War in Gaza tests free speech limits at Sydney University

The Gaza conflict is testing the limits of freedom of speech on campus after Sydney University warned that it won’t tolerate support of Hamas’ attack and the vice chancellor moved to ban a pro-Palestinian student meeting, dividing opinion among academics.

Jewish groups have welcomed the approach and have urged other universities to follow its lead, saying it’s calmed tensions on campus.

Sydney University vice chancellor Mark Scott wrote to staff and students on October 26, in what was a marked shift from previous communications on the war, saying the institution “will not tolerate any pro-terrorist statements or commentary, including support for Hamas’s recent terrorist attacks”.

Last week, Scott also moved to shut down a planned student meeting titled “Palestine: the case for a global intifada”, saying it could be reasonably interpreted as supporting terrorism based on its promotional posters.

The action has prompted anger from some academics and students who say the university has shown an anti-Palestinian bias.

But Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim praised the university’s response and wrote to Scott to thank him.  “The reports we’re getting from staff and students is that it has actually had a calming effect on the whole situation on campus,” he said. “The number of academics who think they should be free to endorse a listed terrorist organisation is fractionally small compared to the overall number of academics in Australia.”

But in an open letter to Scott responding to an all-staff email, politics professor John Keane said many believed the vice chancellor had an “eerie” pro-Israeli bias.

“It is founded on silence about such ugly matters as non-stop aerial bombardment, the illegal use of white phosphorus bombs on civilians, settler violence, bulldozers wrecking the homes of fearful innocents, death by suffocation,” the letter read.

‘While we all support intellectual freedom … sane people draw the line at the advocacy of genocide.’

It prompted a flurry of “reply-all” emails from academics who were divided in their support or rejection of Keane’s sentiments.

Sociologist Salvatore Babones responded by saying Hamas was “a genocidal organisation intent on the destruction of the Israeli people”.  “While we all support intellectual freedom … sane people draw the line at the advocacy of genocide,” he wrote.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/war-in-gaza-tests-free-speech-limits-at-sydney-university-20231103-p5ehec.html

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