First there were the accounts of mob rule and the bullying of female first year students at St Johns in 2012. Then there was the slut-shaming and sexism running rampant at Wesley exposed just last week.
Today, another Sydney University college has been rattled with claims that the sex lives of its students are broadcast over loudspeakers in the college dining halls, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
A former resident at St Andrews has revealed that college leaders would regularly announce the sexual exploits of students at the hall of residence’s “lolly buffet” events. Intimate details about people’s sex lives would be broadcast to the 285 students gathered at these functions, and would often result in slut-shaming and derisive comments, the student has said.
She claims that at one of these events, she was taunted by her peers when an announcement was made that she had invited a boy to her room earlier that week.
“We agree that what [this student] experienced was unacceptable and inexcusable,” the Principal of St Andrew’s College Wayne Erickson told the Sydney Morning Herald. “At the time we worked closely with [her] to assist her and to ensure that she received every support. This does not excuse in any way the unacceptable behaviours she experienced.” He also confirmed that the college has ceased broadcasting the sex lives of its students at functions.
But the fact that this was happening at all is cause for serious alarm. We don’t want to be the fun police, but when is someone going to do something about the university college system?
The Sydney University student representatives for colleges, Justine Landis-Hanley, agrees. “I find [this scandal] shocking, but I find it believable,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald. “The deplorable culture in these colleges is completely deranged… It is this kind of ritualistic humiliation driven practices that stem from creating a sense of comradery, it’s about breaking them down as an individual. Something has to be done.”
