Board leaves student activist Drew Pavlou waiting on suspension decision
Student activist Drew Pavlou will have to wait weeks to hear if he has been suspended from the University of Queensland. It comes as his legal defence vowed to “fight to the death for the right of students like Drew”.
QLD News
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STUDENT activist Drew Pavlou will have to wait up to two weeks to hear if he has been suspended from the University of Queensland, in a move his legal defence says is “not an absolute commitment” to the deadline.
The 21-year-old self-proclaimed “anti-Chinese Communist Party” activist, who was in May suspended from the university over 11 allegations of misconduct, appealed the two-year suspension but was yet to receive a result from the hearing on Monday.
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Representing Pavlou, Tony Morris QC said the university had indicated they expect to give a decision within two weeks but he did not think “there’s an absolute commitment to that deadline”.
It follows Mr Pavlou’s sensational $3.5 million lawsuit against the university over its handling of his controversial suspension.
Mr Pavlou said if the board was independent, he was confident there would be “total exoneration”, however questioned whether independence was achievable with the university’s links to the Chinese Government.
“If the board is independent we will have a total exoneration but we can never be completely assured of the board’s independence because we know how UQ operates. We know this is a university that is completely in bed with the Chinese communist party,” he said.
“Who knows what will happen, it’s all up to the independence of the board.”
Mr Pavlou said he wanted UQ to “divest from the Chinese Government” while it is “carrying out these terrible atrocities”.
“It’s oppressing the people of Tibet, the people of Hong Kong, it violates the dignity and rights of the Chinese people – we simply want our university to have no links with this government while these terrible atrocities are being carried out,” he said.
Tony Morris QC said he will “fight to the death for the right of students like Drew to stand up and say what they believe about political and geopolitical issues”.
Mr Pavlou led a protest in support of Hong Kong’s democracy movement and in criticising UQ’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party at the institution on July 24, 2019, during which he was allegedly assaulted by pro-Beijing supporters.
Mr Pavlou said they would still proceed with the Supreme Court case and “even take it to the High Court”.
The University of Queensland declined to comment on the matter.
Originally published as Board leaves student activist Drew Pavlou waiting on suspension decision