Australian students 'pro-rape' Facebook scandalMembers of an elite Australian college linked to Sydney University provoked outrage Tuesday after it was revealed they had set up a "pro-rape" group on social networking site A Web site that provides a virtual community for people interested in a particular subject or just to "hang out" together. Members create their own online "profile" with biographical data, pictures, likes, dislikes and any other information they choose to post. Facebook. The page, set up by mostly past and present students at the all-male residential college St Paul's, called itself "Define Statutory" and described itself as "pro-rape, anti-consent", local media reports said. It has since been taken down. Former sex discrimination commissioner, now New South Wales New South Wales, state (1991 pop. 5,164,549), 309,443 sq mi (801,457 sq km), SE Australia. It is bounded on the E by the Pacific Ocean. Sydney is the capital. The other principal urban centers are Newcastle, Wagga Wagga, Lismore, Wollongong, and Broken Hill. state parliamentarian par·lia·men·tar·i·an n. 1. One who is expert in parliamentary procedures, rules, or debate. 2. A member of a parliament. 3. , Pru Goward Prudence Jane Goward (born 2 September 1952) is a former Australia's Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner and Commissioner Responsible for Age Discrimination with the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. said she understood the site was designed to "draw an analogy between rape and competing with another football team". "If that is a case, that they have very foolishly used the metaphor of rape to encourage people to be aggressive and competitive on the sporting field, then it shows an extreme insensitivity," she told The Sydney Morning Herald. "(The) college has got to take extremely strong action. It is a shocking reflection on the culture." Sydney University vice-chancellor Michael Spence Andrew Michael Spence (born November 7, 1943) is an American-born, Canadian-raised economist and recipient of the 2001 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, along with George A. Akerlof and Joseph E. Stiglitz, for their work on the dynamics of information flows and market development. said he was "appalled by the reported behaviour and apparent attitudes of some students". "There can be no excuses for sexual assault," he said in a statement. "The university and the residential colleges have been working hard to bring about a change in attitudes and behaviour. Obviously we still have much to do." St Paul's, founded in 1956 as an Anglican college, said it condemned all forms of sexual assault and that disciplinary action could be taken against those students involved in the Facebook page. The university's student body has urged a review of residential colleges. "It is widely recognised that there is a real problem with sexism and sexual harassment sexual harassment, in law, verbal or physical behavior of a sexual nature, aimed at a particular person or group of people, especially in the workplace or in academic or other institutional settings, that is actionable, as in tort or under equal-opportunity statutes. within the University of Sydney The University of Sydney, established in Sydney in 1850, is the oldest university in Australia. It is a member of Australia's "Group of Eight" Australian universities that are highly ranked in terms of their research performance. college system," Student Council president Noah White said. "While this behaviour is not representative of college students as a whole, it is certainly representative of a subculture that is alive and well at these institutions," he told The Sydney Morning Herald. 
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