Australian universities will be required to adopt a formal definition of antisemitism under new governance standards released by the Albanese government.<\/p>\n
The threshold standards require universities to take steps to prevent racism and antisemitism, respond appropriately, and adopt recognised definitions for hate.<\/p>\n
Universities will also be required to establish clear and transparent complaints processes so students and staff understand how complaints can be made and handled.<\/p>\n
The reforms represent the federal government\u2019s strongest intervention yet into university governance following sustained concerns about rising antisemitism on campuses.<\/p>\n
Education Minister Jason Clare told Sky News Sunday Agenda it was changing the law to mandate universities \u201cto take certain steps in relation to antisemitism\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou’re going to hear some pretty horrific evidence tomorrow and over the next few days, in particular from Jewish students about the abuse that they suffered,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cUniversities were caught flat-footed here, and in fairness to the universities, some of them have made important improvements over the course of the last few years.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut not enough. There’s a lot more to do. We said last year that we would change the law to mandate or require universities to take certain steps in relation to antisemitism.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we also need to do is give the regulator of universities more teeth, more powers\u2026 The regulator at the moment, if it wants to fine a university, needs to go to court.<\/p>\n
\u201cI figure that that’s not the right approach, and so I will introduce legislation to give the regulator more powers over the coming months.\u201d<\/p>\n
The standards come after Special Antisemitism Envoy Jillian Segal released a University Report Card finding the sector had failed to adequately address antisemitism.<\/p>\n
Independent assessor Greg Craven concluded that none of the universities assessed had met the report\u2019s requirements on adopting a definition of antisemitism.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo Australian university assessed met the definitional requirements of the report card,\u201d Mr Craven said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout a clear, adopted, and enforceable definition of antisemitism, efforts to combat hatred on campus are fundamentally compromised.\u201d<\/p>\n
The report also found universities lacked effective enforcement mechanisms for protests and responses to alleged on-campus harassment.<\/p>\n
The government\u2019s announcement has also coincided with the Bondi Royal Commission turning its attention to the higher education sector.<\/p>\n
Representatives from the University of Sydney, UNSW, the University of Melbourne, Monash University and Australian National University are expected to give evidence.<\/p>\n
The commission will also hear from Jewish students and academics about their experiences of antisemitism on campus.<\/p>\n
In response, shadow education minister Julian Leeser recently described the university sector\u2019s failure to quash the scourge of antisemitism in education as \u201cpathetic\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pathetic. The Royal Commission made clear that governments around the country agree on and accept a definition, but our universities cannot,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Leeser said antisemitism was particularly insidious because unlike other forms of racism, antisemitic conduct was often \u201cpainted as being virtuous\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an issue that should concern all Australians. History teaches us that what starts with the Jews never ends with Jews. Who is next?\u201d Mr Leeser said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have seen 15 of our fellow Australians murdered on Bondi Beach because of their religion. That should be a massive concern to every decent person.<\/p>\n
\u201cUniversities are where the next generation of leaders are formed, and right now they are failing. There needs to be a cultural shift.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australian universities will be required to adopt a formal definition of antisemitism under new governance standards released by…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":928907,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[56442,4740,50],"class_list":["post-928906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-auspol","tag-australia","tag-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116904194853705908","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=928906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/928907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=928906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=928906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=928906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}