University of Sydney Toughens Protest Rules on the Back of Pro-Palestinian Encampment

Protesters shout slogans at the Palestinian Protest Campsite at University of Sydney in Sydney, Australia, on May 3, 2024. Ayush Kumar/AFP via Getty Images

The University of Sydney has tightened its rule around campus protests in the wake of controversial pro-Palestinian protest encampment.

While protesters claimed the new conditions would stifle political freedom, the university’s president argued it would provide a safe and welcoming environment for all community members and still support the right to free speech.

Under the new Campus Access Policy 2024, some protest activities require approval at least 72 hours before they are due to start. This includes activities that involve the using of megaphones or amplifiers, erecting temporary structures, and projecting words or images onto buildings or other structures.

Activities such as cooking equipment or heaters not provided by the university, and attaching materials, banners or structures to university buildings or fixtures will also need to be approved three days in advance.

In addition, the university also banned students from holding demonstrations without notice, camping, lighting open fires, pressing ahead with activities that have not been approved, and possessing any weapon or explosive.

It is also unacceptable to show intimidating behaviour or harassing other people, such as using a megaphone in close proximity to a person, as well as dumping rubbish or materials, storing personal property on university lands without permission, and doing activities that pose an unacceptable health or safety risk.

Demonstrations must be held in open spaces and are not permitted inside any building.

The latest move came in response to the conflict that have been brewing at the prestigious institution since April 23 between university management and pro-Palestinian encampment protesters.

In an email sent to staff and students on July 4 and viewed by The Epoch Times, the university’s Vice-Chancellor Mark Scott said the new policy aims to “ensure our campus remains a safe and welcoming place for all members of our community.”

“While I am pleased we have experienced the peaceful end of the encampment on campus in recent weeks, I understand that its presence challenged us in many ways,” Mr. Scott said.

“At its core, this policy upholds our commitment to free speech—while recognising we need to be able to manage our environment for the safety and security of all.”

He noted that during challenging times and in a polarised society, it was important to have “the right settings in place to support healthy debate and freedom of expression while providing a safe, welcoming and lively campus.”

‘Full-scale Offensive’: Protesters

The pro-Palestinian protesters were dissatisfied with the new policy.

Dave Brophy from the National Tertiary Education Union described the measures as an “attack on political freedom,” arguing it was adopted without notice or consultation.

“We’re now required to seek approval 72hrs in advance to put up a poster, set up a stall, or use a megaphone?!” he wrote in a post on X.

Meanwhile, University of Sydney Students’ Representative Council President Harrison Brennan claimed the policy was a “repulsive, full-scale offensive on the right to protest” at the university.

“The Vice-Chancellor has whipped up a policy that will strangle the dissenting voices of students, staff, and the broader community,” he said, according to AAP.

“This policy will not just affect student activists around the topic of Palestine but will have chilling implications for other campaigns ... students shouldn’t need permission to protest on their own campus.”

Condemnation On Vandalism Of War Memorial

At the state level, Queensland Liberal-National Party (LNP) MP Phillip Thompson recently moved a motion to condemn the defacing of Australia’s war memorials by pro-Palestinian protesters.

On June 29, the Australian National Korean War Memorial, Australian Vietnam Forces National Memorial, and the Australian Army National Memorial were graffitied with pro-Palestine messages such as “blood on your hands.”

Mr. Thompson said it was “deeply insulting for current and former members of the Australian Defence Force, their loved ones and undermines the significance of these memorials as symbols of national pride and remembrance.”

“Saturday night’s attacks were not an exercise of free speech but of criminal behaviour,” he told the House of Representatives on July 3.

He condemned the phrase often used by protesters—“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

“To see the prime minister come in here and say, ‘It is okay because Jewish people as well as people from Palestine both say ”from the river to the sea.“’ That is not what the Jewish community has been telling me and they are rightly angry.”