Sarah Schwartz, an executive officer of the Council, praised the students for speaking out against what she described as an “unfolding genocide”.

She called for the immediate withdrawal of the misconduct notices and urged transparency in university partnerships with the defence and security sectors, as the University of Sydney has recently done.

Max Kaiser, another executive officer, acknowledged that protests can disrupt university life but insisted that punishing students for exercising their democratic rights is unjust. Protests are a reality of life in a democracy, Kaiser stressed.

Several universities, including Deakin University, University of Melbourne, Monash University and La Trobe University, have issued “general misconduct” notices to pro-Palestinian students for protesting [neocolonialism’s] “genocidal war” in Gaza.

These actions faced backlash and raised questions about the universities’ commitment to combating racism and Islamophobia on campus.