St Paul’s College: Six students expelled, 21 suspended after serious bullying incident

Six students have been expelled and another 21 have been suspended from one of Australia’s most prestigious university residential colleges, St Pauls College at the University of Sydney, after a serious alleged bullying incident last week.

The college has launched an investigation into an incident involving “humiliation-type behaviours” among a group of male undergraduate students, St Paul’s warden Dr Ed Loane told the Sydney Morning Herald in a statement.

“The college has been shocked and deeply disappointed that some of our students engaged in serious bullying of another student within their friendship group,” Dr Loane said.

“This behaviour is contrary to our values and standards. Our response, upon learning of this and conducting a thorough investigation, has been to expel the perpetrators and suspend the bystanders who failed to intervene.”

Dr Loane, who himself is a former resident of St Paul’s and an Anglican minister, said students were being provided support after the alleged incident.

He also said the college would “review and strengthen” the anti-bullying and harassment training it gives new residents when they enrol in the college.

Dr Loane said external providers run the training programs the teach new residents bullying and harassment awareness and prevention and the appropriate use of social media.

“We will review and strengthen this training, and we will continue to ensure we are doing everything we can to provide a safe and respectful community,” he told the outlet.

St Paul’s is one of six residential colleges at the University of Sydney and home to about 420 students.

It is Australia’s oldest university residential college at 167 years old and was one of just four all-male residences in the country until 2023, when it became fully co-educational.

That shift followed an investigation into the culture of the college by former sex discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick in 2018 after a spate of scandals around “hazing” scandals.

The Broderick review found there were problems with sexism, binge drinking and ritual humiliation at the college.

At the time, St Paul’s then-Warden Dr Don Markwell — who was appointed in February 2018 — apologised “unreservedly” on behalf of the college and issued an action plan to implement all the recommendations from the review.

University of Sydney Vice-Chancellor Dr Michael Spence said in a statement the action plan “represents meaningful and substantial leadership on the part of the College”.

Dr Spence said Dr Markwell should be “commended for his deep commitment to culture renewal and a strong stance against sexism, sexual harassment and sexual assault.”

“I am confident that under his leadership the college will build on strong foundations to enable all students to flourish.”

At the time, St Pauls also said it would accept more students from rural and public schools into its residences after decades of recruiting from Sydney’s elite all-boys private schools.

A University of Sydney spokesperson told the SMH it supported the disciplinary action taken against St Paul’s residents over the latest alleged bullying incident. The spokesperson also approved the college’s commitment to review its student training programs.

“We’re also following up directly to understand additional steps the college is taking to manage this issue and ensure the safety and wellbeing of students,” the spokesperson said.

They told the outlet the university works closely with its residential colleges “when issues arise” to support the welfare of students.

“We treat conduct that occurs at or in connection with a residential college as university-related, and urge anyone who has experienced or witnessed inappropriate behaviour to let us know so we can provide support, investigate, and take appropriate action.”