UMSU is deeply concerned by the proposed Antisemitism Report Card for Universities, which seeks to assess institutions based on their suppression of campus protest and political expression.

This approach risks conflating legitimate political criticism and expressions of Palestinian identity with antisemitism, undermining students’ rights to freedom of speech, expression, and assembly on campus.

The University of Melbourne has already restricted students’ rights to protest, including through the introduction of the protest restriction rules by the Vice Chancellor in March 2025. The introduction of the report card framework would further undermine the independence of student unions and limit students’ ability to organise.

The Antisemitism Report Card is viewed as a dangerous attack on the rights of students to freedom of speech, expression, and assembly. UMSU opposes the implementation of this report card system and rejects the conflation of pro-Palestine speech and protest with antisemitism.

UMSU calls on the University of Melbourne to reject and refuse to implement the Antisemitism Report Card for Universities and to commit to protecting freedom of speech on campus. UMSU will continue to defend the rights of students to freedom of speech, expression, and assembly, while reaffirming our unequivocal condemnation of antisemitism and all forms of racism.