Letter to vice chancellor of University of Sydney regarding the Campus Access Policy 2024

8 July 2024


Dear Vice Chancellor,

We write in respect of the new Campus Access Policy 2024 announced on June 28. We acknowledge the pressures that your administration is currently facing regarding the balancing of the rights of members of the University community.

We also affirm your office's stated support for freedom of expression as a foundational principle of university governance and your university’s support for freedom of speech, academic freedom and the right to assemble.

We understand that the new policy mandates that students and staff engaging in demonstrations give 72 hours’ notice to the University and seek approval for common protest practices including the use of megaphones and attaching materials to University buildings or fixtures. We understand that the Policy gives campus security the power to direct university students and staff to leave campus if they do not provide the required notice or engage in the specified protest activities without approval.

The UN Human Rights Committee has stated in General Comment No 37 that having to apply to authorities for a permit to protest undermines the right to protest. While it is good practice for protest organisers to establish dialogue with authorities to promote preparedness, de-escalate tensions and resolve disputes, they must not be required to do so. A notification procedure for protests, if one exists at all, must be necessary, proportionate and justifiable in a democratic, pluralistic society that respects human rights. A notification procedure must not become, in practice, a system of authorising protests. Authorities must accommodate spontaneous protests for which notification is not practicable or appropriate, and lack of notification should not be used as a basis for dispersing the assembly.

The Campus Access Policy 2024 does not meet the threshold of a necessary, proportionate or justifiable notification regime. The activities for which approval is required, such as using megaphones and affixing materials to University property do not by their nature disrupt the functions of the university or other users of university lands. For example, many protests have used megaphones on University grounds without disrupting classes. Given that approval is required for activities that are hallmarks of protest, such as using megaphones, the Policy functions as a system of authorising protest rather than a notification regime. Many protests need to happen spontaneously to respond to emerging situations. The 72 hour notification requirement does not allow for spontaneous protest and gives campus security the power to disperse protests which do not provide notification. Furthermore, tolerance of disruption to ordinary life is necessary to the protection of the right to protest and the University has a duty to uphold the right to protest even where it involves some disruption.

We are concerned that the Campus Access Policy breaches the obligations of the University under the Principles for the proper management of assemblies set out by the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and association to uphold human rights standards when responding to peaceful assemblies. The Policy unduly imposes on the University community’s right to protest and heightens the likelihood that those who engage in protest will face disciplinary action. This is particularly concerning in terms of its potential impact on students and staff who face more barriers in navigating and being aware of the notification and approval system, such as those from migrant or non-English speaking backgrounds.

We are further concerned regarding reports in The Australian on 5 July that your administration is lobbying the NSW government to give the University more power to exclude people from University lands and enforce stronger powers over University grounds. The University has significant power as a landholder to exclude trespassers from University grounds under the Inclosed Lands Protection Act 1901 (NSW). Creating new legislative justifications for police intervention in protest is not a necessary or proportionate response to the exercise of the right to protest on campus, which has been overwhelmingly peaceful.

We note that the international legal principles underlying protest notification regimes have been included in the Declaration of Our Right to Protest (2023), a document that has been endorsed by 140 civil society organisations including the Australian Council of Social Service, Community Legal Centres Australia, the Human Rights Law Centre and Amnesty International Australia.

We call on your administration to remove the notification and approval requirements from the Campus Access Policy and refrain from seeking further expansion of police power to intervene in protests.

Thank you for your time and consideration of these matters.

Yours faithfully,