University receives Hodgkinson External Review report

Statement from University of Sydney Chancellor, David Thodey AO

Last night the University of Sydney Senate met to consider the Hodgkinson External Review Report, commissioned by the Senate to review our policies and procedures following the end of the encampment on our campus in July this year. Senate Fellows resolved to accept the recommendations of the report in principle, and asked the University Executive for a blueprint for consultation and delivery.  

Bruce Hodgkinson AM SC is a preeminent Senior Counsel who is widely recognised as one of Australia’s leading barristers specialising in work health and safety across various industry sectors.  

Mr Hodgkinson acknowledged the challenges the University faces in balancing our unwavering commitment to freedom of speech with the need to create a campus that is safe and welcoming to all. The report recognises the complexity of our environment and our continually evolving regulatory landscape, noting in particular our expanded work health and safety obligations. 

The Review received 51 written submissions from organisations and individuals and numerous meetings were held, including with Jillian Segal AO, the federally appointed Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism and Aftab Malik, the federally appointed Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia. All submissions made to the Federal Senate Inquiry into antisemitism that mentioned the University of Sydney were also considered as part of the Review. 

The report notes the significant steps the University has already taken to successfully address many of the issues raised in submissions to the Review, including making camping on campus an unacceptable activity and prohibiting protests in buildings through the introduction of the Campus Access Policy, reviewing our policies, procedures, and complaints processes, and increasing campus security.   

On behalf of the Senate I want to thank Mr Hodgkinson as well as former Chancellor Belinda Hutchinson AC and those who made submissions and took time to meet with Mr Hodgkinson. 

The University of Sydney is not immune to the challenges of rising levels of racism, intolerance, and polarisation facing broader society. As Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Mark Scott AO has said, this makes it more important than ever that we foster a safe environment where diverse views can be explored through civil debate. Mr Hodgkinson’s report provides us with expert guidance on how to achieve that goal and we will be seeking the views of our community on its implementation. While the task ahead is significant and complex, the University Senate, the Vice-Chancellor, and the University Executive, are united in our focus on creating a safe and welcoming campus for all.  

We will continue to keep you updated on this important work as we progress.

Summary of key findings

Improving transparency 

The report identifies that while the University does not tolerate racism, harassment, and threatening or intimidatory speech or behaviour, the actions taken by the University in response to complaints about these matters aren’t made public. To create greater transparency and confidence in the complaints process, the report recommends the University publish a regular complaints report, along with a second report detailing the range of penalties imposed for breaches of University policy. The University of Sydney Annual Report on Sexual Misconduct, now in its second year, presents a potential model for this type of deidentified reporting.  

The report found the University’s policies and procedures are not well understood and are hard to access. Mr Hodgkinson acknowledges work is underway to simplify the number and language of University policies and ensure they are easy to find for all members of our community. The report recommends this work continue as a priority.  

The report recommends the University establish a single Complaints Office to simplify the complaints process for users.  

Academic freedom, respect and civility 

Mr Hodgkinson acknowledges that academic freedom and freedom of speech are fundamental to the University and that these rights are limited by the law. While freedom of speech does not permit the use of hate speech or vilification, the report notes that difficulties arise when different parties have divergent views on the legitimate use of words or phrases because the intended meaning of the speaker has not been made clear.  

The report proposes that the University implement a new civility rule that requires any speaker using University facilities to make the meaning of contested words and phrases clear to the audience.  

Ensuring our campus, buildings and classrooms are inclusive and safe places to work and learn

The report states that changing work health and safety laws, including 2024 changes to include psychosocial hazards and risk in the Work Health and Safety Regulations (2011), require changes to our long-standing traditions of political activism on campus. Practices such as sit-ins and protests in buildings and classrooms are out of step with contemporary work health and safety standards and our obligations to maintain psychosocial safety on campus. The report recommends the University maintains the settings introduced in the Campus Access Policy prohibiting protests in buildings and making camping on campus an unacceptable activity.  

To ensure learning spaces are safe and welcoming for all students, the report recommends students be prohibited from making announcements before the commencement of classes. Announcements may be made at the conclusion of class with the permission of the lecturer or tutor when students are free to leave the space if they choose.  

Holding organisations responsible

The report makes a number of recommendations that organisations must be held accountable by the University for their actions and that the University can withhold funds for organisations found to be in breach of University policy.  

List of Recommendations

1. The prohibition on encampments as a form of protest on any University campus should be maintained as part of the current review of the Campus Access Policy.
2. The prohibition against any form of protest within a building on the University campus, and the impeding of access to and exit from any building by protest, be maintained following the review of the Campus Access Policy.
3. The University prohibit any student from addressing those present in a lecture, seminar or tutorial prior to the commencement of the lecture, seminar or tutorial on any subject matter. A breach of the prohibition may be considered misconduct.
4. The University should hold Organisations responsible if posters identifying them or an event which they are involved in are put up on campus in breach of the Advertising on Campus Policy.
   That the University develop a range of sanctions including the withholding of funding to an Organisation which can be imposed on an Organisation found to be in breach of University policy.
   Where an Organisation is repeatedly acting in breach of University policy, consideration should be given to precluding its office and position holders (or some of them) from being eligible to hold an office in that or any other Organisation receiving University funding.
5. The University should continue to support its review of its complaints procedures with a view to a complete overhaul and simplifying every aspect of it.
   The review of its complaints procedures should consider establishing a single central office to receive and process all complaints.
6. The University should strengthen existing mechanisms for alternative dispute resolution processes, such as mediation, as part of its review of the complaints procedures. Complainants should be advised, where appropriate, that alternative dispute resolution is an option available to them.
7. The University should publish a regular report to the Senate containing the number of complaints received, the nature of the complaints, the number of complaints resolved since the last report and the timeframe for the resolution of outstanding complaints. The information contained in the report should be presented in such a way that it does not identify the individuals mentioned in the complaints.
8. The University should publish a public report that identifies the range of penalties imposed in matters where a breach of University policy has been substantiated.
9. The University should amend its policies and procedures to make clear that each person utilising a word or phrase is responsible at the time the word or phrase is used to identify to the audience the context in which it is used. (New Civility Rule)
10. A failure to conduct a lecture, seminar, tutorial or a meeting which takes place within any of the University’s facilities in accordance with the New Civility Rule should be recognised as misconduct and treated accordingly.
11. The University’s policies be amended to make clear that Organisations are responsible for conducting all meetings held by them using University facilities in compliance with the Civility Principles.
    Where an Organisation breaches this requirement, it will be liable to sanction for breach of the University’s policy.
12. The University policies should be amended to require Organisations, when conducting a meeting using University facilities, to comply with the University’s Civility Principles.
    In order to hold an office or position within an Organisation the persons holding that office or in that position must have completed the Engaging with Civility module.
    Where an Organisation permits a person to hold an office or act in a position, and that person has not completed the Engaging with Civility module, both the Organisation and individual should be held accountable.
    Where a person holds an office or occupies a position without completing the Engaging with Civility module, the person's breach of the policy would amount to misconduct.
    An Organisation should be held responsible for a breach of the policy where it permits a person who has not completed the Engaging with Civility module to hold an office or occupy a position and subject to sanction which could include the withdrawal of their funding in whole or in part.
13. The policy review presently being undertaken and the Policy Working Group should be supported with a view to achieving a review of all of the University’s policies and the simplification of them.
14. The University should approach both the NSW Police and the Federal Police with a view to entering into with them formal protocols which set out how they can assist the University if the need arises.
15. That attaching banners to the footbridges be prohibited.