De Minimis
  • Home
  • Podcast
  • Art
  • Get published!
  • ABOUT US
  • Comment Policy
  • Archive
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2017 >
      • Semester 2 (Volume 12) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8 (election issue)
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
    • 2016 >
      • Semester 1 (Volume 9) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
      • Semester 2 (Volume 10) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8 (Election Issue)
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
        • Issue 13 (test)
    • 2015 >
      • Semester 1 (Volume 7) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
      • Semester 2 (Volume 8) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
    • 2014 >
      • Semester 1 (Volume 5) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
      • Semester 2 (Volume 6) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 12
    • 2013 >
      • Issue 1
      • Issue 2
      • Issue 3
      • Issue 4
      • Issue 5
      • Issue 6
    • 2012 >
      • Semester 1 (Volume 1) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
      • Semester 2 (Volume 2) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
  • Blog

Rumours and conjecture

28/4/2014

 
PETER BOTROS

Before the Easter break, the halls of the law school were rife with murmurs of a rumour whose content and importance had become more inflated than Clive Palmer’s sense of self.
The rumour as DM heard it was that a group of male law students had been using a secret Facebook group and Law Ball pictures to rank and rate their female classmates. The perpetrators would even view the page in class and its content was so objectionable that at least one of the students involved had to remove themselves from the page.

One of the aggrieved female students had allegedly caught wind of these clandestine communications and reported it, first to the LSS, who took no action, then to the Dean who took up the issue with the Law Institute of Victoria (LIV).

Filled with outrage and intrigue, DM then sought to confirm the substance of the rumour only to find that, at least a large portion of it, was false. Nick Jane, the LSS President, confirmed that no one had come forward with a complaint, and assured DM that if there had been a complaint, it would have been treated very seriously and passed on to MLS staff. The Dean was also contacted for comment, but after expressing her deep disappointment in the alleged conduct, she also confirmed that no complaint had been made to the MLS.

Several students were approached, and although dozens had heard the rumour, only a handful claimed to have seen any first hand evidence. That anecdotal evidence was primarily sightings of an offensive page, which contained generic sexually explicit images, open around the law school.

Having exhausted several avenues of inquiry, and in lieu of any NSA-style information gathering capabilities, DM cannot say how much, if any, of the original rumour was true, only that a large part of it was certainly untrue. In a profession where integrity and reputation are of the utmost importance, the fact that this rumour escalated and then spread so rapidly is cause for concern in itself.

What is more concerning however is the possibility that the substance of this rumour could be true. There has been a strong push in the legal profession towards gender equality and the law school in particular prides itself as a leader in this field. Ask any person in the hallway and what you will surely hear is that gender inequality is a dying mode, and that when this generation is at the helm it will certainly be a thing of the past.

What this incident shows however is that for some, beneath this façade of equality, a culture of crooked masculinity and objectification still exists. Lawyers are often scorned by the man on the Clapham omnibus for spouting words that they themselves do not believe, and although we loath to admit it, it seems that there is at least some truth to that derision.
Anonymous MLS
28/4/2014 02:20:12 pm

<sarcasm>
Nice to see Melbourne Law School has its first tabloid gossip magazine.
</sarcasm>

Interesting Logic
28/4/2014 03:11:51 pm

Seriously?

1. DM cannot say how much, if any, of the original rumour was true, only that a large part of it was certainly untrue
2. What is more concerning however is the possibility that the substance of this rumour could be true.
3. What this incident shows however is that for some, beneath this façade of equality, a culture of crooked masculinity and objectification still exists ... [and] ... it seems that there is at least some truth to that derision.

Attention to detail
28/4/2014 06:38:18 pm

"sightings of an offensive page, which contained generic sexually explicit images" = "at least some truth to that derision"

Anon.
28/4/2014 03:28:04 pm

This is absolute garbage and completely pointless. Lift your game DM. This whole edition was rubbish; TMZ-like bs.

Peter Botros
28/4/2014 04:42:08 pm

Glad to see all the rage. I wonder why all the comments are anonymous.

Anon.
29/4/2014 07:53:37 am

DM with some hard-hitting speculation about speculation

What a joke!
29/4/2014 03:41:18 pm

The LSS may not have had any official “complaints”, but individual members certainly know the group existed. These members of the LSS had access to the group and have proof of its existence. Horrible, depraved things were written about female students and this boys club should be exposed and subjected to an investigation under the University’s Discrimination, Sexual Harassment and Bullying Procedure. This article is criticised for being speculative because the ranks have closed around the members of this group and the cowards with the information are protecting their mates. Last year, Lieutenant General David Morrison made headlines by saying that ‘the standard you walk past is the standard you accept’ and we as a community of law students are walking past this group of misogynists. Shame on everyone involved and shame on us all for accepting this standard of behaviour from our peers.

Peter Botros
29/4/2014 04:53:57 pm

We did the best we could with the evidence we could verify. If you know more, you know how to reach us. DM.Editor@outlook.com


Comments are closed.
    Picture

    Archives

    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014

  • Home
  • Podcast
  • Art
  • Get published!
  • ABOUT US
  • Comment Policy
  • Archive
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2017 >
      • Semester 2 (Volume 12) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8 (election issue)
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
    • 2016 >
      • Semester 1 (Volume 9) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
      • Semester 2 (Volume 10) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8 (Election Issue)
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
        • Issue 13 (test)
    • 2015 >
      • Semester 1 (Volume 7) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
      • Semester 2 (Volume 8) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
    • 2014 >
      • Semester 1 (Volume 5) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
      • Semester 2 (Volume 6) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 12
    • 2013 >
      • Issue 1
      • Issue 2
      • Issue 3
      • Issue 4
      • Issue 5
      • Issue 6
    • 2012 >
      • Semester 1 (Volume 1) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
      • Semester 2 (Volume 2) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
  • Blog