Family of Mueller College student say son wrongly punished after blowing whistel on ‘rape list’

The family of a student expelled from a Christian school embroiled in a ‘rape list’ scandal have lashed out, claiming their son was punished for being a whistleblower.

Lori and Chris Glover’s sone has been expelled from Mueller College. Picture: David Clark

The family of a Mueller College boy expelled from the Christian school over a “rape list” scandal have lashed out, saying their son was punished for being a whistleblower.

Chris and Lori Glover are furious at the school’s “poorly executed investigation” into the incident in which eight senior students, including those with learning disabilities and special needs, were deemed “unrapeable” by six boys in a list published on social media.

Mr and Mrs Glover, speaking exclusively to The Sunday Mail, said their Year 12 student son Finn had been penalised for bringing the list to the school’s attention.

Finn, 17, has also broken his silence, saying his expulsion was “absolutely absurd” and “completely unfair”. “It’s disgusting the way they’ve handled it – I’m lost for words, to be honest,” he said.

Finn said he was sent a copy of the list, compiled by six year 12 boys and published by one of them, about 8pm on October 8.

“I was horrified by what was being said, and by omission, putting names and details of students they think are ‘unrapeable’ means the other students are rapeable,” he said.

Finn said his mistake was to send a screenshot of the list to a private group chat.

The screenshot, seen by The Sunday Mail, shows Finn calling out the list as “absolutely disgusting”.

Mueller College at Kippa Ring. Picture: David Clark

“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.”

Finn said only he, the child who published the list, and one other whistleblower were expelled. Mrs Glover, a nurse, said she was “heartbroken” for her eldest son over the way his 13-year schooling had ended.

“I’m a shift worker and when my husband woke me (on October 9) in the afternoon to say Finn had been expelled, it shocked the crap out of me,” she said.

The Glovers requested a meeting the following day with college head Paul Valese. “… I said to him, ‘Are you missing the fact that my son came to school early to give you the list?,” Mrs Glover said.

“‘Finn’s sole purpose of bringing it to you was to expose these creeps’. I sat in front of him sobbing uncontrollably and begging him to reconsider.”

Mrs Glover said the Kippa-Ring family’s “sole purpose” in speaking out was to clear their son’s name.

“It would have been acceptable for the school to say, ‘hey mate, we’re pleased you’ve come to us, but sharing the list in a group chat is a clunky way to go about it’,” she said. “Instead, he’s been expelled for being a whistleblower.”

Mr Glover, a geologist, said the students mocked on the list wrote to the senior school leadership team on October 9 saying they were grateful Finn had spoken up and 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,” he 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.”

In a letter to the parent body on October 17, Mr Valese said “a vile and offensive post was shared on a social media platform” and the school immediately investigated and reported the matter to the police.

“The college took immediate steps to remove students who either authored the content or subsequently shared it,” he wrote. “I stand by my decision to immediately remove these students from the community.”

The Sunday Mail asked Mr Valese why Finn and another whistleblower had been expelled, but did not receive a response.

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Originally published as Family of Mueller College student say son wrongly punished after blowing whistel on ‘rape list’