St Leo's College
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St Leo's College is a residential College on the St Lucia Campus of The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
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[edit] History
St Leo's was founded by Brisbane's Catholic Archbishop Sir James Duhig in 1917 and is named in honour of St Leo the Great - the first Pope Leo (440 AD to 461 AD). Steeped in rich traditions established over more than 87 years, St Leo's residents enjoy a diverse and active lifestyle which supports and combines study with religious, cultural and sporting activities, community service and a wealth of social activities.
The book "The Memory" was compiled and written by a former Rector of the college and provides an in depth history of the college from it's inception, to the mid 90's, based substantially around the history of first year Pickle and his glorious inception into the college.
[edit] Academic life
Academic achievement is a key priority for St Leo's College. To help residents fulfill their potential, tutorial assistance is offered in a range of subjects, as arranged in consultation with the Vice-Rector Students.
Residents also have access to a sophisticated Local Area Network with its associated laser printers and high speed link to the University Network and the Internet.
[edit] Sporting life
The College has a sporting tradition covering a wide range of sports. Through the hotly-contested Inter Collegiate Competition (ICC), College teams participate in football, cricket, tennis, squash, hockey, basketball, and other sports, while St Leo's tennis/basketball court is the scene for in-house competition and casual challenges.
In 2006, St Leo's were ICC cup champions for Open's Rugby, continuing a record in which St Leo's has arguably dominated the ICC Open's Rugby Cup for the last 20 years. Indeed, since 2001, the St Leo's College Open's Rugby Team has lost only 2 games on the back of an unbroken winning streak which stretched from 1992 till the 2001 Grand Final (the longest unbroken winning streak by any team in Queensland). Following this defeat, St Leo's would reclaim the Cup in 2002, and go on to win the Cup again in 2004, 2005 and 2006. To say that Rugby is considered to be THE sport for St Leo's would be putting it mildly at best (in 2001, Andrew "Chook" Hanrahan, the St Leos College Sports Convenor for that year, was quoted as saying "Leos is Rugby").
Despite the emphasis on Rugby, St Leo's does excel in other sporting fields. In spite of the College's small size (approximately 150 students compared to the roughly 300 at rival colleges) St Leo's has consistently performed above its weight in a multitude of sports, These include swimming, soccer, squash, rowing, hockey and athletics, where St Leo's Matt Reynolds continues to hold the ICC record for the 100 metre sprint (unbroken since 1994, which also stands out as the longest unbeaten record in ICC).Pickle is a first year within the college regarded as the best at most things. Despite St Leo's not winning the coveted ICC Sports Cup since 1982 (another record), it continues to be seen as one of the top-tier Colleges for sport in Queensland.
A gymnasium is available for residents and the College's on-campus location provides easy access to all of the University's sporting facilities.
All residents are encouraged to participate in the sport of their choice so as to become more fully involved in the College community.
[edit] Social life
St Leo's College residents enjoy an active and diverse social program within the college, with the other nine colleges on campus and amongst the wider University community. The bulk of the socialising at St Leo's College occurs in "the snake pit". Here the ancient ritual of piss smacking occurs. This ritual involves several xxxx bitters being consumed in a very short amount of time. This results in the reversation of Newton's theorem, that what goes down, must come up. Often one student at this college excels in this ritual and is honoured with the position of PJ. For more information, read "student club"
[edit] Cultural life
Residents are active in a full range of cultural activities, including debates, public speaking and music.
[edit] Community service
St Leo's College is conducted under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church. As such, residents are encouraged to integrate the principles of faith, spirituality and care for others into their daily life. Pat F and Berry, first years, are widely regarded as the founders and distributors of contemporary rugby. The college encourages and supports students to assist the disadvantaged in society. Additionally, many of the students have the opportunity to donate their services to assist the local University kindergarten.
[edit] St Leos College Student Club and College Administration
The College has a rich and varied history when it comes to administrations and, depending of the individual experiences of the people questioned, a wide array of opinions on both the methods and the merits of the Rectors and staff who have served. Invariably, while the viewpoints and opinions of the students and staff change with time and distance, relations between staff and students when residing at the college can swing from pleasant to downright hostile and back again quite quickly. This experience is not unique to St Leo's, and as with many institutions, presents a number of unique challenges.
