The Sydney Morning Herald: Sydney Uni boss declares his job is safe as campus free speech debate rages

University of Sydney Senate recently endorsed in principle the Hodgkinson Report into protest activity at the university. The contents of this report included recommendations of a complete ban on protest activity inside university buildings, a “civility rule” which will require speakers to “make the meaning of contested words and phrases clear to the audience”, and the prohibition of encampments as a form of protest. 

Many have criticised these measures as an attack on students' free speech, and political expression. 
This decision has come after political pressure on the vice chancellor of USyd, Mark Scott, with Peter Dutton and a Jewish student group calling for his resignation this year.
During a parliamentary hearing on antisemitism at universities on Friday, Liberal MP Henry Pike questioned Scott about the security of his position.

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

NSW Council for Civil Liberties has written to the NSW Minister for Education Prue Car and to the secretary of the NSW Labor caucus urging the state government to urgently intervene to protect the right to the freedom of expression at the University of Sydney.

Comments from Tim Roberts, President, NSW Council for Civil Liberties

“If these restrictions on political expression at Sydney University go ahead, it will mean the end of basic forms of political expression at the university.”

“It is extremely 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. We are concerned that Sydney University will be in breach of s 31 of the University of Sydney Act, which prohibits it from imposing disciplinary sanctions against students for expressing their political views or beliefs.”

 

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