University of Sydney fires academic Tim Anderson for ‘serious misconduct’

The University of Sydney has fired controversial academic Dr Tim Anderson because of “serious misconduct”.

Tim Anderson at the Cuban Embassy in Canberra in 2016 remembering the life and legacy of Fidel Castro.

The University of Sydney has fired academic Tim Anderson following his use of swastikas overlaid on the Israeli flag in teaching ­material and on social media.

Dr Anderson wrote in a tweet that he would appeal against the decision to expel him from his position as a senior lecturer.

“I am now consulting with my union, the NTEU (National Tertiary Education Union), over a legal appeal,” he wrote. “On to the next round.”

Dr Anderson is a former member of the Ananda Marga sect and was convicted in 1990 of three counts of murder in connection with the 1978 Hilton bombing in Sydney.

He was released the following year by the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal when an ­informant’s evidence was discredited.

Four months after the Hilton bombing, three Ananda Marga followers, including Dr Anderson, were arrested while allegedly on the way to bomb the home of National Front leader Robert Cameron.

They were convicted of conspiracy to murder, and each was sentenced to 16 years’ jail.

After six years, the so-called “Yagoona Three” were pardoned after a ­judicial inquiry cast doubt on the evidence of their key ­accuser.

A provocative and enthusiastic anti-Western activist, Dr Anderson has in the past defended a colleague for wearing a “Death to Israel” badge.

He has met with Syria’s leader, Bashar al-Assad, and cheered Venezuela’s one-time president, the divisive Hugo Chavez.

He has also condemned the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Centre, suggesting it was set up by business and media interests to counter anti-Americanism, an assertion that the university’s vice-­chancellor, Michael Spence, described as “logically and factually ridiculous”.

Sydney University yesterday confirmed that a vote was taken by a review committee last Friday, and two of the three committee members agreed with the university’s decision to sack Dr Anderson.

A political scientist who says that he has worked at the uni­versity for more than 20 years, Dr Anderson highlighted that one of the three members of the review committee had disagreed with the majority verdict to fire him.

“A minority report by Dr Neil MacLean found there was no ­serious misconduct”, he wrote yesterday.

“He criticised Stephen Garton’s reliance on vague criteria such as ‘inappropriate’ or ‘offen­sive’: ‘Dr Anderson has consistently argued that such “minimalist” criteria are in­adequate. I agree with his view.’ ”

The lecturer was suspended from his position and banned from entering the university late last year pending an investigation into alleged misconduct.

Dr Anderson allegedly used the swastika image superimposed over Israel’s flag as part of an infographic on Israeli assaults on Gaza versus Palestinian attacks on Israelis.

Sydney University provost and then acting vice-chancellor Stephen Garton last year wrote in a formal letter to Dr Anderson — which Dr Anderson then posted on social media — that the ­swastika image “references Nazi symbolism”.

He wrote that Dr Anderson’s actions would be investigated and this might result in the termination of his employment.

“Dr Anderson was originally hired based on his academic ­qualifications and research ­expertise,” a spokeswoman said yesterday.

The university’s decision was endorsed by a Jewish group.

“The university did the right thing both in terms of principle and its own interests”, Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim said.