Over the past year, students at the University of Melbourne have consistently called on their university to cut ties with institutions and companies that are complicit in the genocide waged against the Palestinian people by Israel. Following several months of organised protest actions on campus – including rallies, speak-outs, die-ins, organised class walk-outs, a month-long Gaza Solidarity Encampment that culminated in the sit-in at Mahmoud’s Hall (fka Arts West) – students organised a sit-in on 9 October 2024 in the office of the head of a joint PhD program with Hebrew University of Jerusalem – an institution that is deeply embedded in Israel’s military industrial complex. The condemnatory response to the student actions from the University and sections of the media raises serious concerns that the principles of our institution of learning and critical thinking are increasingly being threatened.

As staff of the University of Melbourne we are alarmed and disturbed at the response to student actions from VC Duncan Maskell on the 9 October 2024. We particularly condemn the University’s rapid involvement of the police to move protesters on, and the VC’s inappropriate comments to the media about undertaking disciplinary action” should it be known that UniMelb students and staff were involved. We are concerned that this attitude of labelling the incident as a cause for disciplinary action, without providing details of what happened and why, will impede procedural fairness should any disciplinary action take place. Student sit-ins at their University are a legitimate form of protest. The University’s punitive response is in violation of its own principles of academic freedom and right to protest and assembly.

Vice Chancellor Maskell’s email failed to mention that students were drawing attention to the University’s academic relations with Israeli universities. Israeli universities are not neutral institutions of learning, but are directly involved in Israel’s occupation, apartheid and genocidal practices. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem has particularly close ties to the Israeli military through its Havatzalot Program, which conducts combat and intelligence training on campus. The campus is also partially built on illegally occupied land in East Jerusalem – the same illegal occupation that the ICJ has recently condemned and requested that States divest from.

The University of Melbourne’s continued relations with weapons companies and Israeli universities run the risk of acting outside the “bounds of ethics and the law” through complicity in war crimes. In light of the International Court of Justice’s finding that Israel is committing a “plausible genocide” and the International Criminal Court’s investigation into war crimes in Palestine, UN experts have warned that these research relationships are potential grounds for criminal complicity. The University of Melbourne is part of an international scholarly community and therefore has obligations to its staff and students to stand up against injustice. This includes ending its relationships with academic institutions that enable genocide, apartheid, and illegal occupation.

Vice Chancellor’s Maskell’s statement enabled the action to be incorrectly framed by major media outlets as antisemitic. This perpetuates the lazy and dangerous narrative that frames support for Palestinian freedom as antisemitic. It is not antisemitic to oppose the University’s research ties with Israeli universities.

We reiterate staff opposition to the University’s adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism in January 2022. The definition was adopted without consultation with staff and students and does not effectively address antisemitism. Since the adoption of the IHRA definition, the University announced its anti-racism commitment in January 2023, but has failed to meet its requirements in addressing institutional harm, practising transparency and consultation with the community. We are now seeing the chilling effects of the definition on staff in the classroom which is a place of critical thinking and learning and how it impedes legitimate student activism.

We support the right for students to protest. We share their concerns about the University of Melbourne’s complicity in Israel’s human rights violations, and the need to uphold international law. We support the demand to end academic and financial ties with Israeli universities, and implore the University of Melbourne to uphold its internal commitments and international obligations.

If you wish to add your name to the statement, you can use this form.

