Misconduct notices out for University of Melbourne students in academic ambush

Anti-Israel protesters at the University of Melbourne have been issued with misconduct notices more than six months after storming the office of a Jewish professor.

UniMelb Physics professor Steven Prawer had his office raided and occupied by a group of pro-Palestinian students.

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A number of anti-Israel protesters at the University of Melbourne have been issued with misconduct notices more than six months after storming the office of a Jewish professor and refusing to leave when asked.

The Australian understands personal attacks on physics professor Steven Prawer, who is associated with a joint PhD program between Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Melbourne, have not ceased, with the words ‘Death 2 Israel, Death 2 USA, Death 2 Steven Prawyer (sic)”, graffitied at the university’s entrance in February.

During the October protest incident that is the subject of the proceedings, students affixed stickers in Professor Prawer’s office that accused him of being a “war criminal” and saying “Zionists are genocidal maniacs” – and shared the images on social media.

About a dozen protesters appeared to be sitting around his ­office, some masked and draped in Palestinian keffiyeh scarves, chanting for an end to ties with Israeli universities. Flyers stuck around the office referenced his lead role in the joint PhD program. Police were called to remove the students.

At a Senate committee probe into campus anti-Semitism shortly after the incident, then-University of Melbourne vice-chancellor Duncan Maskell slammed the protesters and promised “full disciplinary actions”.

He said “intentional acts of intimidation, violence, vilification or anti-Semitism against members of our community will not be tolerated”.

Steven Prawer appearing before the second inquiry into anti-Semitism at universities. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

On Wednesday, Professor Prawer did not want to comment on the disciplinary proceedings but said “targeting individuals on the basis of who they want to work with is unacceptable … and academic freedom needs to be protected against attempts to intimidate and create a climate of fear so people are too scared to come on campus and give talks.”

He noted most visiting speakers discussed their academic expertise such as engineering or genetics, and were targeted only because they were Israelis.

Following the misconduct notices issued last week, pro-Palestine activist groups, including UniMelb for Palestine, wrote on social media that “the University of Melbourne has accused multiple students of having committed misconduct after a sit-in protesting (it’s) ties to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.”

Students will be “trialled” on May 16, the group said, with only “10 days to prepare after a prolonged investigation process, spanning multiple months, which was conducted with no clearly given timeline”.

Professor Prawer had his office occupied by a group of pro-Palestinian students.

In other posts, groups criticised the university again, saying it did not believe the process was “neutral or fair” or “about safety”.

A university spokesman said it was “following disciplinary processes in response to an incident that took place in October 2024. This process has not concluded.”

He said the university “communicates directly with individuals involved in disciplinary proceedings … We are unable to publicly comment on or share details of disciplinary processes that are in train, in line with our confidentiality obligations under our own policy and the law.

“Maintaining confidentiality helps ensure disciplinary processes are followed properly and in full, ensuring their integrity and procedural fairness.”

The university would not say how many students were subject to the disciplinary process.

It comes a week after the University of Melbourne released its inaugural report on racism, which revealed that 17 students had been formally reprimanded for occupying the Arts West building in June last year following a direction to leave.