Petition supports expelled whistleblowers in ‘unrapeable’ list

The expulsion of two students for criticising an elite school’s response to a bullying scandal could go before the Human Rights Commission.

Expelled Mueller College students Genevieve Dunstan, 18, and Finn Glover, 17. Picture: Liam Kidston

A Brisbane mother is seeking to petition the Australian Human Rights Commission over the expulsions of two students from Mueller College due to their criticism of the school’s handing of an “unrapeable” list scandal.

The woman read about Genevieve Dunstan and Finn Glover – sensationally cut from the City of Moreton Bay co-ed Christian school – in The Courier-Mail and was motivated to start the petition by her child’s experience of bullying at another school.

“As a mother whose child suffered through a year of torment at a private boys’ school in Brisbane, I am deeply acquainted with the nightmares that unchecked bullying can unleash,” she wrote.

“In light of this, I am advocating for Genevieve Dunstan and Finn Glover, brave students who exposed a bullying incident far too distasteful to ignore.”

The petition, started on change.org on November 8, has gained 2284 signatures in a goal of 2500.

Ms Dunstan, 18, was removed from Mueller College on October 15 after criticising the school’s treatment of her whistleblower boyfriend Mr Glover, 17, who was also cut after he told the school about the list on October 9.

The list – compiled by six Mueller College boys and posted by one of them on social media – cruelly mocks six senior peers, including some with disabilities, and rates them as “unrapeable”.

Mueller College at Rothwell, north of Brisbane. Picture: David Clark

The boy who posted the list received the same punishment as Ms Dunstan and Mr Glover.

The three were “externally suspended”, which Ms Dunstan and Mr Glover said was equivalent to an expulsion because students could not graduate or return to campus, other than to sit the state external exams to receive their Queensland Certificate of Education.

They were also banned from the school formal, farewell breakfast and final chapel.

The Courier-Mail understands five boys who helped write the list remain at the school, which wraps up for seniors this Friday.

The mother who started the petition is known to The Courier-Mail but wishes to be identified only by her initials, M.K.

“School bullying is a widespread issue not confined to a single school or city, affecting approximately one in four Australian students, stretching from primary through high school,” M.K. wrote.

“Per the Australian Human Rights Commission, bullying can result in significant emotional, psychological, and academic repercussions for the victim, yet our system punishes these victims instead.”

She said schools should be a safe haven for all scholars, not a battlefield where victims were penalised for speaking up, and called on Mueller College to reverse the expulsions of Ms Dunstan and Mr Glover.

Mueller College has been contacted for comment.

Finn Glover’s parents Lori and Chris Glover. Picture: David Clark

As The Courier-Mail has revealed previously, Ms Dunstan claimed the school “pushed everything under the rug” and made innocent people the victim.

“I hate the shithole they’ve created,” she posted on her private Instagram page.

“Why practically expel someone for exposing people for creating a f---ing list of unrapeable people?”

On October 10, Ms Dunstan posted that college head Paul Valese “won’t bring Finn back … absolutely pathetic”.

Ms Dunstan, a student at Mueller College since Prep, said she had been called to a meeting with Mr Valese on October 14.

“He expected me to apologise and kept asking if I meant to post those things, and I said yes,” she said.

On October 15, Ms Dunstan received an email from Mr Valese referring to the meeting which “granted you an opportunity to provide a reply to the likely defamatory comments you made on social media”.

In the email – seen by The Courier-Mail – Mr Valese said Ms Dunstan used profane language and named him personally and his decision as absolutely pathetic.

“According to Mueller’s positive culture framework (behaviour management policy) your behaviour is deemed as very serious,” he wrote.

“Level IV Very Serious Event (at school, outside of school, travel to or from school): significant inappropriate or offensive online behaviour.

“It is clear that mutual trust and co-operation between yourself and the college has broken down.

“You have not shown any remorse for offence caused by your comments.”

After The Courier-Mail broke news of the scandal on October 16, many parents and students came forward to express their disgust at the school’s handling of the matter.

Mr Glover described his removal from Mueller College as “absolutely absurd”.

He said his mistake was to send a screenshot of the list, which he called out as “absolutely disgusting”, to a private group chat.

“I decided to go to school early the next morning to show it to the principal because I felt like the writer needed to be expelled and, in my mind, the school would be like ‘hell no’ and thank me,” he said.

“I had screenshots showing all the boys who helped make the list.”

Father Chris Glover said the students mocked on the list wrote to the college leadership team on October 9, saying they were grateful his son had spoken up and that he did not deserve to be punished.

“Our son has basically been put in the same category as the students who wrote the list, and this is what infuriates us as parents,” Mr Glover said.

“We have raised him to speak up for what is right, and what he did came from a position of wanting to protect vulnerable students and expose the authors of the list.

“Calling out and correcting misogynistic behaviour is extremely important.

“Misogyny in adolescent males, if not addressed, can metamorphose into toxic behaviour with intimate partners when those boys reach adulthood.”

Mr Valese was contacted for comment but did not respond.

Email Kylie Lang