St Paul’s council wrote to parents and alumni last month asking for their views. Among the 400 responses was a submission signed by 200 students from St Paul’s and 80 from the nearby Women’s College opposing.
St Paul’s College says it will struggle to fill its rooms if it does not enrol women.Dominic Lorrimer
They argued it was unnecessary,as the boys already had plenty of interaction with women in their classes and social life. While the world was co-educational,it was not co-residential,and living with hundreds of the opposite sex would not prepare them any better.
“No one at college worries about impressing others the whole time,” it says. “This unique,liberating virtue of the college gives everyone the freedom to be themselves,and should not be underestimated as a powerful uniting force within the college.”
Alumni are also planning to hold a meeting on the issue. Students at Women’s College are split,sources who are familiar with their position told theHerald,with some supporting St Paul’s becoming co-ed and some opposing it.
On Friday the St Paul’s council issued another letter to the college community,offering “information that may be useful in contemplating this matter”,including details of financial pressures such as an emergency loan from the foundation.
From late 2019,the college also began to fill up to 15 per cent of rooms with non-University of Sydney students,such as students from the University of Technology Sydney or the University of NSW.
“We have now reached this cap and current enrolment trends indicate that maintaining a male only undergraduate college will require for the proportion of non-University of Sydney students to be pushed to a much higher level for 2022 and beyond,” it said.
While the undergraduate rooms were almost full - they could fit about 10 more students - there was no waiting list,and the international border closures meant there were 45 spare rooms in the graduate wing.
If these were used by domestic undergraduates,the college could earn another $1.5 million a year. St Paul’s only accepts men in its undergraduate accommodation,but its Graduate House is mixed gender.
The council also pointed out that in 2021,only 41 per cent of Sydney University students were male. “Co-residential colleges at Sydney University have reported significantly better application rates than[St Paul’s College],including many more men applying for membership,” it said.
“For 2021,one college received five times the applicants than places available. St Paul’s has significantly less demand. Application data for the last seven years indicate that this represents a structural change in the market with increasing numbers of young men seeking a co-residential college experience.”
Only three university residences remain all-male;St Leo’s at the University of Queensland,Warrane at University of NSW,and the undergraduate house at St Paul’s.
A string of scandals over the past decade,including a pro-rape Facebook page by students in 2009,prompted former Sydney University vice-chancellor Michael Spence to criticise a “deep contempt for women” in the culture at St Paul’s.
An investigation by former sex discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick in 2018 found and celebrated sporting wins by taking girls to a “bone room” lined with mattresses.
The college apologised for its poor past behaviour and promised to act on all recommendations. It has since been working on cultural change,which includes to its predominantly private school cohort.
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