University of Sydney withdraws law exam after conservative student felt ‘mocked’

Students at the University of Sydney will have to complete a new exam after a young woman complained the original was mocking her.

Law students at the University of Sydney will be required to complete a new assessment after a student complained the current one, which used her name, mocked her political views.

Freya Leach, 19, is a member of the Conservative club and the Young Liberals.

She said her second-year criminal law cohorts were given a fictional scenario as part of an end of semester test in which a character – a uni student named “Freya” – murders one of her left-leaning peers. The namesake character also deliberately infects a sexual partner with HIV.

Ms Leach requested an apology from the university, claiming the law school was “incompetent at best, malicious at worst”.

Students were told via their online portal that the take home paper had been withdrawn and apologised to those who had “dedicated a substantial amount of time” to working on the existing assessment, according to The Australian.

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Second year law student Freya Leach accused the law faculty of mocking her in an exam. Picture: Facebook/Freya Leach

“We understand that many students have already dedicated a substantial amount of time to the short release assignment, and sympathise with and understand your frustration,” the message to students said.

“However, the university and the law school set a high value on the integrity of assessments, which are crucial to preserving the good standing of our qualifications for graduates, the legal profession and society.

“Regrettably, we feel that there are no alternatives to withdrawing and replacing the short release assessment that would ensure academic integrity.”

The university confirmed to news.com.au the assessment had been withdrawn but claimed the reasoning was because the assessment had been circulated publicly.

“Although it is always regrettable when an event disrupts an assessment while it is running, we have advised students that the integrity of the assessment has been compromised as a result of the assessment being published in full in the mainstream media,” a statement said.

“Due to the integrity breach it has become necessary for us to withdraw and replace the assessment later this month.”

The assessment

Another character made up for the test was “Daniel”, who tells another student named “Adam” to “f**k off you woke pr**k”.

“Unfortunately for Adam, however, he has not realised that a sporty-looking Mercedes car is approaching rapidly from the right. By a total coincidence, the car is driven by Daniel’s friend, Freya,” the scenario read.

“(Adam) is clipped by Freya’s car one metre from the centre of the road. He falls, smashes his head on the ground and dies instantly. As Freya speeds away from the scene, she hears her phone beep. It is a text message from Daniel, which reads simply ‘Great job ;-) One less illiberal liberal!!!!’”

The scenario adds that the character Freya has unprotected sex with Daniel without mentioning she has HIV.

She then gets into a fight with another woman before being thrown out of a window to her death.

The students were asked to assess the criminal liability of the characters in the question.

Ms Leach said memes about her name being used in the exam had begun to circulate among her peers. Picture: Facebook/Freya Leach

Ms Leach said she was contacted by 20 students on her course who believed the Freya in the exam was based on her.

“The problem question uses my name and characterises me as a right-wing person who kills a left wing person. It then recounts a sex scene in graphic detail and says I am HIV positive,” she said in a letter of complaint.

“After which point, I am thrown out of a window.

“Memes have already started to circulate, making fun of my character in the problem question and depicting me as having HIV. This exam has had made me feel unsafe to hold a diverse viewpoint at the University of Sydney Law School.”

The explanation

The University of Sydney said the name match-up was “entirely” a coincidence.

“This afternoon we received a complaint about one of our law assessments and have now responded directly to the student,” that statement said.

“We explained to the student that the fictional character in the exam scenario was in no way meant to reference or depict a real-life person, and the use of any first names shared by students was entirely a coincidence.

“In fact, the same name was also used in an exam drafted by the same academic in an assessment and class questions list in previous years.”

However, the university did apologise “for any offence or distress caused” and will change exams in future to avoid names of current students being used.