Usyd boss ‘sorry’ over Palestine encampments

The vice-chancellor of the University of Sydney Mark Scott has apologised for the “unacceptable” anti-Semitism experienced by Jewish staff, students and alumni during an eight-week pro-Palestinian encampment protest.

Speaking to a Senate inquiry into anti-Semitism on campus, Prof Scott said it was unacceptable Jewish students were made to feel “unsafe” during this period, and said both he and the university had “failed” students and staff.

“I’ve read the complaints that have been made to the university and all those shared in submissions to this inquiry And to the special envoy, and the testimonials are heartbreaking and unacceptable

“For that I am sorry. No one should feel at risk, unsafe or unwelcome at any place of learning, and no one should feel the need to hide their identity or stay away from classrooms or campuses.”

He said the sprawling pro-Palestinian encampments which flooded the quadrangle for about eight weeks before they were ordered to vacate were a “difficult period for the university,” and said the response did not meet the expectations of the community.

Prof Scott added he had written to the Special envoy to combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal

“For one, I regret we did not communicate the agreement to end the encampment with the Jewish community before it was announced,” he said

“I realise there is a lot of work to do to win back the trust and confidence of the university’s Jewish community, and I am committed to doing that.”

However, the opposition’s education spokeswoman Sarah Henderson said Prof Scott had failed in his leadership, and questioned why he didn’t ban camping on the campuses and remove the encampments earlier.

Prof Scott said international situations at campuses like Columbia and the University of California, Los Angeles resulted in increased tensions.

Discussions with NSW Police also caused the uni to conclude there would be a “a dramatic escalation” and the potential of violence if the uni involved riot police.

Earlier on Friday, the uni was singled out by Australasian Union of Jewish Students vice-president Zachary Morris as “probably one of the worst places to be a Jewish student,” stating the campus had “been problematic for a long time”.

Zionist Federation of Australia’ chief executive officer Alon Cassuto said there needed to be a national model and university ombudsman to monitor discrimination complaints at universities.

“anti-Semitism is not even one of the options that can be ticked when you’re putting forward a complaint around against discrimination,” he said.

He added that even when there were policies, he didn’t believe uni administrators were enforcing rules.

“So I think university administration have the ability to take action, but are simply not doing so, and so we need to examine why that’s the case,” he said.

Defending universities, Group of Eight deputy chief executive Matthew Brown said the group, which represents Australia’s top eight unis, said universities had to maintain freedom of speech.

Dr Brown also said he believed social cohesion was “under threat”.

“Young people are being radicalised well before they get to university, and we need to deal with this at a societal level,” he said.

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