The NSW government is considering overhauling archaic laws that allow a number of scandal-ridden university colleges to run themselves, as Sydney University's St Paul's makes a last-ditch effort to join a university-wide review of college culture.
St Paul's said last year that, exercising "its liberty as a self-governing body", it would conduct its own confidential review instead of participating in an official review led by former sex discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick.
However, the college appears to have buckled in the face of strong criticism on Wednesday from both Education Minister Rob Stokes and University of Sydney Vice-Chancellor Michael Spence over the nature of its response to a sexist Facebook post by a student.
"The Council of St Paul's College is appalled by the attitudes expressed about women on the student Facebook page in March and acknowledges that it needs to address the unacceptable culture it indicates amongst the College's student body," the college's governing body said in a statement on Friday, in which it said it would seek to join the Broderick review.
But the college's about-face may have come too late. The review began in May last year and large parts of the consultation process have finished.
A spokeswoman for the University of Sydney said: "An exploratory meeting will be held between the College and Elizabeth Broderick to assess whether St Paul's participation is possible."
The final report is due to be handed down by the end of this year.
St Paul's decision comes as the government begins exploring changes to acts of Parliament dating back to the 1850s that established a number of university colleges, including St Paul's, and placed them outside the control of the government and their associated university.
A spokesman for Mr Stokes said the minister had "requested advice on the options available to the NSW government in relation to potential changes or repeal of the various Acts which relate to university colleges".
It is understood that repealing or changing the acts would mean colleges would need to be re-established, potentially giving the relevant university more oversight.
Currently, most colleges affiliated with the University of Sydney are governed by their own elected councils. These are made up largely of former college residents, raising concerns about "old boys" standing in the way of changes to internal culture and governance.
One such college, St John's, has been seeking changes to legislation so that the majority of council members are variously appointed by the Archbishop of Sydney, the university vice-chancellor and the college council, instead of being elected entirely by past students.
St John's, which says the changes would "produce a council with an appropriately diverse range of skills and experience ... to ensure that the welfare of students is paramount", approached the then-minister for education Adrian Piccoli to request the amendments in 2014, but faced backlash from its own alumni.
In mid-2016, Mr Piccoli said any changes would be "best considered" after internal disagreements within the college were resolved, in a letter responding to concerns about the delay in amending legislation raised by the Labor opposition.
The latest incident at St Paul's this week triggered renewed calls from Labor MP Jo Haylen for the government to act.
"The government has been sitting on its hands for too long," Ms Haylen said. "The longer we wait for reform, the longer this culture of misogyny is allowed to continue.
"They need to come clean and clarify why they've refused to act, despite the College itself requesting amendments to its governing laws almost 3 years ago," said Ms Haylen, who is the member for Summer Hill.
"The minister must act now to reform the toxic culture of these institutions by amending their governing acts to meet community expectations and standards in 2017."
In its recent turnaround, St Paul's also said that it will now share the results of its own internal review with the university.
"The council had already committed to carrying out a cultural review, retaining Ms Christie Breakspear for this purpose, with the intention that this review mirrors the Broderick review and that its results be shared with the university," the council statement said.
"The attitudes expressed on the student Facebook page will be front and centre in the review process, giving real traction in identifying and seeking to eradicate unacceptable attitudes towards women.
"The council will work co-operatively with the university throughout the review process."
