The Australian National University has been tearing down anti-Semitic materials but its vice-chancellor has not called for the removal of a "peaceful" pro-Palestinian encampment.
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University executives were grilled in Senate estimates on Thursday evening, only the second time in its history it has been called to give evidence.
Anti-Semitic stickers are being reposted as soon as they have been taken down, according to the university.
Vice-chancellor Professor Genevieve Bell said two students had been expelled and a further 10 students faced disciplinary processes since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. One student was expelled after making pro-Hamas comments on ABC Canberra radio.
Professor Bell would not elaborate on the details of the second expulsion, but said it was for "significant violations of the code of conduct."
Liberal senator Sarah Henderson tabled images of signs on campus that said "If you are not with Palestine, you are a psychopath" and "Zionism is terrorism".
"I think that is pretty hateful. Would you agree?" Senator Henderson said.
Professor Bell replied: "Yes I would."
When accused by a community member of not doing enough to take down the stickers, an ANU spokesperson said the images are being reposted as fast as they are being taken down.
"The university is conducting proactive and regular sweeps for offensive material. When we see them, they are immediately removed, however this is a large campus that is open to the public," they said.
"We are regularly reviewing CCTV footage to identify who may be posting the materials, and if people are identified, we will take immediate and appropriate action."
The vice-chancellor said the campus executive were working through creating a policy around what could be posted on campus, as well as updating about 400 policies.
Senator Henderson said Jewish students on campus felt "great distress" because of the encampment protesters' alleged use of the slogan "from the river to the sea" and the word "intifada", which refers to an uprising.
Professor Bell said the university considered those terms to be "hurtful speech" and that students who had used those words had been told to stop.
"Academic freedom and freedom of speech are not absolute," she said.
![Australian National University vice-chancellor Professor Genevieve Bell appearing at Senate estimates. Australian National University vice-chancellor Professor Genevieve Bell appearing at Senate estimates.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/33pRA5ArzT57tWtt8VHHenS/a2ac6632-cd8b-4b66-8e9d-0fcab62860a7.png/r89_0_1726_920_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Heat over weapons investments
Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi and independent senator Lidia Thorpe pressed the university leaders on the institution's policy on socially responsible investment.
Professor Bell said the policy, which was last updated 10 years ago, would be discussed at the upcoming university council meeting on Friday, June 14.
Senator Faruqi said in November the university held $171,000 worth of shares in defence and security company BAE Systems which she said had supplied fighter jets to Israel for use in its war against Hamas.
"How does the ANU justify investing more in BAE Systems since the beginning of this genocide?" Senator Faruqi said.
Deputy vice-chancellor Lachlan Blackhall said under the socially responsible investment policy, ANU itself didn't choose individual stocks.
"They're selected by an external investment manager who's required to meet the conditions," Professor Blackhall said.
Professor Blackhall said the university had contracts with "a small number" of defence companies and had received some philanthropic donations from them.
Senator Thorpe asked whether the university had sought legal advice on whether it was "complicit in genocide" due to links with weapons companies.
"I would reject completely the notion that ANU is involved in genocide," Professor Blackhall said.
He said the projects with defence companies were done under the banner of academic freedom and complied with Australian law.
Police called three days before encampment moved on
Professor Bell gave a more detailed breakdown of how events unfolded in the lead-up to the encampment being moved on May 27.
She said between April 29, and May 8, the size of the camp increased considerably.
On May 8, the ANU facilities and services manager said it had encroached onto a main evacuation route in the case of emergencies in the Kambri precinct. An updated evacuation plan was devised and sent around on May 10.
On May 21, a fire alarm went off and the evacuation was "chaotic to say the least", the vice-chancellor said. The facilities and services manager logged a work health and safety hazard and the incident was investigated.
By May 24, Professor Bell received an email about the incident and decided that the encampment posed an "intolerable risk" to safety because it blocked the main evacuation area and the secondary zones were not working.
She said the university consulted with ACT Policing about a plan to move on the protesters, "thinking about best case and worst case".
The students were woken by security at 8am on May 27, the day of the Reconciliation Day public holiday in Canberra, and told to move to one of the alternate locations selected by the university management. The students initially refused to move.
The protesters were then given a deadline of 12 noon on May 28 to relocate. The group decided to move at 11pm on May 27 to a new location near University Avenue where they have remained since.
Senator Faruqi said students from the encampment reported feeling "intimidated and threatened" by the police presence.
Professor Bell said she had spoken to several politicians about the encampment situation, including an "irrate call" with former treasurer Josh Frydenberg.
She revealed the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency had written to the university over the encampment situation on May 10.
Serious concerns over students association
The university has written its student association, ANUSA, after a student appeared to perform Nazi gestures at its online annual general meeting on May 8.
"We were incredibly concerned about that meeting and what happened in it," Professor Bell said.
She said the following morning the ANUSA president was brought to the deputy vice-chancellor (academic) Grady Venville for questioning about what had occurred at the meeting.
"We raised a series of concerns about the validity of that meeting, about how students had behaved in that meeting and the way ANUSA was enacting itself," Professor Bell said.
"We sent a formal note or formal letter to ANUSA on 14th of May basically asking them to show cause on how they are functioning. We are now in receipt of their first response to that but we are working through to get to a different kind of outcome."