Row erupts over students' pro-rape site

The "Define Statutory" group was tagged "pro-rape, anti consent" and ran for two months before being shut down in late October.

Most of the members came from the University of Sydney's elite St Paul's College, which counts former prime ministers and captains of industry among its alumni. It is the country's only remaining all-male residential college.

The existence of the Facebook account was revealed by the Sydney Morning Herald, which contacted but did not identify the creator or any participants. The paper said there was a culture promoting sexual violence and binge drinking at the university's eight on-campus residences, and detailed allegations of several unreported rapes.

St Paul's warden, Rev Dr Ivan Head, distanced himself from the outcry.

He said the college considered all forms of sexual assault abhorrent, but his staff were not "in loco parentis"; a legal term that usually refers to a person being given day-to-day "parental" responsibility over a juvenile.

"[The Facebook page] is not a college site," Head told the ABC.

"Men stand or fall - and indeed women stand or fall - by statements that they make that enter the public domain, and that is basically it really."

Founded in 1856 by Anglican churchmen, St Paul's is Australia's oldest university college. Its sandstone walls have housed a long list of well-known "Old Paulines", including former PMs Billy McMahon and Gough Whitlam, high court judges, TV personalities and Tim Freedman, lead singer of band The Whitlams.

The 198 young men who live there today are still required to wear a gown, jacket and tie to dinner. They pay more than A$14,000 ($17,600) each year to enjoy what the college describes as the "complete university experience". Less than 1500 of Sydney University's 47,000 students live on campus.

The Student Representative Council's sexual harassment officer Rebecca Santos, who stays at one of the colleges, believes they are home to an ingrained culture of misogyny and acceptance of rape.

"They follow that sort of Mastercard-like (mindset)," she told the ABC. "Ticket - 70 bucks; alcohol - this much; a first-year virgin - priceless."

The Rev David Russell, master of Wesley College, believes the college atmosphere perpetuates a form of sexist tribalism.

He has spoken to several women who felt they had no choice but to leave.

"They say, 'I just don't feel safe'," he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"There is no question in my mind. Women are seen as meat. That is the awful, ugly truth of it."

In May the university's vice-chancellor Michael Spence called a meeting of college heads to discuss concerns about binge-drinking and violence.

A "liquor accord" was subsequently developed in association with police and other agencies.

Yesterday Spence admitted there was "still much to do".

He also criticised colleges which were alleged to have called in lawyers to help accused students.

He told the ABC: "It's clearly a matter for disciplinary action for both the college and university."

The Sydney Morning Herald said it had contacted the Facebook group creator and some of its members - via Facebook - for comment, but none responded.