IT was the beauty of St John’s College at the University of Sydney that drew Newcastle’s Gabrielle Lynch into the college during a university open day.
“I thought it was so beautiful and I fell in love,” Ms Lynch said. “It has such a sense of history. But I had no idea about the reputation of the University of Sydney colleges.”
Ms Lynch is one of several case studies in the Red Zone report, a publication released by End Rape on Campus on Monday that recommends state and federal intervention to shut down hazing in student residences.
In her case study within the report, Ms Lynch details waking to find three men in her room. “It was terrifying,” she said.
“I felt so unsafe in my own room, it was a real intrusion.”
She also underwent initiation hazing including being doused in buckets of rotting fish,and argues the St Johns College, where she lived, had a deeply embedded “hypermasculine” feel and daily sexism, including a tradition where men treated female students as if they did not exist.
Ms Lynch said that although the living quarters became co-educational in 2001, a power imbalance lived on.
“The reality is that even if 50% of the residents are female, the student leadership positions go to the men,” she said. “Going to St John’s was the first time in my life where I felt I couldn’t do something because of my gender.”
Ms Lynch left St John’s at the end of 2017 to finish her degree living elsewhere.
The rector of St John’s College on Sunday said the residence was “committed to transformational change”, but noted the incidents did not reflect “the overall student culture”.
The University of Sydney said it would continue to work with student and advocacy groups to do “all it can to make its campuses safe and welcoming for all students.”
The University of Sydney’s student representative council said the report lifted the lid on an enduring “entitled culture of bullying that colleges foster”. '
The report follows End Rape on Campus collating video of hazing involving University of Newcastle students, including footage of students drinking alcohol off each others’ genitals.
The Newcastle Herald reported last week that the university condemned the behaviour, which is cited in the report as indicative of the hazing culture.