00:02Today we're going to hear from some of the most high-profile Vice Chancellors from the
00:07most prestigious university campuses in Australia, but instead of how we usually see them in
00:12full academic regalia, presiding over ceremonies, they're going to be in the witness box facing
00:17extensive cross-examination from a number of Jewish groups and Palestinian groups, as
00:23well as re-examination by their own lawyers.
00:25The first person up is Professor Glyn Davis, the Interim Vice-Chancellor of the University
00:31of Melbourne.
00:31He's just started giving evidence and is facing examination by counsel assisting the Commissioner.
00:37He's expected to be asked about protest encampments, but also about some of the stories we heard
00:43yesterday from Professor Stephen Prower, a senior physics professor who spoke of the impact that
00:50being targeted in protests had on him.
00:51He now needs security at home and at work, and when he had a death threat made against
00:57him, the university didn't tell him about it.
00:59The first he knew of it was when he got a welfare check from police.
01:03So he was strongly critical of the university, and we expect that Professor Davis will have
01:08to respond to those criticisms, as well as other concerns raised by Jewish students.
01:12After that, we're going to hear from Professor Mark Scott from the University of Sydney.
01:16His university presided over probably the most controversial of all the protest encampments.
01:21It was the longest running, and Jewish staff and students have told the Commission already
01:26about the impact that that had on them.
01:29And then finally today, we're going to hear from the Vice-Chancellor of the University of
01:33New South Wales.
01:34There wasn't a significant protest encampment at his university, but earlier the Commission
01:40heard from a tutor who said that he was subjected to Nazi salutes from students, and that when
01:45he tried to complain, he effectively lost his job.
01:48Connor, what has this block of hearings heard so far about the environment on university campuses?
01:55Yeah, Gemma, we've heard a really strong message from Jewish staff and students that not only
02:00do they not feel welcome on campus, but increasingly they feel unsafe.
02:04And they say their concerns predate the October 7 attacks, that there was already what they
02:09called a low-level hum of anti-Semitism on campus that was excluding them from campus life
02:16and making either their working lives or their sort of formative student years more difficult
02:20than they should have been.
02:21They said those experiences were turbocharged after October 7, and the protests that ensued,
02:28they've spoken of being personally targeted for Israel's actions in protests, being spat at,
02:34amongst other things, and so we expect that the Vice-Chancellors will be grilled about all of that
02:40and asked for their takes on whether or not Jewish staff and students are truly welcome on campus.
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