A new paper on antisemitism will help focus attention on one of the sector’s key vulnerabilities during the Federal Election campaign.
While Higher Education is likely to be a peripheral issue to most voters this election, the election outcome will have a significant impact on the sector, thanks to differing promises on international enrolment cuts and different approaches to regulatio
Antisemitism and handling of campus protests relating to Gaza have led to for more brickbats than bouquets for higher education leaders and the release of a paper analysing results of a 2024 survey of antisemitism in Australian Universities by Monash University’s Andrew Markus and Victoria University’s Efrat Eilam again underscores sector failings in protecting Jewish staff and students.
The 2024 survey attracted 548 respondents from 30 universities, around two thirds of whom were students and the remainder staff.
Key findings include:
- 67% had experienced antisemitic comments;
- Only 38% of students and 36% of staff felt safe on campus. The authors contrasted this with the results of the 2021 National Student Safety Survey which found that 84% of domestic students felt safe on campus;
- 45% of students reduced attendance of classes as a result of antisemitism;
- 60% of students and 54% of staff felt insufficient action was taken by university management; and
- Almost half the respondents said they mixed less with non-Jewish people 40% of students and 44% of staff reported feeling ignored or excluded.
The survey by the Australian Academic Alliance Against Antisemitism (5A) did not define antisemitism, noting that, “with few exceptions, survey participants identified anti-Israel imagery and hate speech as a form of antisemitism.
Like many contributions to discussion of this issue, the paper will be subject to scrutiny – valued by some and dismissed by others depending on their pre-existing entrenched perspectives. But the comments of students and staff put individual faces on the pain, with students spat on, mocked with nazi salutes and one even forced to leave their share house.
