Photography by Ibrahim Muan

The University of Sydney’s Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Professor Lisa Adkins, has directed staff “to not make any further display of the Palestinian flag” from a shared space. Adkins threatened the revocation of shared offices for sessional staff within the faculty should the display of flags from windows continue. 

The latest development forms part of an ongoing controversy at USyd regarding the display of Palestinian flags on campus. Earlier in the year the University confiscated a Palestinian flag hung outside academic Dr David Brophy’s office window which had been in place since 2023, citing their Flag Policy 2025. The policy, which was introduced in June, prohibits the “display of unapproved flags from University buildings.” Dr Brophy has replaced the flag with a keffiyah, the display of which does not currently violate existing policy.

Speaking to USyd’s student newspaper Honi Soit, Academic Vice President of USyd’s National Tertiary Education Union branch Nick Riemer stated that “‘in banning the Palestinian flag specifically, Professor Adkins has dropped the pretence that this is anything other than anti-Palestinian racism.”

“At a time when public opposition to Israel’s crimes has never been greater, [Adkins] has demonstrated her loyalty to genocide and her willingness to sacrifice education for it.” 

Following the developments at USyd, some staff members at the University of Melbourne have displayed Palestinian flags from their office windows, including in Old Arts and Old Geography.