Students at the University of Sydney (USyd) have overwhelmingly voted for an academic boycott of Israel in a referendum held alongside elections for the Student Representative Council (SRC) over September 22–24.
Honi Soit reported that more than 3500 students, 86% of the 4065 students who voted, were in favour of calling on USyd to adopt an “academic boycott policy against Israeli institutions complicit in apartheid and genocide”.
The referendum motion called on the university to cut ties with Israeli universities, including Tel Aviv University, Technion and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
It also called on management to “end all research partnerships with weapons companies supplying Israel” and for the SRC to “support the struggle for Palestinian freedom”.
All four candidates for SRC President supported the referendum, including incumbent president Grace Street from Grassroots, Emma Searle from Socialist Alternative (SAlt), Ava Cavalerie from National Labor Students (NLS) and Vieve Carnsew from Solidarity.
The referendum was activated by Carnsew and Students Against War/Solidarity after they collected at least 500 signatures.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese gave Carnsew and Solidarity’s “Globalise the Intifada” ticket more coverage by describing it as a “hateful slogan”.
Albanese, NSW Premier Chris Minns and federal Education Minister Jason Clare reportedly contacted university management about the campaign. USyd Vice-Chancellor Mark Scott described the ticket a “psycho social hazard” and banned the ticket from using its signage on parts of the campus.
The Globalise the Intifada ticket said “the smears against our slogan are racist attempts to cover for these crimes that our government and university are complicit in”. “Intifada is the Arabic word for uprising … we are proud to campaign under the slogan. It is a call to end the genocide in Gaza and to free Palestine.”
The referendum result indicates that students support the university taking stronger action to support Palestine and oppose Israel’s genocide.
“Management is attacking the ticket whose members initiated the referendum … this is another blatant attack on the Palestine movement on campus, and an attack on free speech,” Students Against War said on social media.
Honi Soit’s exit polls say Street is likely to win an unprecedented second term as SRC President, collecting 41% of the primary vote. This was followed by Cavalerie (30.5%), Searle (20%) and Carnsew (2.88%).
SAlt won the highest percentage of SRC council votes, with 25%. This was followed by Grassroots (22%), NLS (13%) and PENTA (13%).
Street told Honi Soit that: “Students have said ‘Enough is enough’, that they stand against these oppressive systems and institutions, and that they are fed up with our university’s complicity in apartheid and genocide. We need collective action and a strong student movement, and that’s exactly what students have voted for.”
[Isaac Nellist and Chiara Reeves are students at the University of Sydney. Reeves stood on the Grassroots for Queer Liberation ticket.]