Anti-China student Drew Pavlou in limbo over uni dispute

An anti-China student activist is still waiting on permission from the University of Queensland to be allowed legal representation by a top silk.

Student activist Drew Pavlou. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

An anti-China student activist is still waiting on permission from the University of Queensland to be allowed legal representation by top silk Tony Morris QC when he faces expulsion at a disciplinary hearing later this month.

Drew Pavlou has had 11 alleg­ations of misconduct levelled at him by UQ following his protests and social media posts about its academic ties with Chinese ­government institutions, as well as criticism of the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s record on human rights.

An elected student member of the UQ Senate, the 20-year-old philosophy student organised an on-campus demonstration last year in support of the Hong Kong independence movement and was assaulted by pro-Beijing protester­s.

Mr Pavlou told The Australian that Mr Morris, a Brisbane barrister and prominent defender of free speech, had offered to represen­t him pro bono at the disciplinary hearing on May 20.

But Mr Pavlou said he was still waiting on UQ to allow him legal representation.

“I requested that Mr Morris represent me but the UQ discip­linary board has said they have a right to refuse and that I had to apply for permission through a formal process,’’ he said.

“I’ve done that and still heard nothing back. The clock is ticking as to whether I will be allowed any legal representation.’’

Mr Pavlou said some of the UQ’s allegations, contained in a confidential 186-page document, related to his political activism and criticism of the university’s Chinese-funded Confucius Instit­ute. He said one misconduct charge related to a satirical social media post about the Confucius Institute which he took down after being threatened by UQ’s lawyers.

“They sent me legal letters to remove it and said they reserved the right to seek indemnity costs and I deleted it straight away, but they have still charged me over it,’’ he said.

Writing in The Australian, Charles Sturt University public ethics professor and China expert Clive Hamilton says it appears that the UQ hierarchy intends to “intimidate him into silence’’.

“Most of the allegations set out in the letter are trivial to the point of risible,’’ Professor Hamilton writes.

“UQ somehow manages to construe jokes, obvious hoaxes and social media badinage as forms of harassment and bullying or acts that prejudice the reput­ation of the university.”

UQ did not return calls from The Australian on Tuesday.