City of Sydney councillors vote against motion to back push to abolish University of Sydney residential colleges

A Sydney councillor has vowed not to give up in his push to abolish controversial uni colleges, having suffered a narrow defeat despite citing horrific claims of incidents on campus.

Horrific claims of students ejaculating into shampoo bottles, smearing faeces on campus walls and chanting disturbing slogans have proven insufficient to convince a majority of councillors to back a push to abolish controversial colleges at the University of Sydney.

But the City of Sydney councillor behind the bid to replace private residential colleges with affordable housing has vowed not to give up, declaring “it’s not over” after suffering a narrow defeat.

Greens councillor Matthew Thompson’s motion was rejected by six votes to four at a meeting on Monday evening, when he cited alleged examples of depraved acts occurring at the prestigious institutions.

He said male students would chant things like “no means yes and yes means anal” and “I’d rather choke her to sleep than talk her to sleep”.

Cr Thompson also referenced “The Red Zone Report”, a 2018 investigation that described a practice in which male students would ejaculate into their female counterparts’ shampoo containers.

St Paul’s College, one of the University of Sydney’s residential colleges.

Cr Thompson told this masthead he had heard the “testimonies of victim-survivors” and would continue to fight for them despite the loss.

“We’ve listened to the calls from student activists, and we believe them when they say these toxic, elitist colleges can’t be reformed,” he said.

Greens councillor Matthew Thompson.

“They must be shut down.

“I was heartened to win council support for our push for a stronger stance on abolishing the colleges and we won’t back down on our calls for them to be replaced with safe, student-run, affordable, accessible housing.

“The Greens on council won support for key amendments to recognise the culture of misogyny and sexism in private residential colleges.”

Had Cr Thompson’s motion succeeded, Lord Mayor Clover Moore would have been asked to write to NSW Premier Chris Minns and the state and federal education ministers in support of the abolition private residential colleges.

Matthew Thompson responds to the rejection of his motion on Twitter.

The University of Sydney declined to comment on Tuesday.

On Monday, prior to the motion being debated, a spokeswoman for the university urged anyone who had experienced or witnessed inappropriate behaviour to report it.

“While our affiliated residential colleges are independent institutions with their own governing bodies established by legislation, we aim to work with them collaboratively given our shared interest in the safety and wellbeing of our students,” she said.

“We treat conduct that occurs at or in connection with a residential college as being related to the university under our policies and codes of conduct.

Cr Matthew Thompson claims the institutions cannot be reformed and must be abolished.

“And we urge anyone who has experienced or witnessed inappropriate behaviour to let us know so we can provide support, investigate and take appropriate action.”

Cr Thompson also slammed the federal government for “failing to address the housing crisis”, blaming it for the situation in which more affordable housing was required.

“Students and young people can’t afford rent, can barely afford to eat,” he said.

“That’s why the Greens are pushing at all levels of government for the right to a safe, affordable, accessible home.

“In a country as rich as ours, no one should live in poverty, and everyone deserves a safe, secure roof over their head, free from the threat of sexual violence.

“Rental affordability is the worst on record and Sydney is one of the most unaffordable cities in the world.

“(The federal government’s) inaction allowed this to happen.”

Federal Housing Minister Clare O’Neil has been contacted for comment.