Women who say they were raped and sexually harassed at the University of Warwick have accused the vice-chancellor, Stuart Croft, of failing to protect female students. Five women, including one who said she had been raped on campus, told the Guardian the university had not addressed the toxic culture exposed in 2018 when female students discovered they had been targeted by male peers in a “rape chat” group. Jane, not her real name, said she had been raped in March by a male flatmate who had previously denounced the behaviour of the students behind the sexually violent texts two years ago. The second-year student, who reported the assault to the police and the university, has since studied remotely because of concerns about her safety on campus. The 19-year-old, who wrote an open letter to the vice-chancellor about rape culture on campus, said he did not seem to recognise how prevalent sexual misconduct and assault were at the university. “He has a duty of care. So many students have to get mitigating circumstances or support to get them through the trauma of sexual assault, which has been having an impact on both my and fellow students’ degrees, which isn’t acceptable.” One first-year student said that when she submitted a report of sexual misconduct to the university “nothing was done to reprimand the assailant”. The 19-year-old added: “I was sharing a campus with a known assailant, and I still am, and there are likely plenty of others who go unreported. The university wasn’t able to give me any information, other than tell me that I could move if I felt uncomfortable. The rape culture at Warwick goes completely unaddressed by the student union and the university itself.” A petition calling on the university to address sexual violence has attracted more than 3,000 signatories. Its creator, the student Laila Baghdadi, said she wanted the university to know how many women felt endangered. “I’ve heard boys make rape jokes to their mates and even discussing how another boy was having sex with a girl and then took the condom off, and didn’t tell her until after,” she added. “They didn’t see anything wrong with that.” She and other female students want the university to introduce mandatory sexual consent workshops for all new students, hire more specialist support staff to help victims, and provide attack alarms and self-defence classes. Emilie Eisenberg, one of the organisers of a protest against sexual violence on campus last weekend that attracted hundreds of people, said she thought sexual violence was common on campus because perpetrators knew that some of the male students involved in the rape chat scandal of 2018 had been allowed to return to the university. She said this encouraged the belief that perpetrators could get away with assaults. “We’re not going to stop putting pressure on the university until they make some real change.” A Warwick confessions page on Instagram posted an open letter to the university and students’ union last week in which an anonymous student wrote: “I receive countless stories of girls being touched, raped and taken advantage of … I have both witnessed this many times and also been a victim of it since coming to the university. This cannot go on any longer.” Tasha Hardaker, vice-president of It Happens Here Warwick, a student society which supports survivors of sexual assault, said it received about 25 messages a month from female students who had experienced sexual harassment or assault. Hardaker said her drink had been spiked at a club on campus during freshers’ week last year and she had been found unconscious in a bathroom. She said she had been interviewed by security but they had not told her she could make a complaint. “They said they were investigating the incident but never got back to me,” she added. Warwick University said victims of sexual misconduct could make anonymous reports online or speak to an independent sexual violence adviser. A spokesman added: “We are horrified to hear of the incidents the survivors have raised. Where incidents do happen and are reported to us, we continue to take strong action against those who are found to have broken our policies. This may include their complete suspension or permanent expulsion from our university.”