Universities will be required to act against antisemitism and other forms of abuse
From Monday, universities will be legally required to meet new standards and strengthen complaints processes to prevent racism and antisemitism, as vice-chancellors prepare to face a royal commission into their hostility towards Jewish students.
New threshold standards introduced by the Albanian government require universities to take steps to prevent racism and antisemitism; respond appropriately when incidents occur; establishing transparent complaint processes; and embracing accepted definitions of hate.
The new anti-racism standard requires higher education providers to provide safe and inclusive environments for students and staff. Universities will need to adopt accepted definitions of antisemitism; racism against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people; and Islamophobia; they should implement transparent complaints processes; They should provide students and staff with clear guidance on safety and security on campus and online.
The reforms also introduce governance principles that require universities to report to the regulator annually on an “if not, why not” basis.
Public universities will also be required to publish annual remuneration reports, including governing body decisions, consultancy spending, external roles undertaken by vice-chancellors and senior managers, and vice-chancellors’ salaries.
The reforms follow an initial sector-wide assessment by the national assessment’s independent assessor, Professor Greg Craven. Antisemitism University Report CardIt found that no Australian university adequately adopted and implemented a definition of antisemitism.
The government will not mandate any existing working definitions, such as the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. Universities will be able to devise their own definitions or adopt credible definitions.
The industry’s peak body, Universities Australia, produced a new definition of antisemitism last year, which was approved by 39 members. The government has said campuses won’t have to comply until January 1 next year.
Craven said measures such as complaints-handling and antisemitism education could not be effectively evaluated without universities first adopting a recognized definition.
A university antisemitism report card regime that rates institutions from A to D will be introduced from next year. But human rights activists say some measures could be an affront to academic freedom, freedom of expression and the rule of law.
The changes were announced ahead of public hearings in Melbourne this week; where senior leaders from the University of Sydney, the University of NSW, the University of Melbourne, Monash University and the Australian National University will be questioned about their responses to antisemitism on campus following the attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023 and the subsequent war in Gaza.
Education Minister Jason Clare said the hearings would reveal the extent of antisemitism experienced by Jewish students.
“Over the next few days you will hear some pretty horrific evidence, particularly from Jewish students, of the abuse, intimidation and harassment they have been subjected to in universities,” he told Sky News on Sunday.
Clare said universities had been left “idle” due to the rise of antisemitism.
“To be fair to universities, some have made significant progress in the last few years, but it is not enough. There is more to be done,” he said.
He said the new standards, which came into force on Monday, were aimed at ensuring universities had appropriate systems in place to prevent and respond to antisemitism.
Clare will announce on Monday that the government will go further by giving the Higher Education Quality and Standards Agency stronger enforcement powers, including the power to directly penalize universities if they fail to meet their obligations.
“What we also need to do is give university regulators more teeth, more power, to be able to penalize universities when they fail to act,” he said.
“The regulator currently has to go to court if they want to fine a university. I don’t think this is the right approach and that’s why we will be introducing legislation in the coming months that will give the regulator more power.”
A report by the Australian Human Rights Commission earlier this year found that 70 per cent of the 76,000 students and staff surveyed had experienced indirect racism, including hearing or seeing racist behavior towards their own community. Approximately 15 percent experienced direct racism at university.
These rates were highest among religious Jewish and Palestinian respondents (more than 90%), followed by Indigenous Australians, Chinese, secular Jews, Middle Easterners and Northeast Asians (more than 80%). International students experienced racism more frequently than domestic students or staff.
The Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, led by former Supreme Court Justice Virginia Bell, will also hear from Jewish students and academics about their experiences of antisemitism on campus this week.
Four of the five universities visible will host pro-Palestinian camps in 2024 following the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war. Campuses have become flashpoints for protests and counter-protests.
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Rob Harris is a national correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Canberra. He is a former European correspondent.Connect via email.
