New guidance for unis after ‘outside agitators’ infiltrated pro-Palestine encampments

Security guards could be strapped with body cams under new guidance devised by the university regulator after an extremist group infiltrated pro-Palestine protests last year.

Pro-Palestine campers at Sydney University. Picture: Thomas Lisson

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University staff and students should be expected to show identification to security on request, while security guards could be strapped with body cams, under new guidance devised by the university regulator after an extremist group infiltrated pro-Palestine protests last year.

The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Authority’s “interim guidance on managing external actors” – created after “outside agitators” such as extremist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir became active during campus protests to “promote their own agendas” – also advised universities to display “conditions of access” signs on entry and to manage campus building access with key cards.

“External actors or ‘outside agitators’ have been identified as a challenge that institutions need to manage,” TEQSA wrote in the draft guidance currently under consultation, which is meant to assist providers in addressing the risks posed by these external groups that have no connection to universities.

TEQSA said “many of the more serious incidents that occurred during the protests and encampments involved external actors”, and that students and staff were concerned these individuals and groups behaved in ways that put their safety and wellbeing at risk.

The guidance by TEQSA was informed by “social cohesion roundtables” with senior university representatives, and submissions to relevant parliamentary inquiries. The regulator encouraged all universities to “consider this emerging practice”, adapt it to their institution, and implement appropriate changes to ensure risks are managed.

Under the title “campus management”, TEQSA advises universities to consider displaying a statement at campus entrances for external actors and campus visitors “that outlines conditions associated with access to campus”, to manage building access through access cards or other mechanisms where appropriate, and to “examine how student and staff identification cards could be used to enable identification of external actors”.

This includes “establishing an expectation” that staff and students carry their IDs with them and “show it to security when requested”.

It also asked institutions to “reflect on the necessity and effectiveness of monitoring through CCTV and security guards wearing body cams” while ensuring it could abide by data storage and access policies.

A pro-Palestine march at the University of Sydney. Picture: Noah Yim / The Australian

TEQSA said universities should “clarify” how legal and policy frameworks determine if external actors can plan or participate in protests and encampments, and under what terms.

Additionally, university staff should understand the legality of removing people “not part of the provider’s community who are engaging in behaviour that poses a risk” to students and staff, while universities should establish protocols to support staff if external actors enter learning and teaching spaces, or offices.

Universities should also develop “productive relationships” with state police and the Australian Federal Police, and “understand what obligations and expectations police have about when they should be called and how they can assist”.

Each institution should establish policies and by-laws for what consequences apply to external actors who are “disruptive, damaging, a threat to the safety or (the) wellbeing of others”, and develop provisions for “confidentiality or anonymity” on campus that are clearly communicated to staff and students.

During the roundtables, providers identified “challenges” they had in relation to managing external actors, which included the need to “balance their obligation to uphold freedom of speech and academic freedom with their obligation to protect the health and safety of students and staff, including minimising risks of psychological or physical harm that may come from external actors”.

Other challenges included “understanding and navigating legal provisions for dealing with the occupation of, and encampments on, an institution’s grounds by external actors, disbanding protests that escalate and become unsafe”, and “fostering productive relationships with state-based police”.

TEQSA noted that the diversity of the higher education sector, including by-laws and statutes with which universities must comply, made it difficult to establish a sector-wide approach, and as such this was “broad advice”.

The University of Sydney’s Hodgkinson External Review report, commissioned to review policies and procedures following its pro-Palestine action, found “the encampment provided an opportunity for persons from outside the university, including members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, to have a presence on the campus and an influence on those involved in the encampment (which) contributed to the feeling the campus was an unsafe place for some, particularly Jewish students and staff”.

The University of Melbourne told external actors they were not welcome to protest on its campuses, amid failed attempts to wrangle back control of one of its buildings occupied by activists.

TEQSA will publish the final guidance in April after considering the feedback.