Marcia Langton: university leaders misusing academic freedom to defend anti-Semitism

Marcia Langton, one of the nation’s most eminent professors, has accused university bosses of failing to call police when criminal activity occurred and allowing ‘anti-Semitic protagonists’ to hijack campuses.

Marcia Langton has slammed university leaders amid a surge in anti-Semitism.

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One of the nation’s most eminent professors and the doyenne of the Aboriginal rights movement has warned university leaders are exposing Jewish staff and students to the risk of extreme violence by allowing anti-Semitism under the false cloak of academic freedom.

In a devastating critique of the higher education sector, University of Melbourne senior academic Marcia Langton has accused university bosses of failing to call police when criminal activity occurred and allowing “anti-Semitic protagonists” to hijack campuses.

Professor Langton writes in The Australian on Monday that tertiary administrators are misusing the concept of academic freedom – which has been used for months to excuse mass anti-Israel encampments and protests – to allow Jewish staff and students, and those who stand up for them, to be harassed.

As she revealed attempts by anti-Israel protesters to intimidate her own class, Professor Langton said university bosses have muzzled themselves and are neglecting student safety in the name of academic freedom, which is supposed to only apply to scholarly work with rigorous protections.

“The fear of being accused of ‘taking sides’ and undermining the principle of academic freedom has muzzled them and exposed Jewish staff to clear danger and intimidation,“ she writes.

“These arguments around tables in chancelleries are, in my opinion, confused at best, negligent about the safety of staff and students, and, at worst, allow the potential for extreme violence.

“These concerns are more urgent as terrorist attacks on Jewish Australians have increased dramatically … university administrators and anti-Semitic protagonists alike have conflated the two concepts; one seeking refuge against their responsibilities on false grounds and the other seeking free licence on our campuses to spread anti-Semitism and hatred.”

Professor Langton’s intervention came after an anti-racism symposium at the Queensland University of Technology, where one speaker ridiculed “Dutton’s Jew”, with a presentation slide behind her that showed a cartoon of a superhero with “DJ” on their chest and a list of attributes saying they hate Muslims, immigrants and are willing to hug the Opposition Leader for “photo ops”.

Speaker Sarah Schwartz, who leads the left-wing Jewish Council of Australia, has since said she was referring “to the way that Peter Dutton conceives of Jewish people and uses us as political footballs to push his own agenda, not actual Jewish people”.

Professor Langton said the claim the address was satirical was “deluded” and the comments were “objectively anti-Semitic”.

When contacted for comment, a lawyer for Ms Schwartz rejected Professor Langton’s claims.

“(Professor Langton) claims that Ms Schwartz drew a distinction between ‘good Jews’ and ‘bad Jews’ in her speech,” Marque Lawyers managing partner Michael Bradley said.

“This did not happen.

“Ms Schwartz did not refer to Australian Jews at all or attribute any characteristics to them.

“In fact, the whole thesis of her speech was that it is wrong to create any stereotypes of Jewish people or suggest that they hold identical characteristics or opinions, but that that is what disingenuous actors like Peter Dutton are doing.

“The reality is that Ms Schwartz was saying the exact opposite of what Professor Langton is accusing her of presenting.”

Mr Bradley said Ms Schwartz “absolutely did not” present stereotypes of “actual Jewish people” and that she presented the “Dutton’s Jew” avatar as a “figment of Peter Dutton’s imagination”.

In an inflection point for university bosses who have failed to contain anti-Semitism for nearly 18 months, the QUT’s slate of anti-Israel speakers last week – from senator Lidia Thorpe to anti-Israel academic Randa Abdel-Fattah – and the targeting of a Jewish academic by speakers resulted in the vice-chancellor apologising for the “Dutton’s Jew” comment and condemnation from Education Minister Jason Clare.

Professor Langton, a key proponent of the Indigenous voice to parliament in the 2023 referendum, has previously condemned the pro-Palestinian strand of the Indigenous rights movement, saying there was very little comparable between the two situations.

In The Australian on Monday, Professor Langton accused “far too many ‘pro-Palestinian’ protesters” of “undermining the basic principles of human rights and the standards set in domestic and international laws on prohibiting and eliminating racism”.

“As an Indigenous person who understands racism and discrimination from thousands of first-hand experiences, the idea that anti-racist legislation and norms do not apply to Jewish Australians, as far too many ‘pro-Palestinian’ protesters advocate, is an alarming trend,” she said.

Addressing the QUT incident directly, Professor Langton pointed the finger at Ms Schwartz – who also lectures at the University of Melbourne – and said the claim the address was satirical was “deluded” and the comments were “objectively anti-Semitic”.

“Her claim to communicate the message that there are ‘good Jews’ like herself who oppose the war in Israel and neighbouring territories and countries also backfired,” Professor Langton wrote.

“She presented a series of hateful stereotypes of Jewish people that have been used to persecute them for centuries and justify genocide, and despite her claimed intent, has managed to reinvent them to show all Jews as bloodthirsty monsters.

“She deeply offended Jewish Australians and other Australians, including me.

“She showed an image of ‘Dutton’s Jew’ and, while I am no fan of Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, there was nothing satirical about this message.

“It was objectively anti-Semitic in its depiction of her nemesis, the ‘bad Jew’, who she imagines has lost all agency and is an unwitting puppet of various warmongering masters.”

Professor Langton accused Ms Schwartz of using her Jewish identity to “broadcast inane, hateful nonsense about her fellow Jewish Australians”.

“She is entitled to her views about Israel and the war with Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, but she is not entitled, even though Jewish, to be anti-Semitic towards Jewish Australians,” she said.

Professor Langton – noting the controversial speaker list including Dr Abdel-Fattah, Sara Saleh and artist Matt Chun – questioned the QUT Carumba Institute’s decision to invite those speakers.

“Any person whose judgment can be trusted would have known that it was likely that there would be an incident causing outrage,” she wrote.

“It must also be asked why, if the reports are accurate, an Israeli Jew who attended was publicly and loudly abused and humiliated by the participants.

“For academics who claim to be anti-racism academics to purport that they were ignorant about the background of those they invited and to manage a conference that involved public abuse of an individual, if reported accurately, is not sustainable.”

The left-wing Jewish Council of Australia on Sunday said it had written to QUT vice-chancellor Margaret Sheil asking her to retract her apology and express “full support for Ms Schwartz’s presentation”.