supported to do their job, their program and the benefits for all students were compromised.

“As a result, we came to the view that the relationship between Aurora and this family was unsustainable, and we made the incredibly tough decision to conclude our program support for them,” she said.

A mediation session is now scheduled with Destiny, her mother, and her school this week.