Australia’s top-ranked university sacked one staff member last year for racism and reprimanded 17 students who occupied a building as part of a pro-Palestine protest.
Students at the University of Melbourne in the May 2024 protest against the war in Gaza.Credit: Eamon Gallagher
The University of Melbourne’s inaugural annual report into racism at the institution, published on Wednesday, details complaints and reports made in 2024 as well as acknowledging its own racist past.
There were 33 complaints made against staff at the university, nine against students and 20 others including about teaching and learning, and cultural responsiveness, according to the 17-page report.
But the majority of complaints made to the university were unable to be investigated, according to the report. Of the 33 complaints against staff, only two were investigated.
One staff member was sacked for “serious misconduct” as a result of the investigation, and the other complaint was still being examined.
Another 12 complaints against staff were “out of scope” or there was a lack of information, while 13 were referred to human resources or a manager. Another was withdrawn.
While there were nine complaints against students, only two were investigated and the rest were out of scope or there wasn’t enough information. One student breached the university’s code of conduct and an “educative response” was offered for them to undertake.
Nearly a third of matters related to alleged racism did not make claims against staff or students but centred on complaints about teaching, the university’s cultural responsiveness or general behaviour on campus, which couldn’t be attributed to a specific person or group.
University of Melbourne Student Union president Joshua Stagg praised the university for undertaking the report and releasing it publicly but said more work was needed.
“The issue of racism is very deeply embedded at the university,” he said, arguing there was significant underreporting.
The student leader highlighted figures in the report that showed there had been 12 claims of antisemitism and two of Islamophobia last year.
“My experience is that members of the Islamic community do not feel comfortable in reporting [incidents of racism] to the university,” he said.
He hit out at the university’s “draconian” decision to bar students from protesting indoors after pro-Palestine activists occupied a building last year.
That eroded trust with students, but Stagg acknowledged what took place was a “mess on both sides”, even though the majority of protesters were peaceful.
There were “formal reprimands” issued to 17 students who took part in the protests, and four staff members were subject to performance and misconduct actions, according to the report.
“There were a lot of people who did not deserve those consequences, and I don’t know what it’s going to look like now that we have this protest restriction where nearly all the students who are engaging in any political activity could potentially be reprimanded for it,” Stagg said.
In an email to staff and students, the university’s provost said there was still work to be done to build awareness, confidence and trust in its complaints process and highlighted the issue of underreporting.
“Under-reporting is a significant issue, and one that we are determined to continue addressing,” provost Nicola Phillips wrote.
Publishing the report was an important step and showed there were a number of areas for improvement to combat racism at the institution, she added.
“We are determined that our students and staff should feel they can report and speak up against racism in our community. We take responsibility for building trust within our community that complaints and concerns will be heard and acted upon,” Phillips said in a separate statement.
The university also acknowledged its foundation 172 years ago was “enabled by racism that ‘justified’ dispossession of Aboriginal people” and that for a long time, the uni had perpetuated scientific racism and contributed to the “erasure of Aboriginal knowledge systems”.
The university would undertake a full review of relevant policies and procedures this year to ensure they appropriately address and respond to all forms of racism, according to the report.
An “early priority” for the institution was to establish a consistent approach to decision-making on substantiated incidents of racism, and an approach to develop mechanisms and guidelines.
However, it did not outline a deadline for these steps in the report.
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