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campusreview.com.au
To this end, Broderick found that
although egregious practices like the
‘bone room‘ purportedly no longer
occur, the college could and should
do better.
Some St Paul’s students added nuance to
the discussion:
“We, the boys, always get blamed for
sexual harassment or assault. When
the girls wake up regretting what they
did, it’s always our fault. This has got
to stop.”
– St Paul’s College student
New leaf for college?
St Paul’s promises to shed
sexism and reduce sexual
harassment and assault.
By Loren Smith
A
s an 18-year-old, I dated a boy
who lived at St Paul’s College at
the University of Sydney. There
was a girl who attended the neighbouring
Women’s College – let’s call her Freda –
who was treated akin to the Puberty Blues
character of the same name. The St Paul’s
boys referred to her as a ‘bicycle’ and
contemptuously recounted how many of
them she had slept with.
This is an example of the kind of behaviour
St Paul’s College has promised to stamp out,
following a recent report about its culture.
The ‘cultural review‘, commissioned by the
college in November 2017 after it failed to
be one of the original commissioning USYD
colleges, followed a finding in the Australian
Human Rights Commission’s report on
sexual harassment and assault on
campus: ‘residential settings’ was one of
four “recurring themes in incidents of sexual
4
assault and sexual harassment that occurred
in university settings”.
Review author, former sex discrimination
commissioner Elizabeth Broderick, noted
that “the vast majority of students feel
respected by their peers and have a strong
sense of safety at their college.
“Some students however experience
behaviours that make them feel
uncomfortable or unsafe. For some,
particularly female students, experiences
such as sexual harassment by other students
and for a few, sexual assault, create significant
distress and trauma.”
“Paul’s boys talk about women behind
their backs – everything from female
objectification (‘slut’) to making fun
of their physical physique (‘whale’).”
– Female residential college student
“It’s their Sals [The Salisbury – St Paul’s
bar]. It’s their turf. Girls that made
friends with freshers know people, but
others don’t, and you go [and] dance
and get felt up.”
– Female residential college student
“Talk about being ‘playboys’, I am
friends with many [college] girls and
have had close talks with them, and
they keep talking about how they
play with the guys’ feelings, trick
them into sporadic sex just to fill their
needs and desire to be in a position
of power. The landscape has shifted,
and it’s genuinely the sub-par all-girls
environment that is doing more of this
‘hit and run’ damage…”
– St Paul’s College student
In addition to the sexual crimes and
misdemeanours, the report addressed
allegations of elitism, alcohol abuse and
hazing.
On behalf of the college, warden Dr Don
Markwell, whose tenure commenced this
year, apologised for prior transgressions.
St Paul’s, which will admit women from next
year, has committed to implementing all of
the report’s recommendations.
USYD vice-chancellor and principal
Dr Michael Spence said the college’s plan
“represents meaningful and substantial
leadership”.
Despite its troubling findings, the report
said the experience of “the majority of
St Paul’s College students is overwhelmingly
positive and rewarding”. ■