By Caroline Schelle, Alex Crowe and Stephen Brook
The Australian Catholic University will refund graduation fees for hundreds of students who walked out of their ceremony in protest of a keynote speech that railed against abortion and gay marriage.
Former union boss Joe de Bruyn compared abortion to the loss of life in World War II, denounced IVF treatment for single women and said marriage was between a man and a woman, sparking a mass walkout from students and staff at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on Monday.
ACU National Student Association president Stefan Orfanos speaks to a group of people at St Mary of the Cross Square in Fitzroy after hundreds of Australian Catholic University students and staff walked out during the Joe de Bruyn speech on Monday.Credit: Joe Armao
In an email sent to all ACU students on Tuesday afternoon, vice-chancellor and president Zlatko Skrbis said the speech may have affected students personally and the university deeply regretted any distress caused, but defended de Bruyn’s right to express his personal beliefs publicly.
“The university will offer a full refund of graduation fees to all students impacted and has also offered free, confidential counselling services to graduates and staff involved,” the email reads.
The university said in the email it encouraged de Bruyn to “reconsider his speech through the lens of the graduating students’ achievements, hopes and aspirations”.
“We are disappointed that the speech was not what most of our graduates would expect on an occasion like this.”
The refund is a win for staff and student representatives who called for costs to be reimbursed, but they also want de Bruyn to be stripped of the honorary doctorate he received from the ACU on Monday.
Recent graduate Charlie Panteli, who was one of the first to walk out of the hall, welcomed the move to reimburse those who attended the ceremony.
“I think it’s a great start – our day was ruined,” he said on Wednesday.
Charlie Panteli, one of the ACU graduates who walked out of the ceremony on Monday.
He added it was disappointing the university knew the content of the speech, but decided not to stop it from going ahead, and still awarded the honorary doctorate to de Bruyn.
But he noted it hired more counsellors ahead of time to deal with the aftermath.
“This appalled me, and made me much more angry,” he said.
The education graduate called for a formal apology from the vice chancellor, and the people who allowed de Bruyn to speak. “It’s properly awful,” he said.
However, he said that experience wasn’t representative of his time as a student, and he appreciated the staff who had turned out in support at the rally.
About 150 staff and students rallied at the university’s Fitzroy campus on Tuesday, among them ACU National Student Association president Stefan Orfanos.
He said the refund was not enough to undo the harm done, and if the university endorsed the expression of hurtful views, it needed to take better accountability for its actions.
“ I am disappointed the university has not yet engaged [the association] to discuss how to support students,” Orfanos said.
An ACU spokesperson said the refund would be processed automatically in the coming days.
Students and staff walked out of a university graduation ceremony at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on Monday during a speech by former union boss Joe de Bruyn.
“In recognition of the fact that our Melbourne graduation ceremony on Monday afternoon was an unsatisfactory experience for many who attended, the university will offer students a full refund of their graduation ceremony fees,” they said.
The refund of $165 covers graduation ceremony fees, which includes the cost of the graduates’ attendance, academic dress hire, guest tickets and post-ceremony refreshments, the university’s spokesperson said.
Graduates who bought additional guest tickets would also be refunded.
De Bruyn stood by his speech on Tuesday, telling this masthead he was disappointed people had walked out.
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