The head of the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) has issued an “unreserved apology” for events at an anti-racism symposium last month that caused offence, adding the institute behind it would “not be holding events like this in the future”.
Appearing before a federal parliamentary inquiry into antisemitism on university campuses on Wednesday, the vice-chancellor of QUT, Prof Margaret Sheil, was grilled over why the event went ahead despite concerns from community members about alleged “anti-Jewish” speakers.
The university’s Carumba Institute held the national symposium on unifying antiracist research at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre on 23 and 24 January.
Sheil began her opening statement acknowledging that: “At the debate, external speakers showed slides that caused offence to a number of people.”
Sheil said she “unreservedly” apologised for the “hurt and concern” the events caused to QUT staff, students and the community.
At a comedy event advertised as “the greatest race debate” and as the official “pre-event” to the symposium, a cartoon image of a character dubbed “Dutton’s Jew” was shown as part of one speaker’s presentation.
The slide, presented by the head of the Jewish Council of Australia, Sarah Schwartz, criticised what she described as stereotyping of the Jewish community by the Coalition. It has been the subject of widespread critical coverage in some media.
Sheil did not name the speakers she was referring to, or identify the slides.
On Tuesday, QUT commissioned the former judge John Middleton KC to conduct an independent review into the symposium. Sheil told the inquiry she intended to accept the recommendations in full and would share the findings with the public.
The chair of the parliamentary committee, Labor MP Josh Burns, pointed to correspondence to Sheil on 17 January from the Australian Academic Alliance Against Antisemitism, “raising concerns about the upcoming conference”.
“Some of the concerns … [were] around the speakers at the conference who have a demonstrated history of engaging in anti-Jewish racism, including the spreading of disinformation, disparaging stereotypes about Jews, the doxing of Jewish individuals … and calls for the elimination of the Jewish state,” he said.
“How did you respond to that?”
Sheil said she “became aware” of the correspondence when she returned from leave on 20 January. She said the university advised the organisers to shut down any form of hate speech should it occur, while also bolstering security. She told the inquiry no speakers were uninvited.
“Unfortunately, they didn’t adhere to that,” Burns alleged, adding an award had been given at the symposium to the artist and editor Matt Chun, who Burns alleged had been involved in the doxing of Jewish creatives last year.
The inquiry also heard the deputy chair, Coalition MP Henry Pike, name Chelsea Watego, the head of the Carumba Institute.
He alleged that she said a leaked WhatsApp group of Jewish creatives was “worth a read” and led a “shame chant” at the symposium after someone leaked Schwartz’s slide to Murdoch newspapers.
Sheil said she “greatly value[d]” Watego’s scholarship and work to address and eliminate racism and the alleged chant needed to be “verified and assessed”.
But she said she was not in a position to comment on allegations about individuals and would provide all relevant material to the review.
“There are many, many things about this that I feel very sad about and I personally find unacceptable,” Sheil said.
“I am sadder and disappointed that these events overshadowed an important academic symposium on a very serious issue, especially as it relates to the lived experience of racism of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,” she said.
“It is critical we learn from what happened to ensure that such a similar incident doesn’t happen again … the Carumba Institute will not be holding events like this in the future.”
Senator Lidia Thorpe told the inquiry she had attended the symposium, which she described as “terrific” and “amazing”.
She asked Sheil whether she considered that “conflating anti-Zionism with antisemitism undermines genuine efforts to combat racial and religious discrimination”.
The vice-chancellor said she sought to respond to how people “interpret and receive criticism”.
“It’s not my area of expertise,” she replied. “I’m a chemist.”
Sheil said from 7 October 2023 until the end of last year, the university had received no formal complaints relating to antisemitism. There had been 11 complaints about racial discrimination in the same period.
