A SCOTTISH university has sacked a gym instructor who suggested a woman who failed to turn up for a fitness class should be 'raped' as punishment.
The move by Edinburgh University came after more than 1,000 students signed an open letter calling for action.
Complaints had originally been made against senior instructor Ross Brain at the beginning of the year, but he was only sacked after the messages from a Whatsapp thread were made public this week.
The messages to colleagues at Edinburgh University's Sport and Exercise club discussed potential punishments for a woman who missed an exercise class.
One message purportedly sent by Mr Brain said: "Lets rape her. Or give her the choice of 600 burpees or rape ".
When no response was forthcoming, he was accused of sending another, saying: "No-one up for this then?".
Students said supposed zero-tolerance policies at the univesity had not been acted upon with mor than 1,000 signing an open letter to Professor Peter Mathieson, the university principal, demanding Mr Brain was sacked.
The letter said students and staff across the university felt "unwelcome, unsafe and unsatisfied" due to the university's disciplinary process.
Rosie Taylor, 21, a second year Biological Sciences student, criticised the university's lack of transparency and speed of response to the allegations.
She said: "This issue is not limited to one individual, or one message, it is a systemic failure to create, implement and uphold transparent or truly zero-tolerance policies to sexual harassment and violence.
"This case, which began in January, should not have required student intervention in order to reach a satisfactory conclusion.
"Whilst the University of Edinburgh is loud and proud in appearing to support the NoExcuse campaign, this has not been translated to action."
The university declined to comment on the outcome of disciplinary action, but described the language Mr Brain was accused of using as 'abhorrent'.
An email sent by Director of Sport and Exercise Jim Aitken, said: "The official investigation has concluded and Ross Brain has been dismissed from his post as gym manager with immediate effect."
A spokesman for the university said: "We are aware of the letter and are engaging with student representatives on the matter.
"We want to assure our students and staff that we take incidents such as this very seriously - the use of such language is abhorrent and has no place in this university.
"We do not, however, comment on the detail or outcome of individual cases."
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