Australia‘s oldest university college, St Paul’s College, is steadfastly refusing to participate in a university-wide cultural review, which was triggered by reports of sexual misbehaviour, harassment and ‘slut-shaming’ within the University of Sydney‘s campus culture.
St Paul’s is understood to be the only college which is refusing to participate in the review, which is being led by former sex discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick. Broderick’s time as a commissioner included four investigations into gender discrimination in the Australian Defence Force.
Fairfax reports that the St Paul’s warden Dr Ivan Head says that the college is “[exercising] its liberty as a self-governing body” in refusing to participate, instead opting to run its own review of campus life. Because as we all know, institutions are most thoroughly interrogated by confidential self-reviews conducted with no external oversight.
The prevalence of unreported sexual harassment and assault on college campuses has become a global issue over the past several years. There have been a number of stories coming out of USyd’s colleges implying a culture that routinely degrades and sexually shames women. Hence the review.
Back when the review was announced in May, Vice-Chancellor Michael Spence expressed a desire to cease the kind of stories which repeatedly demean the university’s reputation:
These stories have been a thorn in our flesh. I do not want to see any more of them. The Chancellor and I have invited the heads of college councils to meet with Ms Broderick to see how we can address concerns that have been legitimately raised. I am sure they will co-operate.
Seems like that co-operation isn’t happening. It’s important to stress that the colleges do have the right, as independent bodies, to refuse a review – though the university’s administration has considered disaffiliating from colleges who refuse take reasonable steps towards addressing the situation.
Dr Head took pains to suggest that they are not opposed to the concept of a cultural review – just that they would prefer to conduct it themselves. Hmm.
College has thus engaged its own independent professional in the field of the quantitative and qualitative review of communities and workplaces and is completing a thorough review of core dimensions of College life from the student perspective.
We’ll keep you posted.
Source: Fairfax.
Photo: Getty Images.