Alison Young, Professor
Juan Tauri, Professor
Diana Johns, A/Prof Criminology
Min-Hui Law, Technical Advisor, Nossal Institute for Global Health
Wajeehah Aayeshah, Lecturer, Arts Teaching Innovation
James Macaronas, Graduate researcher, School of Culture and Communication
Matthew Taft, Sessional tutor, School of culture and communication
Kathryn Ticehurst, Teaching Associate, SHAPS
Leonie Brialey, Creative writing
Dr Sahar Ghumkhor, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Faculty of Arts
Charlotte Mertens, Teaching specialist Criminology
Ethan Savage, Tutor
Sophie Rudolph, Senior Research Fellow
Noah Wellington, Tutor
Emily, Casual Staff Member, Arts/SSPS
Rosie Isaac, Associate Lecturer, Faculty Fine Art and Music
Dr Kate Just, Senior Lecturer, VCA Art
Angelita Biscotti, Sessional Academic, Faculty of Arts
Julian Grace, Research Assistant
Rajith Vidanaarachchi, Research Fellow, ABP and FEIT
Morgan Jones, Casual Academic and Technician
Kamilia Eriani, SSPS
Emily K, Students and scholarly services
Hossam El-Haddad, Lecturer – Prosthodontics Department – Melbourne Dental School
Mia Dunphy, Research Assistant
irene hanenbergh, lecturer
Dr Fi Belcher, Research Fellow
Maria Matheas, SASS
Tristan Graham, Research Fellow – FEIT / Infrastructure Engineering
Mairéad Murray, Engagement Manager, MSPS, MDHS
Eugenia Lim, Associate Lecturer, School of Art
Mitchell King, Library
Benjamin Gerraty, GRAA in School of Mathematics and Statistics
Gemma Tarpey-Brown, Research Assistant and PhD Candidate, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences
Dr Jessica Marian, Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Joshua Barnes, PhD candidate and tutor, Faculty of Arts, School of Culture and Communication
Tasnim Sammak, Casual tutor, Education
Michael Erity, Laboratory Technical Officer
Zac Millner-Cretney, Subject coordinator, VCA Film and Tv
Kemal Kurniawan, Research Fellow, CIS
Dana Young, Researcher
Debris Facility, Lecturer, Victorian College of the Arts
Dr Nathan Fioritti, Teaching Associate, School of Social and Political Sciences, Faculty of Arts
Fatih Oguzhan, Sessional Academic Tutor (Faculty of Arts, SSPS)
Liam Gillespie, Lecturer in Criminology, University of Melbourne
Thomas Weight, Graduate Research Teaching Fellow
Panda (Amanda) Wong, MPE
Shannon Woodcock, Tutor, Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity
Dave Pollock, Course Coordinator, AFSE
Dove Rengger-Thorpe, Student Experience Coordinator
Nonie May, Lecturer
Giles Fielke, Tutor, Art History, SCC, Arts Faculty
Jake Brown, Casual Tutor in the School of Maths & Stats
Qiao Wang, Teaching Associate, School of Mathematics and statistics
Tian Sang, Teaching Specialist
Masato Takasaka, Associate Lecturer, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music
Nicholas Sgro-Traikovski, Teaching Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics
Scarlett Abramson, Tutor
Carlos Eduardo Morreo, Lecturer, Trinity College, University of Melbourne
Conor Brett, Academic Tutor, Faculty of Arts
Dr Scheherazade Bloul, Academic tutor, SSPS
Vasuki Prabaharan, Teaching Associate, School of Maths and Stats
Tiane Ryman, Tutor
Rekha, Teaching associate
Alana, Tutor, Arts, School of Culture and Communication, Screen and Cultural Studies
Javeria, Tutor
Panos Karanikolas, Melbourne Law School
Natalie Hendry, Senior Lecturer
Ellen O’Hehir, Librarian
Jian Ying Zhang, Teaching Associate, faculty of science
Dominic de Totto, Stop 1
Sasha Wilmoth, Lecturer, Faculty of Arts
Callum Alpass, Tutor, Faculty of Arts, SHAPS
Chloe Mackenzie, Professional Staff, Faculty of Arts
Norfiza M Zali, Tutor, Faculty of Education
Jim Murphy, Lecturer, School of Social & Political Science
Meredith Faragher, Graduate Research Administrator, MDHS / Eastern Hill
Romi Graham, Coordinator, Student Enrolment
Matt Barbetti, Senior Enrolment Coordinator
Morgan, Assistant Archivist, Archives and Special Collections
Lisa Radford, Lecturer
jeff sparrow, senior lecturer
Jasmine Ali, PhD
Ella Blackburn, Operations Officer
Miles Kenney-Lazar, Senior Lecturer, School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (SGEAS)
Lachlan Ross, Lecturer in Criminology
Therese Keogh, sessional lecturer and PhD candidate
Sam Bateman, Client Services Officer, Student and Scholarly Services
Sebastian Salay, Research Fellow
James Hogg, Tutor, SHAPS
Alice Wighton, PhD student, SSPS
Emily Osborne, Digital Producer, Comms
Briony Galligan, Associate Lecturer
Rosie, Professional staff
Rebecca Howe, Education Programs Coordinator, The Australian Centre, Faculty of Arts
Jill Pope, Tutor, Faculty of Arts, School of Social and Political Sciences, Gender Studies
Hadeel Ibrahim, Faculty
Kiloran Hiscock, School Support Officer  – Asia Institute
Maxwell Lechte, Research Fellow at SGEAS
Courtney , Academic tutor
Simon Christie, Head tutor, Faculty of Arts
Tina Stefanou, PhD Candidate and Casual Academic
Rory Mullan, Librarian
Zaina E., Associate consultant
Emma Hudgins, Lecturer
Guy Webster, Tutor/ Research Assistant
Nick Barnett, Professional Staff
Tyler Gleason, Academic Tutor, Faculty of Arts
Chris Hill, Lecturer
Emily Direen, Graduate Student, School of Culture and Communication
Jessica Gannaway, Lecturer
Emmett LaGrutta, Subject Coordinator, School of Film and Television
Sophie Knezic, Associate Lecturer
Archie Barry, Subject Coordinator
Katie Paine, Research Assistant – School of Art
Waleed Ali, Casual lecturer in Prosthodontics
Salah Mortaja, Academic Lecturer
Jade Correge, Graduate student
Janelle Young, PhD Candidate, SPSS
Alex Bowen, Research Fellow, Melbourne Law School. PhD student, Arts.
Hoang Tran Nguyen, PhD Candidate, School of Art
Patrick Telfer, Professional staff member – FFam
Jon Bywater, PhD candidate, VCA
Jackie, Professional Staff and Student
Mridula Shankar, Research Fellow
Ange chan, Students comms consultant
Fin Healy, Sessional tutor, SCC
Anni Fender, tutor
Natalie Calleja, Research Assistant and Tutor, Faculty of Education
Lewis Gittus, Sessional Lecturer within the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music
Mell Chun, Tutor
Mickhaella Ermita, Sessional Tutor (Criminology)
Kai, Lecturer/Tutor at VCA FTV
Ele Carpenter, Professor
Christopher, Professional Staff
Mark Shorter, Senior Lecturer
Yassir Morsi, Sessional
Nina Gilbert, Professional Staff
Alison Gibberd, Senior research fellow
Louisa Bufardeci, Associate Lecturer
Ava, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, casual professional staff
Juliette Adler, Tutor, Arts, School of Social and Political Sciences
Hamza Jehangir, Alumni
Genevieve Trail, Tutor, Faculty of Arts
Bridget Webster, Content Creator (Major Projects) – Students and Scholarly Services

Image: Angelita Biscotti