Former student at St Kevin’s College blames ‘insidious, hyper-masculine’ culture for sexist tram chant

The sexist chanting on a Melbourne tram was bad, but an ex-student has revealed how much worse the school’s “insidious” culture gets.

A former student at the Melbourne private school under fire after students were caught chanting sexist lyrics on a tram says the school’s culture is “hyper-masculine” and “insidious”.

Luka Kiernan finished Year 12 at St Kevin’s College in Toorak last year and spends time tutoring current students.

He says he raised the perceived cultural problem with the Catholic all-boys school last year and believes nothing has been done to discourage students from developing sexist attitudes.

“I wasn’t surprised in the slightest,” he told ABC Radio after watching the footage.

“It is very reflective of the hyper-masculine, totally misogynistic culture that really pervades all levels at St Kevin’s.

“It really for me just shows a level of confidence and audacity that these boys have in their own sexist attitudes that they feel they can express them publicly on a tram without any shame at all.”

The Year 10 and 11 students were caught on Saturday morning in full uniform and on a packed tram chanting the following lyrics on the way to an inter-school sports carnival:

I wish that all the ladies

Were holes in the road

And if I were a dump truck

I’d fill them with my load

Three students were suspended for their role in the incident and St Kevin’s Headmaster Stephen Russell said he “will not let this matter lie”.

St Kevin's students filmed on a Melbourne tram chanting sexist lyrics.

“To say I am upset, frustrated and angry would be fair,” Mr Russell wrote in a letter to parents.

“As a husband, a father of daughters, a brother of four sisters, a son and, I hope, a good friend and a decent colleague to many women, I know this behaviour cannot go unchallenged.”

In a statement on the St Kevin’s College website, Mr Russell said the school was trying to “balance” the need to resolve the issue with allowing Year 12s to “conduct their Valedictory process today”.

“We commenced our investigation into this offensive and misogynistic behaviour yesterday morning and we are well underway to understanding the extend of the behaviour and those involved.”

But Mr Kiernan says such behaviour is completely normal for students at St Kevin’s. And it gets worse.

He says that on a number of different occasions he heard students talking about taking advantage of women.

“At parties, women are unable to consent to things being done to them,” he told ABC Radio.

“Just being taken advantage of. That was common place. It’s horrific, but in the context of the culture of St Kevin’s, it’s pretty unremarkable.

“I didn’t have evidence to back (the claims) up or anything, but it’s the type of thing you’d hear.”

He said he spoke to the school about the cultural problem while he was still a student but that nothing has been done about it. And he believes the problem is far more widespread than people think.

“We live in a fundamentally sexist society and sexism pervades every levels of society,” Mr Kiernan says.

“When you take this extremely sexist society and put it in this hyper-masculine echo chamber … of the most privileged, confident men, then it really amplifies that sort of thing.”

‘THIS IS THE SAME SCHOOL’

It’s not the first time St Kevin’s has made headlines. Earlier this year the school was criticised for sharing copies of an attempt by a Jesuit priest to discredit the jury that found Cardinal George Pell guilty of sexually abusing two choirboys.

The school reportedly shared Frank Brennan’s stinging criticism of the jury decision with parents despite the fact that the choirboys who were abused both attended St Kevin’s College.

Journalist Louise Milligan, who covered the Pell trial, was shocked when she was contacted by parents about the incident.

As #Pell is remanded in custody, I've been contacted by parents from Sydney & Melb schools, livid that every family sent copies of Frank Brennan's attempt to discredit jury verdict. One school is St Kevin's, where victims went, & lost their scholarships bc left choir after abuse.

— Louise Milligan (@Milliganreports) February 27, 2019

Yesterday, she tweeted about the matter again.

“Same school distributed Frank Brennan’s #Pell defence to parents knowing how desperately insensitive it was to victim who lost choral scholarship in aftermath of rape by Pell,” she wrote.

“Not to mention impact on family of his late friend, also Pell victim.”

Dr Justin Coulson, one of Australia’s leading parenting experts and a father of six daughters, routinely visits schools to talk to students about their experiences.

He says St Kevin’s has a pocket of boys who misunderstand masculinity in a toxic way like almost every single school he visits.

“I guarantee you this kind of thing is happening in almost every school. It is disgusting.”

Speaking with news.com.au ahead of a webinar he is hosting tomorrow night on toxic masculinity in schools, Dr Coulson said he was “disappointed” but not surprised when he saw the footage of the boys chanting on the tram.

“It highlights just how toxic schoolyard behaviour is,” he said.

“There’s been a really big push about #MeToo and how everyone said ‘I can’t believe the workplace culture is that bad’. But the #MeToo behaviour in the schoolyard is breathtakingly worse. This is not an isolated incident.”

He said the boys would have egged each other on to the point where a pack mentality was established and they were trying to build “social capital” with each other.

St Kevin's College in Toorak is under fire after students were caught chanting sexist lyrics on a tram.

“We know that teenagers behave differently when they are with friends than when they are on their own. It’s not just teenagers. You see adults at the football behaving in a pack mentality.

“A couple of the boys have got excited. The momentum of the moment has allowed it to go where it went.

“One thing we do know is teens downplay risk. They’re with their mates. There’s social capital being built. If you’ve got the guts to go and do something that you shouldn’t do, you’re the ‘legend’.”

Dr Coulson said he believed the headmaster’s response and apology missed the mark.

“I avoid making judgments about school principals that I don’t know and haven’t worked with. I have not worked as a school principal.

“But from a discipline perspective, the idea that we can suspend these kids and it will teach them a lesson is fundamentally flawed.

“They need help recognising how their behaviour impacts on other people. The other thing that really ticked me off is the school principal apologised. They boys need to apologise.
“This is not okay. The correct way for them to apologise is to acknowledge what they’ve done and then use the four words: ‘Will you forgive me?’”