Hate on campus
When Jews are afraid to visibly express their identity on campus, something is wrong.
The submission by special envoy to combat antisemitism Jillian Segal to the Senate committee looking into hate against Jews at universities makes for sobering reading.
Drawing on 65 personal accounts, the report demonstrates beyond doubt that what is happening on our campuses is not merely political differences over the war in Gaza and discomfort arising from free speech. It is hate speech, acts of hate, acts of intimidation, othering, exclusion and worse, with one target: Jews.
When Jews are afraid to visibly express their identity on campus, something is wrong. When Jews are fearful of being victimised not just by their peers but also by some of their teachers, something is very wrong.
And when university administrations continue to turn a blind eye to the problem or insist they are doing enough to counter it – we’re looking at you, Mark Scott – something in the system is truly broken.
In fact, Scott has unwittingly made the case for a Royal Commission or similar probe into antisemitism at universities all the stronger with his pitiful responses to NSW Budget Estimates last week.
The University of Sydney vice-chancellor clearly demonstrated his inability – or worse, unwillingness – to concede that the issue at USYD is as severe as it is, to sufficiently apologise to Jewish students, or to take any kind of personal responsibility for what is happening on his campus.
In June this year, The AJN called on Scott to step down. Last week, the Australasian Union of Jewish Students, which represents those with the most skin in the game on this issue, stood outside the building housing his office and demanded his resignation.
Not known for his humility, those calls will clearly fall on deaf ears. But Scott, and all the university administrators that have allowed the world’s oldest hatred to fester under their watch, shouldn’t get too comfortable.
Because while the judicial inquiry that Senator Sarah Henderson and Member for Berowra Julian Leeser are calling for is unlikely to eventuate, the Senate committee considering it will, under parliamentary privilege, hear every sordid detail of what is really happening on our campuses and that evidence will forever be enshrined in the public record.
University administrators such as Scott should be ashamed.
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