There was an email from the vice-chancellor from earlier today about questionable behvaiour of some students from our uni, something about sexual assault being unacceptable and binge drinking being no excuse, so I assumed that some girl was groped against her will at some on-campus drinkfest but apparently not so. I just came across the SMH article.
The male students, mostly from the elite, all-male St Paul’s College, initially ensured the ”Define Statutory” group had an open, public profile, and proudly displayed their membership on their personal Facebook pages.
Both the commander of the NSW Police sex crimes unit and the head of the NSW Rape Crisis Centre condemned the site, describing it as ”grooming perpetrators of sexual violence”.
The Facebook page, which has since shut but ran from August until late last month, is part of a broader culture at the residential colleges that demeans women in a sexist and often sexually violent way, experts say.
The Herald has spoken to several women, also past and present residential college students, who have experienced sexual assault and attempted assaults on campus. They say the privileged atmosphere of colleges, combined with a culture of binge drinking and few restraints on behaviour, mean most rapes go unreported.
