Joint Statement from the University of Melbourne Student Union and the National Tertiary Education U
Joint Statement from the University of Melbourne Student Union and the National Tertiary Education Union University of Melbourne Branch. The students and staff of the University of Melbourne have been welcomed to Semester 1 on day 1 by new Vice-Chancellor Emma Johnston’s protest bans. With immediate effect, the Use of University premises and facilities: conditions regarding protests imposes new subjective prohibitions onto all protest activity on University of Melbourne premises.
Joint Statement from the University of Melbourne Student Union and the National Tertiary Education Union University of Melbourne Branch
The students and staff of the University of Melbourne have been welcomed to Semester 1 on day 1 by new Vice-Chancellor Emma Johnston’s protest bans. With immediate effect, the Use of University premises and facilities: conditions regarding protests imposes new subjective prohibitions onto all protest activity on University of Melbourne premises.
The University of Melbourne Student Union Inc (UMSU) and the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) UniMelb branch consider this an authoritarian approach that does not address racism or cultural safety on campus.
UMSU and the NTEU are committed to advocating for critical reforms at the University, to create a safe and welcoming campus for all students and members of the community and to calling out and opposing any form of racism. However, taking action to address racism is not about banning indoor protests, or creating new rules to restrict protest activity.
UMSU and the NTEU believe that the right to peaceful assembly is not subject to whether it unreasonably disrupts activities or operations or causes inconvenience. It is simply a fundamental right of a democratic society that goes to the heart of academic life.
These prohibitions were implemented with no consultation with UMSU’s elected student representatives, nor with the NTEU Melbourne branch. UMSU and the NTEU believe deeply in the right of both students and staff to respectful debate, critical thinking, freedom of speech and peaceful protest.
The University of Melbourne has been an institution where challenging ideas and authority is baked into its DNA. Peaceful protests at public universities have been the catalyst for women's rights, climate action, and socially progressive change.
The President of the University of Melbourne Student Union, Joshua Stagg, stated that “Safety is a paramount consideration for UMSU, but the way forward must be undertaken in consultation with students and with respect to their elected representatives.”
“This new protest rule has the potential to polarise students, not make them feel safe or welcome. Students' experience of racism is an issue of endless complexity. It requires proper consultation with all relevant members of the community, including peer-to-peer rather than a top down approach. UMSU is committed to listening to students” Stagg said.
“We have been calling for cultural safety on campus for years. We are again calling on the University of Melbourne to implement the recommendations in UMSU’s Racism at UniMelb Report, which are based on the lived experience of students. In our view, this is the way forward, as opposed to introducing new protest rules,” Stagg said.
David Gonzalez, NTEU UniMelb branch president and NTEU Victorian division President said, “University of Melbourne staff are united with students in the belief that protest has an essential role within public universities in advancing knowledge. Professor Johnston conflates staff and student comfort and their safety in this response."
“It’s outrageous that in Professor Johnston’s first month as University of Melbourne Vice Chancellor she would launch this attack on a fundamental right to protest,” Gonzalez said.
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