Racism rife at universities as many fear speaking out

By DOMINIC GIANNINI

Indigenous staff and students have endured “structural and interpersonal racism” including their achievements being undermined by others characterising them as special treatment, an Australian Human Rights Commission report has found.

“Limited understanding of historical and systemic discrimination remains a barrier to equity,” said the interim report into racism at universities.

“Concerns over safety were compounded by insufficient university responses,” the report said.

Race Discrimination Commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman says structural racism is a major problem. (Mick Tsikas/AAP)

Race Discrimination Commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman said universities played a critical role in providing academic qualifications and “are gateways to opportunity that can either address inequality or exacerbate it”.

“However, structural racism has been legitimised by Australia’s colonial history and remains embedded in our society,” he said in the report’s foreword.

“Universities are not inoculated from racism by the intellectual endeavour that takes place within them.”

There had also been significant increases in reports of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab racism at universities and “each of those experiences is unique and not to be conflated one with the other”, Mr Sivaraman said.

Staff and students told the commission about low rates of racial literacy, including people not recognising racism, a lack of safety and support on campus and dissatisfaction with complaint mechanisms.

“Consultations also suggest that conversations about racism are shut down and there is a reluctance to discuss institutional and structural racism,” the commission’s report said.

The commission will put out a national survey and start focus groups next month before delivering its final report with a list of recommendations to the Federal government in June next year.

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AAP