The interim vice-chancellor of the University of Melbourne (UoM) says pro-Palestine sit-ins on campus led to the institution “quite sharply” changing its protest policies and that further restrictions could arise.
Prof Glyn Davis appeared before the royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion on Wednesday, which is examining the lived experiences of Jewish students and academics, including the response of universities.
Davis was asked whether he agreed that a pro-Palestine encampment established in 2024, which called for the UoM to cut ties with Israel and weapons companies, created “fear and unsafety” among staff and students.
He said he did, and there were “regular discussions” about the camp with Victoria police, who maintained unless a law was broken they would not intervene.
“The encampment on the South Lawn, it was judged, did not override any of those concerns and therefore the university would not seek action against the encampment,” he said.
Davis confirmed misconduct including “heckling and harassment” occurred during the encampment but the incidents were “not claimed to be antisemitic” and didn’t breach the UoM’s racism policy.
He said the situation escalated after a sit-in at the UoM’s Arts West building in May 2024 and the occupation of Jewish physics professor Steven Prawer’s office months later in October.
On Tuesday, the commissioner heard from Prawer, who said the university needed to show it didn’t “tolerate misbehaviour” after the expulsion of two students who were part of an occupation of his office was overturned. Prawer also said the identity of his protesters should be revealed for his “protection”.
Davis said the atmosphere on campus “changed dramatically” after the incidents and the university’s response to protests also altered “quite sharply”. UoM has prohibited outsiders from protesting on campus, banned camping onsite and protesting indoors.
Last year, the state’s deputy information commissioner found the UoM breached Victoria’s Privacy and Data Protection Act when it used its wifi network to surveil students and staff holding the sit-in. Davis said the university had revisited its wifi policies and was now providing clear warning when it was being used and for what purpose.
Davis flagged further reforms to the UoM’s rules on postering could be on the way, following a request from Prawer to identify organisations or individuals who authored posters, after offensive material was distributed around campus and in his office.
“There’s an assumption that we will make a series of policy changes in the light of this royal commission and the other things that are under way,” he said.
“If you’re not prepared to put your name to a statement, I don’t think academic or freedom of speech applies.”
after newsletter promotion
But he disagreed that the identity of the 20 protesters who occupied Prawer’s office should be revealed, lest it “make a stain on the rest of their lives”.
Davis appeared alongside the University of Sydney and University of New South Wales vice-chancellors on Wednesday.
Prof Mark Scott, the University of Sydney’s vice-chancellor, said forcibly disbanding the campus’s pro-Palestine encampment could have led to it “blowing up”.
The encampment, established in mid-2024, was the first and longest-running in the nation. Scott said their priority was “a peaceful resolution” but it was a “real failure” not to consult further with Jewish groups.
“I still felt the risk of the encampment blowing up by forcibly ending it,” he said. “Police in riot gear taking students away could have seen an encampment 10 times the size the day after.
“But I can see that our Jewish students and staff paid a price for that … And I’m sorry we didn’t keep them more closely engaged.”
The university has introduced a string of protest crackdowns since its encampment was disbanded, including requiring organisers to notify management for demonstrations, banning encampments and indoor protests and requiring authorisation details on posters.
Scott said there was a “strong reaction” to the changes but there had been a “significant reduction” in student complaints since they were enforced.
“We’re seeing this through a lens of safely managing our environment,” he said. “The protest and demonstration culture at the university is alive.
“My feeling … is to be able to look not just at an individual’s freedom of speech, but how you create a culture that enables the freedom of speech of many – to hear the other voice, to listen as well as speak.”
The higher education sector has been in the spotlight since 2024, first with a parliamentary inquiry into antisemitism at Australian universities which recommended universities adopt a definition of antisemitism that “closely aligns” with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition.
After the Bondi beach terror attack last year, the federal government also established an antisemitism education taskforce and backed the special envoy Jillian Segal’s plan to combat antisemitism, which included specific actions for the university sector. Key to the plan was a report card grading universities on their response to antisemitism and how well they deal with protests.
The National Tertiary Education Union’s UoM branch president, David Gonzalez, said Jewish students and staff had an “absolute right to be safe” which should not be “negotiable”.
“But neither should academic freedom,” he said on Wednesday. “Antisemitism is real and must be taken seriously. It is precisely because it is serious that the term must not be stretched into a political weapon used to silence criticism of a state or its military conduct.”
