Claims Brisbane’s elite King’s College is rife with cocaine, binge drinking, hazing culture

A former staff member of the prestigious King’s College, located inside the University of Queensland, has made claims the century-old institution is rife with drug use, binge drinking and hazing.

King's College is a residential college community of 420 women and men within The University of Queensland and other Brisbane-based universities. Photo Supplied

A former King’s College staffer has come forward to share the horrific incidents they claim to have witnessed at the college from empty cocaine bags and beer bottles in the gym, to a female student running around naked after losing a game of beer pong.

The staffer Charlie, not their real name, who worked at the college between 2023 and 2024 said they nearly “fell off my chair” when they read the college said it was unaware of hazing and binge drinking.

They also said that the prestigious residential college, which houses about 420 people within The University of Queensland, was a “YMCA for rich kids”.

It costs more than $20,000 a year for students to live in the college for 34 weeks.

“The drug culture that goes on there is immense, I found empty cocaine baggies and stuff in the car park and in the gym all the time,” they said.

Charlie said alcohol and binge drinking was “off the charts”.

“There were empty beer bottles in the gym after St Patrick’s Day but also all the time.”

Charlie said they were left questioning whether a female student who was running around naked at 3pm in the afternoon after losing a game of peer pong last year had consented.

“It actually does raise an eyebrow with me, I wasn’t expecting to see that.”

Charlie said in a separate incident, male freshers were forced to get naked and kneel down in the dirt among the mangroves and drink four litres of wine before they were “revived with smelling salts”.

“I was like, what the actual f*** is going on here? Like, that’s just vile,” Charlie said.

“I didn’t want to see it, and I sort of started just going to make sure everyone was OK... the girl freshers were basically drinking and told to skoll a bottle of wine in 10 minutes.”

An aerial view of King's College - Brisbane. Photo Supplied Instagram

The staffer said at one stage, various gym equipment had gone missing from the college and when they asked to install security cameras in the gym, they were told that was where students took freshers to do various challenges.

“How bad does it have to be if you’re knowingly taking them to an area in the college where there’s no cameras,” Charlie said.

Charlie said students went “ballistic” with alcohol after orientation-week and that they were aware of five students who were hospitalised after trying to brew their own alcohol in the college last year.

“Everything there is just centred around booze so heavily,” they said.

Charlie said he was unsure how the college monitored its underage residents.

“Why on earth they allow under 18 year olds to live there is a mystery to me,” he said.

King’s College said in a statement that it did not tolerate binge drinking or inappropriate behaviour of any kind and that it takes these matters very seriously.

“The College continuously monitors students’ alcohol consumption and behaviour throughout the year, taking appropriate action when necessary,” they said.

“At King’s College, the safety and wellbeing of our residents and associates are our top priorities.”

“We work closely with The University of Queensland to ensure a safe and supportive environment for all students across colleges. Our policies and procedures are designed to protect not only King’s Collegians but also students from other colleges.”

UQ Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Terry.

UQ Vice-Chancellor Deborah Terry said it was essential that students feel safe and respected at all times on campus, in accommodation, or participating in university life.

“The University has zero tolerance for inappropriate behaviour - a standard that we clearly communicate to students, staff and our community,” she said.

“Over the past few years, the University and the residential colleges have worked in close partnership to introduce mandatory training for staff and students, established trauma-informed support teams and strengthened the University’s policies to include off-campus incidents.”

Ms Terry said while progress had been made, they acknowledged this work must continue, and were committed to ensuring this is the case.

“We would strongly urge anyone who has experienced or witnessed inappropriate behaviour to please report it to the relevant residential college/s and the University.”

King’s describes itself has being equipped with some of the “best facilities of any residential college in Australia, that has historically produced outstanding graduates including Rhodes Scholars and Queensland Greats”.