Staff oppose definition

Staff at the University of Sydney (USYD) have voted to call on the university to rescind its adoption of the Group of Eight (Go8) definition of antisemitism.

But USYD stated it did not “endorse or condone” the staff resolution and instead would implement recommendations in a report by barrister Bruce Hodgkinson, commissioned after a series of pro-Palestine encampments on its campus last year.

These include a ban on non-course related announcements in classes. USYD stated that staff were not empowered to make any exceptions.

Earlier, Jewish academics expressed concern about a meeting of USYD Staff For Palestine, which was held on May 29, to discuss tactics to stop the university from adopting the Go8 definition.

While some Australian universities have adopted versions of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, Universities Australia endorsed the narrower Go8 definition in February. But some, including ANU, now even have Go8 adoption stalled in internal reviews.

USYD Staff For Palestine savaged the Go8 definition as “a serious obstacle to staff and students’ intellectual freedom, and to our ability to campaign for an end to the genocide in Gaza, for the academic boycott of Israeli institutions”.

It also attacked Vic Alhadeff over his USYD honorary doctorate, describing the veteran Jewish communal figure as “one of Israel’s most zealous public apologists” .

Professor Greg Rose and Adjunct Associate Professor David Knoll, two directors of the Australian Academic Alliance Against Antisemitism (5A), stated, “At a time when there is a record level of antisemitism on university campuses undermining student and staff safety, it is more than strange that University of Sydney academics oppose efforts to curb anti-Jewish racism, which is what antisemitism is.

“The purported justifications of those academics do not withstand even modest scrutiny. It is readily apparent that they oppose the possibility that Jews might identify and articulate their experience of the anti-Jewish racism which remains endemic at Sydney University.”

Meanwhile, Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Peter Wertheim slammed a May 14 meeting of USYD students which rejected Go8, while some 200 students turned their backs on a Jewish speaker. “Even a watered-down definition of antisemitism that has been endorsed by all 39 public universities in Australia, and which will simply be an educational tool with no legal effect, is too much for these students to tolerate,” he said.

Ahead of the Staff for Palestine meeting, a USYD spokesperson told The AJN it has set up consultative groups to weigh potential applications of Go8. “We’re aware a small contingent of staff [Staff for Palestine] have called a meeting to discuss this decision, and we’re speaking to key organisers to remind them of our shared obligations to protect the safety and wellbeing of our community.”