Alison Barrett writes:
With efforts to improve diversity, equity and inclusion under global attack, a new report by the Australian Human Rights Commission shows pervasive and deeply entrenched experiences of overt, systemic and structural racism in Australian universities.
The interim findings for the Respect at Uni project – commissioned by the Australian Department of Education in 2024 – show racism is increasingly experienced by First Nations students and staff at Australian universities. Antisemitism, anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia are also becoming more common, according to Giridharan Sivaraman, Race Discrimination Commissioner.
The Commission’s study is due to be finished in June, when it will make recommendations to the Federal Government “on how to effectively address and reduce racism, in all its forms, at universities”.
A literature review for the interim report undertaken by Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research and Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion, University of Technology Sydney, recommends the Australian Government, universities and other relevant stakeholders focus on systematic and institutional reforms, practices and standards to address racism and discrimination.
Following his inauguration, United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs within the US Government, which includes a mandate to terminate all DEI positions.
Many companies and organisations in the US – including Walmart and universities – began rolling back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in 2024 following Trump’s election.
Root causes of racism
While highlighting individual examples of racism, the Commission’s interim report has been criticised for failing to explore the root causes of racism in educational and other institutions.
Professor Bronwyn Fredericks, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Engagement) at The University of Queensland and Co-Chair of Croakey Health Media, said that in addition to not exploring the causes of racism, the Commission had not examined “how the structures across society operate to bolster and maintain racism”.
The report had also not sufficiently addressed the structures that keep racism in place and operationalised, Fredericks told Croakey.
“Rather, they focus, yet again, on examples of individual racism and replicate what so many people have experienced and have written about,” she said.
It is “more than disappointing” that the report lets organisations and institutions, including universities – which are embedded with structures and hierarchies that bolster and maintain racism – “off the hook”, she said.
Fredericks told Croakey the report could have explored issues and concerns in much greater depth, and not used language that minimises global events.
For example, they do not use the word genocide when referring to what is happening in Palestine despite the United Nations and others using the word in its documents.
“It is clear the Human Rights Commission is playing to sensitivities, rather than defending people it says it is there to support and defend,” Fredericks said.
Increasing experiences of racism
Giridharan Sivaraman, Race Discrimination Commissioner, said in the report’s foreword that initial consultations revealed “deep rooted structural problems that continue to affect First Nations students and staff”.
He wrote that “the experience of First Nations students and staff is a particular concern”, highlighting low participation and completion rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
The last year has also seen reports of increased antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab racism in Australian universities, he noted.
The interim report shows that racism manifests in diverse ways and is experienced differently by individuals and different groups, including by overt racism and being excluded from systems that maintain white privilege.
Professor of Indigenous Health Chelsea Watego, Executive Director of Carumba Institute, Queensland University of Technology, and colleagues wrote in The Conversation recently that the Commission’s report “falls short and ends up reinforcing the problem it’s trying to solve”.
“A structural understanding of racism moves beyond racism as isolated incidents located within an organisation. It connects them to the deeper systems of racial dominance embedded in social, legal and political systems of society,” Watego and colleagues write.
The QUT Carumba Institute hosted a National Symposium on Unifying Anti-Racist Research and Action this week (23-24 January), with the aim of calling for action for uniting research and practice in the efforts to eliminate institutional racism.
Watego said the symposium, reported here by the National Indigenous Times, was timely given increasing commitments to ‘eliminating institutional racism’ while the dire impacts of racism on communities are increasing both locally and globally.
“The failure to eliminate racism, we argue, is not necessarily due to a failure of aspiration, but rather a failure of strategy and resourcing. This inaugural symposium, in the lead up to Invasion Day, seeks to strategise a coordinated anti-racism agenda nationally which recognises that racism is not an anomaly; but rather systemic, institutional, and cultural, operating across various power dynamics,” Watego said.
“While anti-Indigenous racism, Islamophobia, antisemitism, and anti-Blackness have unique expressions, they are deeply interconnected, making comprehensive and adaptable anti-racist research and strategies essential.”
