’Gagged and abused’: Details of St Paul’s bullying incident revealed

Ben Fordham has shed light on the “sickening” details of an event that saw six students expelled from a Sydney University college.

Harrowing new details have been revealed about the “severe” bullying incident that saw six students expelled from St Paul’s College and a further 21 suspended last week.

The details of the event, which happened at the Sydney Univerity residential college and came to light yesterday, hadn’t been revealed until this morning.

Speaking on his 2GB breakfast show, Ben Fordham claimed to have spoken to multiple sources and said that what listeners were about to hear is “the true story”.

“Last Monday, a group of male students from second year at St Paul’s decided to hold a mock trial on a fellow student. The group that organised it invited people to attend,” he said.

“It was held in a meeting room on the ground floor. In the Kangaroo Court, there were students posing as judges, defence lawyers and prosecutors.”

Ben Fordham has revealed fresh claims about the St Paul's bullying incident last week. Picture: Supplied/AAP

The victim was allegedly gagged and abused

Fordham said students went through evidence against the accused and they “mounted a case” for the boy to be “verbally abused”.

“At first, I’m told it was lighthearted and the victim was going along with it,” he explained, “but then things started to spiral.

“The student who was playing the judge delivered a guilty verdict. The victim started to speak and the judge yelled out, ‘Gag the defendant!’.

“Another student then gagged the victim and the victim could not speak.”

It’s believed that the item used to silence the victim was a gag sex toy that came from an adult shop.

“While the victim was gagged, the mob of sickos verbally abused him and when it was all over, the students cleaned up the meeting room and got on with their day,” he said.

Thankfully, one student decided to speak up and reported the incident to St Paul’s College who then approached the victim and offered support.

“[St Pauls’] went to the security footage that was recorded in an open area. The CCTV showed everyone who went into that room, that’s how they know who was involved,” Fordham said.

“Most of the boys present said they had no idea what was going to happen. They say they thought the victim was playing along. They now realise what a disastrous miscalculation that was.”

St Paul’s warden Dr Ed Loane declined to comment on the new claims.

Six students expelled, 21 suspended

As a result, six students have been expelled, and 21 more have been suspended from the elite university college.

St Paul’s College has launched an investigation into the incident involving “humiliation-type behaviour” among a group of male undergraduate students.

“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 Ed Loane told news.com.au.

“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, a past resident of St Paul’s and an Anglican minister, said that the college is offering support to students and newcomers receive training on how to handle bullying and harassment when they start at the 167-year-old institution.

He also said the college would “review and strengthen” this training to ensure they are doing everything possible to provide a safe and respectful community.

The college’s anti-bullying and harassment training, which is run by external providers, teaches students about the appropriate use of social media.

St Paul’s students were expelled over alleged bullying.

The University of Sydney responds

“We are deeply disappointed with the behaviour of some students at St Paul’s College,” a University of Sydney spokesperson told news.com.au.

“We support the disciplinary action the College has taken, and their commitment to review the training they provide to students.

“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 pointed out that while affiliated residential colleges like St Paul’s are independent, the university aims to work together closely when issues like this arise, with the welfare of students their “top priority.”

“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,” they said.

The University of Sydney's St Pauls College. Picture: Tracey Nearmy/AAP

The college’s history of ‘initiation’ rituals

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

Founded in 1856, it is the oldest college of its kind in Australia and became fully coeducational in 2023.

The decision to welcome female undergraduates followed an investigation by former sex discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick, revealing issues related to sexism, binge drinking, and ritual humiliation within the college culture.

The review found that students engaged in a number of problematic behaviours during initiations, such as eating sheep’s hearts, taking women to a “bone room” lined with mattresses, beating freshmen with thongs and ransacking rooms.

At the time, St Paul’s then-Warden Dr Don Markwell apologised on behalf of the college.

“While there is much for the college to be very proud of, including considerable progress in many areas, there are also aspects to be ashamed of,” Dr Markwell said.

“For these matters, we are deeply sorry.”

He said that the college had issued an action plan to implement all the recommendations from the review and was determined to be a leader in student wellbeing.

Originally published as ’Gagged and abused’: Details of St Paul’s bullying incident revealed