The principal of Yarra Valley Grammar says he was surprised by the “viciousness” and “cruelty” of the spreadsheet rating female students produced by a group of boys in Year 11 and is determined to ensure it never happens again.
Dr Mark Merry’s comments come one day after he made the decision to expel two boys from the independent co-ed school over the spreadsheet that used sexist language to rate girls based on their appearance.
“The viciousness and the cruelty of it was what really struck me and it was so alien to everything that usually goes on here that it really did cause quite a shock,” Dr Merry told the ABC’s RN Breakfast on Wednesday.
“We’re going to go back and look at the programs we run…and we do run a lot of programs on respectful relationships, gender boundaries, gender, relationships, and so forth with our young people. In fact, this year level has just come out of one. But if this can still happen, then obviously our programs are only partially effective.”
“The actions of a couple of individuals are magnified by social media to the point where the damage is awful.”
The spreadsheet featured photos of female classmates, ranking them according to categories that included “wifeys”, “cuties”, “mid”, “object”, “get out” and, appallingly, “unrapable”.
Dr Merry told RN Breakfast that the school’s decision to expel the boys was partly based on making sure other students at the school, particularly girls, were comfortable and felt like it was being taken seriously.
“Sometimes something is so heinous and so hurtful that the position of young people can become untenable in the school,” he said. “How comfortable the young women feel, if they feel that this has been treated seriously, whether they feel they’re being supported, those are all considerations that go into the mix. And on this occasion, that’s the call that I’ve had to make.”
He said he is aiming to ensure the boys are placed at other schools in the independent schools network where they can make a fresh start.
As to whether the boys involved understand the gravity of their actions, Dr Merry said he wasn’t sure they did.
“I really don’t know if they get it. Often in these cases, there’s a shock of being caught and the shock of a sanction being imposed and then there’s a lot of emotions floating around and then we relocate to another school,” he said.
“I’m hopeful that down the track that there’s a bit of reflection and self reflection that goes on. To be brutally honest, we have adult men who carry on like this, so sometimes people never get it.”
Dr Merry also made clear that when it comes this situation and the culture of misogyny in the school, “the buck stops with me”.
“I’m the principal of this community, and whilst I’m appalled and mortified, I can’t wipe my hands,” he said. “I’m going to say, right, what have I missed? What can we put in place to make it better?”
Dr Merry also spoke about the wider problem of sexism and misogyny that exists not just at his school, but in the wider community.
“If we think this is just a Yarra Valley Grammar problem, we’ve missed the point,” he said. “Absolutely, we’ve had a problem here and we’ll deal with it. But it’s a problem in the community, it is rife.”
“It’s up to schools and families and the positive influence of media, and also workmates and friends to really step up and call this out, and only then will we get change.”