Cultural safety
The report says that as “universities in Australia have emerged from a colonial history, emphasising a Western view of knowledge”, curriculum needs to be critically assessed and embedded with decolonised perspectives.
This “will enable greater racial literacy and practically progress anti-racism”, it says.
The report also notes that addressing racism in universities is aligned with the Closing the Gap target to ensure First Nations students are supported to participate and succeed in higher education.
“Where culturally safe support from specialist First Nations units is provided to students, the Commission heard of significantly improved outcomes for students. However, resourcing is a significant constraint, with unsustainable workloads for staff,” the report states.
In the initial consultations with “students and staff from a variety of communities”, First Nations academics called out the additional load borne by First Nations academics and university staff, who – especially if they are one of the few or only Indigenous people – are often expected to represent all Indigenous people or educate others about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and culture.
“The burden of speaking up and educating falls on those who are most vulnerable,” the Commission writes. The additional load is not sustainable, they heard.
The report recommends finding respectful, sustainable ways to engage with First Nations staff and students while balancing awareness that “cultural capability and safety are everyone’s responsibility”.
Building capabilities
Dr Sally Fitzpatrick, Senior Lecturer for the Centre for the Advancement of Indigenous Knowledges at University of Technology Sydney (UTS), told Croakey that from the lens of settler responsibility, where her scholarship is focused, it is the duty of the mainstream workforce to be educated in anti-racism skills and engagement.
At UTS, the Faculty of Health has instigated professional development to build cultural capabilities among staff, led by Danielle Manton, Director of Indigenous Health Education, Fitzpatrick said.
Manton told Croakey that it is recognised that health practitioners with the skills, capabilities and humility to work well with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are better health professionals for all patients in their care.
The Centre for the Advancement of Indigenous Knowledges is also actively working to improve university teaching, curriculum and supervision of Indigenous and mainstream students through its outward-facing, microcredential offerings led by Kokomini writer and Senior Lecturer, Graham Akhurst, Fitzpatrick said.
Tim Croft, Professor of Practice (Indigenous Health) at UTS, told Croakey that Jumbunna Institute for Education and Research, in collaboration with the National Justice Project (NJP), launched Call It Out on 21 March 2022 to coincide with the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
Call It Out is an online Register set up to record all forms and levels of racism and discrimination experienced by First Nations Peoples in Australia.
The first report, released in March 2023, indicated that almost half of the incidents were reported by a First Nations person, Croft said. The incidents occurred across a number of settings – in public, at work organisations and in education settings, including at tertiary institutions.
Health and safety impacts
The Commission report also said that First Nations academics, as well as those from Jewish, Muslim, Arab and Palestinian backgrounds, highlighted the exhausting and “often fraught” position they are placed in when speaking up “despite potential negative consequences to their careers”.
Academic performance, retention and professional progression are some of the negative implications of racism reported to the Commission.
The initial consultations heard reports supporting the well-documented harmful impacts of racism on mental and physical health.
Support from programs such as Indigenous Student Success Program is undermined as First Nations students may avoid accessing it due to other student criticism for receiving “special treatment”.
The initial consultation also identified increased experiences of racism and Islamophobia towards Muslim, Arab and Palestinian university students, with many afraid to speak about their experiences due to concerns about academic ramifications and doxing.
Palestinian and Arab academic staff reported receiving hate mail, death threats and abuse on campus.
Jewish students reported increasing experiences of antisemitism since October 2023, noting though that it is an entrenched issue.
Concerns about their safety and campus culture were shared to the Commission, as well as concerns that antisemitism affected Jewish students’ sense of belonging.
Differing views were expressed to the Commission on how to address antisemitism in universities, with some groups recommending a tailored approach.
Other Jewish groups suggested that antisemitism “can be effectively addressed through comprehensive efforts to address all forms of racism more broadly”.
