Sydney Uni boss declares his job is safe as campus free speech debate rages

University of Sydney vice chancellor Mark Scott says his job is still tenable in the face of calls for his resignation following a bruising year dominated by pro-Palestinian protests on campus.

The university chief’s comments come as his institution faces backlash for a proposed campus “civility rule”, which critics fear would hamper free speech and political expression.

University of Sydney vice chancellor Mark Scott at the federal parliamentary hearing on Friday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

At a parliamentary hearing into antisemitism at universities on Friday, Scott was asked by Liberal MP Henry Pike if his job was still tenable.

The former ABC managing director faced political pressure this year stemming from a pro-Palestine encampment on campus and allegations that Jewish students felt unsafe. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and a Jewish student group both called for Scott’s resignation.

“I believe I operate with the full support of the University of Sydney senate and the executive,” Scott told the hearing.

“We are hard at work and I am pleased to be able to do so with the strong support of the chancellor, of the [university] senate and the executive team of the university. Many staff have reached out to me as well.”

He “emphatically rejected” an allegation by Pike that the university was an “incubator of antisemitism”. Pike pointed to former university academic Tim Anderson, who was fired for antisemitism in 2019, as evidence of the assertion.

Scott said the university’s decision to fire Anderson came at significant legal cost.

“I believe we’re the only university in the country that has fired someone for antisemitism,” he said.

Scott was also questioned by Greens senator David Shoebridge about a proposed “civility” rule that would require anyone using a “contested phrase” to make their intended meaning clear. Such phrases could include “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “intifada”.

The rule was proposed in an external review of the university’s response to the pro-Palestine encampment, which was made public this week. The review’s recommendations, which included other restrictions on student protest, were agreed to in principle by the university’s senate.

It sparked backlash from some academics and students and it was condemned by the NSW Council of Civil Liberties, which on Thursday called for the state government to intervene to prevent the “end of political expression” at the university.

“It is concerning that Mark Scott and university management have failed in their core obligation, which is to make Sydney University a centre of free and open inquiry and debate,” council president Tim Roberts said.

Scott said there were questions around how that rule would work in practice and he said there was “significant work” to be done.

Australia’s special envoy on antisemitism, Jillian Segal, told the hearing she hoped to reach an agreement with universities about a definition of antisemitism by year’s end.

She said universities had become a “cauldron” of antisemitism and needed to be turned back into places of respectful debate.

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