The Australian National University has rejected a call from some federal parliamentarians to adopt the definition of anti-Semitism advocated by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, saying its current policies and procedures are enough to deal with discrimination.
“ANU is confident its existing policies and procedures are well equipped to help address any potential anti-Semitism or other forms of discrimination if they arise,” the university said of its decision not to endorse the IHRA definition.
The recently formed Australian Parliamentary Friends of the IHRA, co-chaired by MPs Josh Burns, Allegra Spender and Julian Leeser, sent a letter to all university vice-chancellors late last year calling on universities to adopt the IHRA definition.
In January the University of Melbourne responded by adopting the IHRA definition, following Macquarie University and the University of Wollongong, which had already endorsed it. Monash University, while falling short of adopting the definition, changed its anti-racism policy in February to say the IHRA definition “is drawn on by the university in order to guide understanding of anti-Semitism”.
Dvir Abramovich, chair of the Anti-Defamation Commission, said ANU’s decision was “a slap in the face of every Jewish student at ANU and a kick in the guts of Holocaust survivors”.
Read the article by Tim Dodd in The Australian.