VC: We are not perfect

“Invariably, when you look back, there would be some things that you might do differently”, University of Sydney vice chancellor Mark Scott told The AJN last week.

Scott was speaking last Friday afternoon while attending the installation of a mezuzah – replacing one that had gone missing overnight on Thursday – outside a Jewish student’s apartment in a university residential building.

The AJN understands Scott and USYD chief of staff Darren Goodsir committed to attending the ceremony before they knew Jewish media would be present.

Scott’s comments come after a fraught year on campus where Jewish students and staff frequently reported feeling harassed, excluded and unsafe on campus.

The year also saw an ostensibly pro-Palestinian encampment at the university quadrangle between April and June that ended in a deal in which critics said the university pandered to extremists.

The Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS) has openly called for Scott to resign for not taking antisemitism on campus seriously.

The university recently committed to implementing steps that were outlined in an external review into its policies and procedures.

“We aspire to be a place that’s safe and welcoming for all our students, irrespective of their background,” Scott told The AJN on Friday.

“It’s been a challenging year … I think we’ve learned from the experience. We’ve had to reflect on it, we’ve made some changes to our policies and our practices and our processes for the second semester, we think that they have largely worked well.”

Scott said “by no means are we perfect”.

“But the senior leadership team at the university, the executive, the senate of the university, are all absolutely committed to creating a safe and welcoming environment for all our students, and for Jewish students, who’ve long been a vibrant part of our community,” he said.

“The richness of the university community comes from the diversity – people of different backgrounds, different faiths, a vibrant community coming together.

“That’s what a university is all meant to be about. And critical to that is everyone being accepted, everyone being welcome.”

AUJS president Noah Loven said Scott’s attendance and comments were encouraging, “but actions speak louder than words”.

“Jewish students at the University of Sydney, especially those living residentially on campus, have been subjected to outrageous antisemitism this year and an inadequate response by the university,” Loven said.

“There is still much work to be done to restore trust between Jewish students and the university.”