Uni in retreat on anti-China activist Drew Pavlou’s ban

University of Queensland distance themselves from the suspension of student activist Drew Pavlou.

UQ student Drew Pavlou with grandfather Andrew, left, and father Nick at the family fruit and veg shop in Birkdale, Brisbane befor Friday’s decision. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

The heads of the University of Queensland have moved to distance themselves from the controversial suspension on Friday of student activist Drew Pavlou over his vocal criticism of Chinese influenc­e at the university.

A UQ disciplinary panel told Mr Pavlou, 20, a final-year human­ities student who sparked an international incident last year when he staged an anti-China protest at the St Lucia campus in Brisbane, that he had been suspended for two years.

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The suspension covers the duration of his term as a student-elected member of the UQ senate­, the governing body of the university, in which he took his seat in January after a vote of 35,000 undergraduate students.

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But just an hour after the verdict­ was delivered, UQ chancellor Peter Varghese issued­ a statement saying he had concerns. “There are aspects of the findings and the severity of the penalty which personally concern me,’’ he said. “In consultation with the vice-chancellor (Peter Hoj), who has played no role in this disciplinary process, I have decided­ to convene­ an out-of-session­ meeting of UQ’s senate next week to discuss the matter.’’

Mr Pavlou said his suspension was a “travesty of justice’’ and accuse­d Mr Varghese and Professo­r Hoj of intervening only because of public outcry.

“I find this incomprehensible that the chancellor and vice-chancellor can pretend to be surprised and shocked by what has happened, because clearly they were part of it from the start,’’ he said. “Now, to save face under public pressure, they want to pretend­ and be dismayed by the outcome of these proceedings.

“No one is buying it. This decis­ion is very clearly a political reprisal­ against me for my vocal activism and an attempt to invalid­ate the results of my democratic election to the UQ senate on a platform opposing the Confucius Institute and CCP influence at the university. Conveniently, the decision allows­ me to re-enrol in 2022, a semester after my position on the UQ senate­ would expire.”

The suspension was the culmin­ation of almost a year of debate and sparring. In April, in the wake of Mr Pavlou’s controversial protest in July last year, the university issued­ a series of misconduct alleg­ations against him.

On May 20, Mr Pavlou walked out of his in-camera disciplinary hearing, claiming it was a “kangaroo court”. Mr Pavlou was legally represented by Tony Morris QC.

Mr Pavlou accused UQ of ­initiating the disciplinary action in a bid “to protect their business interests with the Chinese Communist Party”.

“They have given us no reason for the decision,” he said, adding that UQ had stated it would give its reasons in the coming weeks.

A year ago, Mr Pavlou, of Greek Cypriot heritage, was a largely unknown student with high grades and a number of academic­ awards under his belt.

His first public protest was on July 24 last year.

He had been keenly observing the public demonstrations on the streets of Hong Kong, and then became incensed over social media posts claiming, on the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre on June 3, that “nothing had happened” on that day in history.

He advertised his protest on Facebook. It was staged at the UQ campus.

The protest’s concerns ranged from UQ’s financial and academic relationship with China to human rights issues and the Hong Kong situation.

He said later he was naive about the whole venture, and had no idea it would erupt into violence and last almost six hours.

Mr Pavlou said he and his fellow­ protesters, about 15 people in total, were surrounded by hundreds of pro-Chinese students who were chanting and singing the Chinese national anthem.

His case became a lightning rod for debate on free speech and the extent of foreign influence on Australian university campuses.

Mr Morris said yesterday it was unclear if Mr Pavlou would be able to continue to sit on the UQ senate despite his suspension.

“We don’t know as there is no precedent a student representative being on senate being suspended from the university,” he said. “But it would appear that is the intention as the suspension coincides with his term as student representative on the senate.”

Clive Hamilton, respected ­Sinologist and professor of public ethics at Charles Sturt University in Canberra, said the Pavlou case had been “a complete mismatch of powers”.

“What has Drew Pavlou done to deserve this?” he said. “He’s really­ gotten under their skin. He has enraged these beasts.”