ECAJ submission to Hodgkinson inquiry into University of Sydney’s policies and processes.

Over the years, and espe­cially in the last 12 months, the ECAJ, as well as some of its Con­stitu­ents and Affil­i­ates, have been in regular dialogue with the lead­er­ship of the Uni­ver­sity of Sydney (the Uni­ver­sity) to advocate for an envir­on­ment that is free of racial and religious dis­crim­in­a­tion and offers all Jewish and Israeli students, pro­fes­sion­al staff and academics the same oppor­tun­it­ies to learn and to teach respect­ively that are offered to all other students and academics.

Regret­tably, the culture of the Uni­ver­sity has changed con­sid­er­ably over a prolonged period, and most markedly since the massacre by Hamas in southern Israel on 7 October 2023. Per­versely, the murder of 1,200 people in Israel and the taking of 251 hostages by Hamas on 7 October 2023 sparked an anti-Israel protest movement that has a strongly antisemitic under­cur­rent and which has catalysed pre­vi­ously latent antisemitism into a pervasive and threat­en­ing force at the Uni­ver­sity.

Dialogue between the University’s lead­er­ship and the Aus­trali­an Jewish community that was once char­ac­ter­ised by openness and good faith has, in the last year, felt token­ist­ic and disin­genu­ous, focused less on genuine learning and positive actions and more on damage control and optics. While the ECAJ and its relevant Con­stitu­ents and Affil­i­ates have often had the oppor­tun­ity to voice their concerns, and have been heard politely, the Uni­ver­sity lead­er­ship has failed to listen and take­appro­pri­ate actions in response to this dialogue.

The breaking point for the Aus­trali­an Jewish community was the shock announce­ment that the Uni­ver­sity had entered into an agreement with a group acting in concert with the extremist Hizb ut-Tahrir organ­isa­tion, to par­ti­cip­ate in a working group to review the University’s invest­ments and defence and security-related research activ­it­ies. This pandering to rad­ic­al­ised factions is just one example of the side­lin­ing of the values that ought to imbue the approach uni­ver­sit­ies take to the provision of tertiary education. It followed written and verbal assur­ances from Vice Chan­cel­lor Mark Scott that no further offers would be made by the Uni­ver­sity to the group. These assur­ances were not honoured.

In addition, the ECAJ has con­sist­ently raised with the Uni­ver­sity lead­er­ship issues including a lack of under­stand­ing by the Uni­ver­sity lead­er­ship as to what antisemitism is; how it is mani­fes­ted; the intim­id­a­tion of Jewish students, staff, visiting academics from Israel, and opponents of the encamp­ment; jihadi involve­ment in the encamp­ment and protests and rhet­or­ic­al support for Hamas; denial of 7 October 2023 atro­cit­ies by academics; ongoing dis­turb­ance and dilution of a qual­itylearn­ing and work envir­on­ment; and the misuse of the Model Code on Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom. We have not seen appro­pri­ate action taken with respect to any of these matters.

Read the full sub­mis­sion (download below) for detailed sub­mis­sions on:

• Lack of under­stand­ing of what con­sti­tutes antisemitism by Uni­ver­sity lead­er­ship
• Intim­id­a­tion of Jewish students, staff, visiting academics, and any other opponents of the encamp­ment
• Jihadi involve­ment in the encamp­ment, protests and events
• Ongoing dis­turb­ance and dilution of a quality learning envir­on­ment
• Misuse of Model Code on Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom

An external review of policies and processes by the Uni­ver­sity of Sydney is a welcome and necessary devel­op­ment following several years of pro­gress­ively deteri­or­at­ing con­di­tions for Jewish students, staff and academics at the Uni­ver­sity and eleven months of pervasive hostility and antisemitism on campus. In this envir­on­ment, social cohesion has deteri­or­ated, and truth, objectiv­ity, academic rigour and empathy have been sidelined. It is the ECAJ’s hope that this review will identify the serious insti­tu­tion­al problems that have led to this decline and explore methods of address­ing them effect­ively. We believe that words must be accom­pan­ied by actions, and that unless embedded antisemitism is con­fron­ted and denounced through concrete measures, the University’s repu­ta­tion as a leading tertiary insti­tu­tion will suffer irre­par­ably.

Download full submission

• ECAJ Sub­mis­sion Hodgkin­son Inquiry (PDF: 1.7MB)