By Lucy Carroll
Former Newington College students have passed a vote of no confidence in its old boys union council, forcing a leadership spill of the alumni group in a narrow win for those opposed to the private school’s co-ed move.
After almost 24 hours of vote counting, and 1360 ballots lodged, a vote of no confidence in the Old Newingtonians’ Union (ONU) executive passed, with 51 per cent voting in favour and elected council positions to be declared vacant.
About 1000 former Newington College students met on Wednesday night at a special general meeting.Credit: Steven Siewert
The Newington old boys also voted 51.3 per cent in favour of no confidence in the private school’s headmaster, Michael Parker, and 51.8 per cent declared no confidence in the school’s council.
Hundreds of former Newington students gathered on Wednesday night to cast their votes on five resolutions as the fierce battle over its move to co-education intensifies.
In a letter to members, outgoing ONU president Alexander Pagonis said based on the results “the ex-officio members of the ONU council will now organise for an election of the elected members on the ONU council to be conducted in due course”.
“I confirm that I have no present intention of re-nominating as president for this upcoming election and will transition to take on the responsibilities of the immediate past president,” he said.
Hundreds of Newington alumni voted on five resolutions at the meeting.
“I have had the honour of being president of the ONU through 2020 to 2024 with a sole focus on building our alumni community. It is unfortunate that one issue has managed to divide our membership.”
In February, a breakaway faction of the school’s alumni forced the special general meeting of the ONU in a bid to “use all available measures” to reverse the college’s decision to admit girls to the 160-year-old private school.
Inside the Newington College old boys’ meeting on Wednesday night.Credit: SMH
Almost 1000 former students, including recent graduates and alumni who left the Stanmore school more than 60 years ago, filed into the Wesley Conference Centre in Sydney’s CBD on Wednesday night, many wearing badges on their shirts and jackets that read “Save Newington”.
The ONU executive was forced to delay the meeting by more than an hour – and rushed to print hundreds of extra ballot forms – to cater for an unexpectedly high turnout.
Five resolutions were put forward to members, and all narrowly passed. A resolution asking members to vote on whether the move to co-education should be reversed was passed 51.3 per cent in favour.
The meeting went ahead despite an eleventh-hour bid to have the resolutions changed after the ONU executive said they had received advice from senior counsel that the proposed resolutions were “invalid”.
In an email to members earlier in the week, the ONU executive told its members a no-confidence vote in the old boys’ union board would be presented as a plebiscite rather than a formal resolution.
However, about an hour into the meeting, the executive agreed that all five original resolutions could be voted on.
More than 440 proxy votes were submitted, while the delayed start to the meeting meant vote counting ran overnight. A third party, Link Market Services, was engaged to count and verify votes.
Some former students, including former Fortescue Metals Group executive Peter Thomas, travelled from interstate to vote in person.
A small fracas erupted just after 9pm as organisers told dozens still queuing that they needed to register their ballot before entering the conference centre’s auditorium, where the meeting had already started.
“Do not open the meeting until everyone here can get inside,” one man told meeting organisers. After the small confrontation, the man was told to “settle down” while an organiser warned him he would be asked to leave.
Parents and former Newington College students protested outside the Stanmore campus on January 31 following an announcement in November that the school would become co-ed.Credit: Kate Geraghty
In a letter to parents last month, Newington’s council chairman Tony McDonald said a “discrete group” of alumni was trying to undermine the college by trying to pass votes of no confidence in the school.
In a separate email to ex-pupils, a group of 20 former Newington students who now work at the school said that the motions symbolised “a direct threat to the ONU’s philosophy around inclusion, respect and positive relationship-building within the community”.
“The protests, the intensification of media scrutiny, the public challenging of our headmaster, council and the projected coup of the ONU are all forces that undermine staff, affecting the college’s reputation,” the email said.
Dallas Morgan, a representative of the Save Newington Group, a coalition of parents and alumni lobbying the school to have co-ed reversed, said many alumni were opposed to the school’s decision.
A Newington College student walks past signs protesting against the school’s plan to become co-ed by 2033.Credit: Kate Geraghty
“They ran out of ballot papers and underestimated the turnout. We turned up at the meeting expecting a brawl and instead the ONU executive capitulated, and allowed all five resolutions to be voted on. They fought us tooth and nail on voting, and then at the last minute they surrendered,” Morgan said.
Many said they believed there was a lack of transparency about the process the school’s council took before announcing the decision to go co-ed, and the reason for the change.
One former student, who spoke anonymously to speak freely, said the school’s co-ed consultation process was “botched and misleading”.
“Many parents put their son’s name down on the waitlist from the age of one or two, and they feel they’ve been sold something they never agreed to. You can’t just go and sign up to Joey’s or King’s as they are full too,” he said. “There is also no pressure on girls schools to go co-ed.”
The Save Newington group wrote to its members earlier this week, saying former students “would not be silenced by last-minute and desperate attempts to avoid democratic voting on the resolutions”. The group has nominated pharmacist John Venetoulis for the ONU president.
In letter to alumni earlier this month, Pagnonis said the co-ed move had been the catalyst for the ONU receiving an unprecedented level of additional feedback.
A survey conducted by the old boys’ union last year found more than half of respondents were opposed or undecided about co-ed.
“Despite what any faction might advise, the perspectives on moving to co-education in our community are mixed and balanced,” Pagonis said.
“There is now a group who are very openly wanting to take control of the ONU for the sole purpose of weaponising our ONU against the college. They have proposed resolutions which are intended only to divide and destabilise.”
A separate legal challenge is also under way, with some parents arguing the co-ed move is contrary to the school’s trust, which was established in 1873.
Rob, a Newington graduate from 1967 who did not provide his surname, said he was planning to vote against the motions, and favoured co-education.
“There is a core group who are dead against it, but it does reflect the world we live in, and my children enjoyed going to co-ed schools.”
Yianni Moustakas, who graduated from the school in 2011, said he was pleased to see the college’s co-ed decision. “More people deserve to be able to go to the school, be on the grounds, and be part of the school community,” he said.
Newington announced late last year that it would admit girls in the junior school from 2026, and become a fully co-educational campus by 2033.
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