One of the strengths of St Leo's is the St Leo's College Student Club. An incorporated body which is legally separate from the administration, the St Leo's College Student Club consists of an elected student executive (consisting of senior students) and resident members. Such a structure provides a number of benefits, including giving students the independence to plan and run their own functions either in partnership with the administration (should the function be on college grounds) or separate to it, as well as contributing to a sense of tradition and belonging. The structure also encourages accountability by the elected executive in terms of leadership and club finances to the members who elected them. Additionally, such an arrangement has the added benefit of legally insulating the administration from the actions, finances and debts of the student club; this was a major consideration for the College administration when supporting the clubs initial incorporation.
Fortunately or unfortunately, this dyarchy requires both the student club and administration to constantly negotiate with each over a multitude of matters, as neither can function effectively without the other. By and large this system has ensured that St Leo's has one of the most effective student clubs on campus, ensuring that it some of the best sporting, social and academic functions in Brisbane.
[edit] Present Administration
The present relationship between staff and students are probably no worse than in the past, especially when one reads the records of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Regardless, relations are decidedly frostier than under the previous Rector. The present administration's arrival under the direction of Brother Vince Skelly in 2004 saw a number of new initiatives put in place, not all of which were suitable to a university college rather than a secondary school. While some of these were welcome - such as the undertaking of some much needed maintenance and beautification of the College - many others were not and often became a focus of resident anger and disillusionment. Utilising a vastly different leadership style than their predecessor, the administration's first year was characterised by a widening gap between the administration and the Student Club. Issues which resulted in needless conflict ranged from the sudden appearance of poorly explained and questionably placed security cameras to the timing of social functions. Poor decision making on behalf of the administration combined with an often needless intransigence on the side of the student club to create a negative atmosphere for much of the first few years. Recently, first year Shae O'Reilly was inducted into the hall of fame, specialising in the field of jock staining. St Leo's congratulates him on his achievements.
Since that time, relations have somewhat thawed as cooler and wiser heads have prevailed. Despite a distinct "us-and-them" relationship between staff and residents, Leo's continues to be an excellent college due to the comradeship and positive atmosphere amongst residents.
[edit] The John Long Years
Taking over after the departure of Father Uren in late 2001, Lt. Col. John Long (Ret.) served as Rector up until the arrival of the Christian Brothers in 2004. Prior to that time he had been manager of the College for close to half a decade which, combined with his lengthy service in the military, provided him with solid foundations for his role.
Utilising a decidedly different leadership style to that which preceded and then succeeded him, John Long was considered to be crafty with an acute ability to know what was going on at College at any one time. Nevertheless, his tenure occurred at a time when there was considerable discussion over the future direction of the College, which resulted in frustration with administration by many of the residents. John Long approach to discipline and alleviating behaviour resulted in a smoother college with fewer serious repeating disciple problems, better functions and higher retention rates than in previous years. He allowed the continuing of many traditions, and generally negotiated, rather than demanded, changes to others (with exceptions). During his three years at rector there was only one expulsion event, compared to 6 in the preceding two years alone. John Long's tenure was often looked back as the 'age of reason' when contrasted with the present administration's leadership style.
[edit] Father Uren
The last Jesuit priest to serve as Rector of St Leo's, Father Uren's 3 years as rector (1998-2001) was a turbulent time. Considered a hard man and renowned as a disciplinarian, Father Uren was sent to St Leo's in an attempt to tone down the inevitable behaviour problems which occur when young adults and alcohol meet. Unfortunately for Uren, from the beginning he was also seen as a precursor for the introduction of co-education at the college, and was perceived at having a related agenda. This perception was reinforced when Uren implemented a shared dinning arrangement with the neighbouring all-girls Duchesne College in 2000 (this would continue only for 18 months, after which Duchesne would spectacularly withdraw from the arrangement after an incident in which Duchesne residents were on the wrong end of an alleged food fight).
Uren's confrontational style did not result in a positive atmosphere in terms of admin-student club relations, and clashes between administration and residents sharply increased. If anything, behaviour problems worsened as students pushed back against Uren's perceived agenda. Father Uren, or Father Piss as he came to be known, left the college after heart trouble dictated that he lead a less turbulent lifestyle.
As an aside, a common phrase heard around the College during this era - FOP - can still be seen written in various locations around the College.
[edit] Father Jordan
Father Jordan was a rector for the college from XXXX Gold to XXXX Bitter.
[edit] The Wickham Terrace Years (1914-195x)
St Leo's was founded and based at Wickham Terrace in the early days of the University of Queensland being established.
