St Paul’s backs University actions to prevent sexual harassment and assault

On the first anniversary of the Australian Human Rights Commission and Universities Australia releasing their landmark report, Change the Course: National Report on Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment at Australian Universities, St Paul’s College has reiterated its determination to do all it can to prevent and respond firmly to sexism, sexual harassment and sexual assault. The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sydney, Dr Michael Spence, today wrote to all University of Sydney students, including all St Paul’s College students, outlining the steps the University has taken over the last year to implement the Human Rights Commission/Universities Australia recommendations. The Head of St Paul’s College, Dr Don Markwell, has also today written to all St Paul’s College students supporting the University’s actions, and restating the College’s “unshakable commitment to respect and dignity for all, including equality of respect for all regardless of gender.” “We have a zero tolerance approach to anything

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Oxford scientist appointed Dean of Graduate House

A Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, Dr Antone Martinho-Truswell, has been appointed the inaugural Dean of Graduate House at St Paul’s College within the University of Sydney. Graduate House will open at the start of 2019 as a community of 140 women and men postgraduate students and academics, housed in a new world-class residential building nearing completion at St Paul’s College, in the heart of the University campus. Dr Martinho-Truswell teaches and researches in the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford, where he is a Fellow and member of the governing body of Magdalen College, and a Lecturer in Biology at Pembroke College. His leadership in collegiate community life – which will be at the heart of his role as Dean of Graduate House – has also included serving as Junior Dean of University College, Oxford, and graduate warden of St Cross College, Oxford, as well as leadership

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A celebration of NAIDOC Week and community service

In NAIDOC Week, St Paul’s College celebrates the significant role that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and men serve in our community, and recognise work that our students, either Indigenous or from other diverse backgrounds, do to progress the welfare and success of Indigenous Australians. Currently several members of St Paul’s College actively volunteer in the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) program that provides a mentoring experience for Indigenous school students who aspire to study at tertiary level. 25,000 Indigenous high school students and 7000 university students have participated in AIME, making it the largest volunteer movement of university students in Australian history. AIME, which now runs mentoring experiences across the country, was founded by a member of St Paul’s College – the Young Australian of the Year (NSW) and Young People’s Australian Human Rights Medallist for 2010, Jack Manning Bancroft. Jack founded AIME in 2005, aged just 19,

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Update on governance reform

Over the last year, the College has been reviewing its governance arrangements to modernise them for the College’s future needs in line with contemporary governance principles. In May, the College circulated a draft set of proposed principles for a new St Paul’s College Bill. The response to these proposals to reform the governance of St Paul’s College has been overwhelmingly positive. The Council wishes to thank all those who took time to respond and provide feedback. All suggestions were seriously considered by Council and some minor amendments to the summary of the proposed St Paul’s College Bill have been adopted in order to ensure the reform provides better governance as well as making the terminology simpler and clearer. The revised summary can be found here. For easy reference, the changes were to: Increase the quorum requirement from four to seven of the 13 members of Council Remove “Council members and

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Reminder: invitation to contribute to review of College culture

St Paul’s College is currently working with a team led by Australia’s former Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick AO, on a project to review College culture. As a part of that process, the College again invites people interested in the review, both within the College community and the community at large with any experience relevant to the review, to participate. St Paul’s is undertaking this review to help us understand both the strengths of our residential community, and where we can improve. All experiences and perspectives on College life will help the Broderick team formulate their findings and recommendations. The College will receive a report and recommendations in coming months. Our students have been participating very actively and positively in this process, with around 85% of students participating in the student survey that is part of the cultural review, more discussion groups needing to be held than had been planned,

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Rawson Rugby Triumph

Last night the St Paul’s College Rugby XV triumphed over a strong St Andrew’s side to win the Rawson Rugby Intercollegiate competition for 2018. A full TAG Grandstand at the University’s No. 2 Oval witnessed great football for the closing games of both the Rawson Cup and Rose Bowl Rugby. St Paul’s won the day for the second year in a row defeating St Andrew’s 33 to 19 in a spectacular match. St Andrew’s defended hard against a spirited St Paul’s offence with much of the game played in the St Andrew’s half. Read Student Club Secretary Will Evans’s full Rawson Rugby roundup, below. Early tries in the game set the scene for St Paul’s win with Josh Smith and Guy Porter going over the line before half time. St Andrew’s scored to add to the excitement. Both teams saw penalties but a penalty try against St Andrew’s, and Angus

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So far this semester… a vibrant start to 2018

As the College enters a new era in 2018, it has been a vibrant start to the College and University year, with so far this semester… the construction of the Ivan Head Building enabling a record number of freshers to enter the College this semester (click here for the Warden’s speech of welcome to the freshers and their parents) many students happily sharing rooms until on Friday 11 May the first 52 students were able to move into the magnificent new rooms of the Ivan Head Building, with another 50+ students moving into the new building for second semester preparations to welcome further new students to the College in second semester, and for the distinctive graduate community in Graduate House, led by a Dean of Graduate House, to commence at the start of 2019 a tutorial programme of over 55 tutorials a week, and the College Library a beehive of

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