Vice Chancellor Emma Johnston on Monday 2 June upheld formal recommendations from the University disciplinary committee to expel two students and suspend two others.

If the expulsions are upheld on appeal, the University will become the first in Australia to expel students for pro-Palestine activism. The move mirrors disciplinary decisions made by universities in the United States, including at Columbia University, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Florida.

While students are intending to lodge an appeal, the University’s decision will remain in place until the result is decided. The two students facing suspension will have their enrollment deferred until March next year. 

The students were found by the University to have participated in a protest in academic Steven Prawer’s office on 9 October 2024, where those involved requested to speak with Prawer, erected pro-Palestine stickers and a Palestinian flag, and recited chants. The sit-in lasted 90 minutes and ended when police issued a move-on notice, which students complied with.

Prawer is a professor of physics and the academic lead of the University of Melbourne’s joint PhD program with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem collaborates with the Israeli military on research and training, while part of their Mount Scopus campus is allegedly built on illegally occupied Palestinian territory.

Demands issued by students at the time of the 9 October protest included that the University sever ties with Israeli universities and implement a scholarship for Palestinian students.

One student issued with expulsion for their involvement was found by the disciplinary committee to have attended the protest for no longer than 10 minutes, and that while they did not participate in any sanctionable actions their attendance alone constituted harassment and intimidation.

The decision by the University to formally sanction students sets a distinct precedent for its handling of political activism on campus. Last year, approximately 21 students who faced suspension or expulsion for their participation in a 10 day sit-in in Arts West/Mahmoud’s Hall ultimately received only warnings. The University's use of surveillance technology in identifying these students is currently the subject of an investigation by the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner. 

U Melb for Palestine (UM4P), formerly Unimelb for Palestine, have launched a campaign to lobby the Vice Chancellor to overturn the decision to suspend and expel the four students, which they say will "set a dangerous precedent for student activism." UM4P is urging students and staff to ring and email the Vice Chancellor’s office opposing the decisions. 

The disciplinary action has been strongly condemned by the University of Melbourne branch of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), who released a statement following the disciplinary decisions. “The NTEU branch rejects the University of Melbourne’s claims that these student protests are not peaceful. In the face of growing international condemnation of Israel’s actions, we should be proud of these students who have risked their own interests in order to stand up for Palestinian freedom.”

“University of Melbourne staff are united with students in the belief that protest has an essential role within public universities in advancing knowledge. Professor Johnston conflates staff and student comfort and their safety in this decision, which deeply compromises the public mission of universities.”

University of Melbourne Student Union (UMSU) President Joshua Stagg in a press statement emphasised the Student Union’s commitment to uphold the right to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly.

UMSU’s Advocacy and Legal Service is assisting the students, who intend to appeal the decision. Students have been represented pro bono by lawyers from the Watermelon Defence Fund, a not for profit organisation aimed at providing financial and legal support to activists facing legal challenges.

The Greens deputy leader and NSW senator Mehreen Faruqui has condemned the disciplinary action as a “witch hunt”, calling on the University to “issue a public apology for the McCarthyist crackdown on staff and students speaking out for a free Palestine.”