The prestigious St Paul’s college at the University of Sydney has agreed to join a university-wide inquest into attitudes of misogyny after accusations of institutional sexism re-emerged this week.
The university’s vice-chancellor, Michael Spence, accused the college of holding a “deep contempt for women” after a Facebook post from a student offered to help the college’s residents “get rid of chicks” after “harpoon[ing] a whale”.
The all-male college had previously refused to participate in the review, led by the former sex discrimination commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick, but said on Thursday it would “seek the opportunity” to join the inquest.
In 2009 students of the college created a pro-rape Facebook group, and last year students at the co-educational Wesley College were condemned for producing a journal that shamed female students who had slept with the most men.
A statement by the vice-warden, Geoff Lovell, said the college “acknowledges that it needs to address the unacceptable culture [the post] indicates amongst the college’s student body” and would seek to join the review.
Rachel Eddie (@heyracheddie)St Paul's Council says they will join the Elizabeth Broderick review into structural sexism at Sydney University colleges pic.twitter.com/NQ6C0qOcTj
June 2, 2017
However, the women’s officers at the students’ representative council, Imogen Grant and Katie Thorburn, said the move “would not have happened unless the reputation of the college was at risk”.
“Whilst we are pleased that St Paul’s college is considering the Liz Broderick review ... the safety of women is always secondary to reputational risk,” said Grant. “This would not have occurred without the hard work of students and survivors who have gone to great lengths to expose its culture of sexism.”
Thorburn said: “We will continue to call on the college to have experts facilitate an evidence-based consent and sexual ethics program [but] until we see a signature on paper, we will hold off the small golf applause.”
In August 2016 Sydney University women’s officers from the past 10 years wrote an open letter to the university highlighting systemic sexual assault and harassment on campus.
In a letter on Wednesday Spence said sexism was “a core feature of the shared culture of the men of the college” that it had failed to address.
“It can no longer pretend that this is not a profound issue in the life of the college, going to its very licence to operate,” he said.
“The fact that almost 100 people liked this particular Facebook post indicates that a deep contempt for women is not just something that marks the behaviour of an isolated student.”
The Facebook post, made in the “St Paul’s 2017” group, offered advice to students if: “You want to get rid of some chick who either (a) won’t leave your room after a root in the morning or (b) if you’ve harpooned a whale and she’s taking the whole bed preventing all chances of sleep.”
The post suggested excuses such as a “terrifying lump on penis” before signing off with “happy slaying”.
Broderick has previously led investigations into sexism in the Australian defence force and was sex discrimination commissioner from 2007 to 2015.
In November a university spokeswoman said Broderick had begun working with the university’s other residential colleges, and had established confidential email addresses for submissions.
On Friday a spokeswoman said an exploratory meeting would be held between the college and Broderick to “assess whether St Paul’s participation is possible”.
Before joining the review, St Paul’s had opted for internal programs, including a male-oriented one led by former students known as the Good Lad Initiative.
A Good Lad facilitator, Alistair Kitchen, told the student publication PULP Media that he was “truly pleased to hear that St Paul’s will be taking part in the Broderick review”, and that it would “give a full account of college culture”.
Sydney University’s residential colleges are independent of the university, with the warden of St Paul’s, Dr Ivan Head, referring to it as “as a self-governing body” in deciding not to take part in the review in November.
Universities Australia is expected to release data about sexual assault and harassment on campuses after conducting a landmark study of all 39 Australian universities and surveying 39,000 students. The release has been promised for mid-year.
