To stifle growing pro-Palestinian activities on Australian campuses, university authorities are developing and applying disparate techniques of control. Consequently, the university as a place of free speech, political activism and the right to protest is under attack.

The Universities of Sydney, Melbourne and WA are particularly punitive. The intricate intrusiveness and hyper-vigilance of their techniques of control are well known and widely criticised.

All these techniques have been identified by members of Educational Researchers for Palestine — a group I belong to.

Such patterns are evident in the views and material we have gathered from universities and from our own experiences, observations and communications with other staff and students. While the following techniques are not equally evident in all universities, various combinations are evident in many.

1. Control through double-speak

Universities claim to uphold free speech and academic freedom. But on matters related to Israel/Palestine they shut both down. They also claim to balance free speech with their antiracism agendas. But these agendas are selective. Antisemitism is their focus. Anti-Palestinian racism, including their own, is not. Anti-Palestinian racism involves ‘actions that silence, exclude, erase, stereotype, defame, or dehumanise Palestinians and their narratives.’

They say they balance free speech with ensuring a safe environment. But their main concern is the political backlash associated with purported complaints about the........

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