“One of the big issues is that Jewish students haven’t been reporting the harassment they have been experienced,” she said. “So universities have no legitimate legal grounds to inhibit [protesters] freedom of speech. It is very much a balancing act of the right to free speech and the right to feel safe, and it is ultimately the efforts to get students to report that got the encampment [at Monash] taken down.”

Dr Slucki said he believes Monash’s response to the encampments and to antisemitic conduct on campus has been due to strong leadership and the presence of specialist staff members to advise leaders.

He said Vice Chancellor Sharon Pickering was in touch directly immediately after October 7 and recognised the need to get clear advice from Jewish staff members. “Having a really clearly defined Jewish studies centre at Monash gave focus for that,” he added.

Dr Slucki recalled he had attended a lot of meetings in recent months with university leadership, Jewish student leaders and also with Islamic student leaders. These meetings have explored complex issues but what was simple, he said, was dealing with protesters who aren’t students. Monash, he said, moved quite quickly to ban non-students from participating in encampment to protect the safety and wellbeing of Monash students.

Finally, Dr Slucki spoke in detail about four key initiatives announced at Monash, including a $1million commitment by the university to support action-based research on prejudice, including antisemitism, that he will lead together with Dr Susan Carland.

The initiatives also include efforts to facilitate dialogue between students to encourage respect, safety and inclusivity.

I would like to thank our three remarkable panellists, not just for sharing their experiences with the JCCV and our audience, but for their leadership, hard work and commitment to supporting Jewish students and staff in universities.