Sydney Staff for BDS describes itself as “a group of University of Sydney staff campaigning for justice for Palestine by supporting the international BDS call.” As of the time of this post, the group comprises of these 57 staff members:
Dr Nick Riemer (English and Linguistics)
Dr David Brophy (History)
Associate Professor Jake Lynch (Peace and Conflict Studies)
Dr Victoria Grieves (Honorary ARC Indigenous Research Fellow, Sociology and Social Policy)
Dr Gareth Bryant (Political Economy)
Dr Frances Clarke (History)
Dr Mike Beggs (Political Economy)
Dr Sophie Loy-Wilson (History)
Dr Ben Miller (Writing Studies)
Associate Professor Ahmar Mahboob (Linguistics)
Associate Professor John Grumley (Philosophy)
Mr Andrew Brodzeli (Political Economy)
Associate Professor Susan Thomas (Writing Studies)
Professor Emeritus Stuart Rees, AM (Peace and Conflict Studies)
Dr Beatrice Wayne (History)
Dr Yvonne Low (Art History)
Professor Emeritus William Foley (Linguistics)
Dr Yaegan Doran (Linguistics)
Professor Sujatha Fernandes (Political Economy and Sociology)
Dr Tim Anderson (Political Economy)
Professor Adam Morton (Political Economy)
Dr Chin Jou (History)
Ms Natalia Maystorovich Chulio (Sociology and Social Policy)
Professor Gillian Cowlishaw (retired) (Anthropology)
Associate Professor Bill Dunn (Political Economy)
Dr Frances Di Lauro (Writing Studies)
Professor John Keane (Director, Sydney Democracy Network)
Dr Yasmine Musharbash (Anthropology)
Honorary Associate Professor John M O’Brien (Work and Organisational Studies)
Professor Emeritus Frank Stilwell (Political Economy)
Professor Nicola Piper (Director, Sydney Asia Pacific Migration Centre)
Dr Omid Tofighian (Philosophy)
Ms Mareese Terare (Education and Social Work)
Ms Rizanna Rosemary (Media and Communications)
Dr Beth Yahp (English)
Dr Briony Neilson (History)
Dr Rebecca Pearse (Political Economy)
Dr Robert Austin (Peace and Conflict Studies)
Mr Paul Duffill (Peace and Conflict Studies)
Dr Thomas Adams (History and American Studies)
Dr Belal Chami (Sydney Medical School)
Mr Fadi Baghdadi (Sociology and Social Policy)
Mr Rafi Alam (Sociology and Social Policy)
Dr Erdahl Teber (Sydney Medical School)
Professor Stephen Castles (Honorary Professor, Sociology)
Dr Jolynna Sinanan (Research Fellow in Digital Media and Ethnography)
Professor Michael McDonnell (History)
Dr Louise Marshall (Art History)
Ms Greta Werner (Sociology and Social Policy)
Associate Professor Ruth Phillips (Education and Social Work)
Dr Diana Shahinyan (Research Fellow in US Studies)
Dr Rick Kuhn (Visiting fellow, Political Economy)
Dr Cat Moir (Germanic Studies and European Studies)
Dr Evan Jones (Political Economy)
Dr Harriet Johnson (Philosophy)
Dr Fiona Martin (Media and Communications)
Dr Ross Morrow (Sociology and Social Policy)
Mr Andrew McLachlan (Sociology and Social Policy)
Dr Lucia Sorbera (Arabic Studies)
Associate Professor Susan Hood (Honorary Associate Professor, Linguistics)
Dr Helen McCue AM (Research Fellow, Sydney Law School)
Dr Holly High (Anthropology)
Dr Johanna Hood (ARC DECRA Research Fellow, Sociology)
Dr Sophie Chao (Postdoctoral Research Associate, History)
Dr Shima Shahbazi (Arabic Languages and Cultures / International and Comparative Literary Studies)
Dr Jason MacLeod (Peace and Conflict Studies)
This is important to know because they are supporting not just BDS, but also 1. Promoting idea that entire 1948 state of Israel is not legitimate and 2. Supporting actual terrorism against Israelis, as evidenced by this post of theirs from May 9th:
Protest: Commemorate Nakba – Stand with Palestinian Resistance!
Remember, this post was published less than a week after Gaza terror groups fired over 600 rockets at Israeli population centers with over 600,000 Israeli civilians in the firing line. – so we know exactly what is meant by “Palestinian resistance.”
Besides the risk of these staff members promoting to impressionable students the ideas that terrorism is justified and that Israel (not just the territories liberated in 1967) is illegitimate, their public actions are also likely to make Jewish students on campus feel very uncomfortable. Furthermore, could any of their students who are visibly Jewish or otherwise show support for their Jewish homeland feel secure that this won’t affect their grades in any way?
According to reader Jethro who alerted me to this, past complaints of his were “stonewalled with the disingenuous claim of ‘academic freedom’ being used to protect these anti-Semitic professors and their abysmal behaviour.”
If you agree that this is highly troubling, please join us in contacting the Vice Chancellor of the University of Sydney at [email protected].
