Police to probe Wesley College abuse claims as furore grows
Police will investigate allegations of abuse at Wesley College as it emerges a document shared by male students on social media ranked girls based on their looks.
Education
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Police will investigate after female students at Wesley College came forward with accounts of sexual harassment at the elite private school.
The Saturday Herald Sun can reveal that a document shared via social media in the past year by male students ranked girls in various year levels based on their looks.
It comes after the college’s head of St Kilda campus, Kim Bence, said the school had passed on allegations of assault and abuse between students to police in recent days.
A Wesley College student, 16, told the Herald Sun the document had left her and other female pupils “shocked” and “disgusted”.
“It’s been a boys’ club for years. There is so much toxic masculinity at this school. They’ve objectified women and this document made us feel so uncomfortable,” she said.
“I want to point out that it’s not all of the boys at our school, some of them are listening and are willing to listen about the issues we’ve faced.”
On Thursday, students were asked to write their feelings on a whiteboard to detail how they experienced sexual violence or misogyny.
Dozens wrote comments including “sent photos without consent”, “threatened with rape” and “being slut-shamed”.
Another student told the Herald Sun she attended a school camp at the Clunes three years ago and was left angered after discovering a Year 9 boy was in possession of porn and also selling illicit videos to other students.
She said she was also left frustrated about the school’s uniform policy.
“As many teenagers I had piercings in my ears. I was constantly pulled out of class for issues relating to my uniform.
“This includes piercings, having my nails done, wearing the wrong uniform as well as — and probably the most worrying — having my winter skirt or summer dress too short’. This concerns me because my education was put at risk because having my skirt too short was a ‘distraction to the boys’, as I was told by my year level leader — who has since left the school.”
Ms Bence said in the past 24 hours about 10 students had come forward to meet with her one-on-one. She said she had also had “correspondence via email in relation to some of the students’ observations and experiences”.
She said allegations of assault or abuse had been forwarded to police by teachers.
“If they (teachers) formed a reasonable belief that mandatory reporting requirements needed to be in place, that is absolutely the case,” she said.
On Thursday, it was revealed a TikTok video featuring Wesley College students describing a derogatory act against a female is by Melbourne social media pranksters Nick and Bill.
Principal Nick Evans has called the video “offensive and totally inappropriate”.
“While the video was shot during school holidays and away from school campus, I was deeply disappointed by its content and the students involved will be appropriately dealt with,” he said.
Students also launched a petition to call out the “unacceptable” culture at the school, asking those leaving comments to detail their name, year level, offender’s name and year level, details of the incident, and evidence.
Mr Evans said the school was “encouraging students to come forward and speak to us or speak to the external trauma specialists”.
He apologised to students, saying he was “personally devastated” by the turn of events.
“We didn’t listen as carefully as we should, it’s as simple as that.”
He said parents were “devastated, angry and bewildered” by the students’ behaviour.
He said tackling the issue would be a huge task but each individual complaint would be dealt with.
“We just have to start.”
Mr Evans wrote to parents in response to female students who said they had been hounded by males, scared to wear their sport uniforms and subject to derogatory comments. The girls say boys have inappropriate photos of them on their phones which are shared and were followed into the toilets by their male peers.
The students are deciding further actions, including walkouts, refusing to wear their blazers and wearing funky socks “to prove they care more about the uniform” than the issues.
Mr Evans said the testimonies “details and personal accounts to a cultural issue that has clearly been in place for a considerable period of time”.
But he denied that he or head of campus Kim Bence knew of any allegation but failed to act.
Mr Evans told parents the allegations were a “call to action” and the school would enter a phase of “deep listening”.
“We are in the process of engaging external trauma informed psychologists who will operate at arm’s length from the College. These psychologists will enable students to have a place to report their experiences within the College.”
“They will then be able to advise and support students in their engagement with the College, suggest external support mechanisms if appropriate and support students with engagement with Victoria Police, if and when required,” he said.
Meanwhile, female students at Wesley College have created an Instagram page called “Wesley Feminism”.
The page, believed to be run by several female pupils, said it aimed to “raise any concerns surrounding women’s issues”.
In one post, students said they would be having lunch with the college’s principal next week and asked others to share what they wanted discussed to have their “voices heard”.
Other female students from the school posted on their personal pages encouraging others to “wear a non-Wesley jumper to school”.
On another page, one student said she would bring masking tape for people to cover up the lions on their school uniforms.
One female student, 15, told the Herald Sun she was happy the issue of sexism at the college had “finally been brought to light”.
“This has been happening here for such a long time. I am glad all of us are standing up and being brave to call out this terrible behaviour,” she said.
“I’m aware of many instances of girls being abused, we are taking action against this.”
WESLEY STUDENT’S DEROGATORY TIKTOK
A TikTok video featuring Wesley College students describing a derogatory act against a female is by Melbourne social media pranksters Nick and Bill.
The duo approaches people in the street and are well known for clips showing them taunting vegans and pretending to be blind.
They asked a group of five boys – including two Wesley students – what the most “f---ed up thing they’d done” was. One of the students from Wesley declined to answer.
In the vulgar video, one boy joked about performing sexual acts on menstruating girls.
