Universities Australia has welcomed a review into academic freedom and freedom of expression announced by education minister Dan Tehan on Friday.
Professor Sally Walker will conduct the review with the assistance of universities, focusing on their progress against former Chief Justice Robert French’s Model Code developed in 2019.
“Last year universities agreed to adopt, adapt or ensure the principles of the French Model Code were reflected in the broad suite of policies that cover freedom of speech and expression at universities," Universities Australia chief executive Catriona Jackson said.
“Universities have either finalised that process, or are part way through, and look forward to discussing progress with Professor Walker.
“Freedom of expression and academic freedom are part of the DNA of Australian universities.”
Jackson said the importance of both freedom of expression and academic freedom to Australian universities was the reason why the proposed French model had been “given careful attention” by the higher education sector to ensure “frameworks” for both principles were robust.
Education minister Dan Tehan said that in carefully considering “to adopt the model code”, the development of “regulations and policies by a university is a matter for each institution reflecting institutional autonomy”.
The review follows a controversial decision by the UNSW last week to take down a social media post and an article by one of the university’s law professors, Elaine Pearson. The thrust of Pearson’s article was that “the international community must put pressure on China to wind back recent infringements on human rights in Hong Kong”.
After receiving a torrent of complaints about Pearson’s article, UNSW deleted all tweets relating to the lecturer’s article and temporarily removed the article itself from its website. It is now available on UNSW’s law page, labelled as an opinion piece.
At the time the university argued the tweets were taken down because they did not reflect the views of the institution and there was a risk the lecturer's tweets could be misinterpreted as representing the view of UNSW.
“Students from China are watching to see how UNSW responds to the pro-[Chinese Communist Party] students' threats,” Pearson, who is also the Australia director at Human Rights Watch (HRW) told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“What if my experience makes students or other academics think twice before speaking in class on topics like Xinjiang, Hong Kong or Tibet? What if academics think twice about taking a media call on Hong Kong because of the potential backlash?
“Universities need to protect the academic freedom of all students and scholars, not cave to pressure from those with little apparent regard for academic freedom's importance."
Both Chinese students and politicians – including the Liberal's David Sharman – objected to the university’s actions, with education minister Dan Tehan weighing in on the topic of freedom of expression and academic freedom without mentioning UNSW in particular.
“Freedom of speech is a pillar of our democracy. Universities should be institutions that protect freedom of speech, debate and the challenge of ideas,” he said.
Of course, UNSW is not unique in stoushes between academics and universities over academic freedom and/or freedom of expression.
Last year three of Murdoch University’s lecturers were in hot water for expressing that many international students did not possess the requisite skills to succeed in their courses.