Disproportionate impacts
Racism disproportionately impacts women, young people, people with disability and those who live in regional areas, according to the interim report.
International students reported they are often neglected in consultation and outreach support related to disability inclusion and accessibility.
Female academics described an additional layer of sex discrimination over institutional and systemic race discrimination, according to the report.
The Commission found that students and staff from African and Asian backgrounds also experienced significant racism.
The growth in international student enrolments and the announcement of the international student cap in 2025 has put the spotlight on international students, “amplifying underlying experiences of racism”, according to the report.
International students reported facing exclusion and a lack of social support, “struggling to find adequate guidance and assistance”, it said.
Other findings from the initial consultation include:
- Low racial literacy, which may result in students not recognising racist experiences, anti-racism discussions being shut down, and reluctance to discuss openly
- Dissatisfaction with complaints mechanisms, leading to a reluctance to report racist experiences
- Disconnect between policy and practice, with some participants reporting a “mismatch between intention and impact” of anti-racism, discrimination and bullying polices
- Diversity and inclusion initiatives are seen as well-meaning, but they don’t always translate into systemic change
- The definition of academic freedom in practice “remains a topic of debate”. For example, the “challenge of balancing academic freedom and freedom of expression with the right to safety and non-discrimination is constantly being tested, with differing views on events in Gaza, Lebanon and Israel highlighting these complexities”.
- Different definitions and terminology surrounding racism, antisemitism and related concepts were common themes during the consultations.
Next phase
While consultations and engagement with university students and staff will continue, “it is clear that historical dimensions and power structures shape experiences of racism and university response”, the interim report said.
The study plans to explore whether existing approaches addressing racism in universities are “sufficiently nuanced to respond to the diversity of experiences”.
It also intends to explore the extent to which Islamophobia can be addressed through comprehensive anti-racism initiatives.
Understanding intersectional experiences is a priority and will form a substantial part of the survey and fieldwork component, according to the report.
“The study’s next phase will commence in January 2025 and will include a series of focus groups as well as a comprehensive survey of university staff and students from across Australia.
“A more detailed literature review of content relevant to the study will also be undertaken. Data from the survey, focus groups, consultations and literature review will be analysed by the Commission with a final report containing relevant recommendations scheduled to be delivered to the Australian Government in June 2025.”
Commission responses
Responding to concerns raised about the interim report , the Commission told Croakey that initial consultations have been conducted by the Race Discrimination Commissioner and the study team. According to the report, these consultations were preliminary, not exhaustive and a “starting point upon which the Commission will build” as the study progresses.
The Australian Human Rights Commission provided the statement below to Croakey in response to concerns raised in the article above:
The Australian Human Rights Commission’s interim report on Racism at Australia Universities report in December 2024 gave an overview of the methodology for the project, and of recent developments as context. The next phase of the research in first semester 2025 will be a national survey and other consultations with university students and staff to understand the prevalence of individual and systemic racism.
“The final report of the project will provide detailed analysis of the individual experiences of students and staff, and of the structural and systemic factors that contribute to racism in university settings,” Race Discrimination Commissioner, Giridharan Sivaraman said.
“It is not possible for the Commission to be providing evidence based, robust analysis of these factors prior to the prevalence survey and data collection phase.
“The final report will include actionable recommendations to provide a roadmap to address racism effectively and create a safe, respectful and inclusive environments for all university students and staff.
“The work we are doing is complex, groundbreaking and has not been done in Australia before. As the interim report sets out, we have been focused on ensuring that we have got the design principles for the study right before we begin months of consultation on university campuses in first semester 2025.”
Further reading
Respect at Uni: Interim Report on Racism at Australian Universities
The Human Rights Commission has handed down a report on racism at Australian universities: here’s why it fails, by Professor Chelsea Watego and colleagues, in The Conversation
Trump has begun dismantling America’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Here’s why Australia may not follow suit, by Judy Lundy and Uma Jogulu, in The Conversation
See Croakey’s archive of articles on racism.