Financial Review, 15 July 2026
Jewish students paid a price for protest strategy: Sydney Uni boss
By Maani Truu
From Financial Review
The vice chancellor of Sydney University has apologised to Jewish students and staff for taking nine weeks to close down a pro-Palestine encampment, conceding they were left to pay the price as leadership sought to avoid an eruption of violence.
Mark Scott on Wednesday told the antisemitism royal commission there should have been more consultation with the Jewish community as the university attempted to find a peaceful resolution to the controversial protest outside the historic quad building.
Against the backdrop of the public hearings, Western Sydney University chancellor Jennifer Westacott released her personal submission to the inquiry saying the failure against antisemitism was a ‘moral’ one. Published in The Australian Financial Review, her submission declared that a collective failing of leadership after the October 7 attack allowed antisemitism to be normalised in Australia.
“With notable exceptions, our leaders did not get on the same page. Universities did not align around a common principle. Business, with some honourable exceptions, was largely silent. Governments at both federal and state levels were slow to act with the decisiveness the moment required,” it reads.
“I want to be clear about the nature of that failure. It was not merely procedural. It was moral.”