Sydney University’s Mark Scott defiant amid renewed calls for resignation

USYD vice-chancellor Mark Scott has conceded he ‘did not get everything right’ during a pro-Palestinian camp on university grounds, but is rebuffing Jewish students’ calls for him to resign.

Jewish Australian students are calling for the Sydney University vice-chancellor to resign, saying it is “untenable” for him to remain after accepting his botched handling of anti-Semitism on campus.

The comments come after a defiant Mark Scott told a parliamentary committee his role was still tenable, despite struggling to provide details on his engagement with Jewish students. 

When asked by Liberal MP Henry Pike if his senior role was tenable, Mr Scott said he had the “full support of the University of Sydney senate and the executive”.

USYD has come under fire after pro-Palestine activists set up an encampment earlier this year, which Jewish students said had led to them feeling unsafe at the campus.

On Friday, Mr Scott struggled to give any details of meetings he had with Jewish students in the wake of last year’s October 7 Hamas attacks.

USYD vice-chancellor Mark Scott appears at a parliamentary hearing into anti-Semitism at Australian universities. Picture: Martin Ollman

“It doesn’t sound like that after October 7 there was a concerted effort for you personally to reach out to Jewish students on campus,” Labor MP Josh Burns said.

“That seems like something you would remember.”

Mr Scott disagreed, saying USYD tried identifying Israeli and Palestinian students despite gaps in data and “reached out and connected”.

He then recounted a dinner he had with students at a Jewish residential college seven days after the Hamas attack.

The pro-Palestine encampment was on the lawn of Sydney University for eight weeks. Picture Max Mason-Hubers

In his opening remarks on Friday, Mr Scott admitted the university “did not get everything right” in its response to the encampments.

“Since the horrific attacks of October 7, and through the ongoing and harrowing war in Gaza, universities around the world have grappled with the impact of these disruptive events on their students and staff, and the distress triggered across university communities by passionately held oppositional views,” he said.

Josh Burns. Picture: Martin Ollman

Julian Leeser. Picture: Ben Symons

Noah Lovin, president of the Australasian Union of Jewish Students, said Mr Scott must go.

“His position is not tenable. He has admitted that his own policies and frameworks have failed Jewish students,” he said.

“Any person who has admitted that, it’s unclear how he can see through this current tenure.”

Liberal MP Julian Leeser, a Jewish Australian, is renewing calls for a Royal Commission style inquiry into campus anti-Semitism, saying USYD was treating the less authoritative parliamentary inquiry with contempt.

“The failure to deal with on-campus anti-Semitism is the government’s fault for not holding universities to account,” he said of the government’s refusal to hold a royal commission.

“The universities are treating this committee inquiry with contempt.”

Amid the criticism, Jewish organisations welcomed new anti-doxxing laws, preventing the publication of private or identifying information about individuals.

“The doxxing of 600 Jewish creatives at the beginning of the year caused enormous damage to the lives of several victims, and a strong message needed to be sent that this kind of malicious behaviour has no place in Australia,” Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim said.

“The legislation will protect all Australians from this form of online abuse, and ensure that the hate-motivated situation we witnessed earlier this year will never be repeated.”

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