Principal Nick Evans has called the video “offensive and totally inappropriate”.
“Whilst the video was shot during school holidays and away from school campus, I was deeply disappointed by its content and the students involved will be appropriately dealt with,” Mr Evans said.
“Recent events illustrate that the dimensions of this issue for Wesley College are far greater than we recognised.
“It is clear now, more than ever, that we have more to do.
“To date, our programs and our curriculum have not been as effective as they need to be nor have they been received as we expected.”
The school has declined to detail any actions taken against the students out of concern for their privacy and welfare.
STUDENTS LAUNCH PETITION
The new petition asks those leaving comments to detail their name, year level, offender’s name and year level, details of the incident, evidence such as video recordings and the school’s response. They are told to nominate sexual assault, sexual harassment, misogyny and “other” categories.
Girls are told they don’t have to identify either themselves or their alleged perpetrators.
A similar online petition for NSW school girls received 3000 responses from girls in private and public schools, including some from Victoria. One student said she had been assaulted by older Wesley boys who grabbed her bottom and held her down while she was on a bus back in 2013.
The student who created the new petition is urging her female peers to speak up. “I am asking you to speak up so we can stop normalising this disgusting, unjustifiable culture,” she wrote.
“As Wesley has now recognised these prominent, foul behaviours, I really think it will be beneficial for them to hear stories and experiences from our students,” one post read.
WESLEY PRINCIPAL RESPONDS
On Thursday Wesley College principal Nick Evans said people had to “listen to the stories and testimonies of people where ever this is happening”.
He said students were not feeling proud while wearing the uniform at their $35,000 private school.
Mr Evans told ABC radio some male students were feeling marginalised by the discussions about the misogynist behaviour and some female students were angry at being asked to forgive their male peers.
“We have work to do and it will take time,” he said.
Mr Evans said the school would hold forums allowing students to talk about their experiences and would hold formal focus groups.
“We need to know what our interventions are doing,” he said.
He said it was “striking that independent schools were prevalent in this discussion”, admitting that privilege may play a role.
Mr Evans said pornography “has to be a huge part of this conversation”.
“This is a problem far broader than Wesley College,” he said.
The school is coming under attack from others on social media, with one person posting on an official social media site: “Wesley – raising a generation of misogynistic boys. Nice job DO BETTER!!!!!!”
Mr Evans said Wesley College students were not feeling proud while wearing the uniform at their $35,000 private school.
Mr Evans told ABC radio some male students were feeling marginalised by the discussions and some female students were angry at being asked to forgive their male peers.
“We have work to do and it will take time,” he said.
Wesley College, which has year 12 fees of nearly $35,000, was one of several Victorian private colleges mentioned by women in a petition calling for more education about sexual consent.
A former Northcote High student said on the petition she was “assaulted by two boys from Wesley College on the way home, I was squished in between two boys on the train and they were grabbing my bum underneath my skirt”.
The student, who was in year 9 in 2013, said the Wesley students were a few years older than her.
Mr Evans said the latest incident made him sad “because this is indicative of behaviour I have witnessed too often from too many men”.
“Casual misogyny and sexism are so often expressed in all male conversations.”
Wesley College is not the first school to face such issues. Students from St Kevin’s College in Toorak were filmed singing a sexist chant on a tram in 2019.
The incident made national headlines and uncovered allegations of widespread misogyny in Melbourne’s elite boys’ schools.
Mr Evans said senior school staff had recently undertaken an audit of programs dealing with consent and respectful relationships, which covered such topics as sexual consent, pornography and gender-based violence.
“We have begun a series of conversations with students regarding their effectiveness. It was clear last week, and it is even clearer now, that we have work to do,” he wrote to parents.
Mr Evans said he did not believe “the few” involved in the bus incident represented the school’s 3300 students.
“This episode is a painful moment, for those members of the public on the bus who had to endure it and for those of us who love this school. But from such pain must come learning and action,” Mr Evans wrote.
A parent at the school who did not wish to be named noted Mr Evans “hasn’t spelt out what action is being taken against the kids”.
The college is attempting to identify the students who made derogatory comments about women.
Mr Evans said he hoped young people would stop being bystanders to such behaviour.
“I am hopeful because the conversations that need to happen, not least within Wesley College, have begun. I am hopeful because I believe wholeheartedly in the power of education to transform lives and hearts,” Mr Evans said.
Education Minister James Merlino on Wednesday labelled the actions as “incredibly disappointing and disgraceful behaviour”.
“On the day of the march for justice, it just beggars belief. I know the school is deeply disappointed,” Mr Merlino said on Wednesday.
Mr Merlino described the current issue as a “society wide challenge”.
“It starts with individuals, it starts with families but there’s things that we can do in terms of education,” he said.
The Respectful Relationships initiative, which was a key recommendation of the Family Violence Royal Commission, will have been delivered to every student from prep to year 12 at government schools by the end of March.
The program addresses issues around consent and gender equality.
“My view is that not only should it be for all schools in our state, it should be rolled out right across the country,” Mr Merlino said.
“We shouldn’t be complacent about these issues. We need to do even more.”
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