Unimelb for Palestine (UM4P) announced on 7 May that  the University of Melbourne has issued multiple students who participated in a sit-in within academic Steven Prawer’s office last year with misconduct notices. Hearings will occur on 16 May. Students face penalties including a fine of up to $1000, suspension of enrolment, expulsion and exclusion from University grounds. 

Under the Vice-Chancellor Regulation, the University reserves the right to issue allegations of general misconduct for students engaging in ‘improper behaviour in contravention of a provision of a University statute, regulation or policy relating to conduct’. 

In 2024, Farrago reported on the sit-in. This article was published in Edition 6 of 2024 as part of reporting on the sit-in and the broader campaign for divestment. 

Members of the University of Melbourne community on Wednesday 9 October conducted a protest in the office of a University academic affiliated with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, demanding that the University sever ties to Israeli universities and implement an academic scholarship for Palestinian students.

The sit-in was supported by activist group Unimelb for Palestine and directed toward Steven Prawer, a physics professor and academic lead of the Jerusalem-Melbourne joint PhD program. 

The sit-in occurred around midday in Prawer’s office in the North Wing of the David Caro Building. Protestors wearing face masks and keffiyehs left the office after the University gave an official direction to move on at 1:20 pm. Participation appeared to be in the tens.. 

After entering the office, protesters hung a Palestinian flag over the doorway and covered the walls and desk with pro-Palestinian material. Students posted their demands to an adjacent office door, asking that the University of Melbourne sever its ties with Israeli universities, specifically the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 

The demands allege that Hebrew University is “partially built on and actively occupies stolen Palestinian land,” condemn its ties to the Israel Defence Forces and request that the University of Melbourne implement a scholarship program for Palestinian students, noting the University's existing research programs with Israeli universities. 

"No such support exists for Palestinian students and we demand that the University rectifies this.”

The posted demands also include “that UniMelb implements a scholarship for Palestinian students … At present, UniMelb offers scholarships in honour of Zionists and in support of research at Israeli universities … No such support exists for Palestinian students and we demand that the University rectifies this.”

Once the sit-in officially commenced at 12:40 pm, protestors demanded to meet with Prawer and participated in chants that accused the University of supporting genocide.

Approximately 30 minutes later at 1:20 pm, two police officers arrived outside Prawer’s office and issued an official move on directive to the protestors, stating that Prawer’s office was a private space. 

At 1:25 pm, protestors announced their intention to comply with the order and subsequently left the building - but not before a protestor called out “Quick! Your shoelaces!” and made the officer look.  

“UM4P continues to persist for our demands which include pressuring the University to abide by the BDS [Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions] movement,” says a Unimelb for Palestine spokesperson. 

“Today’s action aligns with the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel … This is not a shift in our protest for a Free Palestine but a continuation of the resistance against the University’s complicity in genocide.”

Unimelb for Palestine facilitated the Semester One Gaza Solidarity Encampment on South Lawn.

Outgoing Vice Chancellor Duncan Maskell condemned the protest action in an email to University staff and students the next day.

“If the people who were involved yesterday can be identified as University of Melbourne staff members or students, we will not hesitate to initiate disciplinary processes”.

“This type of behaviour is completely and utterly unacceptable and stands in direct opposition to the values we hold as a university”.

Overland Journal has since published an online open letter written by staff and signed by members of the University community supporting the rights of students to protest and expresses alarm at the University’s involvement of Police intervention.

The letter joins demands for the University of Melbourne to end academic and financial ties with Israeli universities, including the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, described as “deeply embedded in Israel’s military industrial complex.”