QUT embroiled in ‘segregation’ furore

ARE Australian universities allowed to segregate facilities based on race? It’s an uncomfortable question that’s blowing up in a major legal battle.

Federal Race Discrimination Commissioner Dr Tim Soutphommasane at Risdon Prison. Department of Justice signing up to a national ÔRacism. It Stops with MeÕ campaign. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

AUSTRALIA’S Race Discrimination Commissioner has declined to weigh in on whether “racially segregated” university facilities are in breach of the Racial Discrimination Act.

Most major universities have study centres dedicated to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, such as the University of Sydney’s Koori Centre, which help guide indigenous students through their studies.

The centres are widely hailed as an invaluable asset, helping thousands attain higher education qualifications. So the question of whether non-indigenous students are allowed to access those facilities appears to have been largely academic — until now.

The issue has been highlighted in a Federal Court case, first reported by The Australian newspaper, in which an employee at a Queensland university’s indigenous unit is seeking $250,000 in damages under Australia’s racial discrimination laws.

Queensland University of Technology employee Cindy Prior is suing a number of students and staff, claiming she has suffered­ “offence, embarrassment, humiliation and psychiatric injury­” over actions and comments of three staff and five students of the university.

The case stems from an incident in 2013, when three students attempted to use a computer lab at the Oodgeroo Unit. Ms Prior asked the students “whether they were indigenous”. She told them they were in “an indigenous space for Aborig­inal and Torres Strait students” and there were other places they could use computers, The Australian reported.

One of the students then complained on a university Facebook page, writing: “Just got kicked out of the unsigned indigenous computer room. QUT [is] stopping segregation with segregation.”

Another student wrote: “I wonder where the white supremacist computer lab is.”

The same student, in his affidavit in response to the lawsuit, wrote: “I detest any form of racial discrim­ination. As an Australian and a university student, I was appalled to learn that racial segregation was being practised on the campus of my university.

Race Discrimination Commissioner Dr Tim Soutphommasane.

“Of course, I have no objection to people of the same ethnicity being provided with a place where they can meet and discuss issues of common concern.

“To my mind, however, it is a very different matter when education­al facilities, such as a computer lab provided by the university, are barred to all students except those of a particular race or ethnicity.”

Under the Racial Discrimination Act, it is unlawful to discriminate against someone based on their race, including in access to places or facilities. But according to Race Discrimination Commissioner, Dr Tim Soutphommasane, “the Act does allow for what are known as special measures”.

“Measures taken for the sole purpose of securing for certain individuals an equal enjoyment of rights and freedoms are not to be deemed racial discrimination,” he said in a statement to news.com.au.

A spokeswoman for Dr Soutphommasane declined to elaborate on whether a racially segregated facility would be defined as a “special measure” under the Act, as the question relates to the case currently before the court.

“I won’t be commenting on this matter, which is now before the court, and none of [my comments relate] to the particulars of the case,” Dr Soutphommasane said.

It’s a question virtually no one is willing to address — neither the National Union of Students nor the university peak body, Universities Australia, responded to requests for comment — because it appears to fall in an uncomfortable grey area.

QUT Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Coaldrake said QUT “stands by its practice of providing a support unit and services to encourage and assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in their studies here”.

QUT Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Coaldrake.

“Like most universities across Australia, QUT hosts a dedicated unit that is designed to provide a supportive environment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in progressing their studies at the university,” he said.

“These support services are not in any way a form of ‘segregation’ or discrimination. Rather, the intent of these support measures, which are obviously lawful, is to assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to succeed at university.

“Programs of this kind are very common throughout Australian universities and many are supported by funding from the Commonwealth Government. Under the Commonwealth Indigenous Support Program, universities are required to implement strategies to improve the access, participation, retention and success of indigenous Australian students and are required to report on these metrics.

“These programs are not in any way inconsistent with State or Federal discrimination laws; in fact these laws embrace and encourage the availability of special measures to alleviate the effects of disadvantage amongst some groups of our society.

“QUT wholeheartedly backs its support services to ensure the success of the university’s cohort of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students (600 out of 49,000); in particular the provision of dedicated spaces where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students can use computers, work with indigenous staff and tutors, and access learning support and socialise.

“There are many premium spaces available to all students across our campuses; these include computer labs and library learning areas.

“In addition, the concept of networking in a cohort as a positive practice is supported across the university, with QUT providing spaces that can be accessed in a similar way for a range of cohorts and purposes including postgraduate rooms, parenting rooms, a women’s room and spaces for various disciplines.”

An Education Department spokesman said all Australian universities were required to report to the Federal Government annually on their efforts to lift outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

“It’s important universities support all the students they enrol,” the spokesman said.

“The way universities support their students is a matter for them, and the Australian Government expects that to happen within the law.”

Late last year, a number of Facebook pages claiming to be “White Student Unions” for universities in Australia and overseas began springing up in what appeared to be an elaborate hoax by users of online bulletin boards such as 4chan.

One man who claimed to be a Western Sydney University student told news.com.au at the time he was setting up the union to “advance our interests as white students and promote a safe space where we can come together as a community and organise